Effective Lubbock, TX Personal Injury Trial Lawyers
The most important step to take after suffering a personal injury because of negligence is speaking with a knowledgeable trial lawyer. This is crucial to ensure that your rights to pursuing compensation are protected and to fight bad faith practices by insurers. At Texas Car Crash Attorney Group, we encourage our clients to speak with us as soon as they are able. Texas law has a strict two-year statute of limitations for filing a personal injury lawsuit against a negligent party.
Our firm has decades of case litigation experience that many personal injury firms do not. As experienced trial lawyers in West Texas, we know what it takes to secure compensation for our clients. It’s our mission to assist you every step of the way and ensure you receive a fair award.
What is Personal Injury Law?
Generally speaking, Texas personal injury law deals with civil disputes arising from a person’s negligence resulting in injury to another. Criminal punishment may arise out of the incident; however, it isn’t directly a part of this process. Instead, the injured party will seek monetary compensation from the person or entity they accused of causing harm to them.
What is Considered a Personal Injury in Lubbock, TX?
Personal injury claims originate from accidents. At Texas Car Crash Attorney Group, we help clients who were hurt in motor vehicle accidents and need compensation for their damages. Our trial lawyers take their case to a jury and pursue wrongful death, pain and suffering, property damage, and other related expenses.
What Does a Personal Injury Lawsuit Look Like in Texas?
When our firm decides to take a client’s personal injury case to trial, it’s because we want a judge or jury to determine the outcome. This is usually due to the insurer or other liable parties refusing to cooperate or negotiate a fair settlement amount. In Texas, taking such cases to court requires skill and an in-depth knowledge of how jury trials work. Your average Lubbock personal injury attorney may avoid this due to the cost involved or their lack of experience.
There are six phases of a jury trial:
- Jury assembly
- Opening statements
- Witness testimony with cross-examination
- Closing arguments
- Instructions for the jury
- Deliberations and verdict
How long a personal injury jury trial takes depends on numerous factors. For some, it may only last a few hours or it can take weeks, but the amount of preparation required is always high.
What Damages Can Be Covered in a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
When it comes to personal injury lawsuits in Lubbock, TX, what damages get compensated can vary greatly. This is because every case is unique, and the circumstances involved can carry a significant impact. Regardless, our legal team seeks the maximum allowable compensation under the law. We make it our mission to seek a fair recovery and meet the scope of your losses.
Many of the damages listed below are incorporated into a settlement or court judgment:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost earnings
- Physical disability
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of household services
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- The aggravation of a preexisting injury
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Wrongful death
- Exemplary damages to punish the party who injured you.
As mentioned earlier, our primary goal is to secure a compensation amount that fully addresses your expenses related to the accident. Unlike other law firms, we don’t try to determine if the liable party wants to negotiate. Since they typically don’t or do so in an unfair manner, we prepare your case for trial on day one.
Should I Go to Trial with My Personal Injury Case in Texas?
This is an important question to ask yourself at the very beginning of your personal injury case in Texas. At Texas Car Crash Attorney Group, we believe you should plan for trial from the start. If a fair settlement offer gets made, that’s great. It is better to begin preparing early on so that insurers and their adjusters know we mean business.
Below are a couple more reasons why you should plan to take your personal injury case to trial in Texas:
- You could potentially receive a better compensation award compared to settling.
- Going to trial and winning can give you a sense of justice.
- Despite requiring more resources, a trial can force the insurer to pay more compensation than in settlement negotiations.
Going to trial can make more sense than settling for many reasons. As longtime trial attorneys in Lubbock, TX, we have seen this proven many times. When the insurance companies refuse to pay your car accident injury claim fairly, they assume you won’t risk going to trial. This is due to the cost involved and that you will have to wait longer to get compensated. Working with a personal injury firm that is willing to take things to the courtroom can also force insurers to take your demands more seriously.
How Long Does The Settlement Process Take?
Because the settlement process requires extensive evidence gathering, review, and assessment, time frames vary significantly from case to case. Depending on the severity of your car accident, the types of vehicles involved, and the injuries you suffered, the settlement process can potentially take years.
It will also depend on how much compensation we ask for and the amount of evidence we have. However, initial counteroffers from adjusters are rarely comprehensive, and you may still be in the healing process when these offers are made. It’s best not to focus on how long the process takes, but rather on whether the offers you receive will cover the scope of your damages.
What Steps Should I Take Before Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Lubbock, TX?
