After an accident, you may face substantial expenses for medical bills. Severe injuries might keep you from returning to work, which can make it hard to continue to support yourself and your family. In many cases, the at-fault parties may be held responsible for helping cover your injuries, medical expenses, and lost wages after a serious accident.
Your first call after an injury should always be for medical aid – but your second call should be to a personal injury lawyer. Personal injury law tends to be quite broad, and you need an attorney who has experience with cases similar to yours. Our team has handled various cases, including premises liability accidents, auto accidents, and medical malpractice, among others. Damages might be quite larger than you initially realize. We must account for economic losses from the accident in addition to psychological or emotional injuries. Talk to an attorney about your case as soon as possible, as preparing a lawsuit can be long and frustrating without legal help.
To schedule a free, confidential, no-obligation consultation on your case, contact our Flower Mound personal injury lawyers at The Queenan Law Firm today at (817) 476-1797.
Types of Personal Injury Cases in Flower Mound, TX
If you suffered physical injury because of someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to file a personal injury case. Personal injury cases are one of the broadest types of lawsuits available, covering injuries from hundreds of thousands of potential causes. The following areas of injury are all common types of personal injury cases our attorneys can handle for you. These are not all of the injuries our attorneys handle, so do not hesitate to call us if you were injured in another way.
Slip and Fall Injuries
Injuries from slip and falls or trip and falls are some of the most common. Uneven sidewalks, poorly-lit staircases, or cables carelessly lain across a walkway can all lead to tripping or slipping, potentially causing severe injuries. Falling on your face can lead to severe injuries that require surgery, plastic surgery, and dental work to repair. Falling can also cause traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries, back injuries, and broken bones, which can require various degrees of care and recovery times.
Car Accidents
Another one of the most common types of cases our attorneys handle is car accident injury cases. Car accident victims can face serious injuries or may even die from the crash. Drunk drivers, overworked truck drivers, and commercial drivers with dangerous driving histories are especially negligent drivers who can be held liable for crashes they cause. While the property damage you face is an important part of the case, the most vital concern should be your physical well-being and the effects the injury causes in your day-to-day life. Even minor injuries like whiplash can leave lasting effects that could entitle you to compensation.
Defective Product Injuries
If you were injured by a poorly designed or negligently manufactured product, you may be entitled to sue the manufacturer for your injuries. Many household products can lead to serious injuries, but these kinds of product liability cases are also common with auto defects, dangerous pharmaceuticals, and medical devices and implants. Talk to an attorney about suing for death or serious injury caused by a defective or dangerous product.
Medical Malpractice
Doctors, nurses, and hospitals are held to high standards for care and attention to detail. If negligent medical care made your illness or injury worse, you may be entitled to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. These kinds of cases cover things like surgical errors, failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis, delay in diagnosis, birth injury, and other serious harms that patients suffer every day.
Wrongful Death
The death of a loved one is always tragic, especially if they die suddenly in an accident. Filing a lawsuit may not be able to repair the harm done to your family, but it may allow you to continue to have your family supported and taken care of. If your spouse or parent passed away, you may be able to file for compensation for their lost wages and damages for other harms their loss caused your family. This can include basic things like the cost of funeral and burial services, but it can also include things like the value of lost companionship, lost counsel, lost housework, and the cost of other financial burdens that your family incurred because of the death.
Damages We Can Help You Claim in a Flower Mount, TX Personal Injury Case
Personal injury claims may account for a vast array of accidents, injuries, and damages. It is important that you speak to an attorney about your specific situation so you can identify and evaluate all possible damages in your case. Doing this might help you maximize your potential compensation.
Economic Damages
Economic losses may include anything that cost you money as a direct result of the accident that caused your personal injuries. For example, you might claim the cost of expensive vehicle repairs after a car accident.
Most personal injury cases involve claims for medical expenses. The nature of personal injury claims involves bodily harm. Medical treatment, even for relatively minor injuries, can be expensive. If your injuries are severe, you might be dealing with insurmountable hospital bills you can barely begin to pay.
Your injuries might cost you money in more ways than one. Many plaintiffs are so badly hurt that they cannot return to work. Some people take a few weeks off. Others need even more time. Still, others might never be able to work again if their injuries involve permanent disabilities or complications. We can assess and claim the income you have lost and might lose in the future.
