Grand Prairie Personal Injury Attorney

Grand Prairie Personal Injury Lawyer Michael Grossman Explains the Types of Cases we Handle

Grossman Law Offices has helped tons of people over the last two decades in all kinds of personal injury and wrongful death cases.

The majority of firms tend to just practice “general law” but our desire has been to narrow our focus on two particular areas and give citizens the best assistance possible. This angle has led to our lawyers improving their ability and gaining a degree of focus and skill that can’t be matched by many firms.

When you make that choice to work with Grossman Law Offices, whether it’s with a personal injury or wrongful death case, you’re coming alongside a group of talented lawyers who don’t get involved occasionally in personal injury law. This is a veteran firm that spends the bulk of its time litigating cases just like yours.

We can assist you or loved ones if your case involves brain injuries, spine injuries, soft tissue damage, any form of catastrophic injury, broken bones, concussions, or any other manner of bodily injury. Our lawyers have combined to build a track record that spans decades assisting others and making sure they’ve been helped for problems like the following: birth injuries, 18-wheeler accidents, head trauma, construction accidents, car crash cases, assistance from being a battery victim, situations where you or a loved one slip and fall due to icy/wet floors, wrongful death cases, and other issues. We’ve emerged victorious in several personal injury cases over the last 20 years and helped countless hard-working individuals like yourself get assistance for financial damage, physical/emotional pain, medical costs, or any other form of damages.

When you are involved in personal injury law, you’ll discover there are many different areas to focus on. We’ve been part of a variety of personal injury cases, and you need to know there are countless personal injury cases our Grand Prairie personal injury attorneys are experienced in.

Texas personal injury cases tend to be classified in one of those groups, but there are other kinds of personal injury cases that we assist clients with too. If you have sustained any kind of personal injury please call us soon to get the help you need.

What is a Personal Injury?

Injuries happen to everybody, but that doesn’t mean everyone has the ability to pursue a legitimate legal case. That leaves one question remaining: What classifies an everyday injury as a personal injury in the legal world? Legally, a personal injury is defined as one where the focus is on the actual injury and the emotional consequences that emerge from someone’s actions or inaction. Despite the beliefs of many, you can’t sue another person just because they hurt you. Victims, also known as plaintiffs in the legal world, have the challenge to show that the individual or group that caused the injury (the defendant) owed them a duty to keep them safe. Let’s put this in practical terms: A guy strung out on meth suddenly attacks a cop and the cop then injures that man in self-defense. The citizen who attacked the cop can’t sue the cop because the officer didn’t owe that man a legal duty to keep him safe. However, if a co-worker snaps, tackles you and gives you a concussion, you’ll probably be able to file a lawsuit against him/her because your co-worker owed you a legal duty to make sure you were protected and safe. In both scenarios, an assault took place which led to an injury, but only the latter scenario could wind up in court since the defendant violated a legal duty that the plaintiff deserved, and in the other example, the cop didn’t owe that manner of duty. A personal injury claim exists to show the defendant owed some form of degree not to harm you, show how their actions led to your harm and then explain factually how those injuries resulted in emotional pain and suffering. Since you were the one injured, it’s up to you to explain how this unfolded. But you have to approach it through the guidelines instituted in our judicial system, which you’ll find to be quite rigid and formal. Several well-meaning citizens hurt their personal injury cases because of their lack of knowledge about the court system, how procedures happen, right ways in filing motions and filings, how to make sure evidence is submitted properly, etc. Each case has a fact pattern, but the strong, minute details of your case, regardless of how credible they may be, are meaningless if you don’t follow the right steps to get those pieces of evidence submitted on the official record. Remember: It’s not what you know, it’s what you can prove. You can’t prove anything if you don’t comprehend the steps to take to get ALL the right facts admitted into a trial. They may appear easier, but it’s a lot more complicated than you think and it’s why you need to obtain a Grand Prairie personal injury attorney to assist you with your personal injury case.

What Purpose Does a Personal Injury Lawsuit Serve?

There are two goals with personal injury lawsuits. The first is to help victims get financially compensated for their losses because of what the defendant did. It sounds bad to think money is the answer in helping you with your emotional and medical pain you’ve encountered, but let’s be real: the majority of personal injuries overpower victims and families with serious financial burdens. Medical expenses, repairs and other expenses linked to those can pile up, especially when the victim is the main provider in the household and can’t work because of their accident. Getting money from a defendant can ease that stress and help a family with their expenses following an injury. The second goal for lawsuits is to use them as a means in which the defendants are held responsible for their choices. When a defendant suffers the consequences for their behavior, you lessen the chance for that individual to make the same choices down the road.

What is a Solvent Defendant?

