Suddenly being injured in an accident that was not your fault can be life-changing. In addition to the initial shock and disruption of your plans, you may be injured so severely that your life and the lives of your family members will never be the same. This is true whether you were crashed into by an 80,000-pound semi-truck or bitten by a dog.
At the Kyle Law Firm in San Marcos, TX, our skilled personal injury lawyers have worked for decades with those suffering from physical and emotional injuries they received in an accident that was the fault of another’s negligence. We win cases at trial or negotiate fair settlements.
Contact us to schedule a free consultation with our San Marcos injury attorneys. We handle all personal injury cases in San Marcos, TX. We fight to secure all legally available damages for you after your San Marcos accident.
The Importance Of A San Marcos Injury Lawyer
You may think you don’t need an attorney to help you with your case. Unfortunately, that is not true. There are many ways in which getting help from a trusted lawyer will benefit you and be sure you collect all the damages to which you are legally entitled. Some of those ways include:
- Proving fault. In Texas, in order to collect for your damages, you must prove the person you claim caused the accident was actually at fault for it. This is not as easy as you may think. The person causing the accident often tries to blame the victim. Skilled personal injury lawyers will thoroughly investigate the case and know how to prove fault.
- Collecting full value for your damages. Soon after your accident, you may be contacted by an insurance adjuster offering you a monetary settlement. You will be tempted to accept it. After all, medical bills are piling up, and you are losing wages due to needing time off work. These early offers are almost always very low. The adjuster knows you need the money and may be very kind and comforting. Remember: adjusters work for the insurance company and their motive is to save their employer money. A personal injury attorney is skilled at negotiation and can get you all the damages to which you are entitled.
- Consulting with experts. A personal injury lawyer will know when it is necessary to consult with experts to prove your medical condition and to prove your present and future losses. An expert may be needed to calculate your future lost earning capacity and other economic and non-economic damages.
Get started with our San Marcos TX personal injury lawyers today. At Kyle Law Firm, we offer a free consultation. We discuss with you the facts of your case and together, we decide how to proceed.
About Our Personal Injury Case Lawyers
Our skilled personal injury lawyers in San Marcos, Texas have a cumulative total of 60 years of representing clients in personal injury cases. Although only about 2 percent of the 100,000 attorneys in Texas are board-certified, all our San Marcos TX accident lawyers are board-certified in their area of practice. We also have a track record of success.
Our San Marcos personal injury attorneys will review the fine details of your case and discuss with you how to proceed. We treat our clients like family and look forward to meeting with you. Contact a San Marcos accident lawyer today to schedule a free consultation.
Common Types of Personal Injury Cases
We handle all types of personal injury cases. Some of the most common personal injury claim types include:
- Vehicular accidents of all kinds including cars, boats, motorcycles, tractors, and bicycles. In 2020 in Texas, nearly 4,000 people lost their lives in vehicular accidents. Another 14,656 people suffered serious injuries.
- Pedestrian accidents. Nearly 20 percent of all traffic accidents in Texas involve pedestrians. In 2020, there were 4,852 crashes involving pedestrians with 1,211 serious injuries and 731 deaths.
- Semi-truck and 18-wheeler accidents. A fully-loaded semi-truck weighs approximately 80,000 pounds. When it slams into a 4,000-pound car, the results are often catastrophic.
- Slip and fall accidents. Approximately 8 million people visit emergency rooms every year due to slip and fall accidents. Hundreds of them die. This includes accidents from slipping on spills or debris on the ground or the floor to construction accidents caused by slipping and falling off ladders, and more. Other dangerous property conditions may be inadequate security, inadequate lighting, and more.
- Dog bites. About 1,000 people every day visit emergency rooms for treatment of a dog bite. In 2018, 27,000 people required reconstructive surgery due to a dog bite. There are about 4.5 million dog bites that occur annually.
- Product liability for injuries from defective products. Texas is a strict liability state concerning product liability. This means that if you can prove the product was defective, you can collect for your damages without needing to prove the manufacturer was negligent. Defective products can be found in the home such as furniture that tips over and malfunctioning aerosol cans. Construction sites often have malfunctioning equipment. Even knee and joint replacements can be defective.
- Swimming pool accidents. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children under the age of 5. In 2021 in Texas, 76 children drowned. Other examples of injuries include broken bones, near-drowning injuries, and injuries caused by defective equipment.
What To Do If You Have Been Injured
If you have been injured in a car accident, the first thing to do is to get medical attention. Exchange insurance information with the other driver or drivers. Depending on the seriousness of your injury, if possible, get contact information from witnesses. Take photos of the accident scene and of both automobiles—their position and the damage done to them.
Next, contact a San Marcos car accident lawyer. As soon as you do so, the lawyer can deal with insurance companies and begin working on your compensation.
Personal Injury FAQs
What are damages?
The reason you file a personal injury lawsuit is to collect for your damages. But you may be confused as to just what the term “damages” means. This refers to the amount of money you will actually receive to compensate you for your injuries. In legal jargon, damages are designed to “make you whole.”
To “make you whole” means to, as much as possible, return you to the position you were in prior to your injury. Damages are either compensatory or punitive and there are two categories of compensatory damages: economic and noneconomic.
Compensatory Damages: Economic and Noneconomic
These are just what they sound like and are designed to compensate you for your loss. They are damages that can be mathematically calculated either because the costs have already been incurred, or experts can accurately project what you will incur in the future. They are divided into two categories: economic and noneconomic.
Economic damages are, according to Texas law, “actual economic or pecuniary loss.” Pecuniary damages are defined as “all demonstrable economic injury, losses, and expenses regardless of whether the economic injury, losses, and expenses have yet been incurred.” Damages in this category include:
- All the medical bills you have received to date and those you are expected to incur in the future
- Wages you lost by being injured and those you are expected to lose in the future if you are unable to return to work or must miss time from work due to your injury
- Reduced future earning capacity – This applies if you can return to work but only to a lower paying job. You are entitled to the difference in what your earnings were prior to your injury and what you are able to earn due to the injury.
- Loss of earning capacity – If you are permanently disabled and unable to work at any job, the loss of earning capacity means the income you will lose due to the injury causing disability.
- Reimbursement for out-of-pocket costs you incur due to the injury, such as expenses of traveling for medical treatment or rehabilitation
Non-economic damages. These are damages awarded for the purpose of compensating a claimant for losses and damage that cannot be mathematically calculated. These include:
- Physical pain and suffering, both past and future
- Mental or emotional pain or anguish in the past and in the future
- Loss of consortium – this compensates a spouse for the loss of companionship or a loving relationship that was caused by the injury
- Disfigurement
- Physical impairment
- Inconvenience – this could mean the inconvenience of needing a wheelchair instead of being able to walk
- Loss of enjoyment of life – You are entitled to these damages when you are unable to participate in activities you were able to participate in, and did participate in, prior to your accident
- All other nonpecuniary losses of any kind other than exemplary damages
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are for the purpose of punishing defendants for their intentional harmful acts. They are rarely available in personal injury accidents that are due to negligence, not intentional conduct. However, if the conduct was particularly egregious or amounts to gross negligence, courts may impose punitive damages.
Gross negligence is defined by Texas law as an act or omission that the defendant either knew or should have known that it created an “extreme degree of risk” and chose to proceed “with conscious indifference to the rights, safety, or welfare of others.”
Negligence implies carelessness. Gross negligence implies recklessness. This often applies to accidents caused by drunk drivers for just one example.
How long do I have to file a personal injury lawsuit? What is the statute of limitations?
The Texas statute of limitations for personal injury is the law that establishes a time limit for filing a personal injury lawsuit. In Texas, the statute of limitations requires you to file your lawsuit within two years after the accident occurred. The time begins to run on the day after the accident.
There are a few exceptions to this law:
- An injury caused by exposure to asbestos
- An injury suffered by a minor
- An injury caused by someone who has violated certain criminal statutes
- A medical malpractice case where the discovery of the harm occurred more than two years after the injury-causing event
A San Marcos personal injury attorney will consider the facts of your case and determine if you are still within the time allowed for bringing a personal injury claim. If you allow the statute of limitations to run and miss the deadline for filing your claim, you lose forever your right to collect for your damages no matter how seriously you were injured.
Don’t let the time run out. Contact a personal injury attorney as soon as possible after your injury. If you think the time has expired, a San Marcos personal injury lawyer will review the facts and determine if your case falls within any exception. Contact us to schedule a free consultation with skilled personal injury lawyers in San Marcos Texas at Kyle Law Firm.
How Do I Determine Who Is Responsible For Damages?
For you to collect damages, Texas requires you to prove who was at fault for the accident. The person who you say was at fault will almost always deny it and claim that you were the one at least partially at fault. This is why you need an experienced San Marcos personal injury lawyer who will thoroughly investigate your case.
Your attorney will know how to prove fault and defend you from accusations of fault. For example, in a car crash case, the other driver may claim you were speeding. Your attorney may be able to show that even if you were speeding, your speeding was not the cause, or even a contributing cause, to the accident.
In Texas, if you were partially at fault, you can still collect for damages if you were less than 50 percent at fault. Your damages will be reduced by the percentage of fault that is attributed to you.
Contact Our San Marcos Personal Injury Attorneys
Our San Marcos personal injury attorneys are ready to answer your questions and provide a free consultation where they will discuss with you the facts of your case, explain to you the risks and pitfalls, and the chances of winning your case.
Personal injury attorneys in San Marcos Texas will work with you to decide how to proceed and what the next steps are. There is a time limit for filing your personal injury lawsuit. So do not wait. Schedule your free consultation with Kyle Law Firm today.
