San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyers » How Does a Personal Injury Case Work?
Everybody thinks they know how personal injury cases work, but there are a lot of misconceptions and this article is going to explain specifically how they work without delving too far into complicated legalese.
While personal injury cases are in fact based on law, certain elements of these types of cases are based on what we call common law. Common law is basically judicial law or case law. It is derived from law established by judges through court decisions, which is different than statutes that are developed by legislation. Comparatively, statutes are codified law and they are also used in personal injury lawsuits. Lastly, the basic laws that will also interact with your lawsuit are outlined in the civil practices and remedies code. But certain types of cases draw from other bodies of law as well. For instance, dram shop cases are based on the alcohol and beverage code, workers' compensation cases are based on the labor code and a theory of liability on a truck accident case may be based on the transportation code. As such, to know what you are doing in a personal injury case you have to know all of the laws that apply.
Injury cases are based on holding someone accountable for their negligence. The principle at work is called equity. Equity basically states that you as the injured party should be reimbursed for our losses and put whole again when someone’s wrongdoing causes you damages.
Not every act that someone commits is what we call actionable. That is to say that not everything someone does to harm you will result in a personal injury lawsuit. However, when someone commits an act that we consider to be negligent in nature, that will usually be the genesis of your right to bring a claim against him or her. This right to bring a claim or mechanism by which you bring a claim is what we call a cause of action.
Legally speaking, a cause of action is defined as a set of facts and circumstances that allow you as the plaintiff to file a lawsuit against another party, the defendant. In order to pursue a cause of action you have to allege facts in something called a complaint, which is what will start your lawsuit. Your cause of action is basically the legal theory of recovery you are basing your lawsuit on and the remedies or relief you want the court to grant you against the defendant.
Plaintiff
You, as the party who is filing the lawsuit in a civil cause of action, will be called the plaintiff. The plaintiff is the complainant and is the person who is responsible for initiating the lawsuit. As the plaintiff, you are seeking a legal remedy, which is typically the court issuing some type of order or judgment that is favorable to your circumstances.
Defendant
The defendant will be the person or entity that you are filing your lawsuit against. In a civil lawsuit, they are the party that has to respond to your complaint. If your claim is successful, the defendant will have to pay some financial sum or do some action that the court orders them to do.
Burdens of the Plaintiff
The plaintiff has the obligation to prove to the court that the defendant acted negligently and that their negligent acts were the proximate cause of your injury. Depending on the type of injury that you have suffered and your theory of recovery, you may have different burdens of proof as the plaintiff. Personal injury lawsuits encompass a huge body of law; therefore your burden could be drastically different in a product liability lawsuit as compared to medical malpractice or car accident case. This is one of the many reasons why you absolutely must have an attorney experienced in personal injury law.
Damages
The goal of any personal injury case is to recover compensation for the losses that you have sustained. The various forms of compensation are referred to as damages. Damages commonly sought in personal injury claims include pain and suffering, lost wages, and loss of companionship or household services.
Once you know the extent to which you have been injured and theories of liability with regard to what the defendant did wrong, you will typically file a lawsuit against the defendant. As stated previously, this is simply the means by which you ask the court to hear both sides of the story and determine if an award should be granted. Find more information here
In conclusion, personal injury lawsuits can be difficult to comprehend. However, with an attorney trained in personal injury law your chances of winning your lawsuit and getting the recovery you deserve increase exponentially. The attorneys at our Law Offices have worked with clients in their respective personal injury lawsuits for many decades throughout the state of Texas and the San Antonio area. We are fully equipped and ready to get you the legal relief you deserve. To discuss your potential lawsuit over a free consultation, contact our Law Offices
Legal Information Regarding Personal Injury Cases in San Antonio Texas
If you have suffered an injury due to the negligent conduct of another party, you may be unsure of what a personal injury lawsuit involves or even if you have the ability to pursue legal relief. Our Attorneys have been winning personal injury lawsuits for over twenty years and have the skill and expertise that is necessary to handle these types of cases. If this article doesn’t answer every question you have with regard to your potential personal injury case do not hesitate to contact us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Lawsuits have a negative stigma and some people wish to avoid them because they want to keep their cases out of the public eye. Frankly, the general public’s understanding of what a lawsuit is and how one works is inaccurate. Nevertheless, we typically only have to file suit in 10% or less of our cases. If it comes down to it, we will file suit and litigate, but our winning track record usually allows us to settle the case merely by threatening to file suit.