One of the objectives of a personal injury lawsuit is for you to get financially compensated by those who caused your injuries, but it’s pointless to file a lawsuit when a defendant doesn’t have any money. An example: Let’s say an obnoxious teenager throws a huge rock from a bridge, which shatters your windshield and causes you to then violently rear-end the car in front of you. Even if the teenager is liable, there’s no reason to file suit because that teenager lives at home, and has no money to pay for your injuries. When a defendant has no means to pay you damages to help with your injuries, the defendant is referred to as insolvent in the legal world. A defendant’s insolvency is stressful and tragic for anyone who’s been hurt, but it does happen on occasion.

A lot of times, a defendant will say they’re insolvent but really have enough means in which to help you with your injuries. Once some realize they could fall into a lawsuit after they’ve hurt someone, they take action to cover up their assets so they can look as if they’re insolvent. Many businesses take this action quickly. If the defendant in your case has taken this course, and you have no means in which to determine what resources they have, then you probably won’t have a way to figure out your case’s real value. Our Grand Prairie personal injury lawyers at Grossman Law Offices make sure to do an asset check on the defendant in virtually every case we take on. If the individual who caused your injury is hiding something, you can bet on our firm discovering where it’s located.

How is a Personal Injury Lawsuit Won?

It’s unfortunate that many think someone who’s a victim of a personal injury will definitely get money from whoever caused them harm. The Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code states that personal injury victims have the ability to go after compensation, but aren’t entitled to collect any form of compensation. Since the defendant doesn’t automatically owe you any compensation, your aim is to get a positive settlement or verdict.

We’ve all witnessed jury trials on sitcoms and in movies, but the fact is that the majority of cases never reach a courtroom and wind up in settlements. Electing to take a settlement for a fair amount of money is one way to succeed with your lawsuit. When a settlement is taken, the defendant elects to pay the plaintiff a specific amount of money, even though a judge hasn’t required them to do it. Along with that, the plaintiff also chooses not to sue for damages in the future. If you choose a fair settlement offer, you’ll cut down on worrying about time, costs and intangibles involved with a jury trial. However, if someone tricks you into taking a low-ball settlement, you won’t have the chance to ability to get the assistance you deserve. That’s why it’s critical to get a lawyer to examine any settlement involved in a Texas personal injury case. Any offer granted before you get legal aid tends not to be fair, but they will be binding if you agree to them. Your situation will immediately change when you get help from a Grand Prairie personal injury law firm that can use their reputation to persuade a defendant to give you what you deserve.

Getting a fair settlement isn’t like brokering an everyday business deal. Don’t think it’s the same as being involved in negotiating for a better deal for a used car, or another high-dollar purchase. It’s a huge misconception to assume that since you’ve been a part of making huge business deals that you emerge with the same outcome in this matter. A defendant’s biggest concern is knowing there could be the possibility of giving you more money, especially if an insurance company is involved. If you’re given a $10,000 offer, understand this is because they know there’s a likelihood the jury could decide to award you with $50,000. When someone who’s not an attorney attempts to threaten an insurance company or tries to negotiate, nothing is accomplished. It makes sense. It’s like you or me saying we’d fight Manny Pacquiao. The world champion boxer wouldn’t lose any sleep. But if you’ve fought for over 10 years, won tons of fights and earned a solid reputation, then Pacquiao will take you more seriously. Insurance companies and defense lawyers have the same approach. The Grand Prairie personal injury lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have prevailed against every big-time US insurance company in the last 20 years. Insurers know about stellar reputation, and usually like to settle cases with our clients than head to trial against our attorneys.

Some cases, however, aren’t concluded with settlements and have to go to court. If you want to be successful, you’ll have to provide facts to meet your burden of proof in the four major parts of a personal injury claim. These areas are duty, breach, causation and damages. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Duty

If you want to succeed, the first step is to show the duty of care the defendant should have provided. In different cases, we all owe varying degrees of care to act in a way that won’t harm other citizens. The most commonplace way of explaining a duty of care is the duty for each of us not to hurt each other. The “reasonable person standard” is the most well-known duty, but the standard will change depending on the issue and the link between the individuals who are involved. Let’s look at some examples of scenarios where the reasonable person standard isn’t applicable:

1) Often times you’ll seen signs placed in stores in hopes of preventing injuries. There will be those that caution about a nearby step, a floor that was just mopped, or those on light poles telling you not to leave expensive items in your car. Most of us wouldn’t forewarn friends or loved ones who come to our homes about such things, so what prompts businesses to engage in this practice? It’s because store owners owe their customers a high duty of care - much higher than the level we provide anyone coming by our house or apartment. But what about if a store’s visitor is a thief who enters late at night, instead of normal business hours? Does the owner have to follow the same rules? Usually not. The degree of duty depends on the visitor’s motives.

2) Doctors and healthcare workers are professionals who have worked nonstop, learning how to help and diagnose patients. Because of their wealth of knowledge, we demand that healthcare professionals use their years of expertise when determining their diagnoses. This explains why healthcare workers have a much higher degree of duty of care with their patients compared to other workers. When they’re helping patients, doctors have to use the care of a qualified doctor, and not the care that’s expected of a normal citizen.

