Anyone who has been injured as the result of a truck accident, whether they were the driver of that truck or of the other vehicle, may be entitled to compensation for those injuries. Other parties like pedestrians or bicyclists may also be due compensation. You have the right to a legal claim against the parties at fault, even if in some way you are partially responsible.

The subject of ‘accident liability’ is sometimes a very complicated one. It is always a wise move to contact truck accident attorneys in these situations, to find out what your options are. You should try to find one with experience in these kinds of cases and that has a good track record to boot.

Suing When Partially at Fault
There are times when you may be able to sue even if you had some degree of responsibility for the truck accident. There are some states that follow a ‘comparative negligence’ theory, which gauges how much each party involved was actually responsible. They assess their level of liability. Experienced truck accident attorneys know exactly how to represent you in cases like this.

Determining Who is Responsible
Many people involved in truck accidents are unaware of who the responsible parties are. That’s why it is crucial that you have proper representation and everyone involved stays under close scrutiny until it has been thoroughly investigated. Finding out who is responsible and at what level is vital to the outcome of the lawsuit.
The most obvious parties to bear responsibility will be the drivers. However, there are extenuating circumstances that can put more blame on another party who was just there but not driving. Everything that took place prior to the accident must be investigated and evaluated.

There can also be other guilty parties involved that you don’t think of or see immediately like –
Employers
Trucking Companies
Government Entities
Contractors
Insurance Companies
Vehicle Manufacturers
A good truck accident lawyers will be able to help you find all of these potentially liable defendants to help ensure you get the maximum compensation for any injuries you suffer.

Your Best Legal Strategy

There are other options available than just filing a suit in court. Lots of cases get settled out of court. Many go into mediation or arbitration. These strategies do have their benefits and can save a lot of headaches as well as money spent on going through the court system. Good truck accident attorneys know all the avenues to pursue and which ones are the best for you and your situation. So don’t waste time contacting one as soon as you can after your accident.

This Blog was brought to you by the The Patel Firm, Principal Office in Houston

The Four Elements of a Successful Auto Accident Injury Insurance Claim or Lawsuit

Many times, UI/UIM claims ultimately end up being civil court cases, though the route, as you can now see, can be quite circuitous. So we’re taking a moment to share a brief overview of what it takes to win any personal injury lawsuit. There are four elements to proving injuries against a defendant. You must clearly demonstrate your charges are true and appropriate. They are duty, breach, causation, and damages. Below, we’ll briefly discuss each of these four elements so that you will have a better idea of what it will take to prove that you’re entitled to be compensated for your injuries.

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Duty: The first charge your un/underinsured auto accident attorney will make is establishing that the defendant owed you a duty of care. This means the defendant must exercise a certain level of caution in order to prevent you from getting hurt while you drove down the street, safely minding your own business. Texas Civil Codes and Procedures set the level of the duty of care that a person or organization owes to another. This duty depends on the circumstances of the situation in-question that are considered within the relationship of the parties involved.

Breach: The next step is proving that the duty was breached. Usually, plaintiffs and their attorneys must clearly show that the defendant drove in a way that a reasonable person would not have driven. Proving that the defendant breached his duty of care is typically done when you and your attorney present evidence to the court to remove any doubt what the defendant did or failed to do that caused the car wreck. Offenses such as speeding recklessly, driving at night without headlights on, running through red lights, driving while intoxicated, and more can constitute a breach of the defendant’s duty of care, even if they may not have been legally charged for these offenses in criminal court.

Causation: You must now clearly demonstrate that the defendant breached his duty of care to you through some form of negligence. But the defendant will deny causation (a term used in proving breach of duty). Often he will argue “unforeseeable circumstances” such as other drivers, pedestrians, or even you were the actual cause of the wreck, This is the defendant’s last stand if he or she hopes to wiggle out of being held liable for your damages. So how do you disprove the defense? It’s up to you and your auto accident lawyer to prove your accident claim, or the defendant is off the hook. This is why it’s terribly important to have sufficient evidence produced by your attorney’s investigation of the accident to disprove any defense that is thrown at you.

Damages: The final “leg” is proving your damages and asking for just compensation; the specific amount of money you are entitled to collect from the defendant for you legal damages. This is the actual sum of money the defendant owes you for medical bills, pain and suffering present lost wages and the loss of future earning capacity if you disabled, and, of course, the repair, or replacement bills to your auto and any items of worth that are also destroyed in the wreck. In order to prove what you’re entitled to collect, you’ll need to calculate exactly what you’re owed and provide evidence of your injuries and losses to support your damage claim.

Determining the full amount of damages is as important as the other three burdens of proof because the amount of damages can be relative and open to defendant interpretation. Computing every single loss can be challenging unless you have an experienced Texas uninsured/underinsured car wreck attorney who knows the value of your losses from auto accidents and how to effectively calculate them. The personal injury lawyers at our Texas Law Office know how to account for and calculate every one of your accident claim damages, and make doubly-certain that you recover as much as possible for your injuries.

