Houston Personal Injury Accident Claim

Houston Injury Attorney Michael Grossman Discusses Houston Personal Injury Accident Claims

Innocent people suffer injuries in accidents all of the time. If you or someone you love has been injured in an accident due to someone else’s negligence, then the attorneys at Grossman Law Offices can help guide you through a successful Houston personal injury accident claim.

For the past 20 years, our attorneys have dedicated their lives to helping accident victims obtain compensation for the harm they’ve suffered. We’ve helped thousands of other injured Texans get the restitution they deserve, and we know how to assist you, as well.

What is a Personal Injury?

According to the letter of the law, any type of physical harm and the ensuing mental distress caused by the actions or inaction of another party is a “personal injury.” The state of Texas allows injured parties, known as plaintiffs, to pursue compensation from the person who was to blame for the injury, known as the defendant.

The basis for personal injury laws in the Lone Star State, the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code, does not order the defendant to volunteer this compensation, however. The laws in this state just permit the injured party to seek compensation, but the plaintiff must be able to prove he or she deserves the restitution from the defendant.

When you have a ticket to a football game, it enables you to see the game in person. However, the stadium isn’t going to come to you, and the game isn’t going to start whenever you want it to. You have to show up at the allotted time at the stadium, and get your ticket torn then take your seat. The same concept holds true for personal injury cases. In order to get compensation, the plaintiff has to bring the fight to the defendant and even court if necessary. In order to receive compensation, the plaintiff must prove the defendant’s actions or inaction caused the plaintiff’s injuries.

Do You Have the Basis for a Successful Case?

If you suffered an injury because someone ignored a legal duty that he or she owed you, then you have the basis for a legitimate lawsuit. No matter what the interaction, all people owe each other a reasonable amount of care to provide for each other’s safety. Exactly what the law requires that reasonable amount of care to be depends upon the situation. For example, when you’re chugging along down I-45 in your car, you’re required to operate your vehicle safely according to the rules of the road. If you neglect this responsibility and swerve in and out of traffic, causing an accident, then you’re responsible for any injuries that ensue.

To succeed with a Houston personal injury accident claim, a plaintiff must fulfill the burden of proof for establishing that he or she was owed a duty by the defendant and that the defendant breached that duty, resulting in an accident and injuries suffered by the plaintiff. The required duty can fluctuate wildly with the parties involved. A driver behind the wheel of a car owes other motorists one duty, while a doctor owes an entirely different duty to his patients. Furthermore, what’s considered reasonable care can change for one person depending upon the situation. A surgeon is perfectly justified in cutting a patient during an operation, but the same doctor can’t just walk up to a patient on the street and cut the person open with a knife. While the act of cutting is basically the same, the situation decides whether or not the action was called for a violation of legal duty.

While in some cases neglect of legal duty is obvious, there are other situations in which the violation may be vague in nature and much harder to pinpoint. For instance, an employee of a construction company accidentally shoots another employee with a nail gun. The construction company should be liable because employers are responsible for the actions of their employees and for providing a safe workplace for their employees. However, no company is responsible for supplying safe working conditions for contractors or temporary workers, so if the injured worker was a contractor, who is legally expected to maintain his or her own safe worksite, then the construction company can avoid liability.

You need to consult with an experienced attorney to find out whether the specific circumstances of your case give the basis for a successful Houston personal injury accident claim.

Elements of a Successful Claim

Filing a successful personal injury claim depends upon three conditions: liability caused by the defendant’s neglect of duty, damages, and a solvent defendant that can be identifiable.

Liability

When a defendant has caused an injury by neglecting a legal duty owed to another person, then the defendant is liable for the damages suffered by the victim. Most often, defendants are liable through some form of standard negligence – a momentary lack of concentration or carelessness that causes an accident. More often than not, accidents are caused when someone just isn’t paying attention to the world around them. However, some defendants injure others when they recklessly did something that was likely to result in an injury to another person, known as gross negligence. Someone driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is the prime example of gross negligence. In rare cases, some defendants even injure others intentionally, such as assault. No matter what form of negligence the defendant has committed, you will need to prove that your injuries resulted from the neglect of legal duty to collect compensation.

Damages

No matter what you might think, damages are not the actual harm caused by an accident but rather are the monetary effect caused by the injury and aftermath inflicted upon the victim. Paralysis is an injury, but the medical bills, lost salary, and diminished future earning capacity are the damages. Damages are divided into two categories: general damages and special damages.

• General Damages - General damages are often contested because they’re subjective in nature. The plaintiff must gather proof to establish the value of general damages in order to prove them up to the court and secure total compensation. Examples of general damages are:
  
  • Pain and suffering
  • Physical disability
  • Loss of consortium
  • Emotional trauma
  • Disfigurement
  
  With general damages being subject to interpretation, a successful Houston personal injury accident claim must properly account for the degree of the plaintiff’s injuries. Due to the subjective nature of these damages, the amount awarded can vary fluctuate significantly from one case to another; even when, the cases appear to be similar.
  
