Life Happens Fast
You were involved in a car accident.
It wasn’t your fault. Not by any means.
But because of the recklessness of a stranger, your life has been thrust into chaos.
You’re injured, worn thin, and plagued by a constant pain that dominates your thoughts. It steals your attention from the things that matter and has tanked the quality of life you once had.
Then there’s the financial fallout.
Every time you go to your mailbox, you find a new medical bill.
Your heart races as you place it atop an ever-growing stack of other bills.
How will you pay for all of these? How can you?
Ever since the wreck, you can barely manage to walk–let alone work.
How did you get here? How will you get out?
Life feels like a trap and the walls are closing in.
Look, you don’t plan for chaos. No one does.
But while you might not have a plan, insurance companies certainly do.
And their plan does not involve taking care of you.
That’s why you need a lawyer.
A lawyer who’s highly skilled in navigating the ins and outs of Texas personal injury law,
A lawyer who you can bet on based on his proven track record of past successes.
A lawyer who, in turn, bets on you by taking your case on a “you only pay if we win” basis.
A lawyer like Rich Hyde and the team of Hyde Trial Tribe.
Our team is highly skilled in navigating the ins and outs of Texas personal injury law, so that you can rest assured knowing your case is in capable hands and that your life WILL be better.
The truth is that you can’t do this on your own. At least, not if you expect a fair resolution.
Insurance companies simply don’t play fair until someone forces them to be fair.
That’s what we do for our clients here at the firm. We force FAIR.
If you’re the victim of a car accident, the team at Hyde Trial Tribe will:
- Work with you to create a case-specific legal strategy that maximizes your ultimate compensation.
- Investigate the cause (or causes) of the accident, including any potential defects in any vehicles involved.
- Teach you your legal rights, the strengths of your case, and how to best address any weaknesses in your case;
- Aggressively negotiate with any insurance company for a truly fair and reasonable settlement offer.
- Determine who’s at fault and financially liable for your injuries
- Guide you through the car accident claims process.
What Money Can You Recover for a Texas Car Accident Claim?
If someone else is responsible (or at least partially responsible) for causing your Texas car accident, you can potentially recover different categories of money (called “damages”). These damages include:
- Medical expenses
- Expenses for any medical treatment you need
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish (mental trauma and distress)
- Lost income from missed worked
- Temporary and permanent disability
- Scarring or other permanent disfigurement (even if small)
- Repair costs for your vehicle
- Rental costs for a replacement vehicle while your vehicle is being repaired
With that said, don’t expect an insurance company to readily pay you your damages. Remember that insurance companies are in the business of making money. They don’t make money by paying out claims fairly. To the contrary, insurance companies will actively work to undermine your case to pay as little money to you as possible. This is why hiring a lawyer after a Texas car accident is mission critical to getting what you actually deserve.
The Frequent Causes of Texas Car Accidents
A car accident is the consequence of any one or more factors. But the cause (or causes) of a car accident will not always be obvious. This is another reason why it is important to hire an attorney following a car accident. Simply put, we professionally get to the bottom of things.
Based on past cases and data provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the following list contains the most commonly reported causes of car accidents in Texas:
- Texting while driving and other forms of distracted driving
- Speeding
- Bottlenecks and abrupt changes in the flow of traffic
- Drivers attempting to “beat” oncoming traffic or otherwise driving aggressively
- Drivers failing to yield the right-of-way in accordance with traffic signals and signs
- Driver inexperience, which is commonly the case with teen drivers
- Inclement weather
- Road construction
- Vehicle defects like malfunctioning taillights and brakes
What Should You Do (and Not Do) After a Car Accident?
The decisions you make after a car accident can dramatically impact your injury case and the money you can recover. The best practice is to call an attorney immediately following an accident. But sometimes that simply isn’t possible.
At a minimum, you should do the following to protect yourself and your legal case if you’re ever involved in a car accident:
Get Medical Treatment ASAP. If you believe you may have sustained an injury in a car accident, call an ambulance to the scene of the accident and allow the EMS personnel to transport you to a nearby emergency room. Err on the side of getting emergency treatment. Be aware that it’s not uncommon for adrenaline to mask the pain of an injury. When that adrenaline wears off, your pain will fill the void. If you don’t go to the ER, go to a primary care doctor as soon as possible. The sooner you receive medical treatment following an accident, the stronger the causal link between the accident and your injuries. Of course, if you don’t get medical treatment, the negligent driver and its insurance company can at least plausibly argue that you weren’t injured in the wreck.
Call the Police and Insist on a Crash Report. You should ALWAYS call 911 following a car accident. Do this even if the other driver is cooperating with you. Why? The other driver may be cooperating with you a wreck, or even apologizing, but that driver’s story could change once his insurance company gets involved. We’ve seen it countless times before. To avoid an unnecessary word-versus-word situation, call the police. Insist that officers arrive at the scene and make a report. Emergency response may try telling you that it won’t be necessary to send officers to the scene if the vehicles involved in the accident are still drivable. Do not accept no for an answer. Again, insist that officers physically arrive at the scene and make a crash report. The existence of a crash report could be the difference between an insurance company paying or denying your injury claim.
Do Not Apologize or Accept Responsibility for the Wreck. You may feel the urge to apologize to the other driver as a matter of courtesy. Don’t do it. Think of the Miranda Warning provided when someone is placed under arrest: “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” The same applies to what you say to anyone at the scene of an accident.
Do NOT Talk to Any Insurance Companies. It may sound self-serving, but hire a lawyer to communicate with insurance companies on your behalf, including your own insurance company. Understand that insurance companies will try eliciting information from you that, unbeknownst to you, harms your case. Remember, insurance companies are in the business of making money, which they will make less of if they pay out claims fairly. When you directly engage with an insurance company without an attorney, you are walking your case through a minefield. Don’t test it. Hire an experienced legal professional instead.
If they ask if you’re injured, and you’re unsure whether you’re injured, let emergency response know that you may be injured but aren’t sure.
- See a Doctor: Get to the emergency room or your primary care physician as soon as you can. A prompt medical evaluation will help to keep you safe and establish a causal link between your injuries and the crash.
- Report the Accident: You want to make sure that the local police are notified as soon as possible after your accident. Texas law requires that most accidents be reported. Failure to do so can jeopardize your right to recover insurance benefits. Additionally, a police report can help to preserve evidence and details that might be important down the line.
- Don’t Accept Responsibility or Apologize. Don’t say anything that might be interpreted to mean that you’re accepting responsibility for your accident. Insurance companies will seize on anything you say that might permit them to deny your injury claim.
- Reject Early Offers: Insurance adjusters might approach you shortly after an accident with a settlement offer. This money might seem really attractive right now – especially if you’ve got medical bills piling up. However, keep in mind that insurers are not on your side. They want to pay you as little as possible. So, they’ll try to manipulate or scare you into accepting less than you deserve. Pause negotiations until you’ve got a skilled lawyer on your side.
- Hire an Attorney to Represent You. Insurance companies have seemingly endless resources. They’re represented by teams of experienced legal professionals. You deserve the same. Hiring an attorney to represent you can take away whatever advantage the insurance company might have had.