Texas Statute of Limitations
What Is the Statute of Limitations in Texas?

In the State of Texas, there is a relatively small period of time following an incident whereby the plaintiff may file a suit or pursue other legal action against the defendant. The amount of time available is dependent on the type of case as well as several secondary factors. The deadline whereby the plaintiff loses the right to pursue legal action is known as the statute of limitations.

Generally speaking, the statute of limitations is 2 years from the date of the incident. The statute of limitations applies to the following cases accordingly:

General Personal Injuries – 2 years from the date of injury;
Car Accidents — 2 years from the date of injury;
Work Accidents where Workers’ Comp is not present – 2 years from the date of injury;
Wrongful Death – 2 years from the date of death;
Product Liability Cases – 2 years;

An exception to the Statute of Limitations – Minor Child
The most common exception to the conventional statute of limitations is that of an injury sustained by a minor. Since minors are seen are not of age to make important legal decisions, The State of Texas extends the statute of limitations, regardless of the child’s age at the time of the accident, until 2 years from the date of the child’s 18th birthday. In other words, the countdown does not begin until the child becomes an adult.

For example, if a five-year-old child is injured in a car accident, they would not lose the right to pursue legal action until the date of their 20th birthday.

The same extension of the statute applies to the wrongful death benefits or claim that a child is entitled to following the death of a parent. For example, if a construction worker is killed on the job and he has a 19-year-old child and a 15-year-old child, the eldest has two years from the date of the incident to file a claim, while the younger of the two would have approximately five years to file a similar claim.

Other Exceptions to the Statute of Limitations
Lack of Common Knowledge
In some cases, the statute is said to begin on the date that a reasonable person would have become aware of the injury. A perfect example of this would be an asbestos exposure/ mesothelioma case. In most of these types of cases, the victim was exposed to asbestos years or decades prior to the discovery that such exposure results in the deadly disease mesothelioma. Most victims of mesothelioma would go many years before they were diagnosed as having this disease. The law provides a special exception and the statute is extended and starts to run, on the date that the victim is diagnosed with the disease, even though the actual exposure happened many years before.

Extenuating Circumstances
If there is some compelling force that renders the plaintiff incapable of pursuing legal action, the statute of limitations may be extended. For example, if the victim is in a coma for the normal period of the statute of limitations, they may be granted an extension because they were incapable of filing a lawsuit while they were unconscious.

Establishing a Reasonable Standard
The term “reasonable” is often used in the legal world. If there are extenuating circumstances that would keep a reasonable person from starting a legal case, the statute can be extended. In the example above, the mesothelioma victim was given a drastically extended statute of limitations because it is perfectly reasonable to assume that they were unaware they were infected. Had that person been diagnosed with mesothelioma and then waited for 3 years to contact an attorney, it would not be likely that the statute of limitations would be extended because it is not reasonable for a person to wait that long.

Furthermore, ignorance is not an excuse. For example, if an accident victim did not know that he or she could file a lawsuit, that would not be considered reasonable in the eyes of the law.

There’s Always a Catch
With most things that sound appealing in life, there is always a catch. The legal world is not immune from this phenomenon. Although you technically have two years before the statute of limitations expires, waiting until the end of that two-year period CAN RUIN YOUR CASE! The earlier a personal injury attorney gets involved in your case, the better the chances are of securing the maximum possible recovery. The longer you wait before you hire an attorney, the fewer options available to the attorney will become fewer and fewer and it will likely hurt the value of your case.

So why is that exactly?

Contrary to popular belief, a trial is usually a last resort. A trial is generally considered as the “silver bullet” to be used if other measures fail to result in a fair settlement. Ideally, your attorney will have plenty of time to fully investigate your claim and gain a thorough understanding of all of the facts and circumstances involved which they can use to determine the best course of action. When the attorney has such an abundance of time, they are able to build a strong case in your favor and they can use the threat of taking your case to trial against the defendant while attempting to use alternative methods of resolution. With any trial, there is a substantial amount of risk for both sides since the outcome is in the hands of the jury who are perfectly capable of making an irrational decision. To recap, the attorney will best be able to serve you if they have plenty of time to try alternative methods of resolution while using the threat of taking the case to trial as a motivator to keep the defendants interested in resolving the case.

By waiting until the end of the statute of limitations, you are putting the attorney in a position where they have no choice but to file a lawsuit and proceed toward a trial. It’s a bit like waiting until the last few minutes of the game to send in your star player.

What’s Happening While You Wait to Speak to an Attorney?

While you may be waiting to make a decision, the defense side is already forming a case against you. This is simply a normal operating procedure in the world of legal defense. Any time there is a potential for a lawsuit to be brought against them, an insurance company, or another defendant will start preemptively building a case against the plaintiff, even if the plaintiff has not indicated that they are going to file a claim or lawsuit.

In many instances, you will not be able to find an attorney that is interested in your case once too much time has passed. It is always a good idea to at least talk to an attorney and get a no-obligation consultation just to hear all of your options and make an educated decision prior to letting your statute run its course.

You’ve got nothing to lose by getting some free advice, and everything to lose by not doing so.

You are Probably Damaging Your Own Case
Additionally, most plaintiffs unknowingly say things to damage their case any time they speak with the defendants or their insurance adjusters or attorneys. The sooner you get an attorney involved, the sooner you will be insulated from the tricks and deceptive practices used by the defendants and their insurance adjusters.

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The Thin Skull Rule & Eggshell Skull Rule

The thin skull rule is invoked in personal injury cases in Texas when a person with a previously existing medical condition suffers an injury that results in greater harm to that person than if they had not had a preexisting condition. The thin skull rule, also known as the eggshell skull rule, holds that the liable party for such an injury is still liable for the full extent of a plaintiff’s injury, regardless of the defendant’s knowledge of the plaintiff’s preexisting condition. The simple phrase often used to convey the essence of the thin skull rule is “take them as they find them,” which means that a defendant must take a plaintiff as they find them.

The unique legal phrase for this rule comes from the notion that a person with a thin skull would suffer more severe injury than a person with a normal skull. It’s likely that a person causing injury to the victim would not be aware that the person had a thin skull. However, the eggshell skull rule exists so that a person’s previously existing medical condition cannot be used by a defendant in order to skirt any or all liability for the extent of the injury incurred by the victim.

Many people injured in car wrecks or through workplace accidents have contacted my office in the past, fearful that they have few legal rights to seek compensation for their injury because they’re aware of their susceptibility to injury due to a preexisting medical condition. However, the existence of the thin skull rule allows such individuals, who often experience a much greater amount of pain due to their existing medical condition compounding their injury, an avenue for legal recourse. Should you have sustained an injury due to another person’s or entity’s negligent behavior, which may have resulted in more severe injuries than normal due to a previously existing medical condition, consider contacting our personal injury lawyers. With twenty years of experience in helping injured victims just like you see fair compensation, the team at our Law Office will work with those responsible for your previous medical care so that we can show how an injury was exacerbated by your medical condition.

As you’ve likely incurred a greater amount of damages due to an injury compounded by your previous medical condition or susceptibility to injury, seeking compensation for such an injury is an important step to take in order to start the recovery process. In addition to seeking compensation for your injury, you will also be working to hold the negligent parties accountable for their behavior so that a similar accident does not have to befall another person.

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Vicarious Liability
The Texas Lawyers at our Law Office Explain the Concept of Vicarious Liability

While surprising to some, in certain instances a party can be held responsible for the negligence of others – a principle known as vicarious liability. The principle often comes into play in personal injury lawsuits.

Consider a traffic accident in which a delivery truck rams into a car, injuring the driver of the car. If the driver of the truck was at fault, not only can the trucker be held liable, but also the company that employed the trucker as well.

Most typically, vicarious liability affects traffic accidents involving commercial vehicles, but this principle can be brought into play in other types of accidents. For example, John Jones has been drinking heavily, and he asks to borrow his buddy Steve Smith’s car for the afternoon to run errands. Mr. Smith gives Mr. Jones the keys to his car despite the fact that Mr. Smith knows Mr. Jones may be legally drunk. Mr. Jones then gets into a drunken-driving accident and injures another party. Mr. Smith would be liable for giving his car keys to a drunken driver and subject to a lawsuit for vicarious liability called negligent entrustment.

Dealing with a case involving vicarious liability is an intricate undertaking that requires the expertise of a knowledgeable attorney. Separate claims must be filed for each defendant, and it takes experience to know how much damages should be assessed to each party responsible based upon their contributory negligence.

At our Law Office, our attorneys have 20 years of experience handling personal injury cases all over Texas, and our seasoned lawyers know how to handle cases involving more than one defendant. We will make sure that you and your family receive equitable restitution for the injury you have suffered. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, and you think vicarious liability might be involved, call our Law Offices today for a free consultation.

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Texas Law Firms
Searching for Texas Law Firms? Our Law Office Can Help You

Our Law Office helps injury victims, survivors of family members killed in an accident, and families of people who have incurred serious personal injuries. Our firm can help you wade through the legal process so that you can focus your energy on recovering from the accident and getting your life back on track.

With two decades of experience in handling personal injury cases, the lawyers with our Law Office have a reputation for successfully fighting for the rights of their clients and winning thousands of cases involving personal injury. There is a good chance we can help you as well.

Personal Injury Definition
The term “personal injury” means any kind of physical injury and the suffering that results, including mental trauma, that occurs because of the actions or inactions of another entity or person. The law in Texas states that the person who experiences a personal injury, otherwise known as the “plaintiff,” is eligible to try and obtain restitution from the party responsible for causing the injury, otherwise known as the “defendant.”

The Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code is the basis of Texas personal injury laws. However, it is imperative to note that, according to Texas personal injury law, defendants do not owe anything to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs are allowed, under the law, to seek fair restitution from the defendant in order to make the plaintiff whole after a personal injury has taken place. Personal injury laws in Texas do not require defendants to pay anything to plaintiffs; rather, plaintiffs have to initiate litigation, prove defendants were responsible, and prove the monetary amount of their damages in order to obtain compensation from the court. Typically, defendants are liable only for the damages they directly caused, and only to the extent the plaintiff suffered. Therefore, it is vital that the plaintiff prepare a case focused on proving not simply liability, but also damages and cause.

