I went online, you know, I like to see what other people have said and then when I came in and met the attorney I was impressed and decided to go with him. [If someone I knew was ever injured] I would say 'Here is a business card for my attorney. You should call him.'
-
J. Thompson
Premises Liability Case
Dallas Auto Injury Attorney
Injury Attorney Michael Grossman Discusses Injuries in an Auto Accident
If you or someone your love has been in an auto accident, you have probably had to deal with insurance companies and their adjusters. This is almost always a frustrating process, but if you have suffered an injury in your car accident, you should let an experienced attorney handle these negotiations.
Seeking compensation for an auto injury (whether large or small) is not easy for those without legal experience, and, despite their friendly demeanor, insurance companies will do everything they can to avoid paying you. Experienced Dallas auto injury attorney Michael Grossman from Grossman Law Offices is here to tell you a little bit about how insurance companies handle these claims and why you need the help of an aggressive lawyer.
Common Types of Auto Accident Injuries
In general, there are two broad categories of auto injury: small injury claims and serious injury claims. Some examples of small injuries include whiplash, soft tissue damage, sore muscles, etc. Some examples of serious injuries include broken bones, neck or back injuries, spinal cord injuries, severed limbs, head injuries, etc. Obviously, the line between a small injury and a serious injury is not always so clear. However, the distinction is useful in that it allows your attorney to predict how your insurance company will handle your claim.
Small Injury Claims
If you have suffered a small injury, the majority of your damages will probably cover pain and discomfort. You will likely have medical expenses, and those will be covered as well, but your medical bills will likely not be very high. The challenge in these cases comes from proving up your damages. In most small injury claims, your insurance company will downplay your claim, working to convince a jury that you are not in as much pain as you claim to be. This is a difficult tactic for non-attorneys to handle, as simply saying you are in pain is not enough to validate your claim.
However, our attorneys know how to prove up these types of damages. We will seek expert witness testimony from physicians that can provide evidence that you are in pain. Furthermore, we will help you document the days after your injury to provide more concrete evidence. Most importantly, however, we know how to speak the jury’s language, and we can make sure that they understand the full extent of your injuries.
Serious Injury Claims
In a serious injury claim, there is much more money on the line. Your medical bills will be much higher (potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars or more), you will lose wages spending time in the hospital, you may be in a lot of pain, you may suffer long-term disability, and you may not even be able to return to work. A successful auto injury lawsuit can ensure that you are compensated for all these damages, but your insurance company will do everything they can to avoid paying you.
With so much money at stake, insurance companies become much more aggressive. They will attempt to flat out deny liability, and they will attempt to get you to damage your own case. They often approach car accident victims within hours of the accident, while you are still potentially in shock, and before you have had a chance to speak to an attorney. They typically act friendly and cooperative, asking you about your accident, but their ultimate goal is to get you to say something that will compromise your claim. It is imperative that you do not speak to insurance adjusters. That is a dangerous task, and should only be handled by legal professionals.
Let Grossman Law Offices Help You
Whatever your situation, Grossman Law Offices can help you. Whether you have a small injury claim or you have been serious injured, we can help you fight for the compensation you deserve. Michael Grossman has twenty years of experience handling auto injury cases, and he has faced every major insurance carrier in the nation. Their adjusters and defense lawyers know who we are, and they often offer our clients sizable settlements once they learn that we are on the case, simply because they do not want to face our attorneys in court. This means that we can get you and your family back on your feet quickly, and often without the hassle of going to trial. So if you or someone you love has been in an auto accident, contact aggressive Dallas auto injury attorney Michael Grossman today. Let Grossman Law Offices help you get the compensation you deserve.
Will the insurance company help?
What if my injury is relatively minor?
Recovery for a client who suffered neck, back, and knee injuries in a motor cycle accident.
$100,000.00
$33,333.00
$627.00
A loading dock worker suffered serious including numerous facial fractures and minor brain trauma when an 18-wheeler back into him, crushing him against the loading dock. The plaintiff's employer was a subscriber to Texas Workers' Compensation coverage, thus a claim was rightly filed against the third party trucking company whom the truck driver operating the reversing 18-wheeler worked for.
The plaintiffs asserted the position that the trucking company in question was liable on the basis of respondeat superior and negligent retention. The defendants argued that the plaintiff was the sole proximate cause of his injuries by virtue of the plaintiff putting himself in harms way. They maintained that the plaintiff simply walked behind the reversing tractor trailer as it pushed back toward the loading dock.
It was later determined through deposition testimony that the truck driver had indeed instructed the plaintiff to stand behind the trailer in order to determine the vehicle's proximity to the dock. Once this fact came to light, the defendants agreed to mediate whereby the case was satisfactorily settled.
