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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.