Can You File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Any person can sue any other person. In order for your case to have a chance to succeed, you have to prove four elements: Duty, Breach, Cause, and Damages. You must first prove that the defendant owed to you a legal duty of care. Then, you have to prove the defendant breached that duty – for example, by performing a certain action or failing to perform an action. Then you must prove the defendant’s breach of duty resulted in harm befalling you. Finally, you have to prove you were damaged – you must quantify those damages in a specific dollar amount.

The definition of “duty of care” that one person owes another person can vary depending on the situation. Drivers, for instance, are charged with the duty to drive their vehicles in such a fashion so that they do not cause an accident to occur. Careless or reckless driving that results in harm to another person is a breach of that duty not to harm another driver. The level of care varies according to the parties involved. Your doctor, for example, owes you a higher level of care than does your neighbor.

The Three Elements of Successful Personal Injury Litigation
There are three elements to a successful personal injury case: liability, damages, and a solvent defendant. The following is an explanation of these elements.

Liability
If a defendant violates a legal duty that is owed to the plaintiff, the defendant is said to be liable to that plaintiff, and therefore, the defendant is also liable for the damages incurred by the plaintiff. Typically, a defendant violates that duty through the commission of some negligent act. The term “negligence” is defined as conduct that is careless or reckless, and which leads to some kind of accident. A common form of negligence is inattention; however, defendants can also be guilty of committing an act of “gross negligence.” The standard of proof for gross negligence is significantly higher than standard negligence and usually means the defendant did something with the full knowledge that doing so will probably lead to some kind of harm. For instance, the act of driving while intoxicated is a grossly negligent act. There are other instances where a defendant will commit an intentional or willful act that will lead to liability. Both of these kinds of acts mean the deliberate infliction of harm on another person, e.g. assault. No matter what the level of the defendant’s conduct may be, however, the plaintiff is required to prove that the defendant acted negligently in some form or fashion in a manner that holds them liable for the injury suffered by the victim.

Damages
The term “damages” in the legal realm means the monetary amount of a loss suffered by the plaintiff as the result of the defendant’s gross negligence, negligence, or willful or intentional act. Damages have to be differentiated from injury. For example, if the defendant is guilty of breaking your arm, and you have to spend $5,000 at a hospital for treatment, the “injury” is the broken arm and the “damages” are $5,000.

However, it is often difficult to place a specific “price tag,” so to speak, on your personal injury damages. Therefore, damages are split into two categories: general damages and special damages. General damages are non-monetary in nature and are difficult to prove because they are subjective. Examples include loss of consortium, disfigurement, mental trauma, pain and suffering, and impairment. Because general damages are subjective, it is important you enlist the services of an experienced law firm to help you determine them. The attorneys with our Law Office have 20 years of experience identifying and proving general damages in a court of law. Legal laypeople or inexperienced law firms can have a very difficult time proving non-monetary damages. Our attorneys know how to gather proof, ask the right questions, and present the case to a judge or jury to present our clients in the best light possible. All situations are different, of course, but a seasoned and skilled lawyer can help a plaintiff formulate a proper, well-thought-out demand for general damages.

On the other hand, special (or economic) damages are typically verifiable and objective. Financial losses that occur as the result of a personal injury can be quite easy to determine. However, if an accident victim does not recover quickly from his or her injury, proving special damages, as well as calculating them, can be difficult. Should a plaintiff become partially disabled as a result of the injury, the calculation of lost wages can’t be done by simply multiplying the victim’s present income by the number of years he or she could have been expected to stay in the workforce. There are several other factors that have to be considered, such as probable raises in pay, the value of money over time, educational achievements, and inflation. Also, benefits such as retirement, dental, and medical have to be assigned a specific monetary value.

All damages have to be analyzed, developed, and accounted for in order for a personal injury lawsuit to be successful. Plaintiffs who choose to represent themselves in this kind of litigation often shortchange themselves, and as a result, defendants are able to get away with paying less than they should. Plaintiffs often fail to properly account for all components of their damages and demand payment for them. The personal injury attorneys at our law firm are very familiar with developing our clients’ cases so they can prove not just their tangible damages, but their subjective damages as well. Those damages include those that are incurred before the settlement and also those that will continue on an ongoing basis.

Solvent Defendant
The old saying, “you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip” is very appropriate when it comes to attempting to obtain compensation from a bankrupt or otherwise financially insolvent defendant. It doesn’t matter how willful or reckless a defendant’s actions may have been; if the defendant does not have the ability to pay, there is no way a plaintiff can get the fair restitution he or she deserves. There are some plaintiffs who will never get just compensation because the defendant will never be solvent.

This is one of the most vital ways in which a seasoned attorney can be of assistance to a personal injury plaintiff. There are some defendants who, in an effort to escape responsibility, will try and hide their assets. Our law firm knows how to uncover hidden assets. In fact, one of the things we do first upon being hired is to trace the defendant’s assets. By doing so, we can find hidden assets and work to keep that defendant from ever being able to hide assets again.

How a Lawyer Can Help You
There are a lot of people who have the mistaken assumption that the State of Texas has laws designed to protect their rights and provide them just restitution should they be hurt by another person or entity. This could not be farther from the truth, unfortunately. As stated before, Texas law, through the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code enables plaintiffs to try and obtain restitution for injuries caused by another. However, they have to prove all elements of their case if they are to win their case. You can’t just prove that you were injured because a defendant breached a duty of care; if you can’t prove the monetary amount of your damages, you will not win your case. On the other hand, if you can prove $5 million in damages, but you cannot prove that the defendant proximately caused those damages, you won’t win anything.

You might think that simply knowing the law as it pertains to your case will be enough for you to represent yourself and win the litigation. This is simply untrue. In order to have a chance at winning your case, you must develop the facts to support each and every one of the above-mentioned elements. You have to correctly follow court procedure. You have to prove causal links in your case. You have to present the facts in the most favorable light to yourself, and in the most negative light in regard to the defendant. You have to do all of this just to have a chance at winning.

There are some plaintiffs who wait too long before hiring a law firm, and as a result, the lawyer hired can’t help them as effectively as he or she may have had the plaintiff hired that lawyer sooner. Just because you’ve been hurt and suffered monetary damage, that doesn’t mean an insurance company and a defendant will, out of their sense of right, sign over a fat check to you. You’d be surprised how many plaintiffs actually believe this. Insurance companies are only concerned with one thing – protecting their bottom line. They are not interested in helping you recover both physically and financially from your accident. Insurance carriers will employ whatever means are possible in order to deny your claim or offer a ridiculous, insulting settlement offer that won’t even come close to covering your economic damages. And when a plaintiff chooses to represent himself or herself, the chances of winning special (or non-economic) damages from a defendant are practically zero.

When a plaintiff enlists the help of a seasoned law firm immediately following a personal injury takes place, he or she benefits greatly. Experienced law firms can take care of every piece of a personal injury case, and fight back any potentially underhanded tactics the defense may try and use. An effective attorney, for instance, can make sure an insurance company doctor conducts a thorough examination of a plaintiff, rather than simply concluding that the plaintiff isn’t injured. That attorney can also help by propounding and responding to discovery. You must get the help of a lawyer before you are faced with legal documents such as interrogatories or requests for admissions. Improper answers to these items can severely damage a plaintiff’s case. Many times, a plaintiff will answer these documents in regular English rather than legalese, and this can also hurt a case. It is imperative as well for a plaintiff to use the tools of discovery against defendants, phrasing requests in such a way as to, basically, force a defendant to answer questions, rather than using sly phrases and words that may sound impressive but fail to adequately answer questions or convey real content. There are several procedural devices such as counterclaims, cross-claims, summary judgments, motions to dismiss, motions to compel, and interlocutory appeals that can completely befuddle self-represented plaintiffs and lead to the case being thrown out.

Your Litigation is Extremely Important to Us

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Sole Proximate Cause
This only true defense a non-subscriber can use to avoid paying a claim is the Sole Proximate Cause defense – that the deceased employee was 100 percent responsible for his or her own death. The only way an employer can successfully prove this defense is by making your family out to be a habitually incompetent employee who was negligent on a regular basis. If successful in proving Sole Proximate Cause, the employer will be able to keep from paying your family the compensation that you deserve.

While it’s true the company did not see fit to pay for workers’ comp insurance, you can guarantee that company will open its checkbook and pay big money to a defense lawyer who is adept at dragging deceased construction workers through the mud. It is imperative you have an experienced and effective attorney by your side to defeat those lowdown tactics and protect your loved one’s reputation.

The Employer/Employee Relationship
A few employers will try and skate the rules by claiming the deceased worker was never really a “true employee,” but a contractor. In Texas, contractors are solely responsible for their own safety in the workplace. But merely making that claim does not mean that Texas law will view that worker as a contractor. Attorneys with our Law Office are very adept at proving that an employer/employee relationship existed by examining pay stubs and contracts and interviewing fellow workers in order to satisfy one of the several standards that prove an employer/employee relationship. These include:

The employer held back Social Security or taxes from the worker’s paycheck.
The employer was responsible for providing the equipment necessary for the worker to perform his or her job.
The worker was expected to follow a set schedule established by the employer.
Your family member either signed a document or performed a task, that limited his or her rights while working for that company. For example, he or she signed a document that stated he or she agreed to comply with an employee handbook or took a drug test.
The worker was not hired for an isolated, single job, but rather for an extended, undetermined amount of time.
Your loved one was paid via salary or hourly wage instead of job-by-job.

What Can You Do?
The first thing NOT to do is to ever, ever give up your right to sue by signing any sort of admission of your family member’s liability for the accident in exchange for a woefully inadequate settlement.

Next, you must act immediately to find a lawyer, or at least as soon as you can. It can be very difficult, and require a lot of proof, to protect the reputation of your deceased loved one.

