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No matter the severity of your injury, if someone else was responsible for causing it, you deserve to be compensated. Our lawyers can help explain what you stand to gain and the best ways to prepare your suit or evaluate settlement offers.
If you file a personal injury lawsuit in Garland, you stand to recover for many of the harms that you sustain, including medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and even punitive damages in some cases. With so much at stake, you should be careful about dealing with the other party’s insurance company, even if it offers you a settlement deal. Our lawyers can take the appropriate steps to file a personal injury claim on your behalf in court, at which point settlement offers might increase. As we prepare your claim, we will organize evidence that allows us to meet the standard of proof in case your lawsuit does not settle, though many personal injury claims do.
Call The Queenan Law Firm at (817) 476-1797 for help with your case from our personal injury lawyers.
Recoverable Damages for Personal Injuries in Garland, TX
If someone else’s negligence or recklessness harmed you, you should not be responsible for paying the price that comes with your injuries. Our lawyers can help you file a lawsuit against the responsible party to recover damages. Courts assess damages according to legal theories about the various harms that a personal injury victim can suffer. There are three general types of damages: economic, non-economic, and punitive.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are meant to cover all of the direct expenses associated with your injury. These most often include the cost of your medical care. Expenses that will be covered in damages may include hospital stays, emergency procedures, surgeries, prescription medication, and physical therapy. If you have to modify your home for accessibility after an accident, those will also likely be covered.
Injuries may force personal injury victims to miss time at work. When that happens, a successful lawsuit will earn damages to compensate for lost wages, paid time off, or missed opportunities for promotion. In the case of severe, long-term conditions, you may also recover compensation for decreased earning potential. When calculating lost wages, our personal injury lawyers may use recent pay stubs, income statements, and information from your employer. Statements from medical experts can reinforce compensation requests for future lost wages, as they can testify about the severity and the long-term effects of victims’ injuries.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages represent all of the harms you sustain from your injury that cannot be shown on receipts or spreadsheets. Certain injuries are more likely to cause you pain and suffering due to chronic pain, changes in lifestyle, or psychological conditions such as anxiety and depression that may accompany the injury. Our personal injury lawyers can assess your situation to determine how much you may stand to recover in non-economic damages in your lawsuit. Quantifying non-economic damages takes several factors into consideration, such as a victim’s age and if their injuries are permanent or disfiguring.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are only available in certain cases, but where they are available, they may represent the largest percentage of your recovery. Punitive damages are awarded when the defendant’s behavior is so reckless or indifferent to the victim’s safety that the behavior deserves punishment. Therefore, the calculation of punitive damages is based primarily on the defendant’s conduct rather than the plaintiff’s condition. To determine whether punitive damages may be available to you in a personal injury lawsuit, call us today to speak with one of our experienced attorneys. In addition to gauging your eligibility for punitive damages, our lawyers can explain the caps on these damages under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.001, which might not apply if the defendant in your case was also convicted of a felony because of their conduct.
How Soon to Initiate Your Injury Claim After an Accident in Garland, TX
There is no benefit to delaying contacting our lawyers and waiting to initiate your case. Particularly because crucial evidence could be lost as time passes, victims should have our attorneys begin investigating their accidents and collecting evidence right away.
You can contact our lawyers immediately after an accident while you are still physically recuperating. Immediately after an incident, details are freshest in witnesses’ minds, so we will also aim to interview them promptly. Other aspects we will focus on in these beginning stages include obtaining police reports from law enforcement, identifying which experts may strengthen your case, and tracking major and minor financial expenses.
Should you wait too long to do this, useful evidence might become inaccessible, whether because it is destroyed or gets lost. This could make it more challenging for victims to prove liability in claims that go to court, and we can help avoid these scenarios by encouraging victims to prioritize their cases and financial recoveries.
