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Do or Don’t You Need a Lawyer to Make Your Accident Claim a Success?

We think the answer is clear. And now that you’re an “informed” auto accident victim, we believe you do too. Another important thing to consider is that many “uninsured motorists” are not actually uninsured. We’ve seen numerous examples of someone causing an accident, telling the police and the other driver that they don’t have insurance, they get a ticket for driving without insurance, and then the next day they go down to the courthouse and show proof of coverage to get the ticket dismissed. It is important to have an attorney look into such matters so that you don’t file an unnecessary claim against your own policy because some scumbag is hiding the fact that they actually do have insurance. Generally speaking, when someone gets a nasty letter from us saying, “That’s great that you don’t have insurance, we’re happy to take all of your money,” they usually pony up their insurance card. Just remember, some insurance cards are more valuable than others.

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In most instances it takes an experienced auto injury attorney to make sure that accident victims recover the actual worth of their medical bills, pain, suffering and damages to their vehicle and its contents. Some of them have been folded into a little checklist (below) to help you know sooner or later if you need the assistance of an experienced Texas car accident lawyer.

You’ve Suffered Physical Injuries in the Wreck

If you experience any sort of bodily injuries in your accident, it’s a very good idea for you to have an experienced lawyer handle your case. A good determiner is whether or not you need to continue seeing your doctor after being initially treated for your injuries. When you seek damages for bodily injuries, insurance companies don’t have to abide by any predetermined guidelines when deciding how much to pay you. They can say they’ll pay you nothing if they want. That doesn’t make their decision the right one, legally. So one benefit of having a lawyer is to make certain someone who knows the ropes is looking out for your interests regarding your vehicle accident injury claim. If you’ve suffered broken bones, head injuries, back injuries, or any other sort of injury in your wreck, do the smart thing and call a good attorney. And do it quickly.

The Other Driver is Hard to Deal With

It’s also a good idea to call an experienced auto accident attorney if the driver who caused your accident gives you a hard time either at the scene of the wreck or later. Or maybe the other driver doesn’t want to give you his contact or insurance information. Belligerent accident “victims” usually have something to hide, either from the law or their insurance company. This behavior is also a very good early indication that he’ll make it as difficult as possible for you to recover the damages you deserve due to his negligence. If the other driver displays this kind of behavior, treat it as a big red flashing “warning sign” that you need to talk to a lawyer no later than the next day, and maybe sooner.

You Can’t Afford the Money to See a Doctor or Pay your Medical Bills

Many people don’t have health insurance which, if they did, certainly would help them afford the treatment they need after they’ve been involved in a wreck. But even for those accident victims who do have some form of health insurance, and considering how most health plans continue to shrink in quality, the chances become greater every day that all of their treatment needs may not be covered under their health benefits. Regardless of whether they have health insurance or not, many accident victims hesitate to get treatment for their injuries if they don’t seem serious because they don’t think they can afford to take the time off of work to see a doctor, or they have higher-than-normal deductibles which preclude even using their health insurance.

Seeing a doctor and getting treatment for your injuries after an accident is not only essential to your health, it’s absolutely necessary to your injury claim or lawsuit. If you can’t afford treatment, or if you already have medical bills that you can’t pay, there’s probably something that our auto injury attorneys can do to help. We regularly work with doctors and healthcare professionals and can refer you to the right doctor who will take your situation into consideration. We believe no one accident victim should forego medical treatment because they can’t afford it. And we’ve helped many of our clients receive necessary medical care after an auto accident at no out of pocket cost to them. Additionally, we can explain how the time you take off from work to get medical care may be included in the damage compensation owed to you by the defendant in your case. The same goes for a rental car in many cases is you need one while your vehicle is being repaired.

This Blog was brought to you by the Carabin Shaw Law Firm, Principal Office in San Antonio

Seek Medical Attention Immediately After Your Construction/Scaffolding Accident

If you’ve been hurt while on the job, you first need to seek the proper medical attention. The doctor who treated your wounds has told you to continue your recovery treatment. Do it! We might be together for several months. We’ll tell you right off the bat that our successful clients are typically those who do everything they can to recover from their injuries. More on this webpage
After all, if you don’t care about your health, why should they be asked to pay? Think about it. Your health is of the utmost importance. Being examined by a medical professional is important for your life and your case. If you need assistance seeking medical help that can consider your personal and financial status, let us help. We have a large network of trustworthy medical professionals that we can point you to. In addition, we may be able to help you see a doctor at no cost to you. We can even show you how the time you take off from work to get care may be compensable by the defendant. Once you have left the emergency room or trauma center, whether you’ve been admitted to the hospital for a few more days or are recovering at home, your next step involves seeking legal assistance to assess your employer’s workers comp status and begin the road to fiscal recovery as well.

Assessing Your Workers’ Comp Status Properly Dictates the Game Plan
The Texas Legislature enacted the Workers’ Compensation Act in 1992. According to that law, employers who purchase workers’ comp get special incentives: unusual protection. These incentives don’t necessarily work in your favor if the injury is serious. The chief protection for employers who pay for workers’ comp coverage is that – with one most unusual exception – they cannot be sued for any more than a capped amount of compensation. Essentially, one-in-two Texas employers subscribe to workers’ comp. It is optional for employers: not the norm for most states. Considering the benefits of workers comp, that’s a pretty low number. We suspect the percentage is slightly lower than half in the construction industry.