An experienced local attorney with our Law Firm will analyze your case, and explain your options so that you will fully understand them. We want to make certain that you recover as much as reasonably possible for your injuries and make this sometimes complicated legal process as easy as for you to understand and navigate to a successful end. Then you can resume your life: free from financial harm, and with this experience in your rearview mirror.

This Blog was brought to you by the Carabin Shaw Law Firm, Principal Office in San Antonio

Available Damages

The compensation associated with wrongful death damages include:

Medical and funeral expenses as a result of the construction fatality.
Financial support provided by the victim lost as a result of his or her death.
The mental and emotional trauma as a result of the family member’s death.
The consortium and love provided by the deceased that cannot be replaced.

Survival Damages

Restitution for survival damages include:

Medical expenses arising as a result of the construction site accident.
Salary lost while the victim would have been hospitalized, or salary that would have been lost by the victim because of long-term disabling injuries caused by the accident.
The mental and emotional turmoil that the deceased would have experienced had he or she survived.
The physical pain and suffering experienced by the deceased.

Hurdles in Obtaining Wrongful Death Case Compensation

Non-subscribing companies have very few options in trying to avoid paying a construction wrongful death claim, because, as stated above, the State of Texas designed workers’ compensation laws to try and reduce the number of lawsuits, and thus strongly encourage companies to subscribe. But even a non-subscriber has a couple of tools it can try to utilize to defeat a wrongful death claim. These are described in detail below.

Sole Proximate Cause

The only true defense a non-subscriber can use to avoid paying a claim is the Sole Proximate Cause defense – that the deceased employee was 100 percent responsible for his or her own death. The only way an employer can successfully prove this defense is by making your family out to be a habitually incompetent employee who was negligent on a regular basis. If successful in proving Sole Proximate Cause, the employer will be able to keep from paying your family the compensation that you deserve. More on this webpage

While it’s true the company did not see fit to pay for workers’ comp insurance, you can guarantee that company will open its checkbook and pay big money to a defense lawyer who is adept at dragging deceased construction workers through the mud. It is imperative you have an experienced and effective attorney by your side to defeat those lowdown tactics and protect your loved one’s reputation.

The Employer/Employee Relationship

A few employers will try and skate the rules by claiming the deceased worker was never really a “true employee,” but a contractor. And in Texas, contractors are solely responsible for their own safety in the workplace. But merely making that claim does not mean that Texas law will view that worker as a contractor. Attorneys with our Law Office\s are very adept at proving that an employer/employee relationship existed by examining pay stubs and contracts and interviewing fellow workers in order to satisfy one of the several standards that prove an employer/employee relationship. These include:

The employer held back Social Security or taxes from the worker’s paycheck.
The employer was responsible for providing the equipment necessary for the worker to perform his or her job.
The worker was expected to follow a set schedule established by the employer.
Your family member either signed a document or performed a task, that limited his or her rights while working for that company. For example, he or she signed a document that stated he or she agreed to comply with an employee handbook or took a drug test.
The worker was not hired for an isolated, single job, but rather for an extended, undetermined amount of time.
Your loved one was paid via salary or hourly wage instead of job-by-job.

What Can You Do?

The first thing NOT to do is to ever, ever give up your right to sue by signing any sort of admission of your family member’s liability for the accident in exchange for a woefully inadequate settlement.

Next, you must act immediately to find a lawyer, or at least as soon as you can. It can be very difficult, and require a lot of proof, to protect the reputation of your deceased loved one.

Every minute you wait to hire an attorney is every minute that evidence disappears – witnesses’ memories become cloudy, and the physical characteristics of the accident scene itself begin to alter. The longer you wait to seek legal help, the more difficult time you’ll have unearthing the evidence that is crucial to prevailing in your case. A detailed investigation needs to immediately be launched; after all, the construction company, insurance provider, and defense lawyers will already be working for the other side. You need a tenacious and passionate attorney working on your side to match them stride for stride.

The wrongful death attorneys at our Law Office have helped the devastated families of construction fatality victims for two decades. We’ve won hundreds of wrongful death cases that resulted in millions of dollars in judgments for our clients. When hired, we will launch an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding your family member’s death and gather the evidence you will need to prove your case. And we will not hesitate to pursue legal action against any liable third parties if necessary in order to ensure all of those responsible for the death of your loved one are held accountable. Our attorneys have either negotiated settlements with, or won lawsuits against, every major insurance company in the United States, so their high-powered operatives are well aware of our courtroom acumen. As a result, there are many times and insurers will choose to make our clients a reasonable settlement offer rather than risk losing a much larger amount of money in a lawsuit. And if they choose not to engage in negotiations, we’ll be well prepared to face them in court and make them regret that decision. If you have lost a family member due to a fatal construction accident, call our Law Office as soon as you can (toll-free) for a free and confidential consultation with an experienced wrongful death attorney and find out how we can help you get the justice and fair restitution your family deserves.