When an accident happens, your life can change overnight. Suddenly, you might find yourself dealing with growing medical bills, lingering injuries, and the emotional turmoil of knowing that you aren’t responsible for your injury.
Each year, Texans all across the state find themselves in similar situations: Their injuries are caused by the carelessness of someone else. Fortunately, a civil lawsuit might be able to provide economic relief. If you’ve been injured in an accident, an Austin personal injury lawyer can help you take your life back.
A personal injury can be debilitating in more ways than one. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may need emergency medical treatment, surgery, or ongoing physical therapy sessions.
If you’ve been injured in an accident, however, you understand that your injuries go beyond physical harm. You might be dealing with emotional issues, including post-traumatic stress. It’s possible to experience emotional pain and suffering as you adapt to the aftermath of your injuries.
Finally, accidents can have a significant economic impact as well. Between mounting medical bills, lost wages, and the cost of litigation, personal injury-related expenses can pile on quickly.
The good news is that a personal injury lawsuit might be able to help. Filing a claim allows victims of another person’s carelessness to recover economic damages for their injuries.
In order to win your case, you must follow all legal procedures for filing a claim in Austin, Texas. Additionally, you must demonstrate that the at-fault party’s negligence caused your injury and led to actual damages. Although it’s possible to represent yourself, many people choose to retain the services of an Austin personal injury attorney to increase their chances of winning a maximum settlement.
A personal injury lawsuit refers to any civil dispute in which an injured party seeks to recover damages from the at-fault person or organization. As such, a personal injury lawyer can work on a variety of different cases, including the following common claims:
Another potential stumbling block is Texas’ laws on shared fault. In Austin and the rest of the state, the doctrine of modified comparative negligence means the total value of your claim can be reduced by the portion of the accident for which you are responsible.
For example, a judge or an insurance adjuster could determine that your own negligence behind the wheel makes you 20 percent responsible for your accident. That means that even if your damages are really worth $100,000, you lose 20 percent for your role in the accident, which leaves you with a take-home settlement of $80,000.
In a worst-case scenario, assuming more than half of the responsibility for the accident will bar you from collecting damages through a civil lawsuit.
For this reason, personal injury victims must build the strongest case possible, as the value of your potential settlement can be decreased proportionally by the negligence you are found to possess for the accident.
Because Texas is a fault state, damages for your accident will likely be paid for by the at-fault party’s insurance company. It’s also likely that the insurance company, in an effort to reduce the costs of a lengthy court battle, will attempt to settle your case out of court.
Most people would be wise to have an Austin personal injury attorney examine any pretrial settlement from an insurer before they accept any such agreement. For starters, insurance adjusters are normally authorized to propose only a percentage of your claim’s true value. This is especially important if you opt for self-representation, as insurance companies view cases without lawyers as less serious.
Hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer is the best to signal to the insurance company that you mean business—and that you will settle for nothing less than a maximum settlement.
You have probably never gone through something like this before. You probably have a lot of questions. We’ve listed a few common ones here, but feel free to reach out for more individualized answers.
Winning damages for a personal injury claim can be complicated. You will need to establish that you’ve suffered actual damages and that your damages are related to the accident in question. Finally, you’ll have to prove that the at-party caused the accident by negligence. If you’re unsure, contacting a lawyer can help.
Damages can only be limited if they come from either a medical malpractice suit, a lawsuit against a public entity, or if they are punitive in nature. Damages from other types of lawsuits are uncapped in the state of Texas.
In Texas, the statute of limitations on personal injury claims gives you two years from the date of your accident to file a claim. All action taken after the statute has passed is likely to be ignored outright—which is why most people choose to consult a personal injury lawyer as soon as they’re aware of their damages.
Damages can be both economic (related to medical bills, missed wages, damages to property, etcetera) as well as non-economic (emotional trauma, pain and suffering, loss of companionship, punitive) in nature.
When you suffer a personal injury caused by another’s carelessness, you deserve to be taken seriously. Why let an insurance company play down the actual value of your damages? Nobody knows how to fight the insurance giants better than an Austin personal injury lawyer at Gibbs & Crivelli, Slingshot Law—they help people like you get the financial settlement you deserve.
Ready to find out the real value of your personal injury claim? Call 800-488-7840 to get started with a no-hassle, absolutely free case consultation. We only get paid when you win.