San Antonio Accident Claims

What you Need to Know About Filing a San Antonio Accident Claim After Being Injured in an Auto Wreck

Like all of Texas, San Antonio always seems to be expanding, with the suburbs growing more and more every day.

More people means more car accidents – whether only minor wrecks that barely damage the automobiles involved to massively dangerous collisions that total cars and leave drivers and passengers with serious injuries. Every car accident is unique, caused by different parties for different reasons and resulting in different injuries and fallout. If you have been injured in a car accident and are considering filing a San Antonio accident claim, then you need to find an attorney whom you trust to defend your legal rights and help you secure the compensation you deserve for the injuries you’ve suffered. Michael Grossman and his associates at Grossman Law Offices have compiled 20 years of experience specializing in personal injury cases involving car accidents, and we want to inform you of your legal rights and the challenges involved in filing a San Antonio accident claim. Only by being well informed can you make the best decisions for your family.

Understanding the Legal Principles Involved in Texas Auto Accident Claims

According to Texas law, all motorists owe a legal responsibility to operate their automobile with a reasonable consideration of safety for the other drivers, passengers and pedestrians on the road. The law further establishes what many of those reasonable standards are with the many laws governing driving – warning signs must be obeyed, speed limits must be adhered to, and headlights must be used after dark. In order to begin trying to determine whether or not you have a valid San Antonio accident claim, you must first figure out if the other driver fulfilled his or her legal duty to operate his or her car with a reasonable standard of safety. Was it reasonable for the other motorist to race at 65 mph through a school zone? Was it reasonable for the other driver to run a red light without even slowing down? Was it reasonable for the other driver to attempt a u-turn in the middle of busy street? Barring rare medical emergencies, these questions are almost always answered no.

In order to recover compensation for injuries suffered in a car accident, the victim, also known as the plaintiff, must be able to establish that the other motorist had a legal responsibility to the plaintiff and ignored it. However, the plaintiff must bear the burden of proof to show that the other driver caused the accident and the injuries suffered as a result of the wreck. Your word is not going to be good enough to sway a jury in your favor. You will need evidence to prove causation – photos, security videos, forensic evidence, eyewitness testimony, and police reports.

Moreover, some injuries are easy to establish. Broken bones can be proven with x-rays, for instance. However, juries are far less likely to be convinced of the validity of soft tissue injuries like whiplash or sprained muscles; even though, these conditions can require just as much treatment. You need an experienced personal injury lawyer who knows how to get juries to believe in these hard to prove harms.

Once you have proved that the other motorist caused the accident and that your injuries resulted from that accident, you will need to prove the exact monetary value of the injuries, known as damages. The defendant is not going to pay you whatever damages you claim you’re owed, but you must prove their value. Making this process more complex, many damages are highly subjective, especially with serious conditions like brain, head, spinal or neck injuries that require long-term treatment.

Texas law requires all drivers to carry insurance, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your path to securing damages will be easy. For one thing, many drivers ignore the law and neglect to purchase insurance. If this is the case, then these drivers are personally responsible for any damages caused by their negligence that resulted in an accident and injuries. If the driver didn’t buy insurance, he or she is not likely to have the funds to compensate the people he or she injures. Even if the other driver did have insurance, there’s a cap on how much damages are covered by the insurance policy they have. Moreover, insurance companies are in business to make money, and they often try to avoid paying the fill value of damages in order to increase their profits. If you’re going to file a San Antonio accident claim, then you need a time-tested San Antonio accident lawyer who can take on uninsured drivers and greedy insurance companies, or go after negligent third parties to offset the limitations of insurance policies if a plaintiff’s injuries exceed the caps on damages.

Red Flags that Indicate the Necessity for an Attorney

Not every car accident requires the skills of an attorney to file a San Antonio accident claim. You won’t need an attorney if property, i.e. you car, was the only thing damaged in the wreck. Insurance companies are subject to stringent compensation schedules when handling claims for property damage, and they have very little leeway for cheating whose cars are damaged in wrecks.

Handling an insurance claim in the event of property damage is fairly easy, albeit, annoying. Either you tow your car or driver it to the insurance company for assessment of damage, or in some case, take it directly to a mechanic who will bill the insurance company after repairing the car. You insurance company will then pay the mechanic before seeking payback from the insurance company of the negligent driver in a process called subrogation. If the other insurance company disputes the claim, then your insurance company will act on your behalf in cases of less than $5,000 in damage. If you car sustained more than $5,000 in damage or was totaled, then you will need the help of a lawyer to resolve the situation.

If you have sustained any injuries in a wreck, however, you will need the help of an experienced car accident attorney to succeed with your San Antonio accident claim. According to the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code, a defendant or his or her insurer is not required to volunteer payment to the victim of the wreck. No, the plaintiff holds the burden for proving that the other driver negligently caused the accident, that injuries were sustained as a result, and the financial value of the injuries suffered was the amount requested by the victim. In order to succeed with that difficult task, a plaintiff needs the benefit of skill and knowledge of accident law and procedure that only an experienced attorney could provide.

The range of injuries that can be suffered in a car accident is wide: broken bones, whiplash, head or brain trauma, facial lacerations, nerve damage, and deep bruising, just to name a few. If you have suffered any such injuries requiring the treatment of a medical professional, then a skilled personal injury lawyer can help you receive the compensation you deserve. Particularly when injuries are vague or require long-term rehabilitation, proving the extent of bodily harm can be trying and tedious. Deep bruising can indicate the existence of much more serious problem that could take many months to rehabilitate, and the effects of whiplash can take months to become apparent following a car wreck. The insurance company knows this and will try to get plaintiffs to agree to a settlement before the full effects and financial impact of their injuries is known. Don’t fall for this. Protect yourself by hiring an experienced attorney before filing a claim or even discussing your case with the insurance company.

