Can You File for a Personal Injury Claim or Lawsuit?

The only people who have legal standing to file suit against another person or business entity for damages resulting from an injury are those who were owed a legal duty that was clearly violated by the defendant. In a broad sense, we all owe each other a basic legal duty in life to exercise a practical amount of care and good judgment so we don’t harm one another.

Take, for example, the simple act of driving a car. All drivers are expected to operate their vehicles in a manner that best protects everyone by not causing an accident. But if we drive recklessly, even if it's just a few seconds, or choose to drive home from a bar after having too much to drink and we harm another people with our car by getting into an accident, we have violated our clear legal responsibility (or duty) to not hurt or kill others through our actions. So if we have harmed others, the burden of proof is upon the victims to gather all of the relevant evidence to show that we owed that legal duty to them, and then violated that duty. If they’re successful, the victims win their personal injury case and the court awards them monetary damages. Depending on the circumstances of the accident, the person or entity who caused it owes victims a different legal duty than another person or entity would. An example of this difference is best illustrated by imagining the standard of care owed to you by your neighbor, compared to that of a doctor. Although your neighbor is your friend and you might trust him with the keys to your house and the welfare of your children, a doctor holds your very life in his or her hands. So, according to Texas law, the standard of care is much higher for that physician than it would for your friend and longtime neighbor.

Degree, or the level of legal duty, can also be different depending on the circumstances surrounding an accident. Let’s say that the same doctor walks up to you on the street and inexplicably slices your arm with a pocket knife. In this instance, he has probably violated a lower legal duty than he would have if you were on the operating table and, with his scalpel, he inadvertently performs malpractice by botching a surgical procedure. Legal duty accounts for circumstance, environment, and context at the time of the injury.

Most personal injuries arise from a clear violation of someone's legal duty, although some are more obscure. Imagine, for example, if one company's employee drops a hammer on your head. The legal duty of the employer to you, the injured employee, has been violated because, by legal definition, that employer allowed that employee on the job site to cause the injury to you. But on the other hand, if the same exact situation occurred and the hammer fell on a contract laborer or subcontractor, the company that employs the offending worker would not owe anything to the victim because, in most cases, there is a much lower legal duty owed by an employer to individuals hired as contractors. This is one of many possible exceptions to one’s legal duty.

But as a general rule, the most proper and efficient way to decide if your case is a valid cause of action against the perpetrator or not is to speak with a Texas personal injury attorney at our Texas Law Firm. We can clearly explain the various legal duties that people and other entities owe one another, and help you determine if a specific injury event warrants your filing a personal injury lawsuit.

Put our years of experience to work for you if you want to know what your rights are, how to proceed with your claim and how much compensation you can secure from your personal injury case. Regardless of how it happened or who is liable, we can answer all of your questions. Call our Law Firm now at 1(800) 862-1260 (toll-free) for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.

If You Were Hurt in a Motorcycle Accident in Texas Texas, You can Discuss Your Case With Our Local Lawyers

Though passenger cars and trucks represent the greatest number of vehicle accidents in Texas by far, mishaps involving motorcycles on the highways and streets regularly here in Aggieland.

The Texas, Texas accident attorneys at our Texas Law Offices have over 30 years of experience negotiating settlements and trying cases for people who have been injured in accidents involving motorcycles on our streets. We have the know-how to devise a strategy from the unique circumstances that surround your case and win fair compensation for damages from the accident that left you with a serious injury and produced a pile of bills, the possible need for long-term care to assure recovery, lost wages, pain, suffering, even wrongful death. To that end, we hope this information page will help you better appreciate the legal options available to you, and their value in helping you win your liability case or rightful insurance settlement.

If you are like most motorcycle accident victims you are probably not sure if you need an attorney OR you have reached a point where you are tired of dealing with the insurance company and you are ready to move on to take the next step. Either way, our experienced team of Texas motorcycle accident injury lawyers here at our Texas Law Offices is here to help you understand how to make the most of your legal rights.

The Inherent Biases That a Texas Motorcycle Accident Victim Must Deal With on the Road to Fair Injury Compensation

The difference between motorcycle accidents and car accidents goes much deeper than the obvious ones. Aside from the great differences in the amount, and degree, of injuries a motorcyclist must deal with after an accident at 30 miles an hour, as opposed to passengers in a car or pickup at that same speed, motorcycle accidents are falsely believed to be the same as car accidents in legal terms when this is simply not the case.

Many in our industry believe, and reasonably so, that a motorcycle rider who is injured in an accident starts with a huge disadvantage because the insurance companies have a negative bias toward motorcyclists by default. This bias quickly becomes apparent the moment an injured biker files a claim.

This inflexible thinking can cloud motorcycle accident cases and make settling them with an insurance company, or litigating them in civil court much more complex than passenger car accidents. Because you can be certain that if they end up in a trial, the lawyers for that insurance company will make certain they hammer this very bias home to a receptive jury. Not long ago, a motorcycle rights group conducted a poll that showed that 85 percent of the general public automatically assumes that a motorcyclist was at fault the second they heard about an accident involving a biker and an automobile or truck.

A lot of such preconceptions are historical when you consider how the motorcyclist has an almost mythical hold on society dating back to when Marlon Brando rode across movie screens in the cult classic 50’s film The Wild One, and Peter Fonda’s seminal film Easy Rider a generation later. That view is reinforced every time you see some ninja rider weaving in-and-out of freeway traffic at 80 miles an hour, It’s small wonder that bikers are seen as wild, care-free members of a reckless subculture who have little regard for their own safety or anyone else’s.

