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Fort Worth Personal Injury Lawyer

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    If you, someone in your family, or someone you love has been injured in an accident through no fault of their own, then you may have a legal right to pursue a personal injury lawsuit. Under the personal injury laws in Texas, you may be entitled to receive monetary compensation for medical bills, wages, and pain and suffering.

    With the help of a Fort Worth personal injury lawyer, you can take the responsible parties to court. Our attorneys can help show the jury what the defendant did wrong and how your injuries should have been avoided. We can also present evidence of medical bills, lost wages, and other damages to help you get the compensation you deserve.

    If you believe that you, your spouse, or a family member was the victim of someone’s negligence, know that you can turn to the skilled and experienced Fort Worth personal injury attorneys at Queenan Law for nuanced guidance, compassionate support, and a free case review. Our phone number is (817) 476-1797.

    What Are Some Common Personal Injury Cases in Fort Worth, TX?

    Personal injury law encompasses a wide variety of injuries and accidents that a person may encounter on a day-to-day basis. However, some of the most frequent that we have seen in and around Fort Worth include:

    Car Accidents

    Car accidents and other automotive accidents are an extremely common source of personal injury claims in North Central Texas. Car accidents can be a devastating event in a person’s life and often when there is an accident involving two cars on the highway there is likely going to be severe damages. Common types of vehicular accidents we handle include the following:

    • Head-On Collisions
    • Lane Change Accidents
    • Rear-End Collision
    • Highway Accidents
    • Intersection Accidents
    • Multi-Vehicle Pileups
    • Parking Lot Accidents
    • Rural Road Accidents

    Product Liability

    Product liability is the area of personal injury law dealing when a person is injured as a result of a product. Often times a person will seek to impose liability on a manufacturer for deaths and injuries caused by malfunctioning, mislabeled, or defective products. Our attorneys have extensive experience litigating product liability cases involving a wide range of industrial and consumer goods, including vehicles, toys, appliances, food and beverage, manufacturing machinery, prescription medications, medical implants, and safety gear like helmets and seatbelts.

    Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI)

    The spinal cord is a long bundle of nerve fibers which creates a bridge of communication between the body and brain. When the spinal cord is injured, this capability is diminished, which can lead to devastating medical consequences including paralysis (paraplegia, quadriplegia/tetraplegia), chronic pain, poor coordination, muscle weakness, incontinence, and loss of physical sensation.

    Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)

    Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are among the most debilitating injuries any person can ever have to suffer through. The effects of TBI can include memory problems, chronic headaches, impaired cognitive function, depression, insomnia, and increased risk of developing serious medical conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and seizures. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the leading causes of TBI include car accidents, object strikes, and accidental falls.

    Truck Accidents

    Due to the tremendous size and weight disparity between passenger vehicles and commercial big-rigs, truck accidents often result in catastrophic injuries or wrongful death. In the profits-oriented rush to complete their journeys as quickly as possible, professional truckers sometimes deliberately drive well past their shift limits, becoming dangerously fatigued or even falling asleep at the wheel.

    Workplace Injuries

    Serious injuries occur in all industries, but people who work in certain occupations are more vulnerable than others. Some of the most dangerous U.S. industries include manufacturing, logging, agriculture, construction, mining, forestry, transportation, and warehousing.

    Medical Malpractice

    Victims of medical malpractice often find themselves facing severe injuries after surgery. However, they might not be able to tell if the injuries were normal complications or medical malpractice. Seeking a second opinion and consulting with an experienced personal injury lawyer can help you determine the cause of your injuries and get you started on a medical malpractice claim. Many medical malpractice cases result in long-term injuries and disabilities or worsened conditions that require extensive medical care to treat. Talk to one of our Fort Worth personal injury lawyers about your potential malpractice case.

    Wrongful Death

    Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 71.002 defines wrongful death as any death resulting from the “wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, [or] unskillfulness” of an individual or business, or a preventable death which was caused by negligence. State laws permit the children, parents, and spouses of Texas wrongful death victims to file a lawsuit on the decedent’s behalf.

    How Long Does a Person Have to File an Injury a Case in Fort Worth, TX?

    A statute of limitation is a type of law that prevents someone from starting a lawsuit after a certain period of time has passed. Statutes of limitation are imposed in order to further the public interest.

    The statute of limitations for negligence actions is generally two years. The cause of action “accrues” in a case when a wrongful act causes an injury. When there is an action for negligence that involves some wrongful conduct that took place over a period of time, the clock may begin running at the end of the period. This is common in cases of medical malpractice where the victim underwent a course of treatment that injured them.

    Why Do We Have a Statue of Limitations?

    The statute of limitations is designed to make things fair. Old cases are harder to pursue because witnesses might have forgotten what happened, evidence might have been lost, camera footage might have been overwritten, and records might have been lost or destroyed. There is also a concern that injuries must not be too severe if the victim waited years and years before coming forward. It is potentially unfair for a defendant to have a case follow them around for years when these conditions might make it hard to for the victim to win the case anyway.

    Because of these considerations, the statute of limitations is quite strict. Talk to a Fort Worth personal injury attorney as soon as you can to avoid running into issues with filing too late.

