Houston Personal Injury Lawyers

Every personal injury case is different. As a general rule, the more severe an injury, the more a related personal injury case is worth.

But, the value will ultimately depend on answers to questions like these:

• How seriously were you injured?
• Did you contribute to the accident or cause your injuries in any way?
• What are your current (and projected future) out of pocket costs?
• Will your injuries affect your ability to go back to work, now or in the future?
• What kind of emotional toll or trauma have you experienced because of your accident?

Insurance companies will try to drive down the value of your claim – don’t let them. Hire a personal injury attorney who will stand up for you, work with experts to help them assess what your injury case is worth, and fight to get you maximum compensation.

Personal injury lawyers typically work on a contingency fee basis. So, the law firm assumes all of the financial risk associated with litigating your claim. The lawyer only gets paid if they win your case.

That means there are zero upfront costs to hire a personal injury lawyer. If you win your case – meaning you get a settlement or win at trial – your lawyer takes a (pre-agreed upon) percentage of your financial award (less any costs of litigation, like filing fees, court costs, and expert fees).

What percentage will the lawyer take? It’s typically around 33%, but can be lower or higher. Ultimately, it depends on the firm, what type of case you have, and how challenging your particular case might be.

Texas has a short two-year statute of limitations for most personal injury lawsuits. For most cases, victims will have up to two years from the date of their accident to file a civil lawsuit and demand compensation. Miss the deadline and your rights disappear.

Protect yourself by contacting an attorney promptly after getting hurt. Your lawyer can identify the time limits that apply to your case and work to ensure that procedural rules don’t stand between you and the money you deserve.

Most personal injury cases in Texas are based on negligence. Negligence means that one person (the plaintiff) got hurt because another person (the defendant) had a responsibility to act with care, but didn’t.

There are four elements of negligence that must be established in order for the plaintiff to win:

• Duty: The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care
• Breach: The defendant failed to act reasonably under the circumstances
• Causation: The defendant’s conduct was the reason the plaintiff got hurt
• Damages: The plaintiff suffered some kind of identifiable harm (e.g., physical, financial)

Each element is as important as the next. Each must be proven in order for the plaintiff – injury victim – to win and recover compensation.

The concept seems simple enough – someone else was careless and you got hurt. But, negligence is harder to prove than you might think – especially when the defendant (or their insurance provider) fights you at every turn.

That’s where an experienced lawyer can help, by investigating your case and gathering supportive evidence.

Evidence that can be useful is establishing the four elements of negligence include:

• Photographs of the scene of the accident
• Witness statements
• Accident reports
• Testimony from expert witnesses
• Medical records
• Financial statements, and more.

Your lawyer will use this evidence to establish the defendant owed you a duty of care, prove that they didn’t act reasonably under the circumstances, and that you suffered injuries as a result.

Most don’t – a whopping 95% of personal injury lawsuits settle before the trial state. However, that doesn’t mean that your case won’t end up before a judge and jury.

And, you want to make sure that you have an attorney with litigation experience representing you, even if you don’t make it all the way to trial.

Why? When you’re represented by an experienced trial lawyer, insurance companies and defendants will know that you mean business. They’ll know that your lawyer will have prepared for this case as if it will go to trial – and won’t be afraid to reject low offers and take the case to trial. The other party won’t want to go to trial and might offer more in settlement negotiations to prevent that from happening.