Searching for Texarkana Law Firms? Grossman Law Offices Can Help You
The Texarkana law firm of Grossman Law Offices helps injury victims, survivors of family members killed in an accident, and families of people who have incurred serious personal injuries. Our firm can help you wade through the legal process so that you can focus your energy on recovering from the accident and getting your life back on track.
With two decades of experience in handling personal injury cases, the lawyers with Grossman Law Offices have a reputation for successfully fighting for the rights of their clients and winning thousands of cases involving personal injury. There is a good chance we can help you as well.
Personal Injury Definition
The term “personal injury” means any kind of physical injury and the suffering that results, including mental trauma, that occurs because of the actions or inactions of another entity or person. The law in Texas states that the person who experiences a personal injury, otherwise known as the “plaintiff,” is eligible to try and obtain restitution from the party responsible for causing the injury, otherwise known as the “defendant.”
The Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code is the basis of Texas personal injury laws. However, it is imperative to note that, according to Texas personal injury law, defendants do not owe anything to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs are allowed, under the law, to seek fair restitution from the defendant in order to make the plaintiff whole after a personal injury has taken place. Personal injury laws in Texas do not require defendants to pay anything to plaintiffs; rather, plaintiffs have to initiate litigation, prove defendants were responsible, and prove the monetary amount of their damages in order to obtain compensation from the court. Typically, defendants are liable only for the damages they directly caused, and only to the extent the plaintiff suffered. Therefore, it is vital that the plaintiff prepare a case focused on proving not simply liability, but also damages and cause.
Can You File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Any person can sue any other person. In order for your case to have a chance to succeed, you have to prove four elements: Duty, Breach, Cause and Damages. You must first prove that the defendant owed to you a legal duty of care. Then, you have to prove the defendant breached that duty – for example, by performing a certain action or failing to perform an action. Then you must prove the defendant’s breach of duty resulted in harm befalling you. And finally, you have to prove you were damaged – you must quantify those damages in a specific dollar amount.
The definition of “duty of care” that one person owes another person can vary depending on the situation. Drivers, for instance, are charged with the duty to drive their vehicles in such a fashion so that they do not cause an accident to occur. Careless or reckless driving that results in harm to another person is a breach of that duty not to harm another driver. The level of care varies according to the parties involved. Your doctor, for example, owes you a higher level of care than does your neighbor.
The Three Elements of Successful Personal Injury Litigation
There are three elements to a successful personal injury case: liability, damages and a solvent defendant. The following is an explanation of these elements.
Liability
If a defendant violates a legal duty that is owed to the plaintiff, the defendant is said to be liable to that plaintiff, and therefore, the defendant is also liable for the damages incurred by the plaintiff. Typically, a defendant violates that duty through the commission of some negligent act. The term “negligence” is defined as conduct that is careless or reckless, and which leads to some kind of accident. A common form of negligence is inattention; however, defendants can also be guilty of committing an act of “gross negligence.” The standard of proof for gross negligence is significantly higher than standard negligence, and usually means the defendant did something with the full knowledge that doing so will probably lead to some kind of harm. For instance, the act of driving while intoxicated is a grossly negligent act. There are other instances where a defendant will commit an intentional or willful act that will lead to liability. Both of these kinds of acts mean the deliberate infliction of harm on another person, e.g. assault. No matter what the level of the defendant’s conduct may be, however, the plaintiff is required to prove that the defendant acted negligent in some form or fashion in a manner that holds them liable for the injury suffered by the victim.
Damages
The term “damages” in the legal realm means the monetary amount of a loss suffered by the plaintiff as the result of the defendant’s gross negligence, negligence, or willful or intentional act. Damages have to be differentiated from injury. For example, if the defendant is guilty of breaking your arm, and you have to spend $5,000 at a hospital for treatment, the “injury” is the broken arm and the “damages” are $5,000.
However, it is often difficult to place a specific “price tag,” so to speak, on your personal injury damages. Therefore, damages are split into two categories: general damages and special damages. General damages are non-monetary in nature, and are difficult to prove because they are subjective. Examples include loss of consortium, disfigurement, mental trauma, pain and suffering and impairment. Because general damages are subjective, it is important you enlist the services of an experienced Texarkana law firm to help you determine them. The attorneys with Grossman Law Offices have 20 years of experience identifying and proving general damages in a court of law. Legal laypeople or inexperienced Texarkana law firms can have a very difficult time proving non-monetary damages. But our attorneys know how to gather proof, ask the right questions, and present the case to a judge or jury to present our clients in the best light possible. All situations are different, of course, but a seasoned and skilled lawyer can help a plaintiff formulate a proper, well thought out demand for general damages.
On the other hand, special (or economic) damages are typically verifiable and objective. Financial losses that occur as the result of a personal injury can be quite easy to determine. However, if an accident victim does not recover quickly from his or her injury, proving special damages, as well as calculating them, can be difficult. Should a plaintiff become partially disabled as a result of the injury, the calculation of lost wages can’t be done by simply multiplying the victim’s present income by the number of years he or she could have been expected to stay in the workforce. There are several other factors that have to be considered, such as probable raises in pay, the value of money over time, educational achievements and inflation. Also, benefits such as retirement, dental and medical have to be assigned a specific monetary value.
All damages have to be analyzed, developed and accounted for in order for a personal injury lawsuit to be successful. Plaintiffs who choose to represent themselves in this kind of litigation often shortchange themselves, and as a result defendants are able to get away with paying less than they should. Plaintiffs often fail to properly account for all components of their damages and demand payment for them. The personal injury attorneys at the Texarkana law firm of Grossman Law Offices are very familiar with developing our clients’ cases so they can prove not just their tangible damages, but their subjective damages as well. Those damages include those that are incurred before the settlement and also those that will continue on an ongoing basis.
Solvent Defendant
The old saying, “you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip” is very appropriate when it comes to attempting to obtain compensation from a bankrupt or otherwise financially insolvent defendant. It doesn’t matter how willful or reckless a defendant’s actions may have been; if the defendant does not have the ability to pay, there is no way a plaintiff can get the fair restitution he or she deserves. There are some plaintiffs who will never get just compensation because the defendant will never be solvent.
But this is one of the most vital ways in which a seasoned attorney can be of assistance to a personal injury plaintiff. There are some defendants who, in an effort to escape responsibility, will try and hide their assets. Texarkana law firm Grossman Law Offices knows how to uncover hidden assets. In fact, one of the things we do first upon being hired is to trace the defendant’s assets. By doing so, we can find hidden assets and work to keep that defendant from ever being able to hide assets again.
How a Lawyer Can Help You
There are a lot of people who have the mistaken assumption that State of Texas has laws designed to protect their rights and provide them just restitution should they be hurt by another person or entity. This could not be farther from the truth, unfortunately. As stated before, Texas law, through the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code enables plaintiffs to try and obtain restitution for injuries caused by another. However, they have to prove all elements of their case if they are to win their case. You can’t just prove that you were injured because a defendant breached a duty of care; if you can’t prove the monetary amount of your damages, you will not win your case. On the other hand, if you can prove $5 million in damages, but you cannot prove that the defendant proximately caused those damages, you won’t win anything.
You might thing that simply knowing the law as it pertains to your case will be enough for you to represent yourself and win the litigation. This is simply untrue. In order to have a chance at winning your case, you must develop the facts to support each and every one of the above-mentioned elements. You have to correctly follow court procedure. You have to prove causal links in your case. You have to present the facts in the most favorable light to yourself, and in the most negative light in regard to the defendant. You have to do all of this just to have a chance at winning.
There are some plaintiffs who wait too long before hiring a Texarkana law firm, and as a result the lawyer hired can’t help them as effectively as he or she may have had the plaintiff hired that lawyer sooner. Just because you’ve been hurt and suffered monetary damage, that doesn’t mean an insurance company and a defendant will, out of their sense of right, sign over a fat check to you. You’d be surprised how many plaintiffs actually believe this. Insurance companies are only concerned with one thing – protecting their bottom line. They are not interested in helping you recover both physically and financially from your accident. Insurance carriers will employ whatever means are possible in order to deny your claim, or offer a ridiculous, insulting settlement offer that won’t even come close to covering your economic damages. And when a plaintiff chooses to represent himself or herself, the chances of winning special (or non-economic) damages from a defendant are practically zero.
When a plaintiff enlists the help of a seasoned Texarkana law firm immediately following a personal injury takes place, he or she benefits greatly. Experienced Texarkana law firms can take care of every piece of a personal injury case, and fight back any potentially underhanded tactics the defense may try and use. An effective attorney, for instance, can make sure an insurance company doctor conducts a thorough examination of a plaintiff, rather than simply concluding that the plaintiff isn’t injured. That attorney can also help by propounding and responding to discovery. You must get the help of a lawyer before you are faced with legal documents such as interrogatories or requests for admissions. Improper answers to these items can severely damage a plaintiff’s case; many times, a plaintiff will answer these documents in regular English rather than legalese, and this can also hurt a case. It is imperative as well for a plaintiff to use the tools of discovery against defendants, phrasing requests in such a way as to, basically, force a defendant to answer questions, rather than using sly phrases and words that may sound impressive but fail to adequately answer questions or convey real content. There are several procedural devices such as counter-claims, cross-claims, summary judgments, motions to dismiss, motions to compel and interlocutory appeals that can completely befuddle self-represented plaintiffs and lead to the case being thrown out.