    Statute of Limitations Exceptions

    Cases filed after the statute of limitations runs out usually cannot be filed. The court can block these claims on their own, and the defendant can always raise the statute of limitations as a defense. However, there are some exceptions that allow you additional time to file.

    These exceptions are usually carved out for minors and people with other disabilities that make it so they cannot fully appreciate what happened to them. Although they get additional time to file, they can still file earlier with the help of a parent or guardian. Time limits might also be extended if the defendant intentionally hid the cause of the injury or if the plaintiff could not reasonably discover that what happened to them was caused by negligence.

    What Can You Be Compensated for in a Fort Worth Injury Case?

    If you have been injured because of someone’s negligence you will often incur expenses as a result of your injury. These can be missing work, or going to doctor’s appointments, to even more tragic things like paying for funeral expenses. People often want to know what they are able to seek money for and how much they are likely to receive.

    • Past and Future Medical expenses
    • Funeral and burial expenses
    • Pecuniary losses including future loss of earning capacity
    • Pain and Suffering
    • Mental anguish
    • Physical disfigurement
    • Loss of Consortium, comfort, Love, and Society.

    The goal of tort law as a whole is to place a person who has been injured in the position that they would have been in had the accident not occurred, however, this can be a difficult task when there are such elements as emotion and love. However, with careful analysis, an experienced personal injury attorney will be able to help you place an amount to file a suit for.

    Evidence Needed for a Personal Injury Lawsuit

    Any evidence that you can collect will be helpful in your injury case. In many cases, physical evidence is sparse, and the claim will rely mostly on witness testimony. However, all of the following evidence could be admissible in your case:

    Photos and Video

    Photographs and video of the accident itself make excellent evidence. These pieces of evidence can literally show the jury what happened, helping them to get a good picture of how the accident would be the defendant’s fault. Photos of the accident scene after the injury can also show things like wet floors, vehicle damage, broken stair railings, and other evidence that cannot be preserved or physically brought into the courtroom.

    Medical Records

    Evidence of your injuries and your recovery process are also important. Save any and all medical records related to your treatment. Also speak with the doctor who treated you about potentially coming in to testify as to how the injuries happened, how severe they were, and what treatment was needed. Your doctor can also testify about how the ongoing care is going and what future care you might need. Your Fort Worth personal injury attorneys can help you determine what medical records and evidence you need to prove your claim and show how bad your injuries were.

    Financial Records

    Financial records and pay stubs may also provide necessary evidence to show how the accident impacted you economically. Additional expenses for childcare, medical transportation, medical equipment (crutches, canes), and more can all be shown this way. The wages you lost can also be proven. However, you may need a financial expert to testify as to how much money the injury will cost you in the long term if your injury will keep you from going back to work or force you into early retirement or onto disability.

    Expert Testimony

    Expert testimony is also needed for some claims. When injuries happen because of some kind of mistake in the way that a company carried out their business, how a manufacturer produced goods, or what care a doctor provided you, you may need an expert in that field to help determine whether there was negligence or not. Defendants can only be held liable for injuries when they did something wrong to cause those injuries. Experts in the field can help explain to a jury what the defendant did wrong, how it falls outside of industry norms, and how that mistake injured you.

    Talk to your Fort Worth personal injury lawyer about any potential expert witnesses you might need in your case. Unlike other witnesses, expert witnesses usually do not have information about what they actually saw happen, but rather how things should have happened if they were done right.

    Eyewitness Testimony

    Witnesses usually testify as to what they saw and heard leading up to the accident and in the aftermath. Another shopper who reported a spill to the grocery store before you slipped on a puddle would be able to provide excellent testimony in your case. Another driver who saw the car that hit you swerving before the crash could also help provide necessary information. It is important to talk to anyone who might have seen the accident and get your Fort Worth personal injury lawyer to take a statement or a deposition from them.

    Circumstantial Evidence

    People often dismiss “circumstantial” evidence as a bad thing that holds no value in court. In reality, most evidence is technically circumstantial. Calling something circumstantial evidence merely means that it shows the circumstances around what happened rather than being “direct” evidence of what happened.

    For example, if it was dry when you went into a building and wet when you walked back outside, that is circumstantial evidence that it rained. This does not, by itself, prove that it rained. You did not see it rain, and it is possible that it is wet because a nearby sprinkler just went off – but that circumstantial evidence is still important for determining what happened. If there are no sprinklers nearby, the suggestion that it rained becomes even more likely.

    Circumstantial evidence is used in injury claims to show the defendant’s state of mind, to show what they knew and when they knew it, and to show when they were aware of mistakes. It can also be helpful in cases where direct evidence of what happened is not available – e.g., cases where no one else saw the accident or caught it on tape, but they still heard a crash, heard yelling, or saw blood. For example, testimony that someone heard a crash and turned the corner to see someone on the ground bleeding is solid circumstantial evidence that suggests the accident actually happened, even if they did not see the accident in progress.

    Contact an Experienced Fort Worth, Texas Personal Injury Lawyer

    If you have been injured as a result of someone’s negligence then you should not wait before seeking legal counsel. For a free, completely confidential review of your case, call The Queenan Law Firm right away at (817) 476-1797. Our Fort Worth personal injury lawyers are standing by.