Car accidents are unexpected, and the repercussions can be severe. However, the Plano personal injury lawyers at Angel Reyes and Associates offer free case consultations for people interested in exploring their legal rights following a serious accident.
What Can a Car Accident Lawyer in Plano, TX Do for You?
Our Plano car accident lawyers preside over any case that involves physical injury (as opposed to property damage.) Drivers can handle minor fender-benders through their insurance companies. However, once property damage escalates and the cost of treating physical injuries begins to reach Texas’ minimum insurance threshold– you will need an experienced attorney to build your lawsuit strategy.
A Plano car accident lawyer can:
- Investigate the accident scene.
- Secure the Plano accident report from the police
- Interview witnesses.
- Pinpoint, gather, and preserve evidence.
- Secure expert witnesses and medical professionals to testify on your behalf.
- Negotiate with the drivers’ insurance company to reach a fair settlement.
- File an action to fight for maximum compensation in court, if needed.
One example of the type of evidence an experienced auto accident attorney in Plano may procure is surveillance footage of your crash. In many automobile accidents, each driver blames the other driver for causing – or at least partially causing – the crash, so liability is disputed. However, many residential properties and businesses utilize surveillance cameras to protect their property. The right attorney will investigate the area surrounding where your Plano car accident took place and contact each property owner to see if they have any surveillance footage that may have captured part or all of your crash. If so, that may be the indisputable proof that you need as to what caused the accident, and that may significantly increase the defendant’s willingness to offer you a fair settlement amount, or at the very least, significantly boost your chances of prevailing at trial if that becomes necessary.
Typical Injuries Caused by Car Accidents
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, there were 3,756 automobile crashes in Plano in 2020, causing 19 fatalities. While 19 lives were tragically lost in these accidents, the lives of the victims that survive serious crashes can be significantly impacted for years to come. Here are some of the common injuries resulting from car accidents in Plano:
- Broken or fractured bones
- Severe burns
- Lacerations and cuts
- Neck, back, and spine injuries
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
- Organ damage
- Ligament tears or ruptures
- Soft tissue injuries
- Disfigurement
- Amputations
- Paralysis
- Death
How Do I Know if the Car Accident Settlement Offer is Fair?
A personal injury attorney from Reyes Browne can help you determine how much your case is worth– so you don’t settle for less and end up paying out-of-pocket. We’ve helped hundreds of car accident victims, which gives us a unique vantage point. We’ve seen how much these injuries cost over the long term, and we know when insurers are willing to negotiate when the case against them is strong.
Some of the factors considered in car accident claims include:
- What medical expenses have you incurred? With good record-keeping, it’s easy to calculate the total for your doctor co-pays, ambulance or helicopter transport, emergency room fees, hospital stays, surgeries, rehabilitation, prescription drug costs, assistive devices, and more.
- What medical expenses are you likely to incur in the future? Our medical professionals help us estimate the cost of future treatments within reason.
- How much is the property damage? We recommend getting a professional estimate of the cost to repair your vehicle, cross-referenced with the Kelley Blue Book value.
- How much work did you miss due to your injuries? Pay stubs and the number of days or weeks off of work help us determine your economic losses. Paid time off and sick days benefits can be factored in.
- How much work will you miss in the future? Depending on the severity of your injuries, you may be unable to return to work for some time, you may have a permanently reduced capacity to work, you may be disabled altogether or you may lose your job because of a car accident.
- How much pain and suffering has the accident caused? You may receive more compensation in this area if the injury is permanent, ongoing rehabilitation is necessary, you had surgeries or bear scars from it, or if the injury has impacted your relationships, hobbies, employment, and quality of life significantly.
Types of Damages in a Car Accident Case
If your car accident claim is successful, you could be entitled to different forms of monetary damages. Each of these categories could add up to a significant settlement amount. As noted above, some examples include:
- Medical bills. Because severe injuries are common, medical bills often make up the bulk of a car accident claim. You could be entitled to recover damages for the cost of your hospital stay, ambulance ride, surgeries, or physical therapy, among other things.
- Lost wages. Missed paychecks are typical following a car accident. If you miss out on your income due to your injuries, you could pursue compensation.
- Pain and suffering. Your legal team will generally use the following documentation to determine the amount you could be owed for pain and suffering—your medical bills, medical records, expert testimony, pictures of your injury, and psychiatric records.
- Property damage. You could also recover the cost of repairing or replacing your vehicle.
Whom Are You Suing?