A personal injury lawsuit is little more than a formalized letter of intent. Whereby we tell the court our client has been injured and we think some person or business is responsible for the injures that you have suffered, and we would like the court to make both parties to come to an agreement.
The amount that a jury awards you is directly proportionate to your pain and suffering and the severity of your injury. If you have a minor or nominal injury you are not likely to be awarded a considerable sum of money. The goal is not to make you rich. The goal is to get you back to the point to where you were prior to the accident, or as the law books state, to “make you whole.”
Literally a lot. We have won in trials, settlements, and arbitrations.
Our firm focuses heavily on car and truck accidents, dram shop and drunk driver accidents, workers comp nonsubscriber injuries, defective drug cases, and a variety of other personal injury cases.
You have the right to access the court system and ask a jury to hear your explanation of events, and then either agree with you that you should be compensated. That’s it. As an injured party you don’t have any inherent right to be compensated. You just have the right to ask a jury to decide if you deserve compensation.
No one owes you compensation for suffering an injury. That’s not how the law works. You have an opportunity to prove to a jury that the defendant should owe you. But if you don’t understand the court system and you don’t understand how to gain leverage over a defendant then it is highly unlikely that you will be able to receive compensation. This is why an attorney is so important. If you don’t know the litany of documents that you are required to file then you can and probably will lose your lawsuit irrespective of the merits of your case by deviating from the required protocol. Attorneys like the ones employed at Our Attorney are not simply along for the ride. We will make your case for you so that you can get the recovery you deserve.
This depends on a variety of factors and that is something that you must discuss with your attorney in detail.
In our many years of practice, we have never once seen this happen. Anything is possible but it is very unlikely.
There are several different courts where you can file your case in that are located in Harris County. There is a district court, a county court, and federal court. The specifics of your case will determine which court is appropriate but they are all suitable venues in most circumstances.
We are paid on a contingency fee basis meaning that our fees are only paid contingent upon us winning your case. If we do not win you don’t pay us. In the event that your case is successful, the amount that you pay is a percentage of the winnings. The bottom line is that you literally do not pay us money unless we win.
Our Approach to Personal Injury Cases
We approach every personal injury case by first familiarizing ourselves with the facts and circumstances of your case. This begins with a free telephone consultation, which then usually results in a sit-down meeting with the client where we provide you with a more detailed explanation of what we can offer. If you would like to hire us at that point, then you will sign a contract. Keep in mind that you do not have to pay anything out of pocket.
We then begin to collect all of the evidence that will be needed to prove your accusations which typically involves the collection of documents such as police reports and OSHA reports, amongst other documentation. In addition, we will speak with any witnesses and have them provide their accounts of what occurred. Once we have gathered all of this information and have a more complete picture we then report back to the client and advise them of their options. We will then inform them of the direction that we would like to have the case go in. In the event that the client needs medical attention, we will meet with the physician and ensure everything goes smoothly with them as well.
Once all of this has occurred we will communicate with the defendant and attempt to reach a settlement. If they do not agree with terms that you find favorable then we will have to file suit. If the defendant forces us to litigate the case the typical turnaround is about one year. If we are able to settle the case, this can usually occur in about three to five months.
You may call us at any hour of the day to discuss your case with you and we are available to meet you at your home or place of business. If you have been injured you deserve to be compensated and we will do everything in our power to ensure that that happens. To discuss your case in greater detail, contact Our Accident Injury Attorneys today.Find more information on this website
Personal Injury Lawyers San Antonio
If you have a car accident personal-injury case, you may be seeking a car accident settlement calculator or some easy way to figure out the value of your personal injury case. This is natural. Personal-injury lawyers are often asked questions like this.
