San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyers

Michael Grossman, Injury Attorney in San Antonio TX, Discusses Personal Injuries

• What Exactly Constitutes a Personal Injury?
• What is in a Legitimate Personal Injury Case?
• Can Grossman Law Offices Help Me?
• Why Can’t I Represent Myself?

When people are injured in accidents due to another person’s carelessness, they often wish to seek compensation through a personal injury lawsuit.

Unfortunately, very few people know what that entails. Many people feel that they can successfully represent themselves in court, simply by understanding the laws that are in place. But the truth is that filing a personal injury lawsuit is a complex process, and very few non-attorneys can successfully represent themselves in court. Thankfully, San Antonio personal injury lawyer Michael Grossman is here to explain to you exactly what a personal injury lawsuit is, and why you should not seek to file such a lawsuit without the help of an experienced professional.

What Exactly Constitutes a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

In most cases, when someone is hurt due to another person’s negligence, the victim can file a personal injury lawsuit against the negligent party. But a number conditions must be met. The defendant in the lawsuit must be the proximate cause of the victim’s injuries. This means that, without the defendant’s actions or inaction, the accident would not have taken place. For instance, if a drunk driver crashes into a car and the driver of that car is hurt, then the drunk driver is (in all likelihood) a proximate cause of the victim’s injuries – that is to say, without the drunk driver’s actions, the victim would not have been hurt.

In many personal injury cases, there are multiple proximate causes. In the drunk driving accident example, the bar that served the driver the alcohol might be another proximate cause. Under a dram shop cause of action, a bar or other establishment can be held liable for an intoxicated person’s actions if that bar or establishment served that individual to the point of intoxication. In these situations, the injured driver could file a lawsuit against both the driver and the bar that served him. Personal injury cases often involve multiple potential defendants in this manner, and each requires a unique legal tactic.

So What is in a Legitimate Personal Injury Case?

Not everyone who is hurt due to another person has a strong case. A legitimate personal injury lawsuit has three general elements:

• Solvent defendant or defendants: the responsible party or parties must have money or some other assets that can be used to pay for the victim’s expenses and injuries
• The victim must have suffered some damages: damages can be financial (in the form of medical bills, property damage, or lost wages), and they can also include less concrete elements, such as compensation for a victim’s pain, suffering, and disfigurement
• A duty of care has been violated

Duty of care is a complex legal idea, but it essentially means that the defendant violated an obligation he or she had to care for the safety of the plaintiff. This can be something as explicit as a surgeon making a mistake during an operation and injuring a patient, or it can be an implied duty of care, such as when a motorist drives recklessly and thereby causes an accident.

What Can Grossman Law Offices Do For Me?

Our San Antonio attorneys can make sure that the three necessary elements for a successful case are present and well-established. Whenever my firm takes on a case, we quickly conduct a thorough asset check on the responsible parties. In some cases, deceitful insurance companies and other parties will attempt to hide their assets in order to avoid having to pay for a victim’s damages. But we know every trick in the book, and we can uncover hidden assets in order to make sure that you are fully compensated for your injuries. We have gone up against every major insurance company in the country, and they know that they cannot hide assets from us.

Furthermore, we can fully-establish and present the extent of your damages. A victim must have suffered damages in an accident in order to have a case, but if the victim is unable to prove those damages, he or she will not receive compensation for them. We submit a comprehensive demand packet, containing witness affidavits, expert witness testimony, and medical records. These documents help establish the physical, emotional, and financial damages that you have suffered. In addition, we make reference to various legal statutes, case precedents, and example cases that we have investigated and litigated. This establishes a precedent, showing that people in the past have been compensated for the same types of injuries you have suffered. When defense attorneys and insurance adjusters are reminded of our successful history resolving personal injury cases, they are often much more willing to cooperate with us.

Finally, we will conduct a thorough investigation of your accident in order to identify each and every liable party. We build a comprehensive case for you that brings sophisticated, well-researched charges against every possible defendant. We will do everything we can to make sure that you receive the largest settlement possible, and that all of the parties responsible for your injuries are brought to justice.

So Why Can’t I Represent Myself? Don’t I Have to Pay Legal Fees? Wouldn’t I be Better Off Representing Myself?

While it is true that our law firm charges legal fees, we only charge you if we secure a settlement for you. In the twenty years that our firm has been investigating, resolving, and litigating personal injury cases, we have never heard of a non-attorney successfully litigating a personal injury case. Many people assume that knowledge of the law is sufficient to successfully argue a case. Unfortunately, this is a gross misconception. Any successful attorney must know the law, but it is even more important to have proper technique. How do you properly document the various aspects of your case and respond to defense counsel lists of admissions? What are demand packets, and what needs to go in them? How do you prove up damages? If you do not know the answers to all these questions without a moment’s thought, chances are that you need help representing yourself.

Consider this situation: our firm recently spoke to a man about a personal injury lawsuit that he was filing. This man had been in a car accident and suffered roughly $70,000 in damages. His case was strong, and our firm likely could have secured a sizable settlement for him. However, he was concerned about legal fees, and so he decided to represent himself in court. After a number of months of this, he was offered $3,000 by an insurance adjuster. At this point, he contacted our firm again and said he was reconsidering hiring an attorney. However, he again decided that he could represent himself. He felt (mistakenly) that if he threatened to sue, the insurance company would be frightened into offering a fair settlement.

But the blunt truth is that insurance companies are not scared of non-attorneys. They have numerous defense attorneys and insurance adjusters working for them. These professionals spend every day denying ordinary people the claims they deserve. In this particular case, the insurance company was not frightened at all. The insurance company’s attorneys submitted a list of admissions to the man. He did not know how to respond to it. When the defense counsel received no response, they filed a motion for a summary judgment. The judge dismissed his case since he had failed to respond to the list of admissions. The man received nothing.

The court does not care whether or not you are representing yourself. Non-attorneys are expected to adhere to the same standards as attorneys, and when they inevitably fail to perform the necessary tasks, their cases are dismissed. I have seen this happen time and time again. But Grossman Law Offices can make sure that this doesn’t happen to you. We have been helping people injured by another person’s negligence for twenty years. We have successfully resolved hundreds of lawsuits in all areas of personal injury. Insurance companies know who we are and how successful we have been. Unlike non-attorneys, we can frighten insurance adjusters into giving you the settlement you deserve. We will do everything within our power to get you the compensation you need so that you can get on with your life. So don’t let another party’s negligence go unpunished. Contact San Antonio personal injury lawyer Michael Grossman today.