$300,000.00
$120,000.00
$9,807.00
Recovered for client who suffered soft-tissue injuries in an automobile accident.
$65,000.00
$26,000.00
$1,500.00
Recovery for driver struck from behind by 18-wheeler: Driver sustained back and neck injury.
$145,000.00
$48,333.00
$2,696.00
Recovery for worker who fell from the back of a pickup truck and suffered a concussion.
$50,000.00
$20,000.00
$348.00
Our firm was hired by a delivery driver who suffered a closed head injury resulting in the permanent loss of smell in a head-on accident. The incident occurred as the driver of an 18-wheeler lost control of his vehicle and veered into oncoming traffic. Our client's delivery vehicle was struck head-on, causing massive damage to both vehicles.
Our client was taken to an area hospital where he was treated for minor bodily injuries and a closed head injury which originally manifested itself as a concussion and temporary memory loss.
Suit was filed against the defendants following their failure to respond to our correspondence in a timely manner and litigation began. Included in the suit were both the defendant truck driver and his employer. The results of our investigation and the physical evidence from the accident scene made it apparent that the defendants had indeed caused the accident. Defense counsel soon conceded liability
$1,450,000.00
$560,000.00
$31,410.00
Recovered for client who suffered soft-tissue back injuries and leg contusions in an 18-wheeler accident.
$90,000.00
$30,000.00
$562.00
(policy limits) Recovered for client who suffered soft-tissue back and neck injuries in a motor-vehicle accident.
$70,000.00
$23,333.00
$656.00
Our client was injured in a motor vehicle accident when an employer driving a company vehicle failed to yield the right of way and collided with the plaintiff's vehicle. The defendant's employer was sued for negligence soon thereafter. The defendants alleged that the company should not be held liable for the actions of the employee.
They claimed that the employee was not in the course and scope of his employment at the time of the accident. Through discovery, our attorneys learned that the defendants had a policy, both written and implied, whereby employees of the company were allowed to drive work vehicles after hours.
Furthermore, our attorneys argued case law that expanded the definition of course and scope which showed that the defendant was indeed "on the clock" when the accident occurred.
As a result, the defendants conceded liability and turned their defenses toward the alleged damages. They claimed that our client had a preexisting condition that was responsible for her current state.
We deposed the emergency room physician who assessed the client and recommended surgery regarding the medical necessity of the surgical procedure and the proximate cause of the plaintiff's condition. He testimony unequivocally defeated these arguments. The case was satisfactorily resolved through litigation.
$210,000.00
$70,110.00
$3,787.00
Our firm was hired by the minor child and parents of a young man who was killed in a motorcycle accident after being over served alcohol at a South Padre Island bar. The plaintiffs hired our firm to investigate the claim on the basis that the decedent was over the legal limit at the time of his death. In initial attempts to settle the case out of court, the defendants denied liability. Suit was filed soon thereafter.
The defendants initially argued that the decedent never consumed alcohol on their premises. Through physical evidence and deposition testimony to the contrary, we were able to conclusively prove that the decedent had indeed been drinking at the establishment.
The defendants then asserted allegations that the decedent's minor child was not actually his biological child, which would bar his claim entirely. A DNA test was performed and this argument was defeated.
The defendants then asserted the safe harbor defense. Our attorneys argued that the defendants did not qualify for safe harbor protection due to the fact that their servers were not all licensed providers. However, while this element was being addressed, our attorneys focused their attention on addressing the second element of the safe harbor defense regarding the bar's encouragement of the over service of alcohol. The defendants claimed that they would never serve the double-shot Bacardi cocktails that witnesses claimed the decedent drank several of. We sent private investigators into the bar to order the same drinks that the decedent consumed on the night of his death and the very same bar tenders who over served the decedent, without hesitation, served copious amounts of alcohol to the investigators, all of which was captured on hidden camera.
Once the safe harbor defense was defeated, the defendants argued that the decedent's BAC was low enough at the time of his death (as recorded by the hospital) that he would not have necessarily appeared obviously intoxicated to the servers and therefore the bar should not be held liable even if he had been over served. Eyewitness testimony refuted this.
Additionally, our firm's testifying medical expert reviewed the medical records related to the emergency helicopter flight that transported the decedent to the hospital after his accident. She determined that the EMS technicians administered numerous blood transfusions while in flight. Armed with this newfound data, our medical expert reverse extrapolated and determined conclusively that the decedent's BAC was actually in the range of .19-.21 at the time of the accident, though it was drastically diluted by the time he arrived at the hospital, which accounted for the relatively low BAC found in the hospital's medical records. This testimony proved to be pivotal in the case, resulting in a successful recovery for our clients.
$350,000.00
$140,000.00
$40,000.00