A car crash can wreak havoc on your finances. If you or your loved one was injured due to the negligence of another driver, a Grand Prairie personal injury lawyer can help you pursue damages.
The Texas Law Dog has been advocating for accident victims since 2018. If you were injured in a car crash that wasn’t your fault, a car accident lawyer in Grand Prairie can help you file a claim and obtain financial compensation for your losses.
How a Grand Prairie Car Accident Lawyer Can Help
After a crash, many people underestimate how complicated the claims process can become. A Grand Prairie car accident lawyer can help with every part of your case, including:
- Investigating the accident: A lawyer can gather police reports, witness statements, photographs, surveillance footage, and expert opinions to prove how the crash happened.
- Calculating damages: An attorney can assess both your current and future losses to determine your claim’s true value.
- Negotiating with insurance companies: Insurance adjusters are trained to minimize payouts. A lawyer can negotiate aggressively for a fair settlement.
- Representing you in court: If negotiations fail, an attorney can file a lawsuit and present your case before a judge or jury.
How Much Does a Car Accident Lawyer in Grand Prairie Cost?
The personal injury lawyers at The Texas Law Dog work on a contingency fee basis. This means you do not pay any upfront legal fees. Instead, your attorney receives a percentage of your settlement or court award when your case gets resolved.
If you do not recover compensation, you will not owe any attorney’s fees.
Grand Prairie Car Accident Lawyer Near Me (817) 775-5364
What Is the Average Settlement for a Car Accident in Texas?
There is no universal average settlement amount for Texas car accident claims. Settlements can range from a few thousand dollars for minor injuries to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars for catastrophic injuries.
Several factors influence the value of a settlement, including:
- Injury severity
- Cost of medical treatment
- Future medical care
- Lost income and reduced earning capacity
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
- The degree of fault assigned to each party
- Insurance policy limits
Our personal injury attorneys can help you obtain the maximum possible settlement for your case.
What Types of Damages Can You Recover?
If you were injured due to negligence, you can file a lawsuit seeking compensation from the responsible party. Depending on the specifics of your case, a judge or jury can award three types of compensatory damages.
Here’s how they break down:
Economic Damages
Economic damages have a specific monetary value. These damages could include medical bills, lost wages, motor vehicle damage, and the cost of rehabilitation and surgery. Economic damages tend to be easy to prove.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages cover losses that cannot be easily quantified. For example, you may be eligible to recover compensation for losses such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, or lost quality of life.
A Grand Prairie car accident lawyer can help collect evidence that proves you have sustained non-economic losses.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are relatively rare and are not awarded in every case. Unlike compensatory damages, which reimburse injured people for their losses, punitive damages are meant to punish the defendant for their actions.
Under Texas law, these damages are only available when the defendant acted with gross negligence and malicious intent. Punitive damages may be available in cases involving drunk driving or other forms of gross negligence.
How Long Do You Have to File a Car Accident Lawsuit in Texas?
According to Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003, you generally have two years from the date of a car crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. If the statute of limitations expires before you file your claim, then you may be barred from recovering compensation.
This is why it’s important to work with a car accident attorney in Grand Prairie.
How Do You Prove Liability?
Proving liability is one of the most important parts of a car accident claim. To recover compensation, you generally must show that another driver acted negligently and caused your accident.
This requires establishing four legal elements:
- The other driver owed you a duty of care.
- The driver breached that duty.
- The breach caused the accident.
- The accident resulted in measurable damages.
What Types of Evidence Do You Need?
Strong evidence can significantly improve your chances of recovering fair compensation after a car accident. The more documentation you gather, the harder it becomes for insurance companies to dispute your claim.
Important types of evidence may include:
- Police accident reports
- Photos of the vehicles and the crash scene
- Traffic camera footage
- Surveillance video footage
- Witness statements
- Medical records
- Cell phone records
- Vehicle damage estimates
- Black box data from vehicles
- Expert witness testimony
What If I Am Partially At Fault?
Texas enforces a modified comparative negligence rule with a 51% bar. This means that you can still recover damages for a car crash as long as you are assigned no more than 50% responsibility for it. If you are determined to be partially liable for the crash, your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault.
If you are 51% or more at fault for the accident, you will be ineligible to recover compensation.