Every minute you wait to hire an attorney is every minute that evidence disappears – witnesses’ memories become cloudy, and the physical characteristics of the accident scene itself begin to alter. The longer you wait to seek legal help, the more difficult time you’ll have unearthing the evidence that is crucial to prevailing in your case. A detailed investigation needs to immediately be launched. After all, the construction company, insurance provider, and defense lawyers will already be working for the other side. You need a tenacious and passionate attorney working on your side to match them stride for stride.

The wrongful death attorneys at our Law Office have helped the devastated families of construction fatality victims for two decades. We’ve won hundreds of wrongful death cases that resulted in millions of dollars in judgments for our clients. When hired, we will launch an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding your family member’s death and gather the evidence you will need to prove your case. We will not hesitate to pursue legal action against any liable third parties if necessary in order to ensure all of those responsible for the death of your loved one are held accountable. Our attorneys have either negotiated settlements with, or won lawsuits against, every major insurance company in the United States, so their high-powered operatives are well aware of our courtroom acumen. As a result, there are many times insurers will choose to make our clients a reasonable settlement offer rather than risk losing a much larger amount of money in a lawsuit. If they choose not to engage in negotiations, we’ll be well prepared to face them in court and make them regret that decision. If you have lost a family member due to a fatal construction accident, call our Law Office as soon as you can for a free and confidential consultation with an experienced wrongful death attorney and find out how we can help you get the justice and fair restitution your family deserves.

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Contact Our Tire Defect Attorney If You’ve Been Injured Due To a Tire Blowout

If you’ve been injured recently in a rollover accident because of a tire blowout, don’t anticipate the recovery compensation process for property damage and injuries suffered to be similar to seeking compensation for a typical car accident.

From a legal standpoint, there are several key differences between tire blowout accidents and other kinds of standard car wrecks. The only way to get the maximum compensation you deserve and to see all liable parties brought to justice is to contact a capable tire defect attorney you can trust.

Rollover accidents often lead to more serious damage to your vehicle and injuries to you and the passengers. Without the right legal representation, your insurance claim could very well be denied. If your case should go to court, there are slight differences in the way these cases are approached, which could confuse an inexperienced attorney and jeopardize your case’s chances for success.

How Are Rollover and Tire Defect Cases Different From Standard Auto Wreck Cases?
For one thing, the chances of multiple responsible or liable parties in a tire defect case are quite higher than a typical car accident. If a blowout causes a rollover, the manufacturer is likely to be held liable for the rollover. In addition, several other factors could have caused the tire to fail, including:

Improper installation and mounting of the tire.
Improper maintenance of the tire.
Whether or not the tire was intended for the vehicle it was installed on.
Besides the manufacturer, any party that was involved in the design, selection, installation, or maintenance of the faulty tire could bear partial liability, at least for the harm created by the blowout. Several other factors involving the manufacturer may have contributed to your accident, such as:

The design of the vehicle’s suspension regarding its resistance to rolling when both static and loaded.
The crash effectiveness of the vehicle related to the ability of its structure to withstand a rollover accident, and especially the firmness and compressive strength of pillars A, B, and C.
The presence and operating function of any additional safety equipment during a rollover.
Many other factors.

Selecting the Right Tire For a Vehicle Can be Crucial
You may be curious as to why choosing the right tire for your vehicle can be so important. It’s only a piece of rubber, you may be thinking. In reality, the modern tire is one of the most important and complex components on your car. Different layers of varied materials come together in the tire to allow for maximum heat treatment and friction resistance. The ability of the tire to function correctly often depends on a variety of chemical and molecular structures within the tire.

Four springs make up your vehicle’s suspension, and the tires are frequently called the fifth spring because they are very important for the absorption and release of energy throughout your car. Unlike the leaf or metal coil springs in the suspension, tires do not have a fixed spring rate. Basically, if the tire is in good condition and suited to your car, it acts as a good spring, allowing your vehicle to lean as you change lanes or turn, without the car turning over. However, if the tire is worn significantly or not suited for your car, then the tire becomes a poor spring, and the car may easily roll over when turning or even swerving quickly through traffic lanes.

As your car moves down the road, the vehicle’s weight pushes the tires downward into a flat spot that meets the roadway. This is called the contact patch. At the point where the tire stretches to meet the road at the contact patch, friction occurs, causing heat to be released into the tire. It’s similar to the phenomenon where a paperclip heats up as you bend it back and forth. With your tires, the rubber structure can become affected by the combination of heat generated on the contact patch, the heat created by compression of the air under load inside the tire, and the absorption of heat from the atmosphere.

Tires are actually the only parts on your car that make contact with the road. Taking into consideration all the ways heat builds up in and around the tire, and the small size of the contact patch (about the size of a shoe), manufacturers carry a tremendous responsibility for ensuring their tires perform as they are intended. If a manufacturer fails to supply the right tire for a particular vehicle, then rollover accidents are likely to happen.

Simply Deserving Compensation Is Not Enough
Just suffering an injury in a rollover accident isn’t an automatic guarantee you will be compensated for the harm done. You’ll need the help of a tire defect attorney to investigate your case, find the needed evidence, and support that critical evidence with expert testimony to secure your compensation.

Because there are so many potentially liable parties in your rollover accident, you will need an experienced tire defect lawyer that is familiar with investigating rollover wrecks to determine whose negligent behavior caused your wreck and then to hold them accountable with evidence. At our Law Office, we are aware of how quickly evidence begins to fade after an accident, so we conduct an extensive investigation immediately, sequester and examine all the vehicles involved, and focus specifically on the tires in rollover accidents. We evaluate forensic evidence from the scene, such as skid marks, and locate any witnesses or video evidence.

Yet merely having physical evidence is insufficient to win a case in court. You must also be able to convince a jury of the importance and validity of the evidence, and that often requires the testimonies of expert witnesses that interpret the wear and tear on the tires. At our Law Office, for the past twenty years, our tire defect attorneys have been handling rollover accident cases. We’ve developed consulting relationships with numerous experts who can influence the jury and sway them with facts to accept the evidence and conclusions presented to them.

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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, known commonly 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 of this form of insurance in 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 past, present, or future personal injury lawsuit nor a past, present, or future health insurance claim.

Did You Know? Our car accident attorneys have won thousands of cases. Call us today to discuss your case.

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 us to speak with an experienced auto accident attorney about your personal situation following a car wreck. Call us for your complimentary consultation today.

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If Your Child has Been Hurt in a Car Accident, Don’t Delay, Call our Law Office Today

You probably have seen the car crash dummy videos. You know, the ones that simulate how a real person is likely to be thrown around the inside of a vehicle during a car crash. The replicated car wrecks are created for automakers and consumers to get the real scoop on how well their vehicles might react if it is involved in a real accident.

It helps potential car owners to evaluate how well a car’s safety features will respond to possibly save their lives. And it helps automakers know where they can improve their products and increase their sales compared to the competition. Depending on the speed of the vehicles on impact, those crash dummies are exposed to a lot of potential physical injury. And those are big dummies! What about the little children? Because children have less body mass they are more likely to sustain serious injuries if they are involved in a car accident. If you are the parent or guardian of an injured child in a car accident, it’s up to you to seek justice and compensation for that child. Call the personal injury attorneys at our Law Office today to discuss your child’s injuries.

Regardless of who is to blame for an injured child in a car accident, the use of child safety seats and other approved restraints provide greater protection in a crash than safety belts alone. According to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), child restraints decreased fatal injuries of infants younger than a year old by 58-71 percent and for toddlers, it decreased injuries by 54-59 percent compared to those who are not restrained. That means more than three hundred (300) children younger than 5-years-old were saved from sure death because they were restrained when the car they were riding in was involved in a collision.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) revised its suggestions about the safest way to transport children in passenger vehicles. Anyone who has a child riding in their vehicle should adhere to the following instructions:

Phase 1 – Infants from birth to thirty-five (35) pounds should be placed in a safety seat that is rear-facing and properly attached to the car’s back seat.
Phase 2 – After a child outgrows their rear-facing safety seat, which usually is when the child turns 3, the child can be placed in a safety seat that is forward-facing, but still in the back seat, until the child weighs no more than eighty (80) pounds and/or is at least 4-years-old. Remember to NEVER turn a child forward-facing before 12 months old AND 20-22 pounds.
Phase 3 – After age 4 and at least forty (40) pounds, children are allowed to ride in a booster seat with the car’s lap and shoulder belt used to secure them. Once the child is tall enough for the safety belt to secure them properly, usually when the child is 4’9″ tall, the booster seat no longer is needed.
Phase 4 – Once a child outgrows the booster seat, usually when he or she reaches 4’9″ and around 100 pounds, the adult safety belt should fit them properly. The lap belt fits low over the hips and at the top of the thighs. The shoulder belt fits across the center of the chest.
If you are unsure how to properly attach the child seat to the car’s seat, your local fire department personnel should be able to assist you with it. Or if you are leaving the hospital with an infant, medical professionals will instruct you on the proper use before you leave with your new family member.

The above regulations are national requirements. Additionally, in the state of Texas, a child who is less than 4’9″ tall is required to ride in a booster seat until he or she reaches 8 years old. And while the vehicle is in motion, anybody who is less than 17 years old is required to have their seatbelts buckled. If a law enforcement officer observes children riding unrestrained, the driver will be ticketed.

These national laws were implemented to save the lives of our youngest and most vulnerable citizens. Anyone who has children riding in their vehicles is required to have an age-appropriate safety seat in use. The use of safety seats has drastically cut back the number of injuries and deaths. More than 250,000 children suffered from injuries sustained in car accidents in one year alone. And approximately 2,000 of those children perished from their injuries. Don’t let your child become a statistic. Use proper age-appropriate restrains. If your restraints don’t prevent your child from being injured, or despite using proper restraints another driver is to blame for an injured child in a car accident, you have a parental obligation to seek justice for your child.

The state of Texas also leads the nation in the number of children – thirteen – who have died due to hyperthermia. Hyperthermia is another name for heat exposure or heat exhaustion. These littlest victims died when a caregiver, parent, or guardian forgot about them and left them strapped in their car seats for an extended amount of time in the hot Texas heat. The average outside temperature between June and September in Texas is 90 degrees. And that’s in the shade. Imagine how hot it can get inside an enclosed vehicle for thirty (30) minutes – let alone an hour – on a normal sunny day in Texas. If your child was injured or has died because of someone else’s negligence, you should seek the advice of an experienced personal injury attorney like the ones at our Law Office.

