Our Law Firm can Help Pedestrians, Joggers, & Bicyclists Injured Due to Driver Negligence
If you have been the victim in a bicycle or pedestrian accident you may well have experienced a great amount of physical pain and emotional trauma as well as very costly medical bills.
A pedestrian or a bicyclist has very few if any safety devices to protect them in an accident, particularly compared to the motorist inside a two ton machine made of steel. Thus these injuries may often be very serious or even fatal. You may be able, however, to at least recoup your financial losses by filing a personal injury lawsuit. Family members may, in addition, be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of those killed in a bicycle or pedestrian accident. In addition to seeking fair and just compensation for legitimate injuries, you will be striking a blow for freedom by helping to bring to justice those responsible for these acts of negligence and helping to prevent their recurrence in the future.
Establishing Who Is At Fault
First of all you must establish exactly who was at fault and who caused the injuries or the fatality in your bicycle or pedestrian accident. Many people believe that bicyclists have the right-of-way on Texas highways. This is not, however, true; nevertheless, some wily attorneys defending an errant motorist will attempt to use these laws to try to help their client escape liability. The attorneys here at Grossman Law Offices have had over two decades of experience and will work scrupulously with just the facts obtained through our thorough investigation in order to defeat such arguments.
The Number of Liable Parties
Since pedestrian and bicycle accidents may happen in a variety of ways there may be more than one defendant involved in your case. In one example, lets imagine that a person drinks extensively at a bar and then drives off and strikes a bicyclist. You may file a claim against both the driver and also the bar itself for their negligence is serving the motorist the alcohol that was instrumental in causing his reckless driving behavior. In another example, lets imagine that an 18-wheeler hits a pedestrian. In this case you may file a claim against both the driver of the big rig and also his employer. The lawyers at Grossman Law Offices have all had extensive experience in 18-wheeler law, drunk driving cases and general personal injury and wrongful death litigation and can help you in any of these types of scenarios.
Personal Injury Lawsuits
If you have suffered an injury in a pedestrian or bike accident you will most likely have also suffered some degree of financial losses. Filing a personal injury lawsuit will enable you to seek compensation for these financial losses (also called damages) from the party or parties responsible for the accident that caused your injuries. Under Texas law, the responsibility is upon the victim, or plaintiff, to prove in court that it was the defendant’s actions … or lack of actions … that lead to the accident that in turn caused your financial losses. These damages can be fairly wide ranging and may include medical bills, lost wages because of hospitalization, loss of future income, pain and suffering and other types of losses as well.
There must be three aspects present in your bicycle and pedestrian accident in order to make your case legally legitimate. These are liability, damages and solvency. Liability occurs when a person breaks or violates the legal duty that he or she owes to another person. Such a legal duty must be proved to have existed between the parties and then must be proved to have been violated. Damages refers to the financial value put upon your injuries. In other words, any financial losses that you suffer as a direct result of your accident will be called damages, and may include medical bills, lost wages, etc. Solvency refers to the financial status of the defendant; a defendant must have financial resources to be termed solvent; you must have a solvent defendant in order to file and to win a personal injury lawsuit. Some disreputable defendants or even their attorneys will attempt to hide assets in order to appear insolvent and thus escape any financial responsibility for their behaviors. The attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have seen this tactic before; consequently when investigating the defendant we also run a full asset check as well. If there are assets being hidden, we will find them.
Wrongful Death Lawsuits
Wrongful death lawsuits share some similarities to personal injury lawsuits but also are quite different. Texas law allows a family member to seek restitution in the place of the victim. Damages may be sought by the spouse, children or parents (in that order) of the deceased and may include any medical bills incurred by the decedent prior to death, lost wages and lost earning potential of the decedent as well as the decedent’s pain, suffering and emotional trauma. In addition, family members may seek wrongful death damages that they incurred themselves (not to be confused with damages sought for the deceased) as a result of their loss. These damages may include compensation for loss of financial support, medical bills and funeral expenses as well compensation for pain and suffering.
Since many of these types of damages are very subjective, it is critically important to have an experienced attorney on your team. How, for example, would you go about putting a monetary value on emotional pain and suffering? Michael Grossman and his colleagues have the hard-won experience to assist you in these and other aspects of proving and winning your wrongful death case.
Should I Have A Lawyer?
As we have said before, injuries in a bicycle and pedestrian accident can often be extensive and accompanied by very high amounts of damages. Consequently, the big insurance companies will send out their top tier, best trained and most aggressive attorneys and adjusters to defend their interests. Their main interest, of course, is their own all important bottom line. One of their goals will be to attempt to discredit your claim and to try to show that your own negligence was responsible for the accident. If they succeed, the insurance company saves money. It must always be remembered that the interests of the insurance company and the interests of an injured victim could not be more diametrically opposite, in the aftermath of your bicycle or pedestrian accident.
He attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have been successfully litigating personal injury and wrongful death claims for over 20 years. During this period of time we have won millions of dollars in settlements for hundreds of Texas clients from major insurers nationally. In fact, these giant insurance companies are only too well aware of our stellar reputation and today will often seek to settle out of court rather than face our tenacious and aggressive attorneys in front of a jury. This, in turn, can lead to a streamlined case for you where you spend less time involved in the whole legal process and receive your restitution more rapidly. In this way, of course, you will be able to return more quickly to your normal way of life.
If you have been injured in a bike or pedestrian accident or if you have lost a loved one in one of these accidents, please do contact Grossman Law Offices. We are pleased to offer a completely free consultation and we may be reached 24 hours a day at 1-855-239-1290 (toll free). We look forward to discussing your case with you and to answering all of your questions.