====================gtg
Parts of a Proper Claim
There are 4 fundamental parts (or things that should exist) that the plaintiff must have for the claim to be regarded as proper. If you are left with serious or minor damage to your vehicle and if these 4 parts are present, you may be entitled to compensation for your damages or other losses. The 4 parts needed for a personal injury lawsuit in Texas with success include duty, the breach of said duty, causation, and damages. Each part must be accounted for and proven for an automobile accident lawsuit to succeed. Here is a detailed explanation of each item so you can decide if each part can be proven and see how difficult it would be to do so in a court of law.
Duty
In an automobile accident, the plaintiff, or victim, must show that the defendant (the party who is to blame for having caused the wreck) had a duty. It means that the defendant had a duty to act with caution not to harm others. The duty part is usually quite simple to show. In many cases, the law mandates a duty. By way of example, most roads have a speed limit. If a driver chooses to speed beyond the speed limit and this affects another as an outcome, the driver breached a duty to be cautious while driving his automobile in a reasonable manner. In most cases, motorists owe each other a duty to drive their vehicles under a reasonable person standard. The standard of a reasonable person is that all people have a duty to behave as a reasonable person in the same or similar situation.
Breach
The next part, which has to be properly shown, is that there was a breach or several breaches. The plaintiff must show not only that duty was present but also that the defendant breached that duty. In the case of a wreck, the plaintiff can show that the defendant breached its duty, demonstrating that they behaved in an unreasonable condition. If the plaintiff can show that the defendant has behaved unreasonably, even for a short moment, the plaintiff can show broadly that the defendant breached the duty. To show it, you must get physical evidence of what the driver did not or did do that is to blame for having caused the breach. If the claim goes to court, the jurors examine the physical evidence and other physical evidence relating to the wreck where the driver’s behavior was in question.
Causation
Causation just shows that the defendant breached the duty and is therefore responsible for your damages. You must show that the defendant actually is to blame for having caused the injury. Often, the defendant will blame the plaintiff or some other scapegoat to escape responsibility. The defendant could avoid paying his damages if they can convince jurors that the other driver, pedestrian, or their own negligence is to blame for having caused his injury. Causation is a fundamental part of a personal injury claim and can be a complicated issue to show. The physical evidence must be presented to show the wreck and the damages were the direct outcome of the negligent behavior of the defendant.
Damages
Finally, in addition to showing that the defendant breached a duty that is to blame for having caused a wreck, the plaintiff must show that they suffered actual damages for the defendant to be held responsible. In addition, to recover, you must show the court of law the extent to which they should compensate you or, in other words, the amount the defendant owes. Each of the costs associated with the injury must be specifically detailed to support the request.
Calculation of damages can be a difficult process for beginners and is rarely simple. Several factors must be considered and it must be done precisely because the plaintiff only has a single chance to try to recover from the defendant and it must be the exact amount the defendant owes. A detailed inventory of all financial and other costs should be taken in calculating damages. The damages include more than the amount it would cost to repair your automobile or health care bills. Examples of what can be considered as damage may also include, but are not limited to, losses incurred as an outcome of not being able to work, loss of earning capacity, and travel costs resulting from the injury. By way of example, if you can’t drive and have to take a taxi to the doctor so you can receive treatment, taxi bills should be included in the total damage. Emotional harm may also be considered in the equation.
A financial value can be reasonably placed on the damage suffered as an outcome of the pain and anguish. Most people likely do not know how to calculate the dollar amount of pain and anguish. Our car accident lawyers have over twenty years of experience in these sorts of cases. Experience has taught us to estimate what you can get in terms of compensation for pain and anguish. Our firm will make sure you’re protected if you are likely to suffer losses as an outcome of not being able to return to work and take into account important factors such as time value of money and potential losses like lost opportunities for promotions and raises that likely would have received if you were able to continue working.
It is important and needed to support a calculation of damages by solid physical evidence. If you have been seriously hurt from your wreck, you’re likely made aware of your injuries on a daily basis. You can have endless pain, difficulty moving around due to immobility, or no transportation, because you can’t afford to repair your automobile. Your damages may be obvious to you but without a careful representation to jurors, do not expect jurors to see things from your point of view. In the case of many car wrecks, lawyers hotly contest the question of compensation. Defendants will produce their own calculation of your compensation, and in all likelihood, their number would be much lower in terms of remuneration than yours, because they want to minimize his costs as much as possible. A common defense tactic is to make the plaintiff appear eager for money and make it look like they asked for more money than they deserve. To succeed, it is needed to present solid physical evidence of your damages to show that you calculated your claims fairly and accurately.
If you were in an automobile wreck it is imperative to prove these 4 parts to enable collecting the damages you deserve for your damages. If you feel you might need a car accident lawyer, please contact our Law Office so that our firm can offer you a free consultation and advise you of your options.
