How Do I Know If I Need a Car Accident Attorney in Texas?

If you’ve been in a car accident here in Texas, there are specific laws that you’ll need to contend with to get the compensation you’re owed for your losses and damages. A car accident attorney in San Antonio, TX will be familiar with Texas law, with the local courts that oversee these cases, and know how to negotiate effectively with insurance companies to protect your rights.

How Do I Know If I Need a Car Accident Attorney in San Antonio, TX?

In most cases, it’s going to be in your best interest to get an attorney on your side. Lots of people worry about the cost of an attorney, but a good accident lawyer will work on a contingency basis, which means they only get paid if you win, and then they are paid out of the settlement.

And don’t worry about losing too much from your settlement, either. Statistics show that those who pursue damage claims after an accident with an attorney walk away with more money on average than those who don’t, even after legal fees are considered. In some cases, your legal fees may even be completely covered by the other side if you have to go to court and the court determines that they have not been dealing with you in a fair manner. Here are a few specific situations, however, when you absolutely should not attempt to bring a claim without an attorney’s help:

1. When It’s Not Clear What Happened

If there’s a dispute about who is responsible for the accident or exactly what went down, your claim is in greater jeopardy, and you really need the help of a legal professional. One of the things that a good accident attorney can do for you is to thoroughly investigate the accident.

Your lawyer will be able to talk with the witnesses and perhaps even find witnesses that you may have missed. Your lawyer can also subpoena security cam footage that you may not be able to get otherwise from nearby stores or access traffic camera footage by going through the correct legal channels. And your lawyer will also have a network of accident reconstruction specialists to call upon who can look at all the evidence and give informed and expert opinion on how exactly everything went down.

2. When Liability Is a Big Issue

Texas has a modified comparative fault rule. The rule is designed to ensure that everyone has to bear responsibility for the part they play in an accident, but also, everyone who is not primarily responsible for an accident can get some help with their losses and damages. Anyone who is 51% or more responsible can’t claim damages, but anyone 50% or less can.

The catch is that your final settlement will be reduced by the same percentage as your fault. In a big claim especially, this can make an enormous difference. Even one to two percentage points of fault could cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars in damages, and if you were anywhere close to 50% responsible, all it takes is a bit of nudging from the other party’s insurance company to tip you over the edge and bar you from being able to claim any compensation at all.

In this situation, you definitely need a lawyer’s help. Your lawyer will be able to protect your rights and use the evidence to put together a clear explanation of the accident and all that happened so that you won’t be hit with more fault than you actually bear for the accident.

3. When the Accident Is Particularly Complicated

Some accidents can be very complicated. Sometimes this is because there are multiple parties involved; sometimes it’s because there is a government agent or entity that is at least partially responsible for what happened; sometimes it’s because the accident was caused by a commercial truck or van, and so you’re now dealing not just with the driver, but also with the driver’s employer.

In these sorts of situations, you can hit a lot of roadblocks. For example, if any government entity is involved, the time limit for bringing your claim is much shorter. You need to get started on it immediately, and you need to do all the reporting in just the right way if you want to have any hope of getting compensation.

If there’s a trucking company involved, on the other hand, then you might run up against a situation where the trucking company starts claiming that the driver is responsible but they are not. It can take some serious digging to look into the driver’s specific employment situation, history of driving, the trucking company’s vetting or training processes, and more in order to find out who is really responsible and hold them all accountable. And if there are multiple parties who hold some liability, your case can get held up as each party tries to blame the other or at least shift some of the blame if they can. Your lawyer can help to cut through all this noise.

4. When There’s an Insurance Company Involved

There’s almost always an insurance company involved, and the problem with insurance companies is that they are businesses, and their best interests do not align with yours. They need to protect their bottom line to make money, so they are incentivized to do what they can to minimize the payouts they do have to make. It can be very difficult to negotiate with an insurance company because of their experience with these negotiations, and it’s unlikely to go well unless you have a lawyer who can even the playing field for you.

Insurance companies also love to call accident victims to “get another statement” or simply find out more. They are very skilled at asking questions in just the right way to get answers that they want: answers that they can use against you to argue that you hold more liability than you really do or that you have not been injured as you say you have. When you have a lawyer, you don’t have to worry about this. When the insurance company calls, you simply refer them to your attorney.

Insurance companies are also somewhat notorious for offering early settlements. These early settlements are often much lower than your claim would really be worth once you’ve calculated all of it, but the hope is that you won’t have calculated it all and will be so desperate for money that you’ll just accept the settlement. A lawyer protects you from this first by helping you to properly calculate all your losses and damages and second by reviewing all settlements to make sure they are fair and in your best interests before you sign. Insurance companies have a lot of experience in these cases and have powerful legal teams on their side: don’t try to go up against them on your own.

If you have been in an accident, contact us today Marco Bass Injury and Accident Lawyers
in San Antonio or Eagle Pass, TX for a free consultation on your case. We fight tirelessly to get justice for accident victims against powerful insurance companies. Let’s talk about how we can help you next.