Before going forward with a personal injury lawsuit in Texas, make sure you consult with a qualified Lubbock area trial lawyer first. During your consultation, we will review the facts and evidence of your case before advising you on the next steps. If you decide to work with our skilled team of attorneys, we will immediately begin preparing your car accident claim. This process involves negotiations with the liable party or their insurance company for a fair compensation amount.
At Texas Car Crash Attorney Group, we don’t waste time going back and forth with insurers. Going to trial means a jury will decide your compensation demand instead. This requires skillful strategizing and litigation skills to achieve this goal successfully, but the potential for a maximized award is better.
How Do I File a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Texas?
While our firm encourages you to rely on legal professionals to represent your personal injury claim, it’s important to know the process of filing a suit. Frequently, insurance companies for the negligent drivers who caused accidents will make unreasonable settlement offers. They do this in hopes of minimizing the amount of damages paid out. Even with a capable attorney, your claim may not get treated seriously or be outright denied without just cause. When this happens, filing a personal injury lawsuit is critical to ensure you receive fair compensation for the losses you’ve suffered.
If this happens to you, the trial lawyers of Texas Car Crash Attorney Group will do the following to file a lawsuit on your behalf in Lubbock, TX:
- File a complaint in court on your behalf against the at-fault party.
- Have your complaint served to the other parties involved, which includes a court date to appear.
- Filing of pre-trial motions regarding the discovery of evidence like witness statements, accident reports, and other relevant data.
- Attending scheduled pre-trial hearings where settlement offers might be made.
- Presentation of your case to a jury by one of our seasoned trial lawyers.
- Handling any post-trial matters after the jury has rendered a verdict on your case. This could include appeals and other filed motion responses.
Will I Win My Personal Injury Claim?
This is a difficult question to answer definitively for many reasons. The success of your case relies on several factors, the most important of which is establishing the other party’s fault. To do this, our experienced personal injury trial lawyers will prove the following four key elements of a negligence claim:
- A party owed a duty of care to you, and,
- The party breached that duty through its acts or omissions, and,
- That breach caused you to suffer, and,
- Your suffering demands fair compensation.
Should the liable party in your case admit fault, the first two of these elements are met. A trial would then only be necessary for determining the amount of your awarded damages. To improve your odds of winning, you must work with personal injury trial lawyers that will go to court.
What If I Am Partially Responsible for My Accident?
In cases of shared fault, Texas law uses a modified comparative negligence model to determine if you can pursue compensation. Under Sec. 33.001 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, plaintiffs who are 50% or more liable for their injuries cannot sue for compensatory damages. Those who are partially at fault but under this cap can still recover monetary awards but at a reduced amount proportionate to their liability.
An example would be if you were in a car accident that resulted in $200,000 in damages. But, you were found 60% at fault. Under state statutes, you would be barred from pursuing compensation for your injuries since that exceeds the 50% limit. However, should you only be 25% responsible for the circumstances that led to the collisions, you would receive an award reduced by the percentage you are liable. So, $150,000 is how much your final compensation amount would be.
Do I Need a Personal Injury Lawyer?
Without skilled personal injury lawyers that will go to trial, insurance companies do everything possible to deny or minimize claims. This could involve purposely ignoring your inquiries about the case to insurance adjusters construing your accident statement to shift liability. These corporations are in the business of making money and will never offer fair value for your car accident injury claim unless pressured.
If you were recently injured in an auto accident or are trying to negotiate your damages claim with little success, Texas Car Crash Attorney Group can help. Our team of personal injury trial lawyers is dedicated to standing up against abusive insurance claim practices. While settling outside of court is economical, we aren’t afraid to pursue a trial if it gets the compensation you deserve. Because we work on a contingent basis, you don’t have to burden yourself with additional financial worry. We take care of everything and won’t get paid until you do.
Speak with the Texas Car Crash Attorney Group Trial Lawyers in Lubbock, TX
Don’t burden yourself with the frustration of claim negotiations while trying to physically, emotionally, and financially heal after a severe accident. Trust our firm to represent your best interests and long-term well-being while you focus on healing. With over 600 trials under our belt and decades of criminal defense experience, we know the strategies used to avoid responsibility. This gives our clients an edge in the courtroom that many other Lubbock personal injury attorneys cannot provide.
We also stand above the rest because of our refusal to simply sit back and wait for settlement offers to be made. Our team has the experience to know that it’s best to prepare for trial and force the insurance companies to take your claim seriously. We currently offer meetings through popular social media platforms like Zoom for your convenience. As a paperless law office, we strive to use technology to make our legal services more accessible. Contact us right away to schedule your free consultation and learn more about how we can assist you.