Did You Know? Our Texas attorneys have won hundreds of construction accident cases. Call us today to discuss your case.

Product Liability for Motorcycles

It is a rare occurrence, but sometimes a motorcycle is sold that has an inherent flaw that is a result of either poor engineering or poor design. More often, motorcycles are negligently manufactured in such a manner that a critical part will fail under the stresses and loads that are a part of their intended use. Parts that fail, such as a brake proportioning valve, a chain that breaks, or an engine bearing that malfunctions, can lead to an accident that causes a devastating injury or even worse. If such a failure occurs and causes an injury or a death to a motorcycle rider or passenger, the victim or victims are allowed under Texas law to initiate a product liability claim against the manufacturer of the motorcycle. There are some instances where there are multiple parties that can be named as defendants in a product liability lawsuit. For instance, if a manufacturer produces a motorcycle and a part such as a brake caliper fails, the manufacturer, the retail operation that sold the bike, and the supplier of that individual part can all be held liable. This depends, of course, on the extent of the responsible parties’ negligence.

As with most litigation involving motorcycle accidents, product liability claims are extremely intricate and complex. You cannot simply base any portion of your case on mere speculation. In order for you to have any chance at all of winning your case, it is imperative that you collect and preserve quite a bit of evidence. It is not enough to simply say, for example, that “the throttle cable broke.” You, as the plaintiff in your case, bear the burden of proof, meaning you have to prove that the failure of the part occurred due to negligence on behalf of the manufacturer. It is critical to your case that the exact cause the failure is determined. In order for you to have any chance at winning your case, there must be a detailed evaluation performed by a qualified engineer. That evaluation will supplement a report filed by an expert that will pinpoint the exact nature of the part’s failure. Also, the motorcycle and any accessories that accompany it must also be stored in such a manner that they can be used as evidence during the trial.

A lot of claims involving product liability fail to succeed because the party initiating the claim did not properly catalog and preserve the evidence necessary to prove their case. Legal laypeople do not have a sufficient enough grasp of proper courtroom procedure, and this lack of knowledge can cause their case to be dismissed. As a matter of fact, product liability cases are beyond the capabilities of most lawyers. If it is that difficult for most lawyers to win this kind of litigation, it is almost impossible for someone with no legal background whatsoever to succeed. You simply must have a seasoned and skilled motorcycle accident attorney working for you in order to obtain the just compensation you have coming to you.

Defective Motorcycles

Mechanical failures as a result of either product defects or poor maintenance are often another source of motorcycle accidents. Typically, service or recall bulletins will recommend minor changes to passenger automobiles in order to address some sort of flaw. However, there is an old adage pertaining to motorcycles that goes, “when something goes wrong on a motorcycle, it goes very wrong.” A properly operating motorcycle is precarious enough, requiring a fairly significant effort on the part of the rider simply to remain upright. If a motorcycle suffers a mechanical failure, a rider can quickly lose control of the bike. Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that a rider will simply be able to coast to safety under these kinds of conditions.

Issues Involving Motorcycle Maintenance and Misrepresentation of Condition

Professional maintenance shops sometimes perform shoddy maintenance work that can also lead to an accident that causes a severe injury. As we stated previously, when a car suffers some sort of malfunction, the driver can often guide the car off the road and to a shop for service without an accident occurring. But when a motorcycle experiences a mechanical failure due to improper maintenance, the accident that can result can lead to devastating injury or death for the rider. There are some motorcycle repair shops that do a slip-shod job of hiring qualified mechanics. A negligent mechanic could easily overlook something that can lead to a mechanical failure. When this occurs, a claim of negligence can be brought against the repair shop responsible for the shoddy work.

There are some mechanical problems, however, that do not result from any sort of oversight or negligence. There are cases where a private seller, or even a motorcycle dealership, will sell a motorcycle with the full knowledge that it is in bad mechanical shape. Some will even go to the extreme of hiding the fact that the bike is in such poor shape. In one instance, a man contacted us who had bought a bike from a licensed, and supposedly reputable, dealer. But when he rode the motorcycle home, he noticed it was behaving erratically. He was able to take the bike to a repair shop for an inspection, luckily for him, before suffering any sort of injury due to an accident. The shop was able to determine that, below the bike’s new fairings, a part called the “triple tree” was cracked, and that could have led to a disastrous accident. Also, the radiator was not attached properly. In addition, and almost unbelievably, the frame had been damaged, and the damage concealed with spray paint and body filler.

What had basically happened was that the motorcycle had been previously wrecked, but the dealership did some cosmetic “repairs” and misrepresented the bike as being in good condition. This is not only a blatant violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the faulty motorcycle could easily have killed the buyer. Not only could the buyer sue the dealership for negligence, but this blatant attempt at deception that occurred in the effort to sell a dangerously flawed motorcycle could also result in punitive damages against the dealership as well.