Car accident insurance companies like Allstate insurance company hired computer software programmers to create a car accident settlement calculator to make the system that they could use to save money paying on claims. In other words, they paid thousands of dollars or more to software programmers to create a car accident settlement calculator computer program that would help them under compensating injured people. However, even their extremely extensive, expensive computer program does a very poor job in calculating the real value of the case. Most personal injury lawyers would agree that trying to reduce the complexity of the value of a personal injury case of a simple car accident settlement calculator computer program is a mistake.
However, experienced car accident lawyers know the factors that go into creating an informal car accident settlement calculator. In my personal injury law office, we use the following five factors to help us estimate the value of the case. Before we discussed these “car accident settlement calculator” factors, you should be aware that the verdict potential of a case will always be higher than in injury cases settlement value. That is because you must give an insurance company or defendant in a personal injury case an incentive to settle the case. They must get a discount from the potential verdict value of case, otherwise, why would they settle the case? So when reading the following car accident settlement calculator factors keep in mind that the settlement value of the case is lower.
• Liability. In other words who was at fault? If it is undisputed in your car accident injury case that you were struck from the rear wall stopped at a traffic light on a bright clear day, these facts make your case stronger and therefore more valuable. But if there is a witness or physical evidence which suggests that you caused or contributed to the accident, your case is less strong according to this car accident settlement calculator factor and therefore less valuable.
• Total of medical bills and lost wages. The higher the medical bills, and the higher the lost wages, the more valuable the case is as a general rule.
• Severity of the injury. Was the injury extremely painful war on the order of management we painful or more like a painful annoyance? Was the injury pain sprain or did it require injections or surgery? When evaluating the car accident settlement calculator value, the more severe the injury and pain, the more valuable the personal injury case.
• Permanency of the injury. Is the pain and harm you suffered as a result of the car accident permanent in whole or part? If you are in pain and will be for the rest of your life, your case is more valuable than if you were in intense pain but the pain resolved in a few months. A permanent injury is worth more than a non-permanent injury.
• Every case and the injured person is different. This car accident settlement calculator factor is very important, but hard to measure. If there are facts in your case which make you more likable or make you more sympathetic than average, then the value of your case is greater. For example, if you are a non-or were driving a sick friend to the doctor, these sorts of facts could make you likable to a jury and enhance the value of your case. However, if the facts of your case put you in a somewhat less bright light, those facts could affect the value of your case in a negative way. It is this car accident settlement calculator factor that makes it impossible for a computer program that claims to be a car accident settlement calculator to give an accurate case value. Every case and claim really is different, and only experienced car accident attorneys can accurately evaluate the value of your personal injury case. Experienced car accidents attorneys are the only true car accident, settlement calculator.
No matter how severe your injuries are or what the facts of your case are, you can benefit by speaking with car accidents attorneys. Consultations are free and no obligation. That means you do not have to hire the personal injury attorney even after they speak with you and answer your questions. And if you hire a lawyer, they only get paid if they win your case.
If you have been involved in an accident or have questions the best way to protect your rights in the value of your case is to consult with car accidents attorneys. We are available to speak with you right now or at your convenience. Call now!
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If another driver injures you and damages your vehicle, his insurance company might ask you for your medical records related to the accident. Should you provide your records to the driver’s insurance company? Should you talk with the other driver and his insurance company at all? What should you do if you are injured? How can you protect yourself after you’ve already been hurt? Find more information here.
If you are hurt in a car wreck, after seeking medical attention the first thing you should do is call a lawyer. Car, truck, van and other vehicle accidents seriously injure tens of thousands of Texans every year. On average, someone suffers serious injuries in a car wreck in Texas once every few minutes, every hour of the day, all year long. If you are wounded in a car wreck, call our Law Offices. We’re ready to help you enforce your civil justice rights.
Your medical records will form some of the most important evidence in your lawsuit against the driver who hit you. Records from doctors, nurses and EMTs are the best way to reliably prove the harm done to you in an accident. And proving the harm done to you is the best way to achieve a fair recovery.