========================gtg
=========================gtg
========================gtg
=================gtg
=======================gtg
========================gtg
=================gtg
Important Car Accident Information
Accident Injury Lawyer Gives You Important Car Accident Information That You Can Use
Our Texas car accident attorneys have many tips, tricks, and tidbits of advice for people affected by a car accident in Texas. Our Law Office sees many clients who are misinformed regarding the car accident legal process. Take it from us – here are our nine essential things to know about your car accident case.
1 – Lying to Your Car Accident Lawyer Will Cost You
In what may be the most unbelievable yet happens with regular occurrence, you should never under any circumstances, lie to your car accident attorney. You’ve retained your attorney to represent you completely and entirely throughout the entire car accident claim process. Lying to your car wreck lawyer is never a good idea. Additionally, lying to an insurance claims adjuster, to a doctor, or to anyone else involved with your car wreck claim is a very bad idea. Doing so will jeopardize your case and potentially prevent you or your family from receiving even what you would otherwise be owed after a car accident in Texas. If you don’t want to answer questions about a particular situation, direct the questions to your attorney. If you are uncomfortable with your attorney, find a different person to represent you. Again: never, under any circumstances, lie about your car accident case to your lawyer, your doctor, your insurance claim adjuster, or anyone else directly involved with the case.
2 – Accepting a Check or Settlement from the Insurance Company May Ruin Your Case
Car insurance companies engage in tricky and deceptive behavior. One of these misleading practices is to send you a lump sum check for all the claims you’ve previously submitted and stamp “final settlement” on the check and accompanying paperwork. If you accept this check and deposit it into your bank account, or sign any settlement paperwork, you may completely ruin any future claims you have against the driver or insurer. “Final settlement” means that you’ve agreed with the insurer that you will not submit any future claims related to this car accident. This means any future medical bills, any unpaid medical or property damage bills will not be paid by the insurer. What you should do instead: retain an attorney to review ANY paperwork sent by the insurance company and do not accept or deposit any checks until you are completely sure you are not agreeing to something you don’t want. Call our Law Office to set up a consultation with our car accident lawyers in Texas to ensure your rights and claims are protected from insurance company gimmicks.
3 – Hiding Past Injuries or Accidents Can Seriously Affect Your Case
Past medical history or previous accidents do not ruin a case. However, hiding these injuries or accidents from your car wreck attorney, from your doctor, or from the insurance claims adjuster can seriously affect your car wreck claim. An experienced and knowledgeable car wreck attorney can differentiate which injuries are attributable to which accident using expert medical opinion. Do not hide this information; it will not ruin your case unless you lie or obscure or do not tell someone of any previous injury.
4 – Keeping a Daily Journal Will Help Your Case
This bit of car accident advice comes straight from one of our client’s experiences. This client kept a written journal next to each phone in her house so she could record the time, date, person’s name she was talking to, and the subject matter of the conversation anytime the insurance company called her. This information can be invaluable during the progression of any claim or demand made by the insurance company.
Our auto accident attorneys also strongly recommend keeping a daily journal documenting your pain levels, the activities you performed that day, any medical personnel you saw (including therapists), and any medicines or drugs you took to ease your pain or reduce symptoms. When it comes to proving damages in the claims process, it is necessary to have evidence – and this daily journal is ideal to document your progression and physical state through the healing process.
m
5 – Go to the Doctor, Get a Diagnosis, and Start Treatment for Injuries
It’s amazing how many people try to tough it out and avoid seeing a doctor immediately after a car wreck. By waiting to see a doctor, you run the risk of making the injury worse, not documenting the existence of an injury, and providing the insurance company to say “we’re not paying because you didn’t go to the doctor so it couldn’t have been our fault/the injury must not have been that bad.” Go to the doctor, even if you have to miss work. Your lost wages can be compensated by the insurance company. Go to the doctor, even if you cannot afford it. Our Law Office maintains a list of doctor referrals who can expertly diagnose and treat your injuries without payment upfront. Call us for a complimentary consultation without car accident injury lawyers today.
6 – Car Insurance Companies are Always Investigating You
Remember this: the bigger the accident and injuries, the more the insurance company will want to limit their costs. One way to limit costs: find evidence against you that shows your injuries weren’t as bad as you claimed them to be. One easy way to determine this: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other online mechanisms. It’s amazing how quickly the insurance company will find photos, status updates, videos, even location data on where you are in order to make it look like you’re fine and exaggerating your injuries. Insurance companies may also use private investigators to seek you and your family, take photos of you engaging in normal activities, and document where you go and how long you stay – starting from the moment of the accident until the claim is fully resolved. Be smart – remove your social networking profiles, and do NOT exhibit any behavior that can compromise your injury claim.
