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Do I Really Need a Personal Injury Attorney for My Car Accident Claim?
In the state of Texas, drivers are required to carry auto insurance. This is meant to ensure that they and other road users are protected, should an accident occur. Yet the type of protection they expect, and the kind they receive are sometimes worlds apart. Can an auto accident attorney really help, and if so, to what extent? Are there any other potential benefits to hiring one for your case? The following information provides answers to these common questions and explains how you can find the right attorney for your case.
How a Personal Injury Attorney Can Improve Your Chances of Success
Many drivers are surprised to learn that their insurance company does not just pay out compensation for an accident. Instead, representatives from the insurer will investigate the details of the accident to determine whether they can claim you may have been partially (or completely) at fault. We have had many cases where the insurance company's insured runs a red light and yet the adjuster attempts to partially blame our client for not seeing the offender and driving more defensively.
What to Do After a Truck Accident in Texas
Getting into an accident on the road is a common fear for drivers. Sharing the road with a semi-trailer truck can make drivers especially nervous. Commercial trucks are large and intimidating, even at a distance. Most truck drivers are responsible on the road, but poor judgment (such as driving while fatigued or under the influence of alcohol or drugs) and other human error, not to mention mechanical problems, often lead to deadly truck accidents.
Burress Injury Law has a wealth of experience with 18-wheeler Crashes
The attorneys at Burress Injury Law have handled hundreds of 18-wheeler and other commercial vehicle wrecks and have recovered more than 100 million dollars for our clients in the past decade. One such 18-wheeler collision involved a truck driver who purposely ingested synthetic marijuana before driving a loaded 80,000 lb. 18-wheeler and causing a multi-fatality wreck. That case settled for a total of $16,500,000.
How Common Are Truck Accidents?
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), more than 475,000 crashes occur each year that involve large trucks. Fatal truck accidents are most common in rural areas, with nearly 60 percent of fatal crashes involving a truck occurring in that kind of environment. The second most common area in which fatal truck accidents occur are interstate highways. Non-fatal crashes are also prevalent in these areas, and thousands of victims are hurt each year in such accidents.
Additional Issues Experienced by Spinal Cord Injury Victims
Data from the National Spinal Court Injury Statistical Center shows that nearly 40 percent of all spinal injuries are caused by motor vehicle accidents. That makes car crashes the leading cause of this debilitating condition. Paralysis is not the only issue that victims face, however. In fact, there are several other common complications that are often associated with spinal cord injuries. The following examines these additional issues and provides details on how you may be able to receive compensation for the injuries to you or a loved one.
Looking at the Additional Complications
Many of the additional complications experienced by spinal cord injury victims stem from or are caused by the limited body function or paralysis often associated with such an injury. For example, pressure sores (decubitus ulcers) are extremely common among victims who cannot change positions in a bed or chair easily. Pneumonia and blood clots are also exceedingly common, and can sometimes lead to fatalities. Sepsis from any one of these complications is also a possibility, and it can be highly fatal for patients with spinal injuries. In fact, life expectancy can easily be cut short because of all the additional complications spinal cord injury victims face.
Staying Safe in Bad Weather When You are Riding a Motorcycle or Bike
One of the nice things about owning a motorcycle or a bicycle is the fact that you are never really dependent on public transit, even when the weather is bad. That fact alone can motivate people to keep on biking, no matter what the weather conditions are like.
During the wet, early spring months, you may not want to hang up your bicycle or tuck your motorcycle into storage, but you do need to take some additional safety precautions while you are on the road.
Why do these safety rules apply to both modes of transportation?
Bicycles and motorcycles may be vastly different in many ways, but they do share a few common factors. Among the most significant: Both bikers and cyclists are very vulnerable to serious injuries. Neither have even the limited protection that a vehicle's sides, roof, seatbelt and airbags offer in a wreck.
You need to do everything in your power to avoid accidents, and early spring weather can prove especially challenging. Here are some precautions you can take to protect yourself:
Car Crashes by the Numbers: Statistics and Facts That Should Scare You
There are about 225 million licensed drivers in the United States these days. Texas just happens to be home to more than 17 million of them. While many drivers get through their daily commutes and errands without incident, motor vehicle accidents are one of the top causes of death in the United States every year among otherwise healthy adults.
Ultimately, assuming that figures will stay relatively unchanged from the past few years, you can expect around 40,000 fatal car accidents to occur in 2020. However, that's only the start of the damage. Another two million victims end up with permanent injuries from mostly avoidable wrecks.
What Are Your Chances of Being in a Car Wreck?
Here is a rough breakdown of who is getting hurt in car accidents these days, and why:
Even though female drivers now slightly outnumber male drivers in the United States, 80% of car accidents will involve male drivers. Men do drive about 30% more miles than women, but that does not fully account for the disparity.
FDA Gives Doctors New Diagnostic Tools for Concussions
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), or concussions, are among the most catastrophic — and the most common — types of injuries that a motor vehicle crash (or other accident victim) can suffer. TBI victims stand the best chance of having a good recovery from their injuries when they are quickly and accurately diagnosed and undergo treatment for their TBI early on.
However, TBIs can be frustratingly hard to diagnose after an accident because the majority of the damage remains hidden inside the victim's skull. Plus, bleeding and swelling in the brain, or axonal shearing can continue long after the initial impact, eventually causing additional brain trauma that can actually be worse than the initial injury.
