Plano Car Accident Lawyer

All of us are part of a car accident at some point in our lives. Sometimes they’re just your basic fender benders with just minimal property damage. Other times accidents carry with them heavy consequences, including injuries with life-long effects.

Regardless of how big or major your accident was, you need to make sure your rights are looked after. In some Plano car accident cases you may be OK to fight for your rights by yourself. Other times, it’s best to have a Plano car accident lawyer working your case. In this article, Plano car accident lawyer Michael Grossman explains some of the parts of car accident law so you’ll know what’s involved in the legal process and if you need to think about hiring an attorney.

If you live in Plano or Richardson and have any additional questions about your rights, or if you don’t know if you need a lawyer, call us toll free at 1-855-326-0000. The call is free, and so is the opinion we’ll provide you.

What it Takes to Win

In litigation concerning Plano car accidents, the burden of proof rests on the plaintiff to prove his case. The defendant has the presumption of innocence at first for the plaintiff’s injuries. Only when the plaintiff is able to use evidence to show that the defendant should be held liable for the plaintiff’s injuries will the plaintiff have the ability to get any kind of compensation.

As the plaintiff in a Plano car accident lawsuit, the first step you’ll need to prove if you hope to win your case is that the defendant violated the duty of car that was owed to you. Virtually every driver owes each other a duty of care to driver normally in order to ensure that other motorists and pedestrians aren’t hurt. If a driver accidentally or deliberately drives in a manner that a normal person wouldn’t, even for a millisecond, he is said to have broken his duty of care. For instance, if a person drives while drunk, and speeds through traffic while swerving in and out of lanes or runs a red light, most of the time he will have broken his duty of care.

The next step in recovery is that an accident victim has to show his injuries were caused by the defendant’s breach of the legal duty he owed the victim. Since other motorists and pedestrians may have factored into your accident, you’ll often see a defendant try to say one of these third parties, or possibly even you, were responsible for the car accident. Showing that the defendant in your case was responsible for your accident usually takes evidence that a North Texas car accident lawyer can help you find and present to the judge and jury.

The last step is that you’ll need to show you suffered injuries that you need to be compensated for. The injuries you’ve sustained as a result of your Plano car wreck are probably very evident to you. You may have a mounting stack of repair and hospital bills that you can’t pay. Perhaps you’ve been in pain every day since the wreck took place. Or maybe you’ve been unable to return to work since the accident. Just because the extent of your injuries is obvious to you, don’t think the judge and jury is going to automatically believe you. You’ll need to total just how much you deserve to get compensated for and provide evidence of your injuries to back up your totals.

The Role of Insurance

Every vehicle in Texas is required by law to have insurance, but the truth is that lots of drivers choose to ignore the law and drive without it. Determining if the driver liable for causing a Plano car accident had insurance or not can play a big difference in the result of your case.

If the other motorist did have insurance, you’ll be negotiating your claim with an insurance company and its team of adjusters. The positive here is that since there is an actual insurance policy, that means technically there is money in existence to assist you with your injuries. The downside is that the money will likely not be quickly available. You should expect you’ll have to fight for it. Insurance companies aren’t established to help people; they are businesses that exist to turn a profit. Whenever they have any ability to do so, insurance companies turn to investigators, lawyers and adjusters to try to deny accident victims’ claims or pay accident victims as minimal a sum as they can.

However, if one or more motorists involved in your accident wasn’t carrying insurance, the driver responsible for your wreck may be expected to pay the entire bill for your injuries basically on their own. While you don’t be working with sophisticate insurance companies and their squads of brutal professionals if there’s no insurer intertwined into your case, you may face a different obstacle. If the defendant linked to your case had tons of money, you’ve got to think they would have purchased insurance for their car. What usually happens is uninsured defendants aren’t able to adequately reimburse accident victims for their losses. If you and the defendant in your case are both uninsured, a Plano car accident lawyer can do an asset check on the defendant to determine how much the defendant is really worth, even if the defendant is attempting to hide their resources. If the defendant is really financially unable to pay you, however, there’s not much that can be done to tackle this situation. It’s a sad fact that many plaintiffs aren’t able to obtain what they should be owed from an uninsured driver.

Signs you Need a Plano Car Accident Lawyer

It’s not a good idea to go with self representation after you’ve been injured by someone else, but some car accident cases provide exceptions to this guideline. What you need to know is if the only injuries you suffered in an accident were those to your car or other property, you probably are fine to handle the claim by yourself. On the flip side, if you’ve had any kind of physical injury to your body, it’s probably the best decision to have an experienced attorney on your case.

If you haven’t been personally hurt in a Plano wreck, it may be possible for you to guard your legal rights without involving a Plano car accident attorney. This is because in cases concerning property damages, insurance companies are forced to follow rigid guidelines when figuring out how much to compensate accident victims for their losses. In these kinds of cases there’s not much ability for an insurance company to use discretion to short change you.

If you’ve been hurt in a Plano car wreck and only your car has been affected, the first step to recovering for your property damage is to swap information with the other driver. You’ve got take down the other motorist’s information and details about their insurance. You then need to drive your vehicle, or get it towed, to a mechanic. The mechanic will send the repair bill directly to your insurance company. Your insurance company will turn around and pay the mechanic, and then send the bill to the other driver’s insurance company for reimbursement. Occasionally, the two companies will fight over which of them should eventually be responsible for paying the bill. When this takes place, the two companies are usually able to reach an agreement on their own, without your help. If the amount they’re discussing surpasses $5,000, however, you may need to become involved and probably need to get a Plano attorney to help with your claim.