  To exemplify this principle, consider a fireman who rushes into a burning building to save a four-year-old girl. Both the fireman and small girl are severely burned when a wall collapses on top of them. They both suffer from similar injuries, but the general damages for each person is greatly different.
  
  While the fireman was afraid when the wall collapsed, he or she has been preparing for such an incident during his or her entire professional career. He or she has been trained to deal with this fear. Conversely, the little girl has never been in a fire before, so she was likely terrified. The fireman has he benefit of experience to know that he has been burned, while little girl had no idea what was happened and may have even thought death was imminent.
  
  Only an experienced personal injury attorney knows how to handle each injury situation because general damages can vary so greatly.
  
  
• Special Damages - On the other end of the spectrum, special damages are measurable and monetary in nature. Most special damages are easily quantified and proven, but some are subjective like general damages. In the previously mentioned example, how would you estimate damages if the fireman was unable to return to work due to his or her injuries? If you do so by multiplying his or her salary for the expected number of years before retirement, then you’re greatly underestimating the worth of his or her future earnings. To come to an accurate assessment, inflation, promotions, and increased earning power with a better education must be taken into account. Special damages may include:
  
  • Medical bills, both past and future
  • Court fees
  • Property damage
  • Lost salary
  • Diminished earning potential
  
  For many injured people, recovering special damages quickly is critical because they’ve already paid the bills and lost the salary, and they need recompense to get back on their feet again. In court, there is no pressing the rewind button, so all damages must be properly accounted for the first time around. At Grossman Law Offices, our personal injury attorneys make sure to account for all damages incurred by our clients, and we submit a demand packet including an itemized list and the expected compensation to the defendant and/or his or her insurance carrier.

Solvency

For a claim to be successful, however, it must be filed against a defendant who is solvent. In other words, the defendant must have the financial ability to pay for the harm he or she has inflicted upon the plaintiff. If a homeless person steals a car while drunk and gets into an accident injuring you, it’s pointless to seek compensation even if you can easily prove your case. A homeless person has no assets to pay for damages so why pursue them? It’s sad but true that many accident victims must bear the financial burden of the injuries someone else caused because they were hurt by an insolvent defendant.

Sadly, many solvent defendants abuse this loophole to avoid accountability for their negligence, and that’s another reason why you’ll need capable representation to prevail with a Houston personal injury accident claim. Deceptive and clever defendants will sometimes attempt to conceal their assets to appear insolvent and avoid a personal injury lawsuit. Our attorneys know how to conduct an asset search to discover exactly how much a defendant actually owns and locate where the assets are hidden. If a deadbeat defendant is hiding his or her assets, we will find them.

Why You Need an Attorney

No matter what other people tell you, you’re not guaranteed equitable restitution because you’ve been injured due to someone else’s negligence. You’ve merely been given the right to seek compensation by the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code. You bear the burden of proof for demonstrating your injuries were caused by the negligent breach of duty by the defendant. Unlike a criminal proceeding, you’re not responsible for proving this “beyond a shadow of a doubt,” but only “in all likelihood,” what is referred to as the preponderance of evidence.

You Can’t Do This Yourself

While you can do an Internet search to find out information about the laws involved in your case, you need more than just knowledge of law to succeed with a Houston personal injury accident claim. Successful lawsuits rely upon proving a causal relationship between the defendant’s negligence and the injury with a diligent investigation, devising an effective legal strategy, navigating procedural hurdles, and swaying the jury in the favor of your case. None of those skills can be learned overnight but require years of trial and error with similar cases.

Winning a personal injury case isn’t like buying a car or filling out a bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament – not everyone can succeed. You wouldn’t attempt to paint a replica of the ceiling of Sistine Chapel in your living room or perform brain surgery on your wife. Don’t be silly, those intricate procedures require someone with skill, knowledge and resources – just like winning a Houston personal injury accident claim.

Unfortunately, many injury victims don’t discover how badly they need legal representation until their case has already been ruined. They attempt to represent themselves only to be manipulated and manhandled by the insurance adjusters, who tall for time as they gather evidence to make the victim look liable for his or her own injuries. The victim doesn’t figure out what is happening until the insurance company has already refused the claim. Finally, the victim will consult with a lawyer, but by then it’s too late to turn the tide.

Insurance companies respond to only one thing – the threat of a personal injury attorney who has demonstrated the ability to succeed in court. A boxing champion doesn’t fear a fight against someone stepping into the ring for the first time, and insurance adjusters don’t hesitate to take on non-lawyers and attorneys who are fresh out of law school. They’re confident they can get the best of the inexperienced who can’t handle the procedures involved – answering interrogatories, responding to motion of summary judgment or reacting to a countersuit. An experienced attorney, on the other hand, who has demonstrated the ability to beat them brings the insurance company to the negotiating table in good faith.

We’re Here for You

At Grossman Law Offices, we’ve been resolving personal injury cases for 20 years, and we’ve delivered millions and millions of dollars to hundreds of injured Texans. Due to our long history of success, insurance companies are often willing to give our clients fair settlements. Call us now for a free consultation at 1-855-392-0000 if you’ve been injured in any type of accident. Our accident specialists are standing by to listen to your story, answer any questions you may have and inform you how we can help.