Rowlett Personal Injury Attorney

Whenever a person is injured in an accident, that obviously creates an upheaval in that person’s life. If you have been hurt in this fashion, then you are not only going through a substantial amount of pain but you also have many questions. These questions include:

• Why did this accident have to take place?
• How do I find out who is at fault?
• How do I make sure my rights are looked after?
• How will I recoup the money I’ve lost because I can’t return to work?
• How will I ever be able to pay my medical expenses?
• How can an attorney help me secure the restitution I have coming?

Of course, these are normal questions that a great many injury victims will have. However, when answers are not readily available to these questions, that adds a level of frustration to the pain and suffering that has already been experienced. However, the Rowlett personal injury attorneys with Grossman Law Offices can provide you with the answers to those questions. This article, provided to you by Grossman Law Offices, is designed to give you some of the basics in regard to trying to seek restitution from those responsible for the injury you have suffered. It will also show you some of the formidable opposition that you will have to deal with in order to have a chance of obtaining the compensation to which you are entitled.

However, before going any further with this article, it is imperative that you know that this article is not at all designed to take the place of the advice of an actual attorney who knows the specific details of the injury that you have sustained and the accident in which you were involved. If you would like to speak with one of our experienced lawyers, please do not hesitate to call Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-326-0000 (toll free) for a confidential and free consultation.

Texas personal injury cases come with many, many complexities, and before you make the decision to take legal action against the party, or parties, that either contributed to the accident that resulted in your injury or caused that accident outright, there are several factors you need to take into consideration. Once you have finished this article, you will have the information necessary to make the best choice possible in regard to you next legal steps. However if after reading this article you are still not sure whether or not your case merits legal action, the Rowlett personal injury attorneys with Grossman Law Offices are standing by 24 hours a day, seven days a week to answer them.

Texas Personal Injury Lawsuit Basics

Personal injury claims are governed by civil law. When a person is hurt in an accident and decides to take legal action against the party that inflicted that harm, that person is referred to as the "plaintiff" in legal terms. The party against which the plaintiff is taking that legal action is referred to legally as the "defendant" in the case. It is up to the plaintiff to initiate legal action against the defendant, because that plaintiff cannot expect to merely be able to wait around and receive full and fair compensation. Through legal means, the plaintiff has to be able to make a convincing argument that the defendant should be compelled to provide compensation to the plaintiff for the financial losses, or "damages," that the plaintiff has incurred due to the accident. The plaintiff’s legal representative has to be able to convince the court that his or her claim against the defendant is valid, and that the defendant should be forced to provide compensation to the plaintiff for the injury that has been suffered. There are several different types of damages that can be pursued by a plaintiff as a result of an accident, including repair expenses, medical bills, lost wages and several others.

In addition, the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant was the proximate cause of the accident that resulted in the injury sustained by the victim. This is also referred to as "causation," which basically means that an act of negligence was committed by the defendant, and that act of negligence either contributed to that accident or was the direct cause. There can be only one cause of an accident in many instances, but in other case there are many different parties that are responsible for an accident, and many factors involved in that accident. All of the parties that either contributed to an accident or directly caused it can be named as defendants in a personal injury case. When a drunk driving accident takes place, for example, the direct cause of that accident is the intoxicated driver, obviously. There are other parties, however, that may have contributed to that accident, such as the bartender who served that driver to the point of intoxication. The alcohol-serving establishment such as a bar or restaurant that over-served that person could face partial responsibility for the accident through dram shop law in Texas. The accident would, in all likelihood, not have taken place if that customer had not been over-served - that is the reason the establishment could face liability. It is imperative that you have the assistance of an experienced Rowlett personal injury attorney because you must build a separate case against each and every defendant. You have to have the help of a lawyer who can accurately identify all of the potentially liable parties that either directly caused an accident or contributed to it, because all of these parties will be responsible for paying a portion of the restitution that you deserve for the injury you have sustained.

The Three Elements Necessary for a Successful Personal Injury Case in Texas

In order to have any possible chance possible of winning your case and obtaining the compensation to which you are entitled for the injury you have suffered, your case has to have three key elements. These are: a duty of care was owed to you by the defendant, you had to have incurred damages, and the defendant in your case must be solvent.

The level of duty of care that a defendant owes to a plaintiff is determined by the circumstances of the accident and the nature of the relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant. For example, a surgeon can cut you if you have agreed to the surgical procedure, but that surgeon is not allowed to cut you if both of you are waiting in line to board an airplane. The amount of damage done to your body is the dame, but the relationship between you and the surgeon, as well as the circumstances of the cutting, are completely different. Nearly everyone owes everyone else the duty of care to act in a reasonable manner and to not inflict harm on another person. In the instance where the doctor cuts you while you are waiting for the plane, that doctor is in violation of the duty of care that you were owed. So, in a personal injury case, it must be established that the defendant owed the plaintiff a legal duty of care, and the defendant had to have violated that duty by committing an act of negligence.