In the state Texas, there is a twenty-four (24) month statute of limitations that must be adhered to in order to file a personal injury claim if you were injured in an accident. When a child is the victim harmed, the statute of limitations ends two years after that child’s 18th birthday. It gives the underage child enough time to act on his or her own behalf just in case the parents or guardian did not fight for the child’s rights in a court of law at the time that the car wreck occurred.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that our Law Office is suggesting that it’s okay to procrastinate when it comes to filing a case against the person responsible for an injured child in car accident personal injury claim. In fact the sooner the claim is filed the better off your opportunities are of proving that your minor child has been injured in a car accident due to someone else’s negligence.

What is in the Child’s Best Interest?
Even though parents should know what’s best for their child(ren), if the parents are not attorneys, they probably do not know the best way to bring a guilty person to justice who is to blame for a child’s injuries or death in a car accident. That’s why parents of the minor should hire an experienced attorney who can present the best case now while all the evidence is still available.

In addition, the court could appoint a third party representative for the child, called an ad litem or child advocate. An advocate or ad litem is a neutral party who has no biological or personal connection to the parents or guardian of the injured child or the person responsible for the child’s injuries. The goal of the ad litem/advocate is to make sure the child’s interests are represented.

Calculation of Damages for a Child’s Injuries in a Car Wreck
The first thing you should do is to seek medical care for your child after an accident. If the crash is severe enough that an ambulance is called to the scene, it is in the best interest of your child to go to a hospital for a full medical diagnostic. Depending on the age of the child during the accident, any damage might cause the child’s physical development to be stunted or altered. Some injuries are not visible to the naked eye, but only in x-rays or through the examination by a medical professional. So even if your child is old enough to express his or her pain, don’t take their word for it. Allow them to get a full examination. It will be a part of your evidence should you decide to file a lawsuit against the person responsible for your injured child’s car accident. If money is a problem and your family is unsure how any medical bills will be paid, attorney might be able to help your child get the medical care he or she needs free of charge until after your injured child’s car accident claim is settled. Call our Law Office today to discuss your child’s injuries.

In addition to medical expenses, the negligent person or persons most likely will be required to pay general damages and special damages. The amount of damages will depend on the minor child’s age at the time of the accident. These cases often require certain legal presentations to win compensation from the driver who is at fault. The guilty person could be ordered to pay general damages and special damages.

General damages include pay off for physical pain and suffering and disfigurement if applicable. But if the child was permanently disabled in the car accident, the general monetary damage awarded could be higher than those for an adult. That’s because a child who is disabled will not be able to take care of themselves. So their financial support will depend on family members or they will become dependant on government assistance. As a disabled person he or she will need expensive medical care.

Special damages are the accumulation of the monetary damages suffered by the child. The amount could include medical bills, property damage expenses such as the vehicle the child was riding in or driving, any legal fees, and lost wages if the child was employed was working during the time of the car accident.

Our attorneys who represent children hurt in traffic accidents have more than twenty years of experience. Call our Law Office today to discuss your child’s injuries.

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Birth Injury Lawsuit Lawyer Discusses Brachial Plexus, Shoulder Dystocia, and Erb’s Palsy

Birth injuries can happen to anyone and can result in very serious medical conditions. Numerous factors, even seemingly unrelated ones like a rushed or tired physician, can result in life-threatening or long-term disabling injuries to both mother and child and can occur during pregnancy or childbirth.

While some birth injuries happen merely because of the statistical inevitability of nature, many other birth injuries occur because of the negligent actions of doctors, nurses, obstetricians, and other medical personnel, who have been given the incredible responsibility of safely delivering babies. Sadly, just a minor error by a physician can result in a lifetime of medical treatment, care, and special accommodations for a child who has suffered an injury.

Erb’s Palsy is one of the most serious medical conditions that can arise from a birth injury and is characterized by a significant decline of strength and range of movement in the child’s arm and shoulder. This injury can translate into mounting medical and treatment bills that can quickly overwhelm a parent or guardian. If you find yourself in this situation and struggling with these issues, and are suspicious that medical malpractice may have occurred in the injury to your child, you may potentially qualify for compensation for your financial losses and medical expenses, ranging from past bills to future or impending costs for medical care. Our Erb’s palsy medical malpractice attorneys have compiled this brief article to highlight specific kinds of birth injuries that can lead to life-long health issues for a child.

For the past twenty years, the birth-injury attorneys of our Law Office have learned the legal complexities of birth injury lawsuits. We can help you understand the intricate issues involving birth injuries and the litigation needed to solve them. Often in trying to decipher if the birth injury was a tragic natural occurrence or caused by someone’s negligence, parents have no medical-legal experience to turn to when an injury occurs. We can help make that determination and then work diligently to make sure your case is resolved to your satisfaction and that you receive the compensation you deserve.

Brachial Plexus Injuries
The brachial plexus is the bundle of nerves that connects the spine to the upper extremities, such as the shoulders, arms, and hands. Any excessive physical exertion or unusually difficult labor and delivery can injure both mother and child in different ways. Brachial plexus injuries can happen in exceptionally large babies, unusually small birth canals, awkward positioning of the baby in the womb, or abnormal activity in the uterus or womb. It is a fairly normal occurrence, afflicting nearly 20 percent of all childbirths. Dystocia is any excessive physical exertion or unusually difficult labor and delivery. It can injure both mother and child in different ways. Attending obstetricians and their medical staff have been trained to take reasonable care in delivering the baby without causing injury or harm because brachial plexus injuries frequently take place during childbirth.

In most cases, the medical staff bypasses vaginal delivery and performs an emergency caesarian section (c-section) or a high-forceps procedure. This can result in serious birth injuries to the brachial plexus nerve cluster that joins the hand, arm, and shoulder to the spine. In newborn babies, these nerves are clustered together in the shoulder before completely spreading throughout the entire arm in the adult arm and shoulder. The damage to these nerves can be significant, even to the point where the nerves become severed and lead to life-long debilities because of the way they’re bunched together. Sometimes surgery can be done to correct the damaged nerves.

Many doctors try to avert liability by telling the families of babies who suffered birth injuries, the harm that took place was unpreventable or was simply normal, under the circumstances. Some birth injuries happen just because of the statistical inevitability of nature, but others occur because of the negligent care from physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals, who were given the incredible responsibility of delivering the baby safely. Many of these injuries are diagnosed incorrectly. Many times a doctor will recognize the obvious signs, yet simply hope the injury or symptoms will go away. In some cases, the nerve damage does go away.

Shoulder Dystocia
Erb’s palsy usually happens when the baby’s shoulder getting stuck in the birth canal, which is a condition known as shoulder dystocia. If a weary or inexperienced doctor pushes or pulls too forcefully in attempting to dislodge the baby, shoulder dystocia can cause the shoulder to dislocate, which damages the brachial plexus nerve cluster. If an infant’s shoulder becomes immovable, the delivery process becomes quite risky, because of the extreme pressure put on the baby’s head, neck, and umbilical cord. If action is not taken immediately to readjust the shoulder, the baby could suffer severe brain injury because of the lack of oxygen to the brain. This lack of oxygen is called hypoxia. If too great a pressure is applied, the brachial plexus nerves can become stretched, bruised torn, or even severed. On many occasions, in these severe situations, medical malpractice occurs because of the aggressive or negligent behavior of health care professionals.

Erb’s Palsy
Erb’s Palsy most often arises from the condition of shoulder dystocia as mentioned above. Erb’s Palsy causes the muscles in the arm to lack adequate stimulation by the brain, which leaves the arm immobile or very weak, depending on the severity of the brachial plexus nerve injury.

Erb’s Palsy should be detected soon after birth by the attending physician and staff because the symptoms are immediately obvious. Babies can’t grip with the affected hand, lack voluntary movement in the affected arm, and hold their arm tightly pinned against their body, cocked at a 90-degree angle. Occasionally, less severe brachial plexus nerve injuries can be treated and corrected with proper treatment or specialized surgery by the attending physician. Erb’s Palsy, however, creates lifelong disabilities that require extensive treatment and therapy, including specialized adaptive technologies and accommodations. However, proper delivery techniques can prevent injuries to the brachial plexus nerves.

Call Our Erb’s Palsy Lawyer
The attorneys at our Law Office have been helping families recover from birthing process injuries for over twenty years. We understand how to navigate the rough waters of medical malpractice law, unlike many attorneys who simply avoid these type cases because they are too complicated and challenging to win. We will devote the time required to build a solid case to make sure those responsible for your baby’s shoulder dystocia, brachial nerve trauma, or Erb’s Palsy are made accountable. We’ve won millions of dollars in settlements from every major insurance carrier in the U.S. The insurance company adjusters and defense lawyers are familiar with our successful track record. As a result, our clients frequently receive fair settlement offers without having to go to trial. Our attorneys can ensure you get the best results possible so that your child receives the best treatment possible and compensation for the mental and physical trauma they have suffered in this ordeal. If your child has been injured in childbirth because of a medical professional’s negligence, call the birthing injury attorneys at our Law Office for a free consultation. We can answer your specific questions and help you make an informed decision.

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Our Texas Lawyers Discuss Mediation & Arbitration in a Texas Personal Injury Case

Alternative dispute resolutions are methods used by lawyers to attempt resolution of a case before it goes to a trial hearing. Many personal injury cases in Texas seldom go to court.

Attorneys choose mediation or arbitration, two forms of alternative dispute resolution, to achieve favorable results for their clients without the need for the time-consuming and oftentimes costlier prospect of a full trial. The Texas Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures Act governs the methods used in alternative dispute resolution cases. While there are different methods to achieve resolution, in all cases both sides meet with a non-biased third party who works to bring both sides to a mutually beneficial agreement in order to prevent a case brought to trial. Our Texas personal injury law firm explains why alternative dispute resolution might be beneficial in your personal injury case.