Cases where you’ve endured physical injuries are much different because insurance companies don’t need to follow guidelines when determining how much to compensate you. They’re well within their rights to deny you any amount of compensation. If you want to recover, you’ll need to reach the burden of proof that we’ve discussed before. If your injuries are in any manner physical, like whiplash, broken bones, head injuries, or back injuries, or include one or more additional doctor’s visits right now or down the road, you should contemplate getting a Plano car accident lawyer to help you with your claim. In these scenarios, having a Plano lawyer on your side can make the difference between getting a huge settlement and receiving nothing.

Even if you didn’t have any physical injuries happen with your accident, there are lots of other scenarios where you should think about getting a lawyer to help with your claim. If you disregard these warning signs and continue to go after your claim without an attorney, you stand the chance at not getting what your case is truly worth.

• The other driver gives you issues - If the other motorist in your accident begins to give you problems, this could be a sign that he’ll make it difficult for you to get compensation for your injuries. If a driver declines to give you his contact or insurance information, or if he’s trying to influence you to not contact the police for a wreck, these could be indications that you’ll need a Plano auto accident lawyer to help you protect your rights.

• You can’t afford healthcare - Following a Plano car accident, the costs of getting care for your injuries can get exorbitant. Lots of people living in and around Plano and Richardson don’t have health insurance, and those who do have health insurance may be unable to cover their deductibles or may see that the treatment they need isn’t included under their plan. Once a wreck occurs, some accident victims delay getting the treatment they need because they’re concerned about the financial burdens that would follow if they missed work to get proper care.

  If you’ve been hurt in a car accident in Plano, getting medical attention isn’t just key for your health, it’s also necessary for your legal case. The Plano car accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices can see to it that you get the medical attention you need, even if you didn’t think it was possible to pay for it. We’ll get you together with a physician who will assist you and factor your circumstances into your case. Along with that, we can show you how the wages you lose when you miss work to get medical attention can be reimbursed by the defendant in your case.

• The insurance company attempts to pressure you - Insurance companies exist to make money, not to be a shoulder for people to learn on. After an accident, it’s common for insurance companies to pressure accident victims to try to get them to take settlements for paltry sums of money. If you choose a settlement from an insurance company rather than pursuing a jury trial for your case, you’ll waive your legal right to sue the defendant for additional money to help you with your injuries. As long as you get an offer that’s fair and honest, a settlement is a plus - you get your money quicker and without having to deal with the uncertainties that come with a jury trial. However, if you take an unfair settlement, you’ll be surrendering your chance at getting what your case truly is worth. Don’t trust an insurance company that seeks to settle your case before you’ve obtained an attorney. Always have any settlements examined by a Plano lawyer before you make any decision.

  Besides all that, you need to consider getting an attorney if the insurance company you’re dealing with makes any of the following choices:

  • Harassing you excessive phone calls and nonstop questions.
  • Attempting to get you to admit you’re not truly hurt, or that you caused the accident.
  • Declining to give you a rental car while your car’s still in the shop.
  • Making you a settlement offer and then adding it’s “more than you’re entitled to” or “the best they can do.”
  • Saying to you they’ll pay your medical or repair bills after you send them over for payment, and then declining to pay once you’ve sent them in.

• You have a bad feeling about how your case is being handled - If you don’t like how your claim is being handled by the insurance company, trust your gut! It’s key to remember that the insurance company’s interests are nothing like yours. While you’re wanting to seek what’s fair for your injuries, they’ll be working furiously trying to deny your claim or give you as little as they can. If you’re concerned about how your claim is being worked, call the Plano accident lawyers at Grossman Law Offices. We’ve succeeded in cases and settlements against most every well-known insurance company in the country. Insurance companies know who we are. We can get their attention and see to it that your claim is dealt with fairly.

How to Choose the Right Plano Car Accident Lawyer for your Case

There are plenty of lawyers especially in the Plano and Richardson area. Finding the one who’s right for your case may seem daunting at first. While the process of getting an attorney is serious, it doesn’t need to become overwhelming. At Grossman Law Offices, we recommend you interview two to three lawyers before deciding on who you want to work your case. Ask each lawyer about their history with settling and succeeding in cases like yours. Discover what they feel are the strengths and weaknesses of your case, and see if they would be able to connect you with a form client who had a case like yours. The eventual goal is to get a lawyer with experience and who you find to be trustworthy.

At Grossman Law Offices, our Plano car accident lawyers have been working car accident litigation for the past two decades. We’ve dealt with all manner of accidents and injuries. Chances are we’ve already seen a case like yours and we’re probably used to working with the exact insurance company involved in your case. In every Plano car accident case our lawyers take, we handle every part of our clients’ claims. Some of the services that we offer in every case we handle include:

• Figuring out how much your medical bills will end up being and sending the defendant a demand for that sum before your bills are due.
• Conducting an investigation to determine all of the people and groups liable for your wreck, including drivers, pedestrians, passengers, manufacturers and others.
• Getting all calls routed our way from the insurance company and their adjusters so you don’t have to deal with their harassment.
• Submitting your medical and repair bills straight to the insurance company so you can focus on getting better rather than paperwork and meeting deadlines.
• Gathering and securing evidence like photos, witness statements, police records and measurements that you’ll need to prove your case.
• Making sure you get medical care, even if you didn’t believe you could afford a doctor’s visit.
• Using our reputation to pressure the insurance company to pay your the biggest settlement possible.
• Becoming mediators for your case.
• Going to trial if it’s required.

If you want additional information about what our Plano car accident lawyers can do to assist you or if you want a free personal consultation, call us toll free at 1-855-326-0000. Our team is here 24 hours a day, seven days a week to take your calls. We’ll gladly explain your options that are available and what we can do to help.

By E. Michael Grossman