In addition, the defendant needs to be proven to be solvent, meaning it has the monetary resources needed in order to provide you with compensation if you prevail in your litigation. If that defendant does not have those resources, then it will be considered insolvent. It would be nothing more than a waste of time to pursue legal action against an insolvent defendant.

The Rowlett personal injury attorneys with Grossman Law Offices have been representing clients in these kinds of cases for two decades. We have the experience needed to build a very strong case with all of the necessary elements. We can provide the evidence needed to prove that the duty of care owed to you has been violated, that the damages you are demanding are justified, and we can also determine the insolvency or solvency of a defendant.

The Complexities Involved in Texas Personal Injury Cases

As we have stated previously, it can be extremely challenging to pursue litigation in the even that you sustain an injury in an accident. The defense lawyers and adjusters working on behalf of the insurance company involved in your case are two of the biggest sources of these complexities. The main purpose of these insurance company operatives is to make sure that your claim is either denied completely or significantly reduced, thereby saving the insurance company a great deal of money. We have seen all the tactics and methods that insurance company representatives use in an effort to defeat injury victims, and we have defeated all of them during our two decades in practice. For example, in regard to the solvency element discussed earlier, we have seen several instances where a defendant will attempt to hide assets in an effort to seem insolvent, and be able to avoid liability as a result. But we perform an asset check on the defendant in nearly every personal injury case that we accept. We will expose any attempt at deceit that a defendant may try in order to "plead poverty," so to speak, and try to avoid responsibility for its negligence in causing an accident. We will work passionately and tenaciously on your behalf and make sure your rights are protected - no matter how formidable the opposition may be in your case. We will not let the defendant get away with using misleading or unethical tactics in an effort to escape liability for the negligence it committed that led to the injury you sustained.

The insurance company adjusters and defense lawyers assigned to your case will also, in all likelihood, try to argue that your damages demands are not justified. This is another way that the defense will try to slash the amount of compensation that you will be awarded. Again, the insurance company will either try and have your damages completely denied or substantially reduced. The defense may try and use evidence such as photographs to prove that you have not been as badly injured as you are trying to make everyone believe. But the Rowlett personal injury attorneys with Grossman Law Offices have the experience needed to counter the tactics that defense lawyers use, and be able to prove the full extent of the injury that you have sustained. We will be able to defeat the defense’s argument that you are not as badly hurt as you are claiming to be. We use a strong and effective strategy backed by hard evidence to give you the best possible chance of securing the equitable restitution that you deserve for the suffering you have been forced to endure. We have several legal tools at our disposal we can use to make sure your damages demands are justified, validate the lost wages and lost earning capacity that you have incurred or will incur, and use the testimony of medical experts who have a great deal of familiarity with the kind of injury you have suffered. In addition, we can also prove your damages demands are justified by referring the court to previous cases that are similar to yours.

It can be extremely difficult to estimate liability in a Rowlett personal injury case and to prove the full extent of your damages. This is particularly the case if multiple parties either directly caused or contributed to the accident that led to the injury you sustained. And adding to the complex nature of a personal injury case can be even more factors, such as instance where medical malpractice has taken place. Typically, a police department or other agency will examine the scene of an accident through an investigation. In addition, the Rowlett personal injury attorneys with Grossman Law Offices conduct a prompt and thorough investigation into the accident scene on behalf of our clients in nearly every case that we accept. This investigation will not only provide the critical evidence that you need in order to prove your case, the investigation can also help you identify all of the potentially liable defendants in your case. That way, you have the best chance possible of obtaining the full and fair compensation to which you are entitled for the suffering you have experienced. You may be surprised to learn that there are several law firms that do not use investigations as extensively as we do. However, we are very firm in our belief that these investigations are a critical element in helping our clients win their cases.

Why You should Never Act as Your Own Lawyer in a Personal Injury Case

Whenever someone is hurt in an accident, decides to pursue legal action in order to obtain compensation for that injury, and then chooses to act as his or her own legal representative, that person loses in nearly every instance. In virtually every case, a non-lawyer will lose. You have probably seen a movie or a television show where someone defies all the odds and somehow, someway wins a case in which he or she acted as his or her own lawyer. That is show business - not reality. But there are some people who are so convinced by the strength of their case that they will act as their own attorney and ultimately leave the courtroom with nothing. Other plaintiffs simply don’t want to split their winnings with a lawyer and will thus act as their own attorney. There are others who make this horribly misguided choice because they think they can win due to the amount of knowledge they have absorbed in regard to the laws that apply to their case. In the long run, it really doesn’t matter the motivation that a person has to act as his or her own legal representative - that person will lose and leave that courtroom with a mountain of accident-related expenses that he or she will never be able to handle. No matter how much knowledge you may possess in personal injury law, if you do not have a background in dealing with litigation you will not have the tools necessary to be able to build the strongest case possible.

Again, you will not have any chance of winning if you do not have the seasoning and skill needed to be able to argue a case in a court of law. For example, it is critical that you know how to responds to the defense’s requests in your case. If you are unable to prove that the damages you are demanding are justified, you run the significant risk of drastically short-changing yourself. And if you short-change yourself, you will have no chance of obtaining the full and fair compensation to which you are entitled for the injury you have sustained.