7 – Trusting the Car Insurance Company is a Bad Idea
Take it from a highly experienced car accident litigation lawyer – trusting the car insurance company to do the right thing is a bad idea. The car insurance claims adjuster receives promotions and bonuses based on how much money he can save the insurance company. Even though there are many laws against deceptive practices, claims adjusters are rewarded for shady practices designed to lull you into trusting them – then pulling the rug out from under people. Get your own car accident attorney. Do not trust any attorney the insurance company recommends. Have a car wreck attorney review any and all paperwork sent to you by the insurance company and let the insurance adjuster know that he should talk to your lawyer – not you – for answers to any questions.
8 – Consider ALL Your Injuries and Damages in Your Insurance Claim
Damages following a car accident typically fall into two categories: personal injury claims and property damage claims. Determining the extent of property damage is fairly straightforward. Determining the amount of personal injury damage is very complex and requires a highly experienced car accident injury attorney to calculate all the possible damages, both present, and long-term.
Our Law Office knows precisely how to calculate all your possible damages and knows exactly how to demand this money from the insurance company. Call us to speak with a car wreck injury lawyer about your personal situation and determine whether you have a case against the insurance company or other driver.
9 – Let an Attorney Review and Determine Who is at Fault – and Who is Liable
Throwing around legal-sounding words and attempting to determine on your own who’s fault the accident was and who should pay you is a bad idea. Insurance companies are not scared by an individual person. Insurance companies are more scared by professional, experienced car accident litigation attorneys because these lawyers have a long track record of success for their clients against the car insurance company.
=================gtg
Personal Injury Protection / PIP Insurance
Our Auto Accident Lawyers Discuss Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Insurance After a Texas Car Accident
Texas car accidents occur every day and people injured in auto accidents often have several questions about how to file their insurance claims. No matter whether a demand letter is sent to your insurer or a lawsuit filed, anyone injured in any type of car wreck should file a claim under their Personal Injury Protection insurance, commonly known as PIP insurance.
Texas PIP insurance is a mandatory offering as part of regular auto insurance, but consumers can decline this coverage in writing with their car insurance company. Yet in Texas, many people hold misconceptions about PIP insurance.
The Truth about PIP Insurance in Texas
PIP insurance is no-fault insurance coverage. This means it does not matter who or what caused a car accident – just that there are injuries following the car wreck itself. Because this form of insurance is no-fault, insurance companies cannot raise rates, premiums, or deductibles based on past or present PIP insurance claims.
PIP insurance covers you, the driver, and any other occupants in the vehicle. Additionally, if you were hit by a car while riding a bicycle or if you were hit by a car while walking across the street, your PIP insurance will cover any property damage or bodily injury you sustain as a result of the car accident, regardless of whether you were at fault for the accident.
PIP insurance reimburses you up to whatever your car insurance policy’s maximum PIP coverage amount is for any property damage, bodily injury, and 80% of your lost income as a result of the car wreck. In Texas, car insurance companies must offer you PIP insurance coverage of at least $2,500, but this amount can be higher at your request at the time the insurance policy is written.
PIP insurance claims do not affect any other insurance claims. Regardless of whether you have filed or will file additional insurance claims against your car insurance policy or another driver’s car insurance policy, you may still receive all compensation from your PIP insurance. Likewise, regardless of whether you file a personal injury lawsuit against another driver and the other driver’s insurance company, a PIP claim will never affect a past, present, or future personal injury lawsuit nor a past, present, or future health insurance claim.
There’s a Catch
Insurance companies like to deny PIP claims made by their own insured and they often will do so based on odd technicalities. The best way to ensure that you receive the PIP benefits that you deserve is to have your attorney file the PIP claim for you, using the proper procedures, along with any personal injury claims that are filed against the defendant.
Our Law Office strongly recommends filing claims with PIP insurance immediately following any Texas car accident, regardless of reason or fault for the wreck. However, because PIP insurance maximums are often less than $5,000, this insurance coverage may not be enough to cover all medical expenses or property damage sustained during the accident. Contact our firm to speak with an experienced auto accident attorney about your personal situation following a car wreck. Call us for your complimentary consultation today.
================gtg
=========================gtg
When You Know that You Need an Attorney
When it comes to car wrecks, most accidents result in only property suffering damage. When it comes to damaged property, insurance companies have very little leeway to cheat the victim out of compensation. In most cases, if your car was the only thing damaged in the wreck, then you can likely resolve your situation and obtain restitution from the insurer. On the contrary, if you’ve suffered an injury or a loved one has been killed in a car wreck, then you must seek the help of an accident injury lawyer if you want to secure the compensation you merit. Unfortunately, the greater the value of the damage you have suffered, the harder it usually is to obtain fair compensation from an insurance company, which has the primary motivation of making money and not helping people. In order to protect their bottom line, insurance companies will expend a great effort, so you need the help of a skilled attorney if you are going to have any chance of success.
