If you suffered one or more injuries and you believe another party is responsible for your injuries, you should consider filing a personal injury claim.
Filing a personal injury claim in Texas can help you recover the cost of medical bills, as well as provide you with a financial bridge because you missed work. A personal injury lawyer can educate you on how to file a Texas personal injury claim, as well as ensure that you file your claim before the state-imposed deadline.
How Do I File a Claim in Texas?
The answer to the question “How do I file a claim in Texas” involves following several steps starting with the hiring of a personal injury attorney. Your attorney can help you collect and organize the evidence you need to make a compelling argument that convinces the judge overseeing your case to award you monetary damages.
A lawyer who has a proven record of winning clients awards for personal injury claims has a thorough understanding of how to get you personal injury help in Texas.
Here are the remaining steps for filing a personal injury claim in Texas:
- Document every injury
- Work with experts that provide testimony at trial
- Negotiate a settlement or file the correct paperwork to initiate a personal injury lawsuit
Your attorney knows whether to negotiate a settlement or refuse a settlement offer and instead, take the other party to court.
What is the Statute of Limitations in Texas?
Getting Texas personal injury help involves filing your claim before the state’s statute of limitations expires. Texas personal injury law has established a deadline for filing a claim of two years. The two-year statute of limitations starts on the day when you suffered your injuries. If you fail to file your claim before the deadline, a clerk of the court will dismiss your claim.
The sooner you file a personal injury claim, the sooner you can resolve your dispute with the other party.
How Do I Prove Negligence in Texas?
Texas follows a modified comparative negligence rule, which means the amount of money that you get for your personal injuries depends on your percentage of the fault for causing the incident. For example, if you were rear-ended by another driver, but your left taillight was not working, the other driver can argue that you were partly at fault for causing the auto accident.
Proving negligence involves your attorney conducting a thorough investigation of the incident that caused you one or more injuries. You hand over any evidence that you have collected, and then your lawyer continues to gather evidence to submit along with a personal injury claim.
If you took photos of the area where the incident took place, you should send the photos to your attorney for analysis. Personal injury lawyers build strong professional relationships with experts in different fields. Let’s use the rear-end car accident as an example. Your attorney can ask a forensic specialist to determine which party was at fault for causing the accident by looking at the photos taken at the accident scene.
What Kind of Compensation Can I Receive in Texas?
Texas law allows plaintiffs in personal injury cases to seek monetary damages to cover a wide variety of costs. In the car accident example, the plaintiff can seek monetary damages to cover the costs of repairing the vehicle. Medical expenses represent the most frequently requested type of monetary damages. You can seek compensation for emergency medical care, as well as for prescription drugs like pain medications.
You also have the right in Texas to seek monetary damages for pain and suffering. Nightmares and anxiety at work are two pain and suffering symptoms of someone who is reeling from the aftermath of a personal injury. Texas law limits the amount of money awarded for pain and suffering to $250,000 for each defendant and an overall cap of $500,000. The state also caps the monetary damages awarded in medical malpractice cases.
How Do I Get Personal Injury Help in Texas?
Getting personal injury help in Texas is much more than receiving just compensation. Your attorney might be able to recommend a physical therapist or a psychologist who helps victims recover from emotional distress. Your lawyer can also negotiate with the other party’s attorney to avoid the time and money it takes to file a personal injury claim.