Hopefully you will read this following example and realize just how horrible a decision it is to act as your own lawyer in a piece of personal injury litigation. We hope you will realize how important it will be for you to get the help of a skilled and seasoned Rowlett personal injury attorney. A man recently contacted us after he was injured in an automobile accident; he had a very, very strong case and incurred damages of about $70,000. The man, however, decided that he would negotiate directly with the insurance company because he did not want to split the compensation he would receive with a lawyer. After several months of negotiations, however, all he was offered by the insurance company was a scant $3,000. He only decided to call us for help after he received that paltry offer. Incredibly, though, after talking to us he once again decided that he would go it alone because he once again convinced himself he did not want to have to split his compensation with a law firm. The man thought that by simply threatening a lawsuit he could scare the insurance company into making him a fair settlement offer.

The truth of the matter, however, is that when a representative with an insurance company realizes that the victim of an accident injury is acting as his or her own attorney, or has hired a novice lawyer, the insurance company basically has no chance of losing. Because an insurance company has a team of very highly skilled and very well compensated defense lawyers standing at the ready at all times, the insurer is very well prepared for any lawsuits or claims that result from an accident that takes place. Because these lawyers are specialists in personal injury law, they have an incredibly extensive knowledge of each and every technicality and loophole in that law. You can be assured that the defense lawyer assigned to your case will use all of those loopholes and technicalities in an effort to defeat your case and see to it that you leave the courtroom with nothing. The way this all relates to the example of the man who called us is that the defense lawyer assigned to his case presented the man with a list of admissions. But because he had absolutely no background in the law, the man had no clue as to what to do with the list. The defense lawyer, of course, did not receive a response to the list of admissions, so all he had to do was file for a summary judgment motion with the court. The judge granted that motion, dismissed the case immediately, and the accident victim left that courtroom with nothing but a mountain of accident-related expenses. That man accomplished nothing but wasting hours and hours of his time. He thought he could channel Perry Mason and win his case, and all he received for his trouble was a huge amount of bitter disappointment.

Please do not fall into the same trap that we have seen ensnare so many others in the two decades that we have been practicing law. We cannot stress enough the extremely important point that if you do not enlist the assistance of a skilled and seasoned Rowlett personal injury lawyer, you will have absolutely no chance of winning your case. You will, if you make that terrible choice to act as your own legal representative, have zero chance of emerging victorious in your case. If you fall into that trap and lose, then you will be responsible for all of the accident-related expenses you have incurred. That can be financially crippling, especially if you are unable to return to work because of the injury you have sustained. There will, more than likely, be no way that you could ever pay the medical expenses, repair bills and other damages you have incurred due to the accident that led to your injury. Acting as your own lawyer could be one of the worst mistakes you could ever make, one that could lead to several years of financial misery and quite conceivably haunt you for as long as you live.

How Grossman Law Offices Can Help

In this article you have seen many of the complexities and difficulties that you will have to deal within order to secure the full and fair restitution that you deserve by taking legal action in the form of a personal injury lawsuit. However, we hope you do not think that we are, in any way, trying to dissuade you from taking that legal action in order to obtain the compensation to which you are entitled. There are a great many formidable obstacles you will have to surmount in order to have any reasonable chance prevailing in your litigation, but the Rowlett personal injury attorneys with Grossman Law Offices have, for the last two decades, helped our clients surmount these obstacles. During our two decades of practice, we have helped thousands of personal injury victims obtain millions of dollars in compensation for the suffering they have been forced to endure. Major insurance carriers are well aware of us, because in the last two decades we have taken on and defeated nearly all of them. Because they know us and our reputation of tenacity and success, they will many times make fair out-of-court settlement offers to the clients we represent. And when a plaintiff is able to obtain one of these fair offers that is, of course, a huge advantage. Not only will that plaintiff be spared the stress and uncertainty of a trial, that plaintiff will also receive his or her compensation much more quickly.

However, if your case does wind up in a courtroom because that fair out-of-court settlement offer is not forthcoming, we will have devised a strong and effective strategy that will be designed to provide you with the best possible chance of securing the fair and full restitution that you deserve for the injury that you have sustained. If you or someone close to you has suffered an injury due to an accident caused by the negligence of another party or parties, please call the Rowlett personal injury attorneys with Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-326-0000 (toll free) for a free and confidential consultation as soon as you possibly can. We will provide you with an honest assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your case and let you know how we may be of assistance to you. If you have questions in regard to personal injury law in general, your case in particular or anything you have read in this article, we are standing by 24 hours a day, seven days a week to answer them. You can count on our reputation of success and tenacity to provide you the best chance possible of obtaining the full and fair compensation to which you are entitled for the suffering you have been forced to endure due to the negligence of another party or parties. We will work tirelessly to work on your behalf against the extremely formidable opposition you will encounter in your personal injury case, and we will make sure that your rights are protected. We will take care of each and every aspect of your case so that you can turn your complete focus toward recovering emotionally and physically from the injury you have sustained.

By E. Michael Grossman