Look out for Pushy Insurance Adjusters
As the value of the possible compensation increases after a car accident, so does the likelihood that the insurer will assign one of its shrewdest and most experienced adjusters to deal with the claim. No matter how much you deserve to be compensated, the insurance company is only concerned with saving its money, and that means finding a way to deny your claim or at the very least reduce the size of your settlement. These are clever adjusters who know how to treat inexperienced accident victims. If they think you have a strong case, then they will offer you a settlement that is far less than you could actually obtain, hoping you will take the bait. If they offer you a settlement before you hire an attorney, that settlement is probably suspect and designed to prevent you from seeking competent legal aid. You need to have a skilled accident injury lawyer review any settlement offer before you accept it. Only an experienced eye can tell the difference between an equitable offer and an unfair one.
When the insurance adjuster cannot hustle you into signing away your right to sue in return for a sub-par settlement, they will attempt to trick you into affecting your own ability to be compensated. They will ask you a slew of questions designed to get you to admit your liability or to accidentally downplay the severity of your injuries, so they can deny or at the very least diminish the size of your compensation package. At our Law Office, our attorneys have 20 years of experience handling accident injury cases, so we know what a fair settlement offer looks like. Moreover, we buffer our clients from all interactions with the insurance company, so they can’t fall prey to a confusing line of questioning. We will not let our clients get hustled by fast-talking insurance adjusters.
It’s He Said or She Said, so You’re Going to Need Evidence
There are at least two sides to every accident story. While you might be telling the truth, and the other driver might be lying, you’re going to need more than your word to win a court case. Finding evidence is difficult to impossible for a novice. Our accident injury lawyers have been investigating accident scenes for as long as we’ve been litigating cases. We know how important it is to investigate quickly and diligently in order to have the best opportunity to find the needed evidence. On a busy roadway, evidence disappears immediately, so we begin searching for proof immediately, sequestering and examining all involved vehicles, locating and interviewing witnesses, analyzing any forensic evidence, reviewing police reports, and uncovering any available video. We know your word is not enough, so we will do whatever we can to prove your word.
Beware the Prejudice of Juries
There are certain circumstances in which jurors may have negative preconceived notions about certain elements of an accident case. For instance, some people have trouble accepting the validity of soft tissue injuries like whiplash, or muscle sprains, strains, and pulls. Many jurors come into a case not accepting that these injuries are as deserving of monetary compensation as more visible harms like broken bones. In fact, soft tissue injuries can often take longer to heal than broken bones and can sometimes mask much greater problems in the long run. A well-seasoned and schooled accident injury attorney, however, can convince even the most hostile juror that the injuries you have sustained are legitimate and merit restitution.
This Isn’t a Do-it-Yourself Job
To learn the law, an attorney spends years in law school. Then, he or she must prove his or her knowledge by passing the bar, but that’s only where the real education process begins. Practicing law successfully requires extensive experience. While the laws in every state permit a victim to represent him or herself, you would be doing yourself a great disservice by doing so. Non-attorneys are easily defeated by clever defense lawyers because they know people without legal experience cannot handle the procedural minutiae they demand of them. When the inexperienced non-lawyer fails to process a requirement, like a request for a list of admissions, the case can be swiftly thrown out of court. You have too much at stake to risk losing it all by trying to defend yourself. You need to hire a skilled accident injury lawyer like those at our Law Office who can protect your rights, correctly process all of the court’s requirements, and help you attain a favorable settlement or verdict.
What Our Law Office can Offer You
Once we’re hired, Our Law Offices offers our clients comprehensive legal assistance, including all of the following services:
Conducting a stringent investigation to pinpoint all of the parties who were responsible for an accident and finding the proof to prove the case against them – eyewitness testimony, videos, photos, or other physical evidence.
Processing all necessary paperwork including filing the claim with the insurer if it has not already been done.
Buffer our clients from all communication with pushy and aggressive insurance adjusters.
Making sure our clients receive adequate and affordable medical attention, even when they think they don’t have the means to pay for it. If injuries complicate due to inattention, the victim could transfer liability from the defendant to him or herself.
Using our strong reputation for success to pressure the insurance company into settling. This shelters our clients from time wasted and stress piled onto your shoulders.
Devise a strong trial strategy and execute that strategy in court if necessary.
Our Accident Injury Lawyers Know How to Help You
At Our Law Offices, we will do everything within our power o make sure you are fairly compensated after you have been injured or a loved one has been killed in an auto wreck. We have won many millions of dollars for other injured and grieving Texans, so we have the knowledge, experience, and skill to help you, as well.
To find out what we can do for you, call now for a free consultation. You will have the opportunity to discuss your case with a trained specialist who will listen to your story, answer any questions you may have, and explain the legal options you have available.
=====================gtg