It makes no difference that many motorcycle riders are now are little more than weekend riders who have 30+ year careers and can afford this now expensive hobby. And the truth is that many now daily use smaller motorcycles and scooters as economical transportation. With the cost of gas these days, it’s a very practical solution for them. That doesn’t sound like Marlon Brando or Dennis Hopper now does it? When you stop and think about it for a moment, there’s an awful lot of real-life evidence to counter such preconceived thinking about just who today’s motorcyclist really is.

Did You Know?

our lead attorney has been fighting for Motorcycle Accident victims` rights for over 30 years. Call us to discuss your case.

But that doesn’t stop insurance adjusters from using this prejudice against motorcyclists to automatically deny their claims. The facts of an accident just as often show the motorcyclist was a victim of somebody else’s driving negligence; usually, the driver of the car or truck wasn’t paying attention. We have to watch out extra hard for motorcyclists because they’re often hidden by larger vehicles and not always that easy to see. But the insurance adjuster is banking that he can trick the jury into overlooking the facts due to the image of a reckless biker in their minds, or suggest to an inexperienced motorcycle accident lawyer that this prejudice will prevent a successful civil case and it’s a good idea to settle for ten cents on the actual dollar.

And since the burden is on you, the injured motorcyclist to prove your charges, it’s also on you do disprove an insurance company’s claim that you, a “devil-may-care biker,” who is not by-definition reckless, and that you were in-fact, operating your bike safely at the time of the wreck that injured you. This is why you need a seasoned Texas motorcycle accident lawyer who knows how to refute these prejudices and use the facts to win your just damage compensation.

Combine this double standard with the fact that most adjusters assigned to motorcycle accidents cases are senior adjusters who are chosen for their aggressive track record and it becomes apparent you are facing quite a challenge in trying to get a fair deal if you attempt to do this without an experienced personal injury lawyer in Texas.

Why are Insurance Adjusters so Aggressive When Dealing With Motorcycle Accident Claims?

We’ve spoken of the “cultural popularity” when it comes to blaming those who operate “non-traditional” vehicles such as motorcycles for any and all accidents they are involved in. That bias makes many feel that motorcyclists should automatically accept this “high risk” behavior as part of their lifestyle. And that preconception is warmly embraced by insurance companies as another excuse to not pay accident claims, which is the real business that insurance companies are in.

The simple reason for this is that they are trying to save money. Accidents that would be considered moderate by car standards often result in major injuries for motorcyclists as we have already said. This means that the average motorcycle injury claim will cost the insurance company more money than the average car accident injury claim. Insurance companies try to maximize profit by paying out as little money as possible. As such, they assign these aggressive adjusters to battle motorcycle accident victims in order to force you to accept as little as they can get away with. In many cases, they will use tricks such as recorded statements to use against you in court, or offering you a paltry payoff before the full extent of your injuries have been learned in order to reduce, or completely eliminate, the amount of rightful money that they have to pay you.

Our clients have learned the best way to deal with sneaky insurance adjusters is to not deal with them at all: simply let us handle them. None of our clients talk with insurance adjusters. We take care of that because when we do, adjusters cannot hang you with your innocent words.

If there’s one grave mistake victims of personal injury do, that would be choosing to keep quiet about what happened even they were hurt due to negligence. True, filing a case against the person at fault can be expensive, time-consuming and tiring in the process. But all these efforts can actually be worth the fight, especially if you have found a good personal injury lawyer to handle your case.

Choosing to file for a personal injury claim is a gesture that you truly value your life and would want nothing less but to live it to the fullest. When you are physically and psychologically injured due to an accident, the quality of life that you were supposed to be enjoying is significantly reduced, to think it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. However, if you rather chose to stay silent, you may no longer be able to enjoy life in the way that you used to.

Personal injury cases are not necessarily geared towards making the person responsible for the accident to pay in terms of serving time in prison. Rather, they are compelled by law to take responsibility for their negligence and provide the victim of the accident the suitable amount to compensate for all the damages that he or she had suffered. While money doesn’t really bring back the victim’s life to normal, it is still helpful in paying for previous and current expenses, and reshaping individual’s future in a much brighter light.

As a victim of negligence, you must understand that while accidents do happen, most of them can be avoided. Such incidents don’t really have to take place, had the person at fault been extra careful. And even if the accident was meant to occur, you shouldn’t have been the one to bear its repercussions. Hence, if you do have a viable personal injury case, it is best that you seek the services of a lawyer right away. With a legal counsel at hand, you become more capable of fighting for your rights not only as a victim of recklessness, but as well as the right to life.

When making a claim for personal injury, you should likewise understand that you may not really go to court and continue with a lawsuit, unless otherwise the damages you’ve received are totally severe and if the other party doesn’t want to take responsibility for the accident. In most instances, you will be seeing the party at fault in a closed-door, out of court meeting in order to negotiate for a settlement package which can be used for you to rebuild your life and live it the way you want once again.

In case you have decided to pursue a personal injury claim, the first thing you have to do is seek the services of a qualified lawyer. There are lawyers who are focused on personal injury cases, and you can hire their services to take you through the whole legal process of making a claim.

A personal injury lawyer does more than just provide you with legal representation. One, he follows up the insurance companies responsible in releasing the payment for the damages that you sustained from the accident, so that you can receive them at the soonest possible time. He also provides you with the necessary representation when meeting with the party at fault during settlement meetings, as well as when you decide to take the case to court.

Fighting for the right to life is never an easy task; but you also don’t want to make it a long and tiring struggle, right? Thus, rather than keeping quiet about your case, it’s best that you start working with a personal injury lawyer-this way you are able to find the path towards the justice you deserve, the same kind of justice you need in order to leave the past behind.