After an accident, you need help. Medical care is vital, and you should follow through with all necessary care. But you also need legal help.
Our attorneys can help you vindicate your rights by filing insurance claims and lawsuits on your behalf. We can seek financial compensation for your injuries, including both economic and non-economic damages. We can take your case against large companies and businesses or individuals; whatever it takes.
For a free case review, call our personal injury lawyers at Cap City Injury Attorneys today at (512) 612-3110.
What Constitutes a “Personal Injury” Case?
The field of “personal injury” covers all cases dealing with injuries to your body. Most of these are accidental injuries, such as car, truck, and motorcycle accidents, or injuries on someone else’s property. However, intentional injuries and wrongful death are also covered.
Personal injury also covers the mental and economic effects of those physical injuries, as well as some mental-only injuries.
Elements of a Personal Injury Case
Most claims are based on “negligence.” This requires showing four elements:
Duty
The defendant owed the victim a legal duty. This usually stems from clear laws, such as traffic laws, or from what is reasonable in a situation.
Breach
The defendant breached that duty. This may involve an explicit violation of the law or a failure to use the proper care and skill needed in a given situation.
Causation
The defendant’s breach caused the injuries. If the accident was unavoidable or something else caused the injuries, you cannot sue this defendant.
Damages
You suffered damages, such as injuries, medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Damages Available in an Injury Case
Most injury cases involve the injuries themselves, plus the effects that flow from those injuries. This means you can get damages not only for the physical harm and the pain you face, but also for the mental and economic effects.
Economic Damages
Most injury cases involve medical bills to treat the injuries you suffered. These can be quite expensive and often make up a large portion of the damages.
You can also claim any lost wages, now or into the future, that the injuries or a new disability will cause you. Along with that, any other money you will miss out on in the future because of the injury should also be claimed.
You can also get compensation for other economic effects, such as vehicle repair costs, childcare needs while you are hospitalized, and replacement services around the house if you are newly disabled.
Non-Economic Damages
You can also get damages for the things that have no price, such as the pain of an injury and the mental effects of severe scarring or amputation. All injuries have some level of pain and suffering, and it is up to our attorneys to help show how much your pain and suffering is worth, monetarily.
This often requires choosing a calculation method. One option is to use a multiplier based on how severe your injury is and apply that to the economic damages to come up with non-economic damages. Another, potentially more accurate method, assigns a per-day value to your pain and suffering and pays that amount each day.
Evidence Needed
Every case is different, and the evidence available will change. However, most cases involve these core pieces of evidence:
- Your testimony
- Medical records
- Bills and financial records showing expenses and lost wages.
On top of those bare minimum pieces of evidence, we can often acquire the following:
- Eyewitness testimony
- Photos of the accident scene
- Security camera, dash cam, or other video footage of the accident happening
- Other records supporting your story
- Vehicle appraisals and repairs
- Accident reconstruction reports
- Expert testimony and reports.
FAQs for Injury Claims in New Braunfels, TX
When Should I Call a Lawyer?
Call us right away. We can start monitoring your case and checking in on your recovery as soon as possible, giving us the opportunity to collect evidence, track your recovery, and help you understand what to do in the immediate days after an accident.
Even if you are still in the hospital, we can get started on evidence collection and insurance claims.
How Long Do I Have to File?
Most injury claims in Texas need to be filed in court within 2 years. This is the statute of limitations for injury and wrongful death claims.
What is a Wrongful Death Claim?
Wrongful death claims are filed by the family of someone killed in an accident. They are essentially a personal injury case that the victim would have been able to file if they survived the accident, but the family or estate files instead.
Can I Sue for an Injured Relative?
If you have an underage child who was injured in an accident, you can usually file a claim on their behalf. The same may be true of an incapacitated spouse or family member who gives you power of attorney to take care of them while they are in a coma or otherwise unable to file on their own because of the injury.
You may also be able to file on behalf of an elderly relative if you have power of attorney, but our attorneys can typically represent them directly.
How Do I Pay for a Personal Injury Lawyer?
Legal services often seem expensive, and injury victims have other, more important expenses to worry about. This means they cannot typically afford a lawyer out of pocket.
No worries. Our firm, and most injury lawyers, typically work on a contingency fee, meaning we are paid out of the winnings in your case. This is usually capped at an agreed-upon percentage and means we get paid nothing unless we win your case for you.
How Do I Start My Claim?
Never try to start or handle a case on your own. You may have already tried talking to the insurance company before you thought to call a lawyer, but once you have us on your side, we handle everything for you.
We can help you file insurance claims with auto insurance or other insurance companies, and we can take the case to court by filing a complaint in the proper courthouse. From there, we can negotiate a settlement and even take the case to trial if needed.
Call Our Personal Injury Attorneys in New Braunfels Today
For your free case review, call Cap City Injury Attorneys’ personal injury lawyers at (512) 612-3110.