Should I Choose Alternative Dispute Resolution?
The short answer is “maybe.” Depending on the nuances of your personal injury case, alternative dispute resolution might be beneficial for you. Our experienced attorneys can help you ascertain whether that might be the case for your case. Alternative dispute resolution is typically less stressful, less time-consuming, and carries fewer legal fees than taking a case to trial. Additionally, trial cases always possess a certain degree of the unknown due to the fact that an impartial jury is deciding your fate. When an experienced lawyer takes a personal injury case, they will typically begin building a lawsuit immediately, even if their client isn’t intending to file a lawsuit. However, this information can be put to good use when negotiating via alternative dispute resolution.

The Experienced Personal Injury Attorneys at our Law Office Can Help You Decide What’s Best
Alternative dispute resolutions can be beneficial to your case, but that might not be your best option. For instance, it’s possible that your best interests might better be served by a trial case. In other instances, alternative dispute resolutions might result in a deadlock, where neither party can agree to a mutually beneficial outcome, thus resulting in a trial case. Whatever the case may be, with twenty years of experience in personal injury law, the lawyers at our Law Office can help you understand your options and how choosing the correct route might help you receive just compensation in your personal injury case. Contact us for more information on whether or not alternative dispute resolution is right for your case.

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Legal Remedies For Injury or Wrongful Death From Pharmaceutical Error

All of us would like to think we can trust our bespectacled, smiling neighborhood pharmacist, but the raw reality is, nearly one in twenty prescriptions in the U.S. are filled in error and 100,000 people prematurely expire annually because of pharmaceutical mistakes or pharmacy misjudgment.

Although not every improperly filled prescription leads to injury or death, every time an error does occur, the needed medication is not given to the patient who is often in dire need of the proper medication for their condition.

If you have suffered an injury because of an incorrectly filled drug prescription or pharmaceutical error at your pharmacy, the medical malpractice specialists at our Law Office want you to understand the inherent complexities of these cases, so that you can make an educated decision about what legal options you should take.

How Do Pharmacy Mistakes Occur?
Most of the time, pharmaceutical mistakes occur because of the following:

The doctor incorrectly, or just not quite legible enough, writes a prescription that is difficult to read and results in a patient being given the wrong dose or wrong medication altogether.
A pharmacist makes an error in filling the prescription.
Often, the prescription drug itself can pose a danger. In that case, the drug pharmacy isn’t responsible if the correct medication was prescribed, the prescription was filled as instructed, and the drug was taken as advised. In these circumstances, the damages were caused by the drug itself, and the pharmaceutical drug company should be held liable or responsible for the injury.

Which Type of Lawsuit Should I File?
The type of lawsuit you file is dependent upon the type of pharmacy error committed. You will be filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, regardless of whether it was your doctor or your pharmacist that was responsible for you receiving the incorrect medication. Yet, the strategy involved in building an effective case is different, depending on if the liability arose from the doctor or the pharmacist.

Do I Need A Lawyer?
The medical and health care industry has been protected, in many cases, from illegitimate or frivolous lawsuits by recent tort reforms. Concurrently, those reforms have also resulted in legitimately injured individuals now finding it more difficult to get the compensation they deserve. It is very common nowadays, for cases without the proper documentation to be dismissed. Only an experienced, competent medical malpractice legal specialist in this field will understand how to locate expert medical testimony and the procedures for issuing subpoenas for the appropriate records.

We’ve won hundreds of cases against all the major insurance companies in the U.S. These firms are familiar with our success and reputation and in many instances will fully cooperate with our attorneys so they will not have to confront us later in court. We have a successful track record to stand up to your opposition and help you receive the justice and equitable compensation you deserve for your injury or loved one’s death.

Our Law Office attorneys are dedicated to providing you with the help you need to recover from your injuries incurred by the wrong prescription drugs. We have been litigating medical malpractice claims for two decades and have seen millions of dollars awarded to hundreds of injured clients. Call us today for a free consultation if you’ve suffered a prescription drug injury. We can discuss your legal options and the steps needed for you to recover physically and financially, so you can get back on your feet and move confidently into the future.

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Need An Attorney Experienced in Nursing Home Abuse?

As Americans start to age, some of them have health issues that keep them from being able to care for themselves or do the normal activities of an independent adult. These real-life issues, coupled with the fact that more American citizens are joining the ranks of senior citizens are the reason that the population of nursing home residents has exploded.

These days, moms and dads both must work outside of the home to make ends meet. So there is nobody available to stay home and take care of aging or ailing family members. Nearly everyone has a family member who has lived in a nursing home or is a resident of a nursing home right now. As much as we would like to think that the nursing home staff members treat our loved ones with kindness and patience, the reality is that nursing home abuse is a major problem in America so much so that there have been congressional hearings on the subject.

If you have reason to believe that your family member or friend is the victim of nursing home abuse, contact our nursing home abuse attorneys. Call us for a free consultation. Traditionally elderly family members received care from their adult children and other members of the family. As married couples spent more time away from home working, nursing homes and daycare centers for adults and children who were unable to stay alone became a necessary part of society. As the cost of living goes up, some senior Americans don’t have enough money to cover their cost of living expenses plus their cost of the medicine that so many of them in this age range must take. So many senior citizens have had to give up their large homes and independent living to move into nursing care centers where they can receive medical care and the personal attention they deserve.

Advancements in medicine and in the healthcare industry have made it so that senior citizens are living longer and that’s why owning nursing home centers has become one of the most lucrative residential properties in the real estate business today. As profitable as this kind of business can be, some people only view the residents as dollar signs and potential paychecks rather than human beings who need extra care and patience.

For the elderly people who find themselves added to these numbers annually as they become nursing home residents, it doesn’t take them long before they realize their new environment is not as they envisioned. ‘Home’ should be a nurturing and peaceful environment. Statistics show that some nursing home residents endure mental or physical abuse because they are at the mercy of cruel healthcare workers. If you have reason to believe that your family member or friend is the victim of nursing home abuse, contact our nursing home abuse attorney. Call us for a free consultation.

When nursing homes became popular some forty years ago they were not state-regulated and prospective employees were not screened. But as more senior Americans started to move into the nursing homes and abuse became a problem, more guidelines were put in place to address the issue. When applying for employment at nursing homes prospective employees were not required to have any formal training. Now, some forty years later prospective employees must go through a broad criminal and employment background check before they are allowed to start working. In the beginning, a drug test was just a visual inspection of how a person looked. Now drug tests are completed by medical personnel and the list of drugs tested for is extensive. Nursing home employers now put so much emphasis on drug tests because some believe that employees misbehave or mistreat their clientele because the employees are using drugs that alter their judgment. Also resumes help hiring managers to make better decisions on who will be a part of their staff so their elderly residents are more likely to receive adequate care.

As senior citizens continue to age they become less independent, more vulnerable, and less confident in their decision making. Their diminished capacity coupled with the overbearing behavior of the staff has subjected them to the demoralizing actions of nursing home workers on a regular basis. Some of the mistreatment includes slapping, pinching, being heavy-handed while grooming the patient’s hair, taking pictures of the patients in compromising positions and ignoring patients’ requests for help using the bathroom. Some residents have even reported that they were raped by nursing home caregivers.

The fact that elderly family members must live away from the family is the source of contention for many, especially since nobody can be sure how their loved one is being treated when they are not present. But here are some suggestions that will decrease the chance that your elderly family members will be victimized:

Relatives should make unannounced daily and weekly visits at various times.
If you can not make personal visits, be sure to make impromptu telephone calls.
Reassure the senior family member of your whereabouts and contact information in case they need help in an emergency.
Introduce yourself to nursing home staffers so they know you and other family members are concerned about the safety and happiness of your loved one.
If staff members know you and other family members are monitoring what happens to your loved one, they are more likely to treat that person with care and respect and less likely to act negligent or abusive. The nursing care industry also has worked to teach healthcare staffers proper techniques and more appropriate ways to care for infirmed senior citizens. That has added to the growing number of reliable nursing home employees working in the United States who are great at performing their jobs. Some of them even have earned degrees as Certified Nursing Assistants. Sadly though, some staffers have a history of domestic violence, drug addiction and some are unregistered pedophiles. It is clear that these questionable staffers who have managed to remain employed in this industry and have gone from job to job have preyed on the elderly for way too long. Senior Americans are in need of the same care that goes into protecting a child who is cannot defend him or herself.

If you have a loved one that is being abused or whom you suspect is being abused and who lives in a long-term nursing facility, call our Law Office as soon as possible. The longer you wait the more pain and suffering your loved one could be going through. Our attorneys along with our team of experienced investigators will do what it takes to uncover the suspected abuse. With more than twenty (20) years of courtroom success, our Law Office will help you protect your loved one against the ever-growing epidemic of nursing home abuse. The telephone call is free and the initial legal consultation is priceless.

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Nursing Home Abuse at Its Worse

The same as a child might not alert parents if she or he is being abused, some nursing home residents sometimes are too frightened to tell other staff members or family members for fear that the abuse will become more severe. That’s why nursing home management should do it’s part of let residents know that they are there to protect the rights of the residents and that any suspected abuse should be reported to them immediately without fear of retaliation. If a nursing home staffer is found to be negligent or abusive, the offending nursing home employee or employees could face criminal and civil charges.

The Legal Complexity Involved in Nursing Home Abuse Cases
Even if your loved one has told you that she or he is being abused by a staff member, most cases come down to what can be proven in a court of law. Pictures of physical wounds and other evidence is a good thing, but if the alleged victim is unable to testify to their experience or can not answer questions posed to them about the abuse, there is a slim chance that a personal injury lawsuit or even criminal charges will be filed.

Nursing home abuse personal injury charges are categorized as medical malpractice cases. In Texas, medical malpractice lawsuits payouts have been capped by Tort Reform laws. Tort reform was created to decrease the number of undeserving lawsuits that were clogging up the Texas court system. As a result of Tort Reform, it now takes an experienced and successful courtroom litigant who knows the ins and outs of proving personal injury in medical malpractice lawsuits. Our attorneys are such litigants. We are good at what we do best which is to use the law and our investigative skills to uncover the truth.