3) What does your employer have to do to make sure your workplace is safe? It comes down to what kind of work you do. If you’re a regular employee, your employer must exhibit a huge duty of care, and has to ensure that safety measures are established for your well-being. But temp workers, freelancers and volunteers (there are exceptions when volunteers are owed a legal duty) have to make sure they’re safe when working. Employers don’t have to give them the same kind of duty of care in maintaining a safe workplace.

4) What kind of caution must be found when others travel in our cars with us? There are certain states with laws in place establishing differences between paying citizens and nonpaying ones who have a relationship with the drivers. Those states require drivers to use extra caution to ensure a paying passenger is safe versus a family member you’re transporting across town.

5) Children don’t have to meet the same requirements as adults. Different standards are involved, but factors like experience and age must be considered. That isn’t always the case, however. Children who participate in adult activities, like teenagers driving cars, have to meet the same expectations as regular adults.

To gain a full grasp of what’s included in the duty of care in your Texas personal injury case, you need to call a lawyer. Texas civil hinges mostly around what is referred to as “joint and several liability.” What that means is that countless people or groups can be the cause of a plaintiff’s injuries and the plaintiff has the chance to file lawsuits against each if they decide to. It’s vital to talk about this with a Grand Prairie personal injury lawyer so you get an accurate account of all those responsible and locate them. If you’ve been involved in an accident and your car was obliterated by a drunk driver, for example, under Texas law you are able to sue the driver AND the business that served that driver and contributed to their drunkenness.

Breach

After properly showing the proper duty of care, the next step is to show relevant, credible evidence that proves the defendant violated the duty of care you needed. If the reasonable person standard is used, defendants violate their duty when their actions don’t match those of a regular person, or they decide not to do anything that regular citizens do to ensure the safety of others.

There are three common ways to usually spot when a duty of care happens. One is through the negligent behavior of a defendant. Negligence occurs often through simple mistakes or accidents. If a defendant does something stupid in a split-second, that person can be ruled liable for their actions and the results that followed. A defendant is deemed negligent if they’ve acted in a way that’s led to others being harmed. Drunk drivers are grossly negligent and breach the duty of care that everyday drivers are owed. A third instance happens when a defendant knowingly and willfully violates a duty. We shouldn’t be shocked that when a defendant chooses to hurt someone, they will have to face the consequences for their actions.

Causation

Once it’s been demonstrated that the defendant violated the duty of care you deserved, you’ll then have to show how their choices caused your injuries. This gets tough, especially if many people caused your accident. It’s commonplace for defendants to switch the blame from themselves to others, in hopes of evading responsibility. If you aren’t able to get evidence that clearly shows the defendant was the cause of your injuries you’ll wind up being defeated.

Damages

The last thing is that your lawyers will have to argue that you are deserving of getting damages from the defendant. This total is usually contested when dealing with Texas personal injury cases, so it’s essential to be able to compile your damages and have a plan to explain and show your numbers are credible.

When you present details for your personal injury claim, it’s critical to have evidence for each item. If you don’t have evidence for even one detail, you won’t prevail and will find yourself getting nothing when it comes to compensation. A savvy Grand Prairie attorney that focuses on personal injury cases, such as those at Grossman Law Offices, can compile the facts you need to win and convince a jury to rule for you.

What Damages Are Available to Personal Injury Victims?

Two forms of damages can be pursued in Texas personal injury cases. Special damages are those that help the plaintiffs in a financial manner. Special damages can help with things like lost income, not being able to earn a paycheck and medical bills that have piled. These are actual losses, but adding them up can get tough. For example, damages for loss of earning capacity are there for a plaintiff, because they may not be bringing in a paycheck for an undetermined amount of time due to their injuries. You would think that loss of earning capacity would be figured just by taking an injury victim’s salary, then multiplying by the years left until retirement. That’s too simplistic, however. That figure must also factor in the option for promotion and raises the victim could have had if they were still working. The time value of money also must be thrown in. The personal injury lawyers in Grand Prairie at Grossman Law Offices are trained in figuring special damages and know the steps to include these vital details.

The other damages available to a plaintiff are general damages. General damages assist a plaintiff with non-monetary losses they dealt with following their injury such as pain and suffering and other trauma. Because of this type of loss, figuring a price on these injuries is complicated. These amounts can vary greatly in each scenario even when the injuries are virtually identical. To determine what your general damages may be, contact a qualified personal injury attorney in Grand Prairie.

How Grossman Law Offices Can Help

Since we specialize in Texas personal injury cases, the Grand Prairie personal injury lawyers at Grossman Law Offices are ready to take on all forms of Texas personal injury cases. We work on every detail of our clients’ cases from when we’re obtained until the final conclusion is reached. We know what to do to determine if the defendants are responsible for your injuries, and make sure they’re held accountable.

If you are curious about ways we can help and want a free consultation for your personal injury case, you can reach us at 1-855-326-0000 (toll free). Our goal is for us to be available to talk to as many personal injury victims as we can, so we are here 24 hours a day, seven days a week to examine your case and help out with your questions.