Texas’s civil system protects people from accident injuries covered by insurance policies and negligent parties. Insurers also have rights under this system, meaning they will not pay more than they believe they owe. However, they do not always get their facts right, so you may want to discuss your options with our Texas personal injury lawyer.
Wawi Tijerina Law has years of experience that we put behind every case. We will explain your legal rights, offer viable options, and work to meet your objectives so that you understand precisely where your case stands. Contact us today for more information during a free telephone or virtual consultation at (956) 489-1300.
Law Office of Wawi Tijerina Represents Personal Injury Matters
Personal injury law addresses legal issues arising from another person’s negligence, resulting in severe bodily harm or wrongful death. In the event of an accident, it provides legal rights to both injured parties and those responsible. These laws are intricate and complex so you may have more questions than answers about your best course of action.
Wawi Tijerina Law has experience representing the following types of cases personal injury cases including:
- Car accidents: If you were injured in an crash, a Texas car accident attorney can help you pursue compensation.
- Motorcycle accidents: Motorcycle accidents tend to cause severe injuries, given the lack of protection for riders, necessitating careful legal navigation.
- Bicycle accidents: Bicycle accidents can lead to significant injuries, particularly when cyclists are struck by vehicles, and may require legal assistance for recovery.
- Pedestrian accidents: Pedestrian accidents frequently result in life-altering injuries, demanding thorough legal action to address liability and damages.
- Work injury accidents: Work injury accidents may involve complex workers’ compensation claims, needing specialized legal expertise to secure benefits.
- Medical malpractice: Medical malpractice cases arise when healthcare providers fail to meet the standard of care, leading to preventable injuries or deaths.
- Wrongful death: Wrongful death claims allow families to seek justice and financial support when a loved one dies due to another party’s negligence.
- Traumatic brain injuries: Traumatic brain injuries can have devastating effects on a person’s life, requiring both medical care and legal action for proper compensation.
- Truck accidents: Truck accidents often result in catastrophic damage due to the size and weight of commercial vehicles, making an experienced truck accident lawyer in Texas crucial to getting deserved compensation.
- Spinal cord injuries: Spinal cord injuries often lead to permanent disability and significant medical costs, making legal representation essential for securing long-term care.
- Other types of personal injuries: Other types of personal injuries, from slips and falls to dog bites, may warrant legal action to recover damages for pain, suffering, and expenses.
Under the law, you can hold responsible parties accountable by filing a claim or civil action with a Texas personal injury lawyer standing by your side. This approach allows you to recover physically, avoid legal pitfalls, and have a tenacious negotiator working for you. If you choose our legal team to represent your case, Wawi Tijerina Law will take a comprehensive approach toward getting you the award you deserve.
Who Pays Compensation In a Personal Injury Claim?
Most personal injury claims are made as direct claims against the liable party’s insurance. The type of insurance depends on the circumstances of the accident. After a car accident, the injury victim makes a personal injury claim against the at-fault driver’s auto insurance. If other factors contributed to the injury, their attorney could file claims against additional parties, such as the manufacturer of a defective airbag in a product liability lawsuit.
Other common personal injury claims are made against an at-fault party’s commercial property liability insurance, medical malpractice insurance, or workers’ compensation. Personal injury claims against an insurance company may proceed to a lawsuit in court if the insurer denies or undervalues the claim.
Proving Liability for a Personal Injury
Like most states, Texas has fault-based insurance laws for personal injury, requiring an injury victim to prove the at-fault party’s negligent, reckless, or wrongful actions caused the injury. They must make a compelling case through a preponderance of the evidence showing it’s more likely than not that the at-fault party caused the injury. Proving liability typically takes an investigation and documentation of evidence showing that the case meets the following legal tenants of liability:
- The at-fault party owed a duty of care to take reasonable actions to prevent causing injury to the injury victim
- They breached this duty through negligence
- Their negligent breach of duty directly caused the injury
- The injury victim suffered economic and non-economic damages from the injury
The at-fault party in personal injury claims could be an individual, a business, or a government entity, such as a city bus agency after a bus accident.
Depending on the defendant in the case, proving liability may require meeting different standards. For example, proving liability in a medical malpractice case requires showing that a doctor/patient relationship existed, the doctor breached their duty to treat the patient in the standard of care recognized by the medical community, and that breach of duty caused the patient an injury with damages.
Due to the standard of strict liability for manufacturers, a defective product injury claim doesn’t require proving negligence. Instead, the injury victim must show that the product has a design defect, manufacturing error, or marketing mistake that made it unsafe even when used appropriately.
A skilled personal injury attorney in Texas has experience navigating many types of personal injury claims and will investigate, document evidence, and make a compelling claim on your behalf.
What Damages Can I Recover In a Texas Personal Injury Claim?
Injuries are expensive as well as painful and disruptive to the victim’s life. These consequences of an injury caused by someone else are the “damages” in a Texas personal injury claim. Common damages recovered in personal injury cases include:
- Reimbursement for medical expenses already paid
- Future medical expenses related to the injury
- Lost wages
- Future income loss
- Diminished future earning ability
- Compensation for pain and suffering
- Compensation for other non-economic damages that apply in individual cases including scarring, disfigurement, loss of limb, loss of vision, hearing loss, the loss of an organ, loss of enjoyment of life, PTSD, anxiety, or depression
Evidence in personal injury claims includes police reports, incident reports, medical reports, photos and videos, eyewitness testimony, and testimony from experts like accident reconstruction specialists or medical experts.
What to Do After Suffering a Personal Injury In Texas?
It can be difficult to take purposeful action after a serious injury if you are incapacitated or unconscious, but if you or a companion can safely use a phone, taking the following steps after a personal injury can help:
- First, call 911 to request whatever emergency services you need or arrange transportation to a hospital or urgent care center, depending on the severity of the injury
- Then, use your cell phone camera to take photos of whatever caused the injury, whether it’s the damaged vehicles after a car accident or a puddle on the floor of a box store where you slipped
- Photograph any visible injuries
- Ask for an accident report or incident report if the injury occurred on commercial property
- Add the contact information of anyone involved, such as other drivers after a car accident or a property owner after a fall
- Add the contact information of any eyewitnesses to the injury
Always go directly to the hospital after an injury, even if you think the injury is minor. Failing to obtain prompt medical care not only worsens the outcome of serious injuries and fails to detect injuries with delayed symptoms, but it also gives insurance companies an opportunity to dispute the claim due to insufficient evidence that the injury occurred in the accident.
How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim In Texas?
Like other states, Texas has a time limit in place for filing a personal injury claim. The statute of limitations for personal injury claims in Texas is two years from the date of the accident. This time limit protects defendants from living under the long-term threat of lawsuits. Also, it helps ensure that evidence is still available and eyewitness testimony remains reliable if a case proceeds to court when a settlement isn’t reached.
About 93% of personal injury claims reach a resolution through a settlement; however, if the case requires litigation, the injury victim’s attorney must file the petition within two years from the date of the accident.
Texas may extend the two-year time limit only under limited circumstances. For example:
- If an injury occurs to a minor, they have up to two years after they turn 18 to file a claim on their own behalf
- When an injury victim spends significant time unconscious or incapacitated after an injury the state may extend (toll) the time limit for two years from the date they recovered cognitive capacity
- If an injury victim discovers an injury with delayed symptom onset or a doctor diagnoses an injury caused by the accident later, the court may extend the statute of limitations to two years past the delayed discovery date
A personal injury attorney carefully navigates all cases within the state’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims to ensure that the claim considers the full scope of the injury victim’s damages before negotiating for a settlement while ensuring that time remains for court litigation should it become necessary.
Our Texas Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help
Personal injuries can immediately impact your life, resulting in medical expenses, lost work time, and the pain and suffering associated with one’s losses. You are not obligated to accept a subpar insurance settlement under the law.
The Texas personal injury attorney on our legal team will help by:
- Conducting accident investigations
- Proving negligence
- Preserving physical evidence
- Negotiating a full settlement
- Go to civil court if you choose
We want to exceed your expectations and ensure you get the service and results you deserve. Our legal team handles cases on a contingency fee basis. As such, we do not receive compensation unless you win your personal injury case instead of paying a traditional retainer.
Start Finding Closure Today
No one is responsible for the bills and losses they did not cause. Our legal team will identify your legal options and execute your strategy. Call the Texas personal injury lawyer at Wawi Tijerina Law for a free consultation at (956) 489-1300 or by messaging us online.