Hidden Damage
However, bruising and torn nerve fibers in the brain cannot usually be seen on CT scans or basic MRI's. Although more sophisticated imaging techniques (e.g. Diffusion Tensor Imaging MRI, Susceptibility Weighted Imaging, SPECT, etc.) are much better at detecting microscopic injury to axon nerve fibers which often lead to many of the long-term problems suffered by TBI victims, other diagnostic methods traditionally used to assess brain injuries are essentially subjective tests that measure cognitive abilities. These tests can be particularly impractical when someone is brought into an emergency room after a TBI because they rely on the examiner being able to recognize a victim's baseline abilities prior to the injury — something that an ER physician cannot really do. Frankly, it is also impractical when used on people who are highly motivated to hide their injuries — like athletes and soldiers. They simply learn to spit out the "correct" answers so they can get back out with their team or unit.
18 Wheeler Result
Burress Injury Law had the honor of helping a young man who was the victim of a hit-and-run 18-wheeler crash on Sam Rayburn Tollway (121). Our client was driving in the left lane on 121 when without warning, the 18-wheeler driver dangerously cut across 2 lanes of traffic and struck the right side of our client's vehicle. The impact caused our client's vehicle to rotate clockwise, pass in front of the 18-wheeler and across the center and right lanes of the tollway and eventually strike a concrete bridge support pillar head on. Our client catastrophic injuries and could not call 911. Meanwhile, the truck driver fled the scene without rendering aid and no eye-witnesses came forward to identify the driver.
We were fortunate that the client's family retained Burress Injury Law very quickly. Our team sprang into action, obtaining NTTA videos of the crash, and located and inspected the tractor-trailer within days. Inexplicably, the trucking company chose to employ a driver who DID NOT have a Class A driver's License (qualifier to driving the 80,000 lb. tractor/trailer) and moreover, his normal Class C driver's license was suspended for two separate reasons. The truck driver was charged with multiple crimes including a Felony for "Failure to Stop and Render Aid Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury."
What is the worst advice or biggest misconception you read from non-lawyers on the internet or otherwise hear about personal injury claims?
Question: What is the worst advice or biggest misconception you read from non-lawyers on the internet or otherwise hear about personal injury claims?
Answer: There are two, actually. I will address the first one this week. When an injured victim (usually from a car or truck wreck) requests recommendations for a qualified personal injury attorney, Burress Injury Law is very often on that list. However, there will normally be a comment among the recommendations by a lay person (often who works for an insurance company) advising the victim not to retain legal counsel, but to instead just handle the claim directly with the insurance company(s). The comment usually goes on to state or imply that the insurance company will be fair and that it's wise to cut out the attorney (and the attorney fee). This is wrong for the following reasons:
1) First, legal fees in personal injury claims are typically calculated on a contingency basis - meaning unless a recovery is made, no fee is earned. This benefits the victim greatly because in almost every other type of law, you are paying by the hour whether your case is won or lost.
Explaining the Compensation Process in a Personal Injury Claim
In the unfortunate circumstance that you are the victim of any personal injury incident, it's important for your claim (as well as your body) to immediately obtain necessary medical treatment. Hospitals will treat you regardless of whether you have been in a motor vehicle crash or other incident. Primary care physicians and specialists, however, very often refuse to see even long-time patients in these circumstances. Some good personal injury law firms know of quality physicians, therapists and other medical providers who will treat injured victims even without health insurance or up- front payment. Moreover, in the right type of case, most of the post-emergency room treatment can be arranged so that payment is only required if enough compensation from the personal injury claim is obtained (note - there are circumstances in which it is strategically beneficial to utilize health insurance throughout a claim but only in a working minority of claims).
Depending on the injuries, medical treatment can require a few weeks to months, and in more serious cases, lifetime care may be required. Either after medical treatment is completed or the claim begins to approach the statute of limitations, our focus broadens from managing our client's medical treatment to positioning the case in the optimal light to "make you whole," in order to compensate you for your medical expenses and any lingering damages you have from any disfigurement, physical impairment, pain, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium and/or mental anguish. In an ideal world, the insurance company will concede liability on behalf of its insured and pay full value for the claim.
Maximizing the Claim's Value - NOT Settlement - Is Your Goal
If a lawsuit is handled well, the insurance company responsible for paying your claim will resolve the matter through settlement. If they do not, a case will proceed to trial, where it will be your legal team's responsibility to convince a jury to make the insurance companies pay you. This process may seem filled with stops and starts, but it is important to remain patient about that process to maximize your chances to recover the full value of your claim. Before you hire an attorney, there are several things you should consider about the conclusion of a case, in making your decision about who you ask to represent you. At Burress Injury Law, we take great pride in handling our cases with these considerations in mind, and we are happy to visit with you about them.
First, a settlement should not be your attorney's main goal. Less than policy limit settlements could arguably be considered a form of concession by both sides. The insurance company concedes that perhaps the other driver was responsible and that you are owed money. It is also a concession by you that your case is worth the amount that you accept, and not more. Most personal injury cases eventually result in settlements. So why should your attorney not focus on that? If the goal is to simply obtain a settlement - and therefore get paid something - this goal will not result in the insurance companies paying the full amount your claim actually is worth. In nearly every claim made, or lawsuit filed, an insurance company will offer something. An attorney may offer to take a case because something will be offered. Or he or she may think they can likely get a "quick settlement." They might tell you the other side should pay something to make the case go away. However, these statements suggest the attorney is only evaluating whether the case is worth anything, and not anything more.
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From our offices in McKinney, Frisco, Paris, and Sherman, we serve clients throughout Collin County, Lamar County, Grayson County, and all of the state of Texas, including Plano, Murphy, Allen, Princeton, Prosper, Celina, Carrollton, Denton, Lewisville, Bonham, Dallas, and Denison.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
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