A common tactic by insurance companies in lawsuits is to ask people for medical records. If you send your medical records to the other driver’s insurance company, you are taking risks. Some of those risks are as follows:
The records you send may or may not be accurate.
They may or may not relate to the injury you suffered in the wreck.
They may or may not help you achieve a fair result.
Another reason insurance companies ask you for your medical records is trickier. If the other driver’s insurance company asks you for records and you send them yourself, you are showing the insurance company you do not have an attorney. You are also showing that you do not know what you’re doing. These are great reasons for the insurance company to take advantage of you as much and as quickly as possible. Insurers make fair offers to injury victims when those insurers are forced to. When you do not have a lawyer, you do not force insurers to do anything. You are at their mercy. Get a proven personal injury lawyer to protect your rights. Your lawyer is best qualified to make the important decisions about your records.
You do not need to send insurance companies your records in order for those companies to get your records. All an insurance company needs is for you to sign a simple authorization form, and the company can go get your records itself. These authorizations are called many different things: sometimes “HIPAA” authorizations, meaning they comply with a federal law known as the Health Insurance Protection and Accountability Act of 1996. If you sign a medical records authorization, a healthcare records authorization, a HIPAA authorization or anything else like that, you risk the insurance company getting your full medical records, even those unrelated to the accident.
San Antonio car accident lawsuit attorney
Do you have a legal issue or question?
The Bottom Line
Your attorney is the one who should make the decisions about any documents to turn over to anyone when it comes to your injury. Let the attorneys at our Law Offices bring their decades of experience to work for you and your loved ones. Call our Law Offices at 1-(210) 820-3434 to visit with our staff members right now.
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Did You Know?
Our Attorney has been fighting for car accident victims` rights for over 20 years. Call us to discuss your case. 210-820-3434.
Our firm is often contacted by prospective clients who have been injured in a car accident, who are fed up to deal with an insurance adjuster on their own. The problem is that many of these people have already said all the wrong things to the adjuster, and have damaged their case beyond all repairs. To help you avoid the same fate, this article will explain what you can say to an insurance adjuster.
All the situations that you make the experience when you are involved in an accident cannot all be discussed throughout this article. The most important piece of advice that we can offer you is to hire an attorney from the beginning.
The role of an insurance adjusters
Insurance adjusters aren’t there to help you; they are not your friend. They are there to help the insurance company. Thousands of our former clients and other individuals have told us stories of insurance adjusters lying or misleading them, resulting in a lot of lost time, heartache, and money. Every dime they give you is money directly out of their profits; they will find all possible ways to limit the money they payout.
Things you can say
There’s nothing wrong with telling an insurance adjuster were, the date, and the time of day the accident happened. There is nothing wrongful with telling the insurance adjuster what kind of car you drive, and who your insurance carrier is. You just don’t want to tell them anything about your injury. Insurance adjusters will use all the information that you give them to create a defense to your recovery efforts, don’t be subject to this.
What if the info I’m telling the insurance adjuster is harmless?
Do you have a legal issue or question?
If we had a dime for every time we were told something was harmless but wrecked their case, we’d be rich. Most of our clients are intelligent, hard-working people. However, since you’ve likely never experienced a legal case such as this, don’t make the assumption you can wing it. Every word that you say is significant to an insurance adjuster. The questions that they ask are designed so that they elicit information that is only helpful to them.
The last thing you can and always should tell an insurance adjuster is that they’ll have to talk to my attorney. Our best cases for our clients are where we’re hired from the beginning and client doesn’t have to talk to the insurance adjuster at all. If you have been injured as a result of an accident don’t just hire an attorney, hire the attorneys with experience, past success, and the ability to win your claim. The attorneys at Grossman Law Offices are here to help you through the recovery process. To schedule, your appointment with us call. We would like to schedule a time to discuss the merits of your case with you.