Some lawyers prefer not to litigate nursing home abuse cases because of Texas Tort Reform and because of the challenges involving these kinds of cases. The nursing home abuse attorneys at our Law Office know what to expect and will go to work for you. Contact us if you have a loved one that has been abused. The call is free as is the initial legal consultation.

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Giving birth is a significant time in the life of a parent. Sometimes, however, the joy of bringing a little one into the world is marred by birth injuries suffered while delivering the baby. Not only do you have to deal with the birth injuries, you probably have some serious questions, as well.

Who or what caused the injury to occur? What long-term effects will the birth injuries have on the child’s future development? What can I do legally? Is a medical malpractice lawsuit in the best interest of myself and my child?

Lawsuits pursued due to birth injuries are one of many types of medical malpractice lawsuits. These cases can be very complicated and are usually beyond the abilities of inexperienced attorneys or the average person. Our Law Office has 20 years of experience, during which we have helped many people with cases of birth injuries. We want to help you receive financial reimbursement for the pain and trauma that you have experienced.

Types of Birth Injuries and What Causes Them

The following is a list of a few of the types of birth injuries caused by negligence and medical malpractice:

Klumpke’s Palsy – paralysis of the child’s hands and forearms
Broken bones
Cerebral Palsy – injury of the brain often causes this motor condition, leading to the impairment of movement
Erb’s Palsy – this occurs when the shoulders and upper arms of the child are paralyzed. It is a type of Brachioplexus Palsy and can be caused by pulling excessively on the shoulders during delivery.
Brachioplexus Palsy – this can lead to paralysis of the child’s whole arm due to spinal nerve injury. It occasionally results from a forceps delivery.
Shoulder Dystocia – this happens when the head is delivered a long amount of time before the shoulders. This condition can then lead to Erb’s Palsy or Brachioplexus Palsy.
What Makes Birth Injury Lawsuits so Difficult to Pursue?

Tort reform has rendered medical malpractice lawsuits ever more difficult to pursue. The original purpose of this tort reform was to shield doctors from inconsequential charges against them. Thus, the standard of proof necessary to make a case for medical malpractice has been increased. This can present difficulties for those who have suffered birth injuries due to medical malpractice to receive appropriate compensation for their suffering. One result of this has been that many personal injury attorneys will no longer consider taking these cases, as they are so difficult to win.

Our Law Office has 20 years of experience fighting for families. We have experience dealing with these cases before and after the change in the laws. We have the knowledge necessary to build a rock-solid case against negligent medical professionals that result in birth injuries.

The process of giving birth can be incredibly complex. The tiniest blunder can lead to devastating birth injuries. Due to these factors, proving that negligence resulted in birth injuries requires an experienced attorney. Some of the key components of a successful birth injury lawsuit are the testimony of expert witnesses, assessment of the birth injuries sustained by the child, and inquiring into the circumstances of the delivery by asking the medical staff questions. Our Law Office has the expert witnesses you need to make sure your case is strongly constructed.

If You or Your Child Have Suffered from Birth Injuries Due to Medical Negligence, Our Law Office Wants to Help You

Our Law Office has the benefit inherent in twenty years of experience necessary to help you if you have suffered from birth injuries. We are familiar with the necessary components of a successful medical malpractice lawsuit. We know how complicated such cases can be, and we are committed to taking the time and making the effort needed to win them. We want to make sure that those medical practitioners whose negligent behavior resulted in your child’s birth injuries are held liable for the suffering they have inflicted. Our proven track record of winning settlements of millions of dollars for our clients is known to the insurance companies, adjusters, and their lawyers since we have faced every major insurance company in the country. We are often able to negotiate fair settlements for our clients without even having to bring the case to court since the insurance companies frequently wish to avoid the hassle of a court case. In the event that a settlement agreement is not reached, we are willing and able to take the case to court to resolve the dispute. If you are dealing with the after-effects of birth injuries caused by medical malpractice or negligence, give us a call for your free consultation. We can provide answers to your legal questions and inform you of the steps we can take to help you.

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Drunk Driving Accidents in Texas

If you or a loved one has suffered moderate, severe, or even fatal injuries due to an intoxicated or impaired driver, our experienced drunk driving accident attorneys may be able to help you recover the compensation you deserve. In this article, we’ll introduce the following topics:

Origins and purposes of Texas’ dram shop laws
Necessary proof in dram shop lawsuits
First-party vs. third-party dram shop claims
How our experienced DWI accident attorneys at our Law Office can help you recover compensation.

Origins of Texas’ Dram Shop Laws
The State of Texas has long been among the leaders in the nation in accidents caused by drunk drivers. Unfortunately, a large number of these accidents, and thus the catastrophic injuries that often accompany them, could have been prevented by a bar or restaurant refusing to over-serve intoxicated patrons. With that in mind, the Texas Legislature adopted the Texas Dram Shop Act, found in the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, in 1987 for the following purposes:

Allow injury victims and their families the opportunity to hold bars and restaurants responsible for their wrongful actions
To give injured victims another method of recovery besides the drunk driver themselves
To reduce the number of drunk drivers on the road by putting other alcohol providers on notice of the potential consequences of over-serving an intoxicated patron.

Necessary Proof in a Dram Shop Lawsuit
However, not every person hit by a drunk driver is automatically allowed to hold a bar, restaurant, or another alcohol provider responsible for their injuries. In fact, Texas’ liquor liability laws require injury victims alleging a dram shop cause of action to prove the following criteria before they can force a provider to provide monetary compensation for their injuries:

The alcohol provider served or sold alcoholic beverages to a patron, guest, or customer who was obviously intoxicated
As a result of over-service, the intoxicated patron was a clear danger to themselves, other patrons, and/or other drivers on the road
The individual’s over-service while intoxicated was the cause of the accident in which the victim was injured

First-Party vs. Third-Party Dram Shop Claims
Importantly, Texas law divides dram shop claims into two categories: first and third party claims. As its name suggests, 1st-party claims are those brought against an alcoholic beverage provider by the party who was over-served, or by their eligible family members in a wrongful death case.

Conversely, 3rd-party claims are those that are brought against a provider by a DWI accident victim or eligible family members for injuries suffered as a result of another party who was over-served.

Our Attorneys Have the Skill & Experience Necessary to Help you Recover the Compensation you Deserve
For more information regarding Texas’ dram shop laws and for a free and confidential consultation based on the facts and circumstances of your economic, emotional, and/or physical injuries, give our drunk driving accident lawyers a call today.

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Texas attorney Explains Drunk Driving Accidents & Texas Dram Shop Law

If you are not an attorney, liquor liability laws can be complex terrain to navigate. The validity of these cases is often criticized and misunderstood. However, legal statutes and case law support the fact that these laws stem from common sense ideas that we can explain here.

If you or a loved one has been injured, or someone close to you has been killed in a drunken-driving accident in Texas, call the drunk driver accident attorneys of our Law Office.

With more than twenty years of experience successfully litigating cases predicated upon a Texas Dram Shop Cause of Action, the attorneys at our Law Office are well-credentialed and can readily assist you in getting the justice you deserve.

This article, while here to inform you of your rights and responsibilities, is no substitute for the assistance one of our attorneys can provide. Below you will find useful information to help you understand Texas Dram Shop Laws that assign liability to parties that may be legally, entirely or in part, responsible for the death or injury of your loved one, what the challenges are in pursuing this kind of civil case, and some of the types of cases and claims we can initiate to afford you some relief for your anguish, pain, suffering, and related expenses.

The Basics
The legal implications and damages involved in a drunk driving accident are far more severe and intricate than the typical auto collision. The most noteworthy distinctions are:

Injuries sustained in accidents involving a drunk driver are typically more severe and have a higher fatality rate, which typically means there are more financial damages and, therefore, the legal battles become decidedly more aggressive, making having a competent legal representation of the utmost importance.
Often there are multiple parties who have violated laws that are in place to protect victims of this type of collision, which means you are best served by a multi-faceted strategy that assesses the value that can be recovered or gained by holding each party responsible.

Defendants in Intoxicated Accident Cases
Most people think that the most obvious person to pursue legal remedy from in an alcohol-related collision case is the driver, but often, individual drunk drivers who may bear the bulk of the responsibility for the incident are often not the most viable candidates if your immediate need is financial relief for medical or funeral related costs.

Under the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code, statutes state that in addition to suing the drunk driver for his or her negligence, victims also have the right, under what is referred to as “Dram Shop Law,” to pursue damages for the negligence of bars, restaurants or other persons or business entities that enabled the drunk driver to become intoxicated enough to cause the accident.

This liability was established under the theory that car accidents are not merely caused by the immediate action or reflex in the moment of the accident, but can be caused by a chain of events that led up to the accident. Under this logic, any entity that contributed to the chain of events that caused the accident can be held vicariously liable.

Why the Bar?
While most of us probably consider the personal responsibility of the driver to be most important on an emotional level, it is important from an ethical perspective, to ensure that bars and restaurants are not knowingly serving alcohol to drivers who get involved in these collisions when it is clear that someone who is leaving their establishment and may be operating a vehicle when their behavior or reflexes appear to be erratic, or they have consumed an amount of alcohol that puts their blood-alcohol-content (BAC) well above the legal limit. If these establishments were diligent in ensuring their patrons did not become overly intoxicated, drunk driving accidents could much more easily be avoided.

In addition to having greater means to provide financial remedies than the individual driver, the public message should be sent that the establishments and their employees should not be endangering the public by setting potentially dangerous drunk drivers out on the street simply because the bartender wants to keep collecting the patron’s generous tips or the bar wants to make more money.

In a lawsuit in which the driver and the bar are co-defendants, the court will assign damages for each party’s negligence, and the financial remedy coming from each source will be proportional to the court’s assessment of each defendant’s percentage of liability. Thus, while you may get more financial remedy by filing a case against both the driver and the bar, it is important to realize that this does not necessarily mean that you will get more money by digging into the pockets of the business over the means of the individual driver. It simply allows distribution of the responsibility which means, ultimately, you have a greater chance of actually getting the financial recovery that goes beyond what the individual driver would be able to pay.

