The answer to this question often depends upon your specific situation. In an automobile accident with fairly minor injuries, sometimes there is Personal Injury Protection insurance or “PIP” coverage that can help pay for your medical bills. Other times your private health insurance provided from work will pay your medical bills. Once we settle your case, we may have to reimburse your private health insurance policy for medical expenses. In other cases where our clients do not have insurance we can arrange medical treatment for our clients using a “letter of protection.” That means that we make an agreement with medical providers that if and when you recover in your personal injury case, then we will pay the medical bills out of the settlement. In some cases where our clients are unable to get medical treatment otherwise, our law firm will advance the cost of medical expenses in order to assist our client. Exactly how each medical expense is handled in each case will depend on the facts of each case and the circumstances of any potential available forms of insurance payment.

The time it takes to resolve a personal injury claim depends very much on the type of case. We believe that it is important to prosecute claims as quickly and efficiently as possible. We usually like to have our client finish with their medical treatment so that we can fully and properly evaluate their injuries before we attempt to settle the claim. Sometimes we can assist a client with making advances to cover lost wages or living expenses while the client is waiting for the case to be resolved. Typically, automobile accident cases with fairly minor injuries can be resolved in about six months. More serious accident cases usually take anywhere from six months up to a year and a half or longer.

This again is a difficult question to answer and we can give a much better answer based on the specific facts of your case. However, generally speaking approximately 90% of personal injury cases settle without going to trial.

You will owe us nothing for our time, attorney’s fees or our expenses if we lose your case at trial. However, the Court may order that you are responsible to pay for the Defendant’s expenses in the case. If we believe that the trial court has made a mistake in the way the case was presented and that there is a chance for an appeal we will prosecute your appeal.

Very often when a person is in a traumatic accident, they don’t begin to feel pain for a day or two after the accident. This is because swelling and inflammation may not take place until sometime after the initial trauma. Often it is the inflammation that causes impingement on the nerves and pain. Sometimes the initial adrenaline and excitement from the accident can mask the pain as well. It is important to see the right kind of doctor that is accustomed to dealing with the kind of injuries that you have received. A lot of general practitioners and emergency room doctors are not really accustomed to treating the kind of trauma that is common in an automobile accident. We can make suggestions on doctors who are experienced in seeing automobile accident cases. Who you see as a doctor is up to you and there are certainly many doctors who are experienced in the area of trauma to choose from.

In Texas employers are not required to carry workers’ compensation. However, if an employer does not have workers’ compensation and an employee gets injured at work, then a claim can be made against the employer for the employer’s negligence, if any, that caused the injury. Our firm handles quite a few of these claims against employers who do not carry workers’ compensation. These claims are known as “non-subscriber” work injury claims. Because there is no limit on the damages in a non-subscriber case, there can sometimes be a substantial recovery. We have recovered in excess of a million dollars for many different clients with non-subscriber cases.

If you are hurt at work and your employer has workers’ compensation you cannot make a claim against your employer for the injuries. However there may be claims against a “third-party.” For example, if you are driving a vehicle for your employer and you are hit by somebody else, then you can make a claim against the other driver since they are not your employer but instead are a “third-party.” Also, for example, in the oil field if you were working for a drilling company, and another company was on location such as a casing crew who caused your injuries, then you could make a “third-party” claim against the casing company that caused your injuries.

Contributory negligence or also known as comparative negligence in Texas law is a defense in personal injuries cases. If an injured person is in part responsible for their own injuries then a jury can be asked to assign a percentage of fault by dividing the responsibility for the accident between the injured person and the defendant. In such a case, the amount of the recovery might be reduced or the recovered amount may not be permitted. Just because a person has some fault in causing their own injuries does not mean they are prohibited in making a claim and if you are concerned about contributory negligence or comparative negligence in your case we will be glad to evaluate your chances for a claim.

If a manufacturer distributes a defective product that causes injuries, they can be liable under the law. A product can be defective either because it has a design defect, a manufacturing defect or ineffective warnings. Our firm has handled numerous defective product cases and recovered millions of dollars in such cases. If you believe you have been injured by a defective product, we will be glad to evaluate your claim.

The law provides that if a person is killed because of the negligence of another, then there is a wrongful death claim. The people who can make a claim on behalf of the deceased person in Texas are the parents, spouse and children of the decedent. The wrongful death claim recognizes that when a person is killed, then the parents, spouse and children of the decedent will have damages for the loss of that relationship. Wrongful death damages include loss of economic contributions and support from the decedent. Wrongful death damages also include loss of emotional support, love and affection from the decedent. Other wrongful death damages include damages for the mental anguish, pain, suffering and loss that the family has endured. Related to wrongful death claims is a survival claim. The law recognizes that when a person dies that the estate will have a claim for the medical expenses that were incurred prior to death and for any conscious pain, suffering, disability or other damages that the decedent suffered as a result of their injuries prior to their death. This claim for “pre-death” damages known as a “survival claim,” is owned by the estate and distributed according to the Will, or in the absence of a Will, according to the probate laws.

The law provides that owners of premises can be liable if they fail to use ordinary care to keep the premises safe for their customers. Our firm has handled numerous slip and fall claims over the years and recovered millions of dollars for cases involving knee surgery, back surgery and shoulder surgery.

If an operator of a business fails to put up appropriate warning signs for a wet floor, leaves a dangerous condition on the floor, or carelessly creates or does not remedy some other hazardous condition, then there may be a claim. We have handled numerous cases where sprinkler systems were set to operate in the winter, leaving ice on the walkways and resulting in a fall.

Our firm has handled numerous animal attacks over the years, many involving recoveries of several hundred thousands of dollars. There is no such thing in the law as “one free bite” anymore. If an owner of an animal is negligent in failing to keep their dog secure, then they can be liable. Most homeowner’s insurance policies cover the liability of a homeowner whose dog attacked someone. Therefore, there is usually a potential source of recovery for damages when a homeowner’s dog bites.

Negligence simply means failure to use ordinary care - that is, simply being careless. If a person is not acting reasonably or is not being careful then he is being negligent. We are not required to show that a person intentionally caused an injury in order to make a claim, we only have to show that they were negligent. If a person did do something intentionally or was reckless then they can be liable for punitive damages in addition to actual damages.

Personal injury claims are usually resolved by either settlement or by a jury. When a case is settled, it is the client’s decision of whether or not to accept a settlement offer. The lawyer will advise the client as to the potential value of the claim. Lawyers evaluate the potential value of a claim by predicting what a jury would do based on experience with similar claims.

A jury can consider all sorts of damages in a personal injury case including medical expenses in the past and in the future, loss of earnings in the past and in the future as a result of the injury, physical pain and mental anguish in the past and in the future, compensation for impairment – that is loss of use, and disfigurement damages. The jury has discretion in awarding the sums. We can give you advice on the value of your claim based on our experience with some of our claims and similar jury results.