Insurance Policy Inapplicability
Some Insurance Carriers Will Simply Argue that They Don’t Cover Your Accident Rather Than Disputing Liability
A secret weapon in the insurance industry’s arsenal is a defense that we refer to as insurance policy inapplicability. In a nutshell, if the insurance carrier can allege that the actions of their driver were outside the scope of what the policy covers, then they are able to not pay you even though their driver caused the accident. This article will explain what an insurance policy is, how insurance companies can manipulate the policies, and what we can do to help. Please visit our website.
We all understand that not all insurance policies cover the same issues. For instance, if you cause a car accident, you wouldn’t expect a claim filed your home or life insurance because those two policies only cover certain situations. When an insurance carrier can argue that the scope of a policy does not include the type of situation on which your grievance is based, then you are literally barred from receiving compensation for that policy. So when a car insurance carrier can explain that the situation surrounding your accident is not covered, they are often essentially saying “sorry but you have the wrong type of coverage.”
An Example
Our firm was contacted by a woman who suffered from minor injuries in an accident when her car was sideswiped by a fellow commuter. Her claim had been denied and she contacted us hoping we could remedy the situation. She explained that the person that hit her was probably in a rush and not paying attention, but in order to make her story sound more compelling, she explained to the insurance adjuster that he hit her in a fit of road rage.
She thought this would frighten the insurance adjuster into making a quick settlement because she figured, who would want to defend someone like that. Her plan backfired and the insurance carrier denied the claim on the basis that they do not cover intentional torts (deliberate acts), the policy only covers negligence, and if he hit her on purpose the insurance policy does not apply. She admitted she exaggerated thinking would help, and since we cannot in good conscience help someone who was being dishonest we could not represent her in her case.
How Insurance Policies are Supposed to Work
As you have probably gathered insurance policies cover negligent acts that are mistakes or derive from ordinary recklessness. An insurance policy, may not apply when an insured driver is racing, either on track or street, or when the driver is driving drunk.
The Problem
Insurance carriers love nothing more than to argue that it doesn’t apply because they don’t have to argue that their driver wasn’t liable, only that his actions aren’t covered so you only have recourse against him. The problem is that insurance carriers will unfairly claim that the circumstances of your accident fall outside the scope of what their policy was designed to cover.
Our Attorney has over twenty years of experience and have dealt with literally thousands of car accident cases. We know how to deal with the insurance companies to make sure that they accept responsibility for their driver’s actions. We will help you through the entire process and deal directly with the insurance company on your behalf and get you the fair settlement that you deserve. Call today for a free consultation at
Consider the following:
Comfort Level - Are you comfortable telling the lawyer personal information? Does the lawyer seem interested in solving your problem?
Credentials - How long has the lawyer been in practice? Has the lawyer worked on other cases similar to yours?
Cost - How are the lawyer's fees structured - hourly or flat fee? Can the lawyer estimate the cost of your case?
City - Is the lawyer's office conveniently located?
Texas law allows injured drivers and passengers, and the families of the loved ones who have died or were injured in car accidents, to file a lawsuit against those responsible for the accident.
Legal responsibility, called “liability,” for a car accident often depends upon proof that another driver was at fault. The other driver, however, does not have to intentionally cause the crash. Proving the other driver operated the vehicle in an unsafe and unreasonable manner under the circumstances, known as negligence, is sufficient evidence to demonstrate liability.
In certain cases, non-driver factors lead to a car accident. These factors can include roadway hazards, poorly-marked construction sites, construction site debris, sand, or gravel on roadways, and other dangerous road conditions. Keep in mind, the deadline under Texas to bring a lawsuit, known as the statute of limitations, can be as short as six months for claims against governmental agencies.
When should you contact a car accident lawyer?
If you or a loved one has been involved in an automobile accident, you should discuss your case with an experienced auto accident attorney immediately. If too much time goes by before an injury lawyer takes on your case, certain evidence in your case may become impossible to acquire, witnesses may become out of reach, and insurance companies may disadvantage you. Our law firm handles exclusively personal injury claims and wrongful death claims.
