My name is Larry Nguyen and I live in Dallas and while traveling to Houston a crate fell off of a truck, hit my car, and the owner ran away.
I was on the internet, looking around, searching up lawyers in Dallas and Mike Grossman came up and I decided to contact him. I visited the office and he was very friendly, helpful, and he described to me and explained everything what the process is going to be. It was quick, easy, and everything worked out great. If it happened to me again, I'd be right back here.
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L. Nguyen
Automobile Accident Case
Passenger Injuries in an Accident
Were You a Passenger Hurt in an Auto Accident? You May Be Able to Recover Compensation
Ideally, car accident cases work like this:
- Driver A is driving recklessly and causes a collision with driver B
- Driver B then contacts driver A’s insurance company
- Driver A’s insurance company assess the damage to driver B’s car
- Driver A’s insurance company pays for repairs to driver B’s car or pays for the value of the car if the car is a total loss
Unfortunately, things aren’t always that simple. Oftentimes, there are passengers that are injured in one or both vehicles. In some cases, only one of the drivers has insurance on their vehicle. Factors such as these can turn a routine car accident into a legal nightmare that only an experienced attorney can rectify.
In the event that you are a passenger in either car, you are entitled to file a claim against the defendant’s insurance company. Also, as a passenger, you may be able to receive compensation from the plaintiff’s insurance company as well.
Compensation for injured passengers
Injured passengers are entitled to be compensated for several types of damages. The State of Texas recognizes two types of damages: special and general. Special damages are the most straightforward. They include property damage, medical expenses, court costs, lost wages, and loss of earning capacity.
This category entitles a plaintiff to any wages he or she would have secured had the accident not taken place. For instance, if an electrician who makes $60,000 is paralyzed in a car accident, he can no longer perform his job. As such, his accident directly resulted in his loss of income over the next twenty years. That theoretically entitles him to at least $1.2 million in damages as a result of his loss of earning capacity alone.
General damages are a bit more vague. They include things like pain and suffering, mental anxiety, emotional suffering, impairment or disfigurement, inconvenience, or a damaged reputation. These sorts of damages are much more subjective and only an experienced lawyer will know how to properly account for these damages. If you ask for too much, your claim can seem exaggerated and you will potentially damage your case. Ask for too little and you will get less than you deserve.
For example of the subjective nature of these types of damages, consider an auto accident in which two victims were suffered burn injuries. They both suffered burns over most of their body, but victim A was rendered unconscious for most of his recovery process while victim B experienced his pain fully. Although medical costs would be similar for these two victims and their injuries would be almost identical, the victims experienced different amounts of pain and thus the damages to which they are entitled would be different.
When it comes to general damages, insurance companies don’t like to play nice. Many insurance companies will do whatever they can to prove that the defendant is not liable for any sort of general damages, as these damages typically amount to the largest portion of the claim.
This is where you can benefit from the services of a good Dallas car accident lawyer. A good attorney knows all the tricks insurance companies have up their sleeves and can help you secure the damages to which you are entitled, no matter how subjective they may be. The attorneys of Grossman Law Offices can put their experience to work for you to make sure you don’t fall prey to the insurance companies’ tactics.
When a passenger is injured in a car accident, who pays for the medical expenses?
Can an injured passenger file a lawsuit?
What rights does an injured passenger have in a car accident in Texas?
Recovery for client who suffered soft tissue neck injuries in a car accident.
$40,000.00
$13,333.00
$50.00
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
Our client suffered a punctured colon and numerous soft tissue injuries in an alcohol-related car accident. The accident occurred as the defendant driver crashed his car into a concrete median. The plaintiff, a passenger in the vehicle, alleged that the defendant driver was over served alcohol to such an extent that he was several times the legal limit. As such, a claim was brought against the defendant driver and the bar which over served him. A settlement was reached with the defendant driver and the plaintiff turned his focus on the bar in question. The case was resolved successfully through litigation. Based on the egregious conduct of the bar and it's numerous TABC violations, the defendant's liquor license was revoked soon after the case was resolved.
$337,500.00
$134,000.00
$3,750.00
Recovered for client who was rear-ended by an 18-wheeler resulting in soft tissue injuries and chiropractic treatment.
$60,000.00
$20,000.00
$1,050.00
Recovered for client who suffered soft-tissue injuries in an automobile accident.
$65,000.00
$26,000.00
$1,500.00
(policy limits) Recovery for client who sustained a broken leg in a car accident.
$47,500.00
$19,000.00
$168.00
Recovered for car accident victim who suffered soft-tissue injuries to knee, neck, and back.
$70,000.00
$23,100.00
$600.00
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
The mother of a young man hired our firm to investigate the death of her son following a fatal car accident. The incident occurred as one of the two vehicles involved ran a red light and drive into the path of the other. The defendant was driving a work vehicle for a construction company. The defendant survived the accident and stated to police that the decedent caused the accident. The police could not conclusively determine who was at fault, yet the police report strongly implied that the decedent was likely at fault based on the statement provided by the defendant.
The plaintiff's mother was not convinced. Through a thorough investigation, we ultimately determined that the stoplight that the defendant claimed that our client ran, in fact, worked on a timer whereby the light was always green between certain hours unless a vehicle traveling on the intersecting road had been stopped at the right light for more than 30 seconds. Based on an analysis of the vehicles and tire markings, it was conclusively determined that both vehicles were traveling at the speed limit, which clearly indicates that the defendant driver had not accelerated from stop, rather, he was traveling at the speed limit, which would not have triggered a green light for the defendant.
The logical implications of this information is that the light could not have been red for the plaintiff, and it certainly would have been red for the defendant. As a consequence of this information, the case was resolved through litigation.
$335,000.00
$134,000.00
$63,000.00
Recovery for worker who fell from the back of a pickup truck and suffered a concussion.
$50,000.00
$20,000.00
$348.00