How to Deal With Insurance Companies
Insurance companies may seem helpful after an auto accident, but their primary goal is to minimize the amount of compensation they pay out to you. Common tactics insurance claims adjusters use to try to get you to undermine your claim include:
- Requesting recorded statements
- Pressuring you to accept a quick settlement
- Downplaying injuries
- Disputing medical treatment
- Blaming you for the crash
- Delaying claim processing
To protect your claim, it’s crucial to avoid admitting fault, stick to the facts when speaking to adjusters, and refrain from agreeing to any settlement offers until you consult a personal injury attorney.
How Long Does It Take to Settle a Car Accident Claim?
The timeline for settling a Texas car accident claim depends on the complexity of the case. Some claims may settle within a few months, while more complex cases may take a year or longer.
Several factors can affect how long the process takes, including injury severity, the length of your medical treatment, whether the insurance company is willing to negotiate, and whether a lawsuit is filed.
Though waiting for a settlement can be frustrating, rushing the process may result in less compensation than you deserve.
Why Choose The Texas Law Dog?
At The Texas Law Dog, we bring strategy, focus, and relentless effort to every case we take on. When you hire us, you can expect:
- Thorough investigation: The first thing we do is listen to your story. Once we understand what happened and what you are dealing with, we start gathering police reports, photographs, medical records, witness statements, and any other evidence that supports your claim.
- Aggressive negotiation: We handle negotiations and communicate directly with insurance adjusters so you don’t have to. If they try to drag things out, we push back.
- Consistent communication: From the moment you begin working with us, you will know exactly what to expect and who to contact when an issue arises. We will guide you through each step of the process and ensure you are never left wondering about your case’s status.
- Maximum compensation: A car accident settlement should not only cover the bills you already have, but also account for your future expenses. We can calculate all of your losses and help maximize your recovery.
Should I File a Claim or Get a Lawyer First?
After a car accident in Grand Prairie, you should hire a lawyer before filing an insurance claim. A lawyer can help collect important evidence before it disappears and manage communications with the insurance company so you don’t say or do something that hurts your case.
Hiring a personal injury lawyer early on is especially important if:
- You suffered serious injuries.
- Fault is disputed.
- Multiple vehicles were involved.
- The other driver was uninsured.
- A commercial truck was involved.
- The crash resulted in a wrongful death.
Types of Car Accidents in Grand Prairie
Car accidents can happen in many different ways throughout Grand Prairie. Common types of accidents include:
- Rear-end accidents
- Head-on collisions
- T-bone accidents
- Multi-vehicle pileups
- Hit-and-run crashes
- Rollover accidents
- Sideswipe collisions
What Causes Most Car Accidents in Grand Prairie?
Most car accidents in Grand Prairie stem from the same recurring problems. Some of the most common causes of car accidents we see include:
- Speeding
- Distracted driving
- Drunk or drugged driving
- Following too closely
- Fatigued driving
- Unsafe lane changes
- Failing to yield
- Running red lights
- Road rage or aggressive driving
- Poor visibility or bad weather
Common Injuries in Car Accidents
Even relatively low-speed crashes can cause serious physical harm. Common car accident injuries include:
- Whiplash
- Broken bones
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Concussions
- Spinal cord injuries
- Neck injuries
- Back injuries
- Internal organ damage
- Soft tissue injuries
- Burns
- Knee and shoulder injuries
What Is the Hardest Injury to Prove?
Some car accident injuries are harder to prove than others because they may not appear clearly on imaging tests or produce visible symptoms. Insurance companies often challenge these injuries by arguing they are exaggerated, unrelated to the crash, or unsupported by objective evidence.
Soft tissue injuries like whiplash, muscle strains, and back or neck pain are often among the hardest injuries to prove. Traumatic brain injuries can also be difficult to prove, especially when they can’t be detected on scans. Lastly, it can be difficult to connect conditions like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to a car crash.
Medical records, specialist evaluations, diagnostic testing, and testimony from healthcare providers can all help establish the seriousness of your condition and its connection to the accident.
Steps to Take After a Car Accident in Grand Prairie
The actions you take after a crash can affect both your health and the strength of your legal case. With that in mind, it’s important to:
- Call the police and report the accident.
- Exchange information with the other driver.
- Take photos of the scene and vehicle damage.
- Speak with witnesses (if possible).
- Seek medical attention as soon as possible.
- Notify your insurance company, but avoid discussing fault.
- Contact our personal injury lawyers before accepting a settlement.
Speak With a Car Accident Attorney in Grand Prairie Today
The road to recovery is easier when you have someone in your corner who knows what to do next. An experienced Grand Prairie car accident attorney from The Texas Law Dog can take on your case, handle the insurance company, and fight for every dollar you deserve.
Call now to schedule your free case review with The Texas Law Dog.