Non-Economic Damages
Not all damages revolve around money. Many damages are far more subjective than a dollar amount. Plaintiffs in personal injury cases often claim damages for their physical and mental pain and suffering. Accidents often leave people with some degree of emotional trauma. In particularly severe cases, plaintiffs might be living with psychological disorders like depression, anxiety, or PTSD.
The nature of your damages depends on the nature of your injuries. You might claim damages for humiliation from the accident, damage to your reputation, or other painful experiences.
Exemplary Damages
Exemplary damages, also called punitive damages, are awarded to punish defendants for their egregious behavior, not necessarily to compensate plaintiffs. The bar for punitive damages is high, and they tend to be rarely awarded.
According to Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.004, exemplary damages may not be awarded unless you are also awarded compensatory damages for your economic and non-economic injuries. According to Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.003(a), exemplary damages may only be awarded if we can prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant caused harm through fraud, malice, or gross negligence.
Many personal injury cases stem from ordinary negligence and unintentional accidents. As such, exemplary damages are rather uncommon. Even so, you should discuss the possibility of exemplary damages with your attorney.
Finding the Right Evidence for Your Flower Mound, TX Personal Injury Case
A personal injury case, and any civil case for that matter, needs evidence to survive. Without evidence, a court is unlikely to even consider hearing your case. Much of the preparation involved in building a strong case involves finding evidence. Our team can help you find the evidence you need to prove your claims and be compensated for your damages.
Personal injury cases inherently involve bodily harm and injuries. It is no coincidence that many personal injury plaintiffs need copies of their medical records as evidence. Even if your injuries are somewhat minor and may quickly heal, we should have copies of your medical record to prove that your injuries did indeed exist and how much they cost to treat. Medical records are especially crucial in cases where injuries are severe, complicated, or expensive.
After an accident involving injuries, people tend to focus on getting to a hospital, not preserving evidence. As a result, important evidence might be lost when the scene is cleaned up, often by the authorities. While getting medical attention should definitely be your top priority, you can take some quick photos of the scene to preserve important details. These photos may make for excellent evidence if details about the accident and the surrounding area are disputed.
Depending on where your injuries occurred and who was around, there might be numerous witnesses who can testify in your case. Having multiple people who saw the accident from different vantage points can be a massive boost to your case.
Suing for Personal Injury in Flower Mound, Texas
Filing a lawsuit means filing a case in the appropriate courthouse for the location where the accident took place. After filing, you will have to give the at-fault party notice of the lawsuit, and the court gives them a chance to respond. If the claim continues, you will exchange evidence and depositions with the other side as the case approaches trial.
At trial, your attorney must prove that the defendant was at fault for the injuries you faced. You prove this “negligence” by showing that the at-fault party breached a duty they owed you, such as the duty to drive safely, and that this breach caused your injuries and damages. Your attorney can use your testimony and other evidence to show how the defendant was at fault.
Evidence of medical bills and bank statements can prove the financial harm you suffered and the ongoing expenses you will face because of the injuries. All these damages can be claimed in court, whereas filing the case with insurance may lead to reduced payouts. Always talk to an attorney before filing an insurance claim or accepting payments from the other party.
Preparing Your Personal Injury Case in Flower Mound, TX
You and your attorney must draft a legal complaint to initiate a civil lawsuit for personal injuries. The complaint is not just a statement of allegations against the defendant. It is a formal and often lengthy legal document that details the parties in the case, how the accident happened, your injuries, damages, and some evidence. The complaint should be very specific. If any information is absent or lacking, the court might not accept the complaint, and you might have to start over, losing precious time to file your case.
Many plaintiffs are surprised to find that they need some evidence just to begin their case. People sometimes assume that evidence is something you gather as the case progresses before culminating in a trial. In reality, we need at least some evidence to back up your claims in the complaint and show the court that your case has legal merit.
Similarly, we must work out your damages before we file the case. Again, people sometimes get the wrong idea and think that damages are sussed out over time. We must have an accurate idea of all your damages and what they are worth when we file the case. Courts do not like to be surprised with new claims for damages after the case has already begun.
Flower Mound, TX Personal Injury Lawyers Offering Free Consultations on Injury Cases
If you or a loved one was injured in an accident in Flower Mound, Texas, call The Queenan Law firm today at (817) 476-1797 for a free, confidential consultation with our personal injury lawyers.