The need for a San Antonio accident attorney to protect you rights can also be indicated by the following red flags:

• The other driver is uncooperative.
  If the other motorist attempts to convince you not to call the police after the accident or refuses to exchange personal or insurance information following the accident, he or she is likely concealing a lack of insurance or some other illegal activity. An experienced lawyer can make sure either this driver’s insurance or the driver him or herself fulfills his obligations to you following the accident.
  
  
• You cannot afford to pay your medical bills, have no insurance or can’t afford to see a doctor.
  Not all Texans can afford health insurance, and many of those who do lack the coverage to sufficiently pay for medical bills. You can’t let an inability to pay for medical bills stop you from seeking medical assistance to treat injuries suffered in a car accident. Not only must you make sure these conditions are treated before they worsen, but you must also document the injuries in order to be able to recover the compensation for the harm that you deserve. Then, you not only will be forced to deal with the physical ramifications of these injuries but also pay for them yourself. Not only can the lawyer at Grossman Law Offices help you make sure the insurance company fulfills its role in paying for medical expenses, but we can also help you find medical treatment you can afford. We have relationships with doctors who will take your financial situation into consideration and set up a payment plan that you can afford. In turn, these medical expenses can be recovered from the insurance company or the defendant. If you’re worried about losing wages while missing work while seeing a doctor, then we can help you receive compensation from the other driver or his or her insurance company.
  
  
• You’re being pressured by the insurance company.
  If the insurance company is bullying you into taking the settlement offer they’ve made you, then you should be very wary. An insurance company’s interest is in direct conflict with yours. They want to make as much money as they can by paying as little money as possible to injury victims and seldom make fair and equitable offers of compensation. Insurance companies will try several different ploys to save their assets:
  
  
  1. Hounding plaintiffs with questions repeatedly in an attempt to get them to admit their own liability for their injuries on the record.
  2. Offering a settlement before plaintiffs know the full extent of their injuries.
  3. Ignoring calls from plaintiffs or stalling as they try to find proof to deny their claims.
  4. Offering plaintiffs less than money to repair their cars than it will cost.
  5. Refusing to supply a rental car as provided for in a plaintiff’s policy.
  6. Agreeing to pay for medical bills and then refusing to do so when the plaintiff submits them.
  7. Using any definitive statements like, “this is the best you’re to get,” “this is more than you can hope for,” “we don’t have to pay you anything,” or “this is all we can offer.”
• You get a bad feeling in your gut about the way your claim is being handled.
  Our attorneys have learned over the years that most people can instinctively sense when they’re being taken advantage of. If you begin to feel that an insurance company is hustling you, then trust your instincts. Before filing a San Antonio accident claim, then you need to discuss your situation with an experienced accident attorney. At Grossman Law Offices, our attorneys have spent the past two decades taking on insurance companies, and we’ve learned all of the ins and outs of Texas car accident law.

Selecting the Right Attorney for You

You need to find the right combination of skills and attributes in the personal injury lawyer you select to handle your San Antonio accident claim. Not only do you need someone with experience in both litigating car accident cases and negotiating settlements with insurance companies, but you also need someone you can trust and with whom you feel comfortable. You also want someone with a track record of success against the insurance companies, so they will take him or her seriously. Don’t just hire the first attorney who comes up in a Google search, but interview several lawyers before selecting the experienced one with whom you have the best rapport. Ask them questions about their experience trying cases like yours and the success they have had. As them for the names and numbers of clients with similar cases, so you can assess their level of satisfaction.

Having won cases and successfully negotiated settlements from every major insurance company in the country, the attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have dealt with a wide variety of different accidents and have experience estimating the value of the different injuries that can result from them. We’re always straightforward with our clients regarding the chances of their case, and we keep them abreast of any changes in the case as they arise.

How Grossman Law Offices can Help You

We provide the following services to all of our clients:

• Filing claims with the insurance company or taking over the claim if it has already been filed. This allows our clients to avoid the possibility of filing incorrectly or missing a filing deadline.
• Handling all phone calls, paperwork and evidence collection in our clients’ cases, so they can concentrate on the healing process.
• Buffering our clients from the calls of the insurance adjusters, so they can’t trick our clients into admitting their own liability or agreeing to a settlement that does not adequately compensate them.
• Conducting a timely and thorough investigation into the accident scene and finding any evidence that can prove their cases: police reports, videos, photos, eyewitness testimony, accident re-creations, and forensic evidence.
• Helping our clients get medical care, even when they lack medical insurance and don’t think they can afford such treatment.
• Detailing the liability and all damages sought in a demand packet that we submit to the insurance company, so our clients don’t have to pay bills that come due.
• Aggressively negotiating with the insurance company, so our clients receive the maximum compensation allowable.
• Filing any necessary lawsuits against the other drive or an insurance company that is attempting to short-change you.
• Mediating any claims with a third party.
• Taking our clients cases to court when required.

If you have been injured in an auto accident in San Antonio or elsewhere in Texas and are considering filing a San Antonio accident claim, then call Grossman Law Offices for a free consultation at 1-855-393-0000 (toll free). Our car accident specialists are happy to discuss any details of your case, explain any legal concepts you don’t understand, and tell you how we can help you get the compensation you deserve.