Once we accept your automobile accident injury claim, we immediately begin working to obtain for you the maximum compensation allowed by law. We will:
Conduct a thorough investigation
Acquire all available evidence needed to prove and maximize your claim
Work with auto accident reconstruction experts to prove that the other party is at fault
Utilize medical experts to support your claim for the full extent of your injuries
Common Car Accident Injuries
Car accidents can be extremely traumatic. While some of the more fortunate accident victims are able to walk away from crashes without injuries, the sad truth is that many people don’t. In fact, too many car crashes that occur on Texas roadways are catastrophic—some of which result in death.
Because car crashes are usually violent, injuries are common. In fact, across the United States, there are about 1.6 million injury-causing car crashes every year. Whatever your injury and whatever the resulting cost, a San Antonio car accident lawyer from our firm can help you seek compensation to pay for your recovery.
Brain Injuries
Some of the most serious injuries resulting from car accidents are traumatic brain injuries. Symptoms of a brain injury can be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on several factors involved in the accident.
Unfortunately, brain injuries don’t always show symptoms immediately. If left untreated, even a minor brain injury can cause permanent damage; this can happen when the brain swells and creates too much pressure inside the head.
Spine and Back Injuries
Spine injuries can leave victims paralyzed. Typically, these types of injuries are caused in conjunction with injuries to the vertebrae, discs, or the spinal cord itself. In fact, broken bone fragments and disc material can damage the spinal cord, which carries signals between the brain and the rest of the body.
These injuries often lead to a severely decreased quality of life. This—in addition to your medical expenses—should be factored into your final settlement. With the help of a San Antonio car accident lawyer from our firm, it will be.
Neck Injuries and Whiplash
Neck injuries are some of the most common injuries that happen in car accidents. In many cases, whiplash, injury to the soft tissues of the neck, is unavoidable and results from the head’s forward momentum during a crash.
Other neck injuries include cervical dislocation, disc injury, and neck strain.
Internal Injuries
Seat belts, airbags, and other parts of the interior of a vehicle can all cause internal injuries during a wreck. The most at-risk organs include the bowels, kidneys, liver, lungs, and spleen.
Internal bleeding and injuries to your internal organs are all but certain to carry a heavy financial burden and long-term medical implications. Your San Antonio car accident lawyer will ensure that your medical needs, both current and future, are fully factored into your financial award.
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Have you ever wondered what a personal injury lawyer might be able to do for you? Many have, and many more should be looking into this kind of thing. If you have sustained an injury through no fault of your own, you may have a claim to be made for compensation. Injuries are not something that should just be brushed over.
A personal injury lawyer can help you with these cases and are able to provide the following benefits.
Consulting- Lawyers are best known for giving advice to their clients. They are able to offer solid advice about legal matters that people may have questions about. It is an important function for them because there are so many questions out there, and quite often fewer answers. Having a personal injury lawyer around who can answer some of these questions is critical to getting things moving in the right direction.
Offer Emotional Support- You may not believe it, but attorneys can have big hearts too. They do not look at their clients simply as ways to make money. They truly do feel sorry for these people for the predicament that they are in. During the times that follow a personal injury, it can be difficult to deal with certain things emotionally. Lawyers can often be someone to talk to about these important issues. Even if they do not deal with this directly, they can at least offer references to places that you might be able to find the support that you are looking for.
Serving As Your Advocate- The biggest and most important role that a lawyer plays is serving as your advocate in court. They work to make sure that you are fairly represented and get everything that you deserve out of the court proceedings. This is a nice thing to have around because you do not want to get run over in the courtroom. There are some people who do indeed have this happen to them, and it is a very unfortunate thing. If you allow your lawyer to work for you doing what they do, then there is a far lower chance of this happening.
These are just three of the things that a lawyer is able to offer you. They are so great at what they do, and there is little to compare them to in terms of the amount of support they offer. You would be foolish to turn down the opportunity to use the services of a lawyer that you really trust. They do not get paid unless you get paid, so you do not have to worry about not being able to afford one.
The monetary benefits of hiring a personal injury lawyer to get the justice you deserve to you are great. Make sure you take that into consideration when thinking about hiring a lawyer. There are few other things in life that are so important both to your financial health and to the justice system in general. That is why you must make the move to get yourself an advocate today.