The most significant risk of waiting too long to start or file your case is missing the statute of limitations. According to § 16.003, Texas gives injury victims two years to file lawsuits after being hurt by negligence. This is a strict time limitation, and missing the window of opportunity would block you from getting compensation from a jury award or settlement. While preparing your lawsuit, we can stay acutely aware of the statute of limitations, particularly if it is almost over, so we do not risk missing it.
Dealing with the Insurance Company After a Personal Injury in Garland, TX
If you were involved in an accident where the responsible party is insured, you should expect to be contacted by an insurance representative fairly quickly. This insurance representative may ask you questions about the accident or even offer you a settlement offer that will pay you upfront in exchange for your waiving your right to file a lawsuit.
No matter what you say, the other party’s insurance representatives are not on your side. Insurance companies only want to preserve their bottom line, which means paying you as little as possible.
When an insurance representative tries to get you to confirm their version of events or offer your side of the story, they hope you will say something they can use in court against you. Even a general “I’m sorry” could imply that you are admitting fault for your injuries, which the defense might use as an example of comparative fault to mitigate their liability.
Settlement offers may be tempting. However, you should be aware that insurance companies come up with these numbers based on how little they believe you will accept to walk away from your case. In most circumstances, the actual lawsuit may be worth substantially more than the insurance company offers. You may find that it is worth it to counter or negotiate the settlement through the process of discovery and trial, as you can always agree to a settlement later. Settlement proposals after victims file lawsuits in court may be much higher than proposed settlements from insurance companies immediately after accidents.
Suing for Accidental Injuries in Garland, TX
Liable parties rarely intend to injure victims, but that does not make them any less financially responsible for victims’ injuries and losses. Even if you were hurt during an accident, our lawyers can assess the circumstances and evidence to determine if you have a cause of action.
Generally, you have cause to sue a party whose negligence through breach of duty of care caused your injuries and damages. One of the most common examples of a breach of duty affecting and injuring victims is car accidents. Drivers might be negligent by speeding, being under the influence, or ignoring someone else’s right of way, making them liable for victims’ resulting damages.
Other parties might also owe you a duty of care in different scenarios. For example, as a doctor’s patient, they owe you a duty to follow medical standards when treating you, and failure to do so could lead to serious complications or injuries for which they are liable.
While accidents due to ordinary negligence are the most common cause of personal injuries, victims might also be hurt by intentional acts or gross negligence. As previously mentioned, this could open the door to punitive damages to affected victims, and our lawyers can determine if such compensation is available in your case after assessing the defendant’s conduct.
How a Garland, TX Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help You
It is in your best interest to have the help of our knowledgeable injury attorneys by your side throughout your case, as we can help you avoid common missteps and work to maximize your recovery from a responsible party.
Our lawyers can compile evidence for your claim and examine your circumstances to estimate how much you may stand to win in damages. Suppose you are worried about making a mistake when communicating with insurance agents. In that case, you can designate our attorneys to communicate with the agents and negotiate a reasonable settlement on your behalf. If you do not get the settlement offer you need, our attorneys can ensure your case is filed properly and promptly before the two-year statute of limitations runs out.
Our lawyers can likely work on a contingency fee structure, which means that we only get paid once you do, and we get paid more if you get paid more. The sooner you contact us, the sooner you may receive the compensation you need to recover from your injuries.
Many personal injury lawsuits settle out of court once filed, particularly when victims suffer considerable non-economic damages and defendants face being held liable for large amounts by sympathetic juries. We can help victims weigh the pros and cons of going to court versus settling without a trial, which could be some victims’ preference for a speedier recovery. That said, while accepting a settlement might be faster than a trial, that does not mean the accepted amount is fair or adequately compensates the victim. Considering all aspects of a victim’s life that a defendant’s negligence has impacted is crucial, from their physical injuries to their emotional distress. Failure to do this could end in inaccurate damages calculations that convince victims their deserved recoveries are lower than in reality.
Talk to Our Personal Injury Lawyers in Garland, TX Today
Call The Queenan Law Firm for a free evaluation of your case from our personal injury lawyers at (817) 476-1797.