Dallas Personal Injury Lawyer

Searching for an Experienced Dallas Personal Injury Lawyer? Call Attorney E. Michael Grossman Today

If you have suffered some sort of injury due to another person's negligence or carelessness, you may wish to seek compensation and justice through a personal injury lawsuit. Representing yourself in a lawsuit is no easy task, and it requires an experienced legal professional to ensure that you receive the compensation you deserve.

Despite this, many people feel that they can successfully represent themselves, and only discover too late that they are in over their head. Dallas personal injury lawyer Michael Grossman from Grossman Law Offices is here to explain to you what a strong personal injury case contains and how our firm can help you build the case you need to receive a fair settlement.

What is a Personal Injury Lawsuit and What Does it Contain?

In most situations in which a person is injured due to another person's actions or inaction, the victim can file a personal injury lawsuit. However, a few conditions must be met first. First, a duty of care towards the victim must have been violated. A duty of care is an obligation that every person has to make sure that their actions do not put other people in danger. In some cases, this duty of care is explicit. For instance, a doctor is required to do everything he or she can for the health of his or her patients. If a doctor acts against a patient's interests, that doctor has violated a duty of care towards his or her patients.

In other cases, a duty of care is less explicit. For example, motorists are responsible for making sure that they drive responsible and do not endanger other motorists, pedestrians, or any other person. The defendant in the case must also be a proximate cause to the victim's injuries. This essentially means that, without the defendant's negligent actions (or inactions), the victim would not have been injured. For instance, if a drunk driver crashes into a Dallas motorist, the drunk driver is probably a proximate cause to the other driver's injuries. The drunken driver also violated a duty of care towards the other motorist by driving while intoxicated. Therefore, liability is established, which is one necessary element in any personal injury case.

However, there is often more than one proximate cause in a personal injury case. In the above example, the bar where the drunk driver was served alcohol could also be a proximate cause since that bar served the driver to the point of intoxication and then allowed the driver to leave in a motor vehicle. Many lawsuits involve multiple defendants in this manner, and our Dallas attorneys make sure that we thoroughly investigate every case that we take so that we can identify every liable party.

In order to have a strong personal injury case, the victim must also have suffered some sort of damages in the accident. These damages can be explicitly financial (past and future medical bills, lost wages, property damage, etc.) or more subjective damages, including pain and suffering, disfigurement, and loss of earning capacity. If a victim has not suffered some sort of damages in an accident, then he or she does not have a strong personal injury case in Dallas.

Finally, a personal injury case requires a solvent defendant. A solvent defendant is a party liable for the victim's injuries (as discussed above) that has some sort of financial resources with which to compensate the victim. These financial resources can include insurance policies, money, or expensive assets. Without a solvent defendant, a plaintiff cannot receive any compensation for his or her injuries, as the liable party would have no means with which to compensation the victim.

However, keep in mind that many people and organizations will attempt to hide their financial resources in the event that they cause an accident. These parties know that, if they are not considered solvent, they cannot be sued. It is not easy for a non-attorney to prove that a person is solvent when that person attempts to hide their resources. However, our legal professionals know every underhanded trick in the book, and we can uncover financial resources of those responsible for your accident even if they attempt to hide them. Our Dallas personal injury lawyers have years of experience investigating defendants, and we can ensure that the defendants in your case cannot hide their resources. We will make sure that those responsible for your accident are held accountable, and that you are fairly compensated.

We also put forth the effort necessary to build a comprehensive demand packet and prove up damages in your case. This is a complex legal process, and when handled incorrectly, it can severely limit how much compensation you are eligible to receive. When done correctly by an aggressive attorney, however, it can ensure that the full extent of your damages is accounted for, and that you receive the largest possible settlement. The true cost of an injury is often difficult to estimate, as many injuries can cause long-term financial and personal difficulty. We make sure to take these considerations into account, and we secure expert witness testimony from doctors to prove the full extent of your injuries. We can help you secure compensation for damages that you likely did not even know existed.

But Can't I do all This? Why Shouldn't I Represent Myself in Court and Avoid Paying Legal Fees?

Would you perform your own surgery without surgical experience? Would you build your own house or car if you were not a carpenter or a car manufacturer? Of course not, and you should not attempt to enter the legal profession without legal experience. It is true that our firm charges legal fees, but only if we successfully secure a settlement for you – and even after legal fees, your settlement will be much larger than if you had handled your case on your own. Our law firm has been investigating and litigating Dallas personal injury cases for over twenty years, and we have heard of countless accident victims representing themselves in court. We have never heard of any of them being successful. Many people mistakenly assume that winning a personal injury lawsuit simply comes down to knowing the law. This could not be farther from the truth. Do you know how to respond to lists of admissions? Do you know what does into a demand packet? Do you know how to prove up all the damages associated with your case? If not, you probably do not have the experience necessary to represent yourself in court.

Consider this example: our firm was recently approached by a man who was filing a personal injury lawsuit. Essentially, he had been injured in a car accident and suffered around $75,000 in damages. The particulars of his case were strong, and we could have secured a large settlement for him if he had let us represent him. However, the man was concerned about legal fees eating into his winnings, and he was convinced that he could represent himself effectively.

After approximately three months of negotiating with insurance adjusters, he was offered a $3,000 settlement for his injuries. He contacted our firm again for advice and said he was considering hiring an attorney to represent him. Ultimately, however, he decided to continue to represent himself. He thought that he could frighten the insurance company into offering him a fair settlement if he just threatened to file a lawsuit.

However, the truth is that insurance companies are not scared of you. They know that non-attorneys simply cannot file a strong personal injury lawsuit in Dallas. Their defense lawyers spend every single day fighting against accident victims. Insurance companies know that, against such professionals, a non-attorney does not stand a chance.

Ultimately, the man did file a personal injury lawsuit, representing himself. The defense attorneys on retainer at the insurance company filed a list of admissions for the man to respond to. The man did not know how to respond (and likely did not even realize that a response was necessary). The defense attorneys received no response from the man, so they filed a motion for a summary judgment of dismissal on the grounds that the man failed to respond to a list of admissions, and the case was thrown out. The man walked away with nothing.

Do not let this happen to you. The court does not care that you are a non-attorney, and you will be held to same standard as an experienced lawyer if you try to represent yourself in court. Let the experienced legal professionals at Grossman Law Offices help you seek compensation. We have twenty years of experience handling all kinds of personal injury cases, and we simply want to help victims receive the compensation they deserve. We have filed successful lawsuits against every major insurance company in the country. Their adjusters know who we are, and we can frighten them into offering you a fair settlement. In many cases, we secure our clients a sizable settlement without even taking a case to court simply because of our extensive track record. So if you have been hurt in an accident, let our attorneys bring those responsible for your injuries to justice. Contact Dallas personal injury lawyer Michael Grossman today, and let Grossman Law Offices help you receive the compensation you deserve.

Related articles:

• Personal Injury Claim Eligibility
• Being Your Own Attorney is a Bad Idea
• The Foundations of a Successful Lawsuit