How much is my case worth?This is a very difficult question for a personal injury to answer without having all of the information available. Determining the worth of a personal injury claim depends upon a seriously you are injured, the specific facts of the case and the insurance limits that may be available. Every case has three elements that an experienced personal injury attorney analyzes to determine what they feel the true value of a claim may be.
Those areas are: 1. Liability 2. Damages 3. Insurance.Determining the case’s value is something that is learned over many years of practice as an attorney handling personal injury claims. There is no golden formula to determine the value. Based on our many years experience with Texas personal injury cases, we may be able to estimate the range of the value of your case after we have reviewed all medical records and important evidence that may be admitted into the trial of the case.

Generally, some important factors include:

• Your doctor’s testimony regarding your injuries;
• The facts surrounding the accident- responsibility for the accident;
• Disability or inability to work;
• Whether or not punitive damages may be appropriate; and
• The type of case.

Other factors that may be relevant in determining the range of the value of a case include the amount of your medical expenses, the specific doctors who treated the victims and the claims history of the plaintiff.

To speak with a leading accident and injury attorney call 281-587-1111 for a no obligation consultation.

What are some tips for injury victims?Call an experienced attorney as soon as possible after an accident. Do not delay as the longer you wait the harder you make it on the attorney.
Cooperate and be completely honest with your attorney and his staff. All conversations are confidential and subject to the attorney-client privilege and cannot be divulged to any outside party.
Do not speak with insurance adjustors or anyone else who might contact you without your attorney’s permission.Follow your doctor’s instructions to help ensure a complete recovery and proper healing of your injuries.

Do not sign any documents without reading and understanding them. When in doubt consult an attorney.

To speak with attorney Greg Baumgartner call (281) 587-1111.

What is the Statute of Limitations in Texas for personal injury?Texas has a general statute of limitation for personal injury claims that can bar a claim not timely brought. The general statute of limitations is two years from the date of the accident.

There are other issues that personal injury claimants should be aware of such as short notice provisions that must be met for certain governmental entities, and the Statute of Repose that it also may affect cases involving dangerous drugs or dangerous products.

Personal injury victims should not delay in contacting an attorney to help them and should never wait until the last-minute to contact an attorney. Many law firms will not accept a case that is close to the statute of limitations.

If you have questions about the statute of limitations or another personal injury question- call us at 281-587-1111.

What is the difference between personal injury damages and punitive damages?Almost everyone has heard about “punitive damages”, they are also called “exemplary damages” and are sparingly available in some personal injury litigation in Texas.
In Texas, personal injury damages, also known as “actual damages”, can include the following items:

1. Medical expenses that were paid or incurred as a result of the accident.
2. Disfigurement.
3. Disability.
4. Physical pain and mental anguish.
5. Lost income

And in a typical personal injury trial, such as an automobile accident, the judge or the jury is usually asked to come up with a number for each of the areas of damages sustained that would reasonably compensate the innocent personal injury victim.

Recent changes to Texas law such as “tort reform” have had a dramatic effect on the justice available to many personal injury victims. And in fact, it is possible for a drunk driver to receive the benefit of a personal injury victim’s personal health insurance without having to compensate the person they hurt for the insurance premiums that the victim has paid.

That aside, putative damages or exemplary damages are similar to as punishment damages, designed to curtail similar conduct to protect our community.

Punitive damages are not available in every case and require a situation where the defendant has knowingly acted with an extreme disregard for the health and safety of the community when injuring the victim.

Examples would be a situation where a driver knew he or she was intoxicated and chose to drive home knowing drunken driving could lead to serious injury or death. There are other examples where companies ignore safety warnings and other actions or inactions where a person or company acted with malice.

Punitive damages are covered by statute in the state of Texas and the statute can be found at Civil Practice & Remedies Code Section 41.

If you have questions regarding exemplary or punitive damages and would like to speak to an experienced punitive damage attorney call the Baumgartner Law Firm for no obligation consultation – 281-587-1111.

Do I sue the other driver or their insurance company??It is a common misconception in the state of Texas that people injured in a car wreck would sue the other person’s insurance company to obtain personal injury damages. That’s not how it works in the state of Texas.

Here, a lawsuit over a car accident is filed against the individual driver (and perhaps his company if on-the-job), and not against the person’s insurance company.

If your damages may exceed the liability limits of the individual driver, you may in fact want to add your own insurance company as a defendant if you have uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage to pursue.

What is loss of companionship and society?With the biggest elements of damages in a wrongful death case is what is called loss of companionship and society, which means the human loss of your loved one.

The jury question indicates that this loss means the positive benefits flowing from the love, comfort, companionship and society that the plaintiff would have received from the decedent. For a spouse it is easy to see the damages suffered through loss of his or her husband or wife. For a child the love and affection of a parent to the child is unquestionable.

Economic damages or pecuniary loss is covered in a separate question in a Texas wrongful death lawsuit.

What are some products that may be defective?Almost any product can end up being unreasonably dangerous and defective. Some of the more common types of product liability claims involve products like:

• • Cars and pickup trucks involving fuel fed fires from the gas tank.
  • Construction equipment
  • Rollover accidents
  • Certain playground equipment
  • Industrial and workplace machines
  • Some safety equipment

 

What kind of cases do you accept?We are very selective in the cases that we agree to handle to provide the best possible service to our clients. By limiting the number of cases that we handle, we can provide the time attention and resources required to maximize compensation for our client.

Accordingly, our practice is limited to cases involving substantial injury or a family who has lost a loved one. We have gained a reputation for handling trucking accidents, car and drunk driving crashes, daycare injury cases, and other serious injury and wrongful death matters. To learn more about the cases we cover, visit our practice areas page.