A Plano car accident lawyer may not actually have to go after the party you would consider to be negligent after you’ve been in an accident. For example, if you’re involved in an accident with a truck in Plano, the car accident lawyer may actually end up going after the trucking company itself.
In cases where the accident involves two or more vehicles that are being driven by professional drivers not working for a transportation company or other entity, the Plano car accident lawyer will generally go after the other driver.
The attorney will need to meet with you to determine whether your case will stand a good chance of winning in court. This is done during a consultation, which is free our lawyers.
How We Could Obtain a Successful Resolution to Your Case
There are two ways a Dallas car accident lawyer from Angel Reyes – Reyes Browne Law Firm could help you resolve your car accident injury claim successfully. The first is by obtaining a fair monetary settlement from the other driver or their insurance company. The second is by taking your case to trial and obtaining a verdict.
Ultimately, settling an injury claim following a Plano car crash with the other side is the ideal option in most cases. This typically involves agreeing to dismiss a lawsuit or promise not to file one in exchange for a monetary payment. Most car accident claims are resolved this way.
Settlements might be common in car accident cases, but getting a fair offer from the other driver or their insurance company can be complicated. Most insurance companies will aggressively push inadequate settlement amounts with the hopes that you will settle the claim below its actual value. In fact, insurance companies often move quickly to settle claims before the injured driver has a chance to speak with an attorney.
The Basics of Negligence
Like many other words, negligence has a rather broad meaning in regular usage, but it has a specific meaning in the law. In legal terms, being negligent means that someone failed to exercise the degree of care that a reasonable person could be expected to exercise under the same circumstances. For example, if you were making a right turn off of a busy street and turned on your turn signal, a reasonable person following behind you would slow down, allow you to make the turn and proceed on their way. A negligent person might fail to see your turn signal or fail to apply brakes in time to prevent an accident, resulting in a rear end collision. These types of collisions are among the most common that Plano car accident lawyers have to deal with, in fact.
The attorney will help you to seek compensation for any damages that you suffered as a result of the accident. Whether or not your case is viable will depend upon several variables.
Understanding the Insurance Adjuster’s Motives
When you first hear from an insurance company following a car accident in Plano, there are two factors that play a significant role in how the insurance company handles your claim:
- The insurance adjuster that you speak with is tasked with the sole objective of doing everything possible to minimize the amount of your financial recovery. Insurance companies are businesses, and their focus is on the bottom line. By limiting the amount of your financial recovery, whether that is fair or not, the insurance adjuster is helping his or her company increase profits.
- No matter how nice the adjuster may seem on the phone, he or she is fully aware of the physical, emotional, and financial stress that you and your family may be under in the immediate aftermath of a serious car accident. You may be facing months or years of medical care, you may be dealing with constant and severe pain, and your physical mobility may be significantly limited, if not taken away altogether. While medical bills that you cannot afford continue to pile up, your stress is only compounded because you are physically and/or emotionally unable to return to work due to the injuries you sustained in your accident. What that means is that, right when you need your income stream from your job the most, it is mostly or even fully dried up. The adjuster may try to take advantage of your vulnerability at this difficult time and extend a lowball settlement offer that is less than you deserve.
For many accident victims, any lump sum of money offered by the insurance company sounds enticing, as it will temporarily get the bill collectors off their back and put food on the table. However, this is precisely the point where our attorneys at Angel Reyes & Associates highly recommend that you consult with an experienced Plano car accident lawyer. In one conversation, you can quickly determine the approximate value of your claim and understand your legal rights in this situation. With that information, you will know whether or not the offer from the insurance company is actually fair and whether or not it makes sense to hire an attorney to represent you. With some car accident claims settling for millions of dollars, you could potentially be leaving significant money on the table if you do not consult with an experienced attorney.
Our team of attorneys can ensure you never accept a settlement offer that is not in your best interest. We understand how insurance adjusters operate and will never be bullied by their aggressive tactics.
While settlements might be typical in these cases, some claims will ultimately go to trial. This is true when the defendant cannot make a settlement offer or refuses to accept fault. When this happens, a trial is the only remaining option. Obtaining a judgment at trial might not result in the quick payout that a settlement will– but the total amount could be greater than what was offered by the insurance companies.
Contact a Plano Car Accident Lawyer Right Away
Our team at Reyes Browne proudly serves all of Texas, including Plano, with expert legal representation. Our personal injury lawyers have secured over $1 billion for personal injury clients, including victims of car accidents, and we proudly stand behind our 98 percent client success rate. We offer representation at no up-front costs to our clients. Call today for your complimentary consultation at (469) 306-4837.
