Car travel is part of almost every Texan’s life. While a necessity, or at least a significant convenience, car travel also comes with accident risk.
Car accident victims suffer a range of consequences that come at high financial costs and bring negative changes to their quality of life.
Texas gives car accident victims the right to hold the parties who caused the accident accountable for compensation, and a Beaumont personal injury lawyer from Zinda Law Group can help with this process.
Our award-winning firm has been recognized by several organizations, including the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. Give yourself the best chance of financial recovery by connecting with a Beaumont car accident lawyer from our team.
How Car Accidents Change Victims’ Lives
A car accident produces a ripple effect of consequences. The trauma experienced in the moment of the event expands, reaching into multiple areas of victims’ lives.
It is not possible to say how much you can expect from a car accident settlement without knowing the details of your case, but a skilled car accident attorney in Beaumont, TX, will consider every loss when calculating the value of your claim.
Physical Injury
The injuries incurred by a car accident should not be underestimated. Some are immediately obvious, requiring emergency care.
Others may not be as apparently serious, but without prompt medical care, it can lead to long-term debilitation or, in the case of brain trauma, death.
Injuries sustained in car accidents often include:
- Broken bones
- Soft-tissue sprains, strains, tears, or bruising
- Nerve damage
- Head and brain trauma
- Spinal cord damage
- Damage to the back and neck
- Lacerations or amputations
- Burns
Financial Problems
Physical injuries demand costly medical treatment and may require continuous care, further compounding those bills.
They also prevent victims from working and earning a paycheck and leave them unable to perform personal responsibilities, incurring further costs as victims must hire others to fulfill those duties. Victims may also sustain property damage in the accident and face costs of property repair or replacement.
Emotional Distress
The pain and debilitation caused by physical injury typically lead to emotional distress. Injury effects may also take away victims’ independence and ability to take part in activities, social engagements, special events, or simple daily routines as they could before the accident.
Roles within families and friendships undergo significant and unwanted change, as does the collective quality of life for all involved.
Steps Victims Can Take to Support a Car Accident Claim
The losses incurred by a car accident are extensive–even overwhelming. A successful car accident claim helps mitigate those losses.
The Texas Department of Insurance (DOI) suggests taking the following steps in the accident aftermath–these steps can help protect your claim.
Take Pictures
You need to exchange information with the other parties involved. It is best to take photos of this information to ensure accuracy. Take pictures of their driver’s license, insurance information, contact details, and license plates.
Take additional photos of the accident scene, being sure to cover road conditions, traffic conditions, the presence of traffic signals and cameras or security cameras, and the position of any damage caused to the vehicles. You never know what details are important, so take photos from a range of angles. Document your own injuries as well.
Talk to Witnesses
Get contact details from accident witnesses. If possible, ask them to text you a description of what they saw happen. You can share this immediate testimony, given before memories fade, with your car accident lawyer in Beaumont, TX.
Follow Up
If you do not need emergency medical attention, get to a doctor within a few hours or the next day at the latest. Prompt treatