Texas follows a comparative fault system to calculate damages for personal injuries, such as those incurred in a car crash. Texas is not a no-fault insurance state. In short, provided you are not more than 50 percent at fault for the collision, you can still claim damages. If you are more than 50 percent at fault, you get nothing in the way of compensation.

If you are partially at fault, the percentage of your fault reduces your damage award. An example would be a car accident where the plaintiff’s damages were assessed at $100,000.00 and the jury indicated that they found the plaintiff to be 49 percent at fault. Therefore, the plaintiff’s damages are reduced by 49 percent. In that example the plaintiff would recover $51,000.00.

All civil lawsuit in Texas come under statute of limitation. In Texas, you can file a personal injury lawsuit up to 2 years after the accident. We never say never and would be glad to work with you to see what can be done to get the information needed to move your case forward. After the statute of limitations is up, you will not be able to recover compensation for you injuries. Act quickly and contact an experienced personal injury lawyer at Schuelke Law.

It is quite difficult to say for certain that one particular action or inaction caused an accident. The cause for the crash may have been due to a series of small mistakes. The most important thing you can do is to retain a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible so the lawyer can start investigating the possible causes of your accident.

In Texas, the plaintiff starts a lawsuit by filing an original petition. The name comes because the plaintiff is petitioning, or asking, the Court to make an award of some kind for the plaintiff.

The petition typically sets out the parties, the general facts about what happened in the case, the causes of action that the plaintiff is pursuing, and the type of damages that the plaintiff is asking to recover. A petition can be amended a number of times throughout the case.

One peculiarity of Texas law is that at trial, a party is limited to presenting evidence relating to claims that are set out in the petition. As a result, many lawyers have their pleadings as broad and vague as possible so that the lawyers are less limited on the type of evidence and claims they can present at trial. The defendant can file a motion asking that the plaintiff be more specific.

It’s not unusual for auto collision victims to get very fast settlement offers from insurance companies. Proceed with extreme caution. This is a well-known tactic to attempt to talk you into settling for less than your claim may actually be worth. For example, in 2016, we had a case where the insurance company tried to settle the client’s claim for $450.00. We eventually settled with that defendant by the insurance company tendering its policy limits of $15,000.00. While this disparity is unusual, it’s an example of how insurance companies will take advantage of you.

Accepting the offer right away means that you will not have the option to ask for additional compensation at a later date, should you discover your injuries require more healing than you first thought or if the damage to your vehicle is greater than anticipated.

You are not obligated to accept any offers from an insurance company. If you do receive a call regarding early settlement, make sure to connect with an experienced personal injury attorney first and find out what your claim is actually worth, versus what the insurance company is suggesting you settle for as soon as possible.

Generally speaking, there are official laws, regulations and various guidelines laid out on how to drive and how to figure out who is liable for an accident. These are the rules and guidelines we all learn in driver’s education classes.

These rules, policies and guidelines are also enshrined in every state’s vehicle code and they apply to motorcycles, pedestrians, autos and bicycles.

Despite these rules and regulations though, in many car wrecks, who is at fault does not have a clear answer. And often, police officers, who may not even have talked to both parties, get it wrong. In order to determine liability and responsibility or to discuss the common factors in these decisions, call an experienced auto accident attorney. Each situation is different and your lawyer will thoroughly investigate your case to determine how best to proceed.

Yes, you can still collect damages even if they are greater than the insurance coverage the at fault driver is carrying. What typically happens in situations such as that is the at fault driver’s insurer may offer to settle for the full amount of insurance available.

While that may sound like a good deal, do not immediately accept it without first consulting with an experienced car accident attorney. There may be ways to supplement the amount you may recover by accessing other insurance. An example would be getting access to under-insured motorist coverage. And if you accept the at-fault driver’s insurance without going through the proper steps, you could be risking the claims for that other insurance.

Yes, there are other things you need to be aware of when it comes to filing a claim with an insurance company. Another tactic some employ is something referred to as the “swoop and settle” tactic. This involves an adjuster, or other insurance company representatives, hustling to get claims settled before the injured survivor knows the actual extent of their injuries, their prognosis, how long it could take to recover, and how their injuries may affect them in the long term.

Disturbingly, insurance adjusters have been known to not explain the fact that settling early means there may be problems later if a survivor is more seriously injured than first thought.

However, there is also another thing to be aware of, and that relates to injured survivors being preyed on by unethical medical professionals and attorneys. There has been an uptick over the last number of years where attorneys work with chiropractors to send them clients with the benefit that the attorney gets a client referral and the chiropractor sends the patient to the attorney.

It is also good to be aware of attorneys who advertise endlessly on TV or in other forms of media, such as the local cable company or even the Yellow Pages. These are typically high-volume attorneys, striving to get as many clients as they can, then settle early and as fast as possible. If that cannot be achieved, the client usually gets dropped. The accident survivor gets left out in the cold either by taking an early, low settlement, or having their case dropped, making it difficult to pursue your claim against the insurance company.

Look for a lawyer who will take your case to court if the insurance company does not want to offer a fair and just settlement. When an insurance company knows the survivor’s attorney can and will take them to court, they usually change their tune and up their settlement offer.

Yes, there is a statute of limitation on when you can file your car accident claim. If you do not file a suit prior to the deadline, you lose your right to receive compensation for your injuries and damages. In Texas, for most personal injury accident claims, the statute of limitations is two years from the act that caused the damage (or your car accident). If, however, you were involved in an accident with a city owned bus, you have to give notice of a lawsuit to the city (or state) within 6 months.

In other words, the time you have to make a claim does vary based on the kind of claim you have, and the circumstances of the accident. To make sure you do file a lawsuit on time, talk to a knowledgeable car accident attorney.

There are multiple factors that affect the amount of time it takes to resolve a car accident case. It is difficult to provide a definite timeline, since each accident case has different factors that would affect the timeline leading to case resolution. In general, if your case can be settled out of court in a fair and equitable manner, it may take a few months. On the other hand, if you need to have your case taken to court it may take years to resolve.