Specific Rights and Responsibilities
Under Texas law, it is not only illegal to be behind the wheel of a car with a BAC of more than .08, but it is also illegal to be out in public with this level of intoxication, and it is also illegal for bars or establishments that serve alcohol to serve individuals an amount of alcohol that put them over this limit.

Science has proven that the consumption of alcohol impairs reflexes, judgment, and inhibitions, and thus, while a sober person may know his or her limit, once he or she has had a few drinks, that person may no longer be able to make a sound judgment of when he or she is too drunk to drive, and thus the serving party bears the responsibility of safeguarding the public and taking the appropriate action to prevent this from happening.

Many establishments have implemented programs to reward patrons who have a designated driver or have made partnerships with taxi companies to ensure that their clientele is not driving under the influence. That being said, there is nothing more motivating to the establishments who have not implemented such safeguards, than the potential negative publicity and financial cost of a lawsuit. In most cases, these establishments will likely be willing to settle and award financial remedy for medical, auto, and funeral-related expenses caused by a drunk driving incident for which they bear a portion of the legal responsibility, and with hope, they will then be more diligent in helping prevent public intoxication and alcohol-related accidents.

Proximate Cause
Because bartenders are reasonably expected to know that it is illegal to over-serve their patrons, if they choose to disregard this responsibility, they become the proximate cause of related injuries.

Legal Expectations
Bars are required to have all of their servers licensed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, which entails each server’s participation in training that requires learning and understanding their rules and responsibilities and the consequences associated with failing to follow them. A bartender cannot simply be unaware of how they should transact their business.
Bars are expected to have written policies and procedures for handling the distribution and tracking of alcohol served.
Bars are required to have written policies and procedures for how to deal with overly intoxicated patrons.
Servers are expected to be on the lookout for signs of intoxication.

The Safe Harbor Defense
Provided a bar or alcohol-serving establishment has met the legal obligations outlined above, they cannot legally be held responsible for any degree of negligence in a drunk driving accident. However, many establishments may try to employ this defense whether or not it truthfully applies.

The unfortunate reality in preparing a case against an establishment using the Safe Harbor Defense is that the burden is on the victim or plaintiff to establish proof that there was a blatant disregard for the above guidelines. Dram Shop cases are not subjective, and therefore they can only be won if they clearly deserve to be prosecuted.

Next Steps
Deciding to get involved in a lawsuit can be an emotional experience, and you may have concerns about the cost, the time constraints, and in some cases, the consideration of the relationship you have with the person who caused the accident.

However, it would be unwise to allow time to slip by without looking out for the remedies you are entitled to and lose the evidence and opportunity to protect your interests in the matter because if you wait too long, your options may run out and the related expenses you incur could get beyond your control.

If you or a loved one was involved, injured, or killed in a DUI accident, call our Law Office for a free consultation, and we can discuss your concerns and help you find the right course of action to get the justice you deserve.

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Fatal Drunk Driving Accident attorney Explains What You Should Know in the Event of the Death of a Loved One in a Fatal Drunk Driving Accident

A fatal drunk driving accident has the potential to leave a tremendous amount of distress in its wake, ranging from incredible emotional/mental trauma and stresses and damage to the family fabric to financial destitution.

Texas citizens affected by fatal drunk driving accidents may be eligible for compensation for their pain, suffering, and financial losses via a wrongful death, or drunk driving accident lawsuit. If you have lost a loved one in a fatal drunk driving accident, please contact the knowledgeable attorneys of our Law Office to determine your legal rights and begin your appropriate course of legal action. Our firm has specialized in Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Law practice for over two decades and developed a nationally-renowned reputation for positive results. We have won cases against every major insurance company in the nation and helped thousands of our clients obtain just and fair compensation for their losses.

Wrongful Death and Fatal Drunk Driving Accident lawsuits often prove to be extremely difficult processes for the inexperienced lawyer, or non-attorney to successfully navigate. A proper and thorough investigation of the details of the accident can be the difference between having a claim dismissed, and receiving a fair settlement, or verdict, which effectively resolves your claim. If you have lost a loved one due to the negligence of a drunk driver, you need capable and experienced legal counsel to represent your interests and ensure that insult is not added to injury. Contact the attorneys of our Law Offices, today, for a free consultation.

Texas Dram Shop Law and What It Means to Your Wrongful Death, or Fatal Drunk Driving Accident Lawsuit
By definition, a “Dram Shop”, when utilized in context signifies a place where alcohol can either be obtained or is provided. The term is taken from its traditional use “dram”—the unit of measure roughly equal to 1/8th of an ounce utilized to describe the small amount of alcohol traditionally sold by shops serving alcohol in the early to late 20th century, as well as an apothecary unit of measure. In 1987, the Texas State Legislature passed the Texas Dram Shop Law Act, which effectively opened those responsible for serving alcohol to individuals to the point of, or exceeding the point of intoxication, to liability for damages arising from any accidents caused by that intoxicated individual.

The prevalence of alcohol and fatal drunk driving accidents in the State of Texas required action to be taken to better protect citizens, and facilitate justice in the event of a drunk driving accident, whether fatal or not. Before the passing of the Texas Dram Shop Law, Texas families suffering from the loss of a loved one in a fatal drunk driving accident had little other recourse for obtaining fair and just compensation for the full amount of losses incurred, other than suing the drunk driver. It was often the case that this narrow restriction did not result in an outcome where bereaved families obtained the full compensation needed to resume their lives and properly grieve for their lost loved one.

The Dram Shop Law operates under the duty of care, which all entities and individuals agree to, when obtaining a liquor license in the state, or when serving alcohol. For example, a bar serving alcohol to an individual must have safety protocols in place that allow them to regulate the amount of alcohol consumed by a patron and must be responsible for the safety of that patron in the event that he or she becomes intoxicated more quickly than anticipated by the employees of the bar. In many cases, if a person leaves a bar, restaurant, or other such entity while obviously intoxicated, then the bar, restaurant, or other such alcohol serving entity may be held responsible for any damages—including injuries and even deaths—caused by that intoxicated person.

Utilization of the Texas Dram Shop Law in cases of wrongful death lawsuits resulting from drunk driving accidents present a number of obstacles which may further complicate the legal process of successfully resolving your wrongful death lawsuit. There are four frequent legal obstacles you are likely to encounter in your pursuit of compensation, for the wrongful death of your loved one.

Jury misconceptions
An experienced defense team
The “Third Party” defense
And wealthy ruthless insurance companies

Jury Misconceptions Regarding Dram Shop Law
More often than not, juries hearing cases of accidents caused by drunk drivers, where the drunk driver has served time in jail for the breaking of the law, determine that justice has been served and that there is no further need for punishment. They often do not understand the financial ramifications that the wrongful death of a loved one often brings, such as funeral expenses, the detrimental financial impacts of income lost, medical or hospital expenses incurred (should the victim have been hospitalized before their death), or other such losses. It is necessary to have the aid of a well-informed and experienced legal representative, who will properly present factual evidence in support of your claim for compensation from responsible third parties. A knowledgeable and skilled Wrongful Death or Fatal Drunk Driving Accident Attorney will also take the time and effort necessary to convince the members of the jury of the need for the additional compensation sought from responsible third parties. The Wrongful Death and Fatal Drunk Driving Accident Attorneys of our Law Office have helped hundreds of our bereaved clients obtain fair and just compensation by successfully holding third parties responsible for their involvement in drunk driving accidents resulting in wrongful deaths.

Experienced Legal Defense Lawyers
In the passage of the Dram Shop Law, the Texas Legislature unwittingly created a culture of opposition, within both the legal and business worlds, in which bars, restaurants, and other such entities selling or serving alcohol and defense lawyers partner in attempts to deny liability for damages, arising from fatal drunk driving accidents. There has come into existence “Liquor Liability” defense law firms who exclusively handle the defense of Dram Shops held liable for damages in fatal drunk driving accidents. These law firms have developed a credible amount of experience in defeating the use of Texas’s Dram Shop Law, however, the skilled and well-informed attorneys our Law Office provide more than just a match for their tactics and arguments. Our Law Office has successfully defeated the legal arguments of every major Liquor Liability law firm and recovered thousands of dollars of damages for hundreds of our clients. If you have lost a loved one in a fatal drunk driving accident on the roads, contact our Law Office and let us be your shield against the defense law firms’ attempts to deny your claim for fair and just compensation for your loss.

The “Third Party” Defense in Fatal Drunk Driving, and Wrongful Death Accidents
Should your pursuit of compensation go to trial, the legal defense strategy will center, most certainly, on the drunk driver him/herself. It will be the goal of the defense lawyers to prove that the greater or greatest responsibility for the death of your loved one lies with the drunk driver (to diminish the apparent responsibility of their client(s), who served or sold the alcohol to the drunk driver). However, your Fatal Drunk Driving or Wrongful Death Accident Attorney from our Law Office will ensure that the members of the Jury fully recognize and understand the complicity of the Dram Shop(s) in the accident that took the life of your loved one. We will fight, at every turn, to skillfully overturn their lawyers’ legal arguments and expose the liability of their clients. With a nationally recognized reputation for obtaining results for our clients suffering, caused by the negligence of others, you can be assured that we will obtain the compensation due, so that you can resume your life.

Insurance Companies, and Their Potential Role in Your Pursuit of Fair and Just Compensation for Your Losses
We often encounter defense strategies dictated by insurance companies attempting to avoid having to pay damages on behalf of their clients. Be advised that it is in the best interests of the insurance companies to pay as little as possible to you, the victim in the event of an accident caused by the negligence of their policyholder(s). Tactics utilized by these companies range from tricking you into accepting a low-ball settlement (one which is wholly insufficient to fully recover your financial losses), to intentionally attacking the character of your lost loved on in an attempt to place blame upon them for their own wrongful death. Insurance companies facing the gauntlet of legal action, and the greater potential for subsequent awards of damages possible in the trial, enlist an entire range of strategies and arguments to either completely avoid liability, or decrease the amount they will have to pay. The attorneys of our Law Office want you to rest easy. We have successfully battled nearly every major insurance company in the country and recovered $1,000 in damages suffered by our clients. Every major legal defense law firm in the nation recognizes our reputation for a thorough investigation and aggressive litigation in pursuit of justice for our clients. Although recent judicial decisions and legislative actions have further restricted the successes of other law firms’ attempts to secure justice for their clients, our Law Office continues to be one of the most highly recognized legal practitioners known for successfully litigating cases and providing positive results for our clients. Do not allow your legal rights to be taken from you, or your entitlement to just and fair compensation for your losses to go unused. If you have lost a loved one in a fatal drunk driving, or wrongful death accident contact our office today, for a free consultation. Let us recover your financial losses, protect the memory of your loved one, and battle for your rights. We are here for you.

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If you’ve suffered moderate to severe injuries while using a defective product or as a result of someone else using a defective product, our experienced defective products liability injury attorneys may be able to help you recover the compensation for your injuries you truly deserve. Through over more than 20 years of experience, we’ve observed that many of our clients wished they had at least a working understanding of Texas’ product liability laws before contacting our firm. With that in mind, we’ve developed this introductory article and subsequent sister articles describing the following areas of Texas’ products liability laws:

Possible defendants in products liability lawsuits
Defectively designed products
Defectively manufactured products
Products featuring defective warnings
Car accidents caused by defective products

Possible Defendants in Products Liability Lawsuits
Injury victims should be glad to know that Texas law allows them the opportunity to hold all members of a supply chain who assisted in bringing a dangerously defective product to market for their injuries. A selection of common defendants in injury lawsuits premised on defective products include:

Product and component part designers
Product and component part manufacturers
Suppliers of the final product and its component parts
Retailers of the defective product and its component parts
Distributors of both the final product and the component parts from which it is composed.

Defectively Designed Products
Texas law holds that a product is “defectively designed” when, due to its design, it’s rendered unsafe for its intended and reasonably foreseeable uses or is inherently dangerous. Unlike manufacturing defects, design defects affect a product’s entire product line. Thus, design defects are often featured in product recalls and class action lawsuits.

Defectively Manufactured Products
Somewhat similarly, products are deemed “defectively manufactured” when, due to some departure from an appropriate design, a product is manufactured so that it’s unsafe for it’s intended and reasonably foreseeable uses.

Products Featuring Defective Warnings
Finally, Texas law considers products that lack warnings of non-obvious dangers to be “unreasonably dangerous” for consumer use. It’s important to note that warning defects can quickly become quite complex, and thus necessitate the attention and care of only the most experienced products liability attorneys, like ours at our Law Office.

Car Accidents Caused by Defective Products
Although discussed more fully in our article concerning defective products and car accidents, defective products are a leading cause of severe injury and fatal car collisions. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of defective products resulting in motor vehicle collisions:

Defectively designed and/or manufactured vehicle roofs in rollover collisions
Defectively designed and/or manufactured glass that shatters or doesn’t shatter as designed
Defective seat belts that fail to remain latched during a collision due to defective design or inferior materials
Tire tread separation due to defective design and/or manufacture
Defectively designed electrical components like cruise control sensors
Defectively manufactured mechanical components like braking systems and steering linkage

Contact Our Experienced Defective Product Injury Lawyers Today
If you suspect your or your loved one’s injuries were caused by a defectively designed, manufactured, or product that featured defective designs, our experienced product defects lawyers may be able to help you recover the compensation you deserve. Call us today for a free and confidential consultation based on the facts of your case and more information regarding how our Defective Products Lawyers can help you.

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There are 125,000 cranes being used in America right now. We use them for transporting heavy objects and supplies to that we can have our skyscrapers, stadiums, and churches. Any complication that may arise will make operating the crane dangerous for its driver, the co-workers at the site, and any bystanders below the crane.

People can be easily killed if the crane loses its payload or if the line snaps. Buildings can be crushed if a crane falls or hits other structures. An operator can be electrocuted if a crane strikes a power line. That accident can be easily avoidable if the employer purchased a non-conductive hook and had it installed onto the crane. But, here are some other types of crane injuries and deaths that are unavoidable: Electrical shock, dismemberment, burns, spinal cord injury, and traumatic brain trauma.

Who was responsible if you have become a crane accident victim? There are numerous parties that are responsible. If your employer failed to provide a safe working environment to you, under a workers’ compensation claim, they will be held accountable. What if another party’s negligence caused the accident? A property owner may have had equipment that would have blocked the path of the crane, causing the accident. If negligence was the cause of the accident, you can file a lawsuit. The crane accident attorneys of our Law Office have been litigating lawsuit claims for twenty years. We can help you with your case.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have the following guidelines on the use of cranes on construction sites:

Regarding the operation of the crane, employers have to obey all manufacturer limitations and instructions.
Instructions about the crane’s load capacity and safety warnings must be visible to the crane operator.
The crane has been inspected by a safety inspector prior to operation. If there is anything broken or defective, it must be replaced immediately.
The employer’s responsibility is ensuring the crane is placed away from overhead power lines. If a crane must be operated near a power line, the employer must ensure the power line is shut down.
If an employer fails to comply with OSHA rules and guidelines on the use of cranes resulting in your injury, you have the right to file a lawsuit. However, depending on whether or not your employer has purchased a workman’s compensation will depend on the amount of compensation that you could demand. A Texas employer who buys workers’ comp is called a subscriber. A Texas employer who doesn’t buy workers’ comp is called a non-subscriber.

The state of Texas doesn’t require all employers to have worker’s compensation. But having workers’ comp is very expensive, so a lot of employers chose to turn it down. If an employee does get injured, an employer is willing to lie about having workers’ compensation in order to avoid a lawsuit. You can’t believe what an employer tells you. You need an experienced crane accident attorney in order to find out what the truth really is.

The real reason employers buy workmen’s compensation is because they are looking for protection from lawsuits. If you’ve been injured on the job or a loved one’s been killed on the job, you can’t sue your employer. The only way to sue a subscriber employer would be if the employee committed gross negligence. But it does not mean that this will end there. The insurance provider will be more than happy to provide for the injured and or family members of the deceased. They’ll pay for the medical bills and lost wages without a hassle. They’ll do all of that because they’re here to help their business. It only looks as though they’re helping you.

Every year, they’ve denied claims to countless employees. Insurance companies of non-subscriber employees will do anything to avoid providing compensation to injured employees. Workers’ compensation is needed in order to decrease lawsuits for injuries or accidental deaths in the workplace, but sometimes a lawsuit is the only way to get justice. It’s important that you have an experienced crane accident attorney on your side to take on the insurance companies.

The insurance companies will have a team of attorneys on their side. They’ll either try to convince you or force you into taking a poor settlement offer that couldn’t be enough to get you back on your feet. The attorneys at our Law Office will not only access your damages, we’ll determine if the insurance company is not being honest.

There are ways in which a victim can seek compensation from their subscriber employer or any third party:

If the gross negligence of the employer led to the death of your loved one, you can file a wrongful death lawsuit.
Someone else’s negligence, besides the employer, may have led to your injury suffered in a crane accident.
The property owner didn’t provide safe working conditions.
Manufacturers may be liable for malfunctioning machinery.
The operator may not have operated the crane properly.
Another contractor or employee could have negligently caused the injury. In this case, you can sue the responsible party.
It takes experience to identify all parties responsible and make them accountable for the injuries they have inflicted. If a worker suffers an injury due to the negligence of a subscriber employer and a negligent third party, the injured worker may seek compensation for both a workers’ compensation claim and a personal injury lawsuit.

Employers avoid buying workers’ compensation insurance because, in the construction business, insurance costs can be expensive. These employers are called non-subscribers. And when taking on a non-subscriber, you will need an attorney that will ensure that you get adequate compensation.

The Texas Government implemented workers’ compensation laws so that subscribers could be protected from lawsuits. Since you’re pursuing a lawsuit against a non-subscriber, you can look forward to greater compensation for your injuries or damages. You only need to prove standard negligence.

In a non-subscriber case, the law can be very complex. You would need an experienced crane accident attorney that can help you through this process.

The plaintiff will file a claim against the defendant that will inform them of the injury and the amount of compensation needed for damages. The easy way would be for the defendant to pay or negotiate with the plaintiff about the settlement. However, the defendant will contest the settlement and the parties will go to court. The plaintiff will have the burden of proving that the defendant was responsible for the injury leading up to medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Luckily, the plaintiff has to establish standard proof of negligence.

At this point, the non-subscriber employers will use some clever maneuvering to avoid paying you anything in court. Here are some examples:

A defense that the employer will use to their advantage is called sole proximate cause. They will claim that the plaintiff is 100 percent responsible for their own injuries. The defense lawyers are willing to destroy your name and credibility so that you will look like the negligent employee that was responsible for the accident.

The employer avoided paying for workers’ compensation, but they are willing to pay for the best attorneys that money can buy. Dragging an injured victim through the mud is a small price to pay for the employer who doesn’t want to take responsibility. You need an attorney with the expertise and the skills to defend your rights.

Do you know why many construction companies hire their employees as contractors? There is no obligation of safety for contractors. Your employer will deny that an employer-employee relationship exists between you two. How can they pay for your injuries, if there’s no evidence that states that you have been employed by them?

In some cases, the employer knows that an employer-employee relationship exists with the victim and they were able to secure compensation. The law sees you as an employee and you are entitled to compensation for injuries suffered on the job.

You need a crane accident attorney who can establish the employer-employee relationship between parties if they meet the following standards:

Social security and taxes were withheld by the employer
The employer provided equipment on the job
The employer provided a set schedule
You were managed, trained, and inspected by the employer daily
Documents that prove that you had to perform tasks in order to work for the employer: such as taking a drug test
You were hired for an undetermined period of time
You were was being paid on an hourly or salary wage
Our crane accident attorneys have the experience handling on the job injuries. We can help you identify all of the parties responsible for your accident and make them pay for all of the damages.

For twenty years, the lawyers of our Law Office have helped injured construction workers recovered millions in damages. We can handle any crane accident case, including those with many defendants. We know the OSHA regulations and can provide expert witnesses who can testify about the issues of workplace safety and operating heavy machinery. Call us today for a free consultation.

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