Texas is a modified comparative fault state and follows the 51 percent Bar Rule. That means that if you (the plaintiff) were 51 percent or more at fault for an accident, you cannot recover damages. If you are deemed to be 50 percent or less at fault, you may recover compensation though your recovery would be decreased by your percentage of fault.

Never assume that just because you may be partially at fault for a collision that you are automatically not eligible for compensation. Always speak to an experienced auto injury attorney first and let them assess the facts of your case.

Many hit and run drivers turn out not to have insurance or were driving while suspended or disqualified. You may still be able to file a personal injury claim for compensation under your insurance policy’s underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage.

Each case like this is different and to know your options, it is best to discuss your accident with an Austin car accident attorney. By talking to a lawyer, you also get a general idea of how much your claim may be worth. The more serious your injuries, and the longevity of them, for instance, if you are paralyzed, typically means that you may get more compensation. But again, each case has its own set of circumstances and no two injuries are alike in severity and longevity.

Also, be aware that you can still seek damages in a car accident even if it was partially your fault. There are a few things to know if you were partially at fault and one of them is do not “ever” say anything that would incriminate you at the scene of the crash, or to anyone else, including insurance adjusters. Speak “only” to your attorney.

It’s best not to say anything because you do not know what happened. You do not know if you had a mechanical failure or another kind of vehicle defect that caused the accident. For instance, a defective steering wheel or brakes that gave up without warning. The driver of the other car may have been distracted, or a traffic signal may not have been working properly. Do not make any statements about the accident to anyone but your attorney.

If you are partially liable, you may still be able to receive damages, provided you are not 51 percent or more responsible for the crash. If you are more than 51 percent at fault, you cannot recover damages.

Tell them the name of your attorney, provide the phone number, and say they are welcome to speak to your legal counsel. Period. You are under no obligation to speak to the other party’s lawyer or their insurance company. It is best if you do not. They are often attempting to get you to settle your claim as soon as possible, for as little as possible – for less than what you may be able to seek via a lawsuit.

Do not sign anything, because if you do, you cannot go back for more money when you discover your medical costs are more than you thought they would be. Do not make any recordings, as anything you say can be twisted to be used against you later to reduce or deny your claim. Do not have anyone over to your house to speak to you or interview you. DO speak to your own attorney. Your attorney handles all matters with the insurance company.

If you keep getting phone calls, advise your lawyer. Only a personal injury attorney can protect your legal rights.

About hiring a lawyer: you do not need to just pick one out of the phone book or from a commercial. Choose one or more and then go meet with them. All personal injury attorneys provide you with a free first consultation and case evaluation. You get to discuss all aspects of your accident, the scene, the details, the injuries, and the shock and medical issues you face every day.

If you like your attorney and it’s a good fit for you both, you get a written representation agreement to review and sign. Once the agreement is signed, the attorney then contacts the other parties in your case. From there on out, they also handle all interactions with insurance companies and other attorneys.

Your attorney will also do a deep dive while investigating your case, obtain any information they need to make a case, and figure out for sure how the accident happened and why it happened. Your attorney is your advocate and makes certain your rights are protected without some insurance company trying to take you to the cleaners on a settlement. While this process does tend to take some time, it is usually worth it in the long run, as plaintiffs with legal representation tend to be awarded more than claimants trying to settle matters on their own.

You tell him nothing other than you are in the process of retaining an attorney and that once you have done so, that attorney is the person to speak to for any questions they may have. Do not sign any documents offered. Do not give any interviews. Do not offer your opinion about who caused the accident. Do not speak about your injuries and damages. Leave all communications up to your attorney who has your back and protects you against insurance companies wanting you to settle early and for less than what you may be entitled to in court.

If the other driver was deemed to be completely at fault and a traffic citation, witnesses and video recordings may back you up, then the other driver’s insurance company pays compensation for the losses your suffered, any lost wages and medical bills. However, if you are deemed to be partly at-fault for the crash, then the modified comparative fault rule kicks in.

Generally, in most car crashes a jury (should the case go to court) is tasked with figuring out evidence based things, the total amount of damages involved in a car accident and the percentage of fault assigned to each party. Using the modified comparative fault rule the jury and/or judge then reduces a plaintiff’s award by the percentage equal to his or her fault in the accident.

If you are more than 50 percent at-fault for the collision, you do not receive damages. In Texas you must be no more than 50 percent at-fault to recover damages from another at-fault party. You may not know this, but the determination of fault also plays a role in when a car insurance claims adjuster evaluates your case.

No, do not speak to the other driver’s insurance company. Never give them a statement of any kind. If they do contact you, direct them to speak to your attorney. You are not obligated to talk to them and may refuse to do so.

Do not provide any information about your health, the accident or any other matter relating to the accident. Insurance companies are not your friends. Insurance adjusters are trained to diminish, dismiss or deny your claim or to settle as low as possible. Any information you give them will be used against you later to reduce the claim or deny it.

Also be aware that insurance adjusters often ask you to take a settlement offer before you may have spoken to an attorney. Do not accept this offer. If you do, you will be unable to seek further compensation for your injuries. Do not sign anything the other driver’s insurance company sends you or tells you that you need to sign, in particular do not agree to a release of medical records. Contact an experienced attorney and find out what your legal rights are before you do anything.

Yes. To ensure that you are indeed being offered a reasonable settlement, make certain to do speak to an injury lawyer. Your attorney has the skills and experience to figure out if the settlement offer is a fair one or not. Find out what your injuries and damages are actually worth, rather than assume the offer you are considering is a fair one.

Insurance companies are not your friends. Their main goal is to deny, diminish or dismiss your claim in order to reduce their financial losses. Offering you less than your claim is actually worth benefits them and not you.

Additionally, an experienced personal injury lawyer is able to continue negotiations for you in order to reach a higher settlement offer. Negotiating with an insurance company on your own is not a good idea.

We do not advise anyone who has been in a car accident to accept an offer from an insurance company before talking to a car accident lawyer. How can you know if an offer is fair if you do not know your rights or what you are entitled to recover? You can’t. You need a lawyer to advise you to whether the offer is fair and whether you ought to accept it.

And be wary of the lawyer who will tell you right away that they know the value of your case. We cannot know the value of your case until we know how bad you are hurt. And that means giving it adequate time for you to get your medical care and to know how you are doing after your care is completed.

Insurance companies tend to rush to offer a settlement that may seem good on the surface but is typically much lower than you are entitled to, based on the facts of your case. Offering fast and early is a time-worn trick to get you to sign away your rights – meaning if you do accept an offer and discover your injuries are far more serious than you thought and are going to take longer to resolve if at all, you have no recourse to go back and seek more funds. Be aware that your settlement of the case does not have to be in writing. If you tell the insurance company over the phone that you will accept their offer or that you’re settling the case, then it is enforceable, and you have given up all your rights.

Insurance companies also offer less upfront if you do not have an attorney representing you, knowing that if you are not represented, they can offer whatever they think might work. Accident survivors with attorneys protecting their legal rights often receive up to three times what the insurance company offered. Going to court is not an option insurance adjusters want to deal with and as a result, they tend to revise their offers upward. If all else fails in terms of negotiations, your case can go to trial – something an insurance company does not want.

While you could accept an offer from an insurance company, be aware that you could be losing thousands of dollars in compensation that you may need to pay medical and other accident-related expenses. The other point to consider is that if you accept a low offer and then find out you cannot return to work and that you need life-long care, the amount you may have received is not going to cover your care.

Even if the insurance company representative is friendly and seems sincere, do not answer their questions. They are on a fishing expedition to get information to use against you to reduce the amount of the claim, or if possible, dismiss it. Always refer an insurance adjuster to your attorney. If you do not have one when they call, just tell them your attorney is going to handle things for you, and leave it at that.

The short answer to this question is Yes – one of the most important things you can do is fully follow your doctor’s advice. Most importantly, this helps you recover as fully and as quickly as you can. Because of that, following your doctor’s advice is important to not compromise your claim. Failing to follow a doctor’s advice is a standard thing the insurance company uses to reduce or deny your compensation. Insurance companies do not trust what you have to say about your recovery. They rely on medical records. To this end, when you see a doctor after a crash, spell out “everything” that you are having issues with and do not hold any information back.

If you need to, make a list before you see a doctor to cover all the issues you are experiencing. I think this is important. Even in the best of circumstances, a patient typically doesn’t remember everything the patient wants to talk to the doctor about. But accident survivors can be under a lot of stress and are even more likely to forget to mention all of the things they are worried about after a crash. Try not to leave out anything and above all else, follow exactly what the doctor says to do. If that means using crutches or a wheelchair, do it. If that means doing at home stretching exercises, do it. If that means you need physical therapy or remedial massage therapy, do it. And, keep a journal of every appointment, because if you do not follow medical advice, insurance companies would love to reduce the full value of your claim.

While you are documenting your therapy appointments, also keep track of any other injuries you sustained and how they affected you. Take pictures of your initial injuries, and during the recovery process. Why do this? This is because accident survivors are often asked to describe how the collision affected them and affected their families. Ask your family to help you write the journal as they often see things you do not. Those who document their injuries for their attorney often have a better outcome when it comes to insurance settlements or court awards. That also means your information is only seen by “your” lawyer.

Try not to be in a rush to settle. This is because most insurance companies try to make a first lowball offer and suggest that is the best they can do. Under no circumstances should you do this. If you settle early and then find out that you’re hurt worse than you thought or that you are not healing the way expected, you’ve given up your claims. Wait until the doctor says you are better. Do not accept any settlement from an insurance company without having a lengthy discussion with your attorney. Your attorney is acting to protect your legal rights and working to ensure you get a fair and equitable settlement.

Also, do not provide a recorded statement. This is just another sneaky tactic for the insurance company to try and get you to say something that torpedoes or reduces your claim. Tell the insurance company to contact your car accident attorney.

If you do not know what to do after a car accident, make the first phone call to an experienced personal attorney. They protect your legal rights, ensure you are not taken advantage of, and keep the rapacious insurance companies off your back. Your first consultation with a skilled personal injury attorney is usually free. Take advantage of that. It could mean the difference between an insurance company ripping you off and obtaining fair compensation because you had a personal injury attorney in your corner.

Unfortunately, this happens often. While people may be nice at the scene of the crash, it isn’t unusual for them to change their story the next day. That is usually because they think if they can create a good story, they may be able to reduce their culpability for the collision. Sometimes this works. Most often it does not, particularly if you seek experienced legal counsel to represent you.

Above all else, you want a police report of the crash, as it provides evidence for later when you file a claim. So, by all means, when you are in a wreck, call 911. Many insurance companies do not feel an accident claim is credible if there is no police report. Additionally, if the stories told by the other side are written down by the police, it is far more difficult to change them later without major issues. Police reports document the drivers’ descriptions of what happened.

Of note is that the police report is something your car accident attorney can use to build a solid case for compensation for your injuries. To that end, it is helpful, if you can do so, get as much information as you can about the other driver(s). It’s useful to get the driver’s name, address, insurance company, proof of insurance card, and the driver’s license number. You can even just snap a photo of it with a cellphone.

One other very important thing is to get the names and contact information of any eyewitnesses. Do that if you can because it is rare for the police to do it. I often hear from clients that the police talked to witnesses only to find that the police did not document the name or contact information for the witnesses. So you need to do what you can to get witness information. And eyewitnesses can make a huge difference to your claim. Plus, if you do not get eyewitness information, it is even more difficult to obtain it later, if at all. Their testimony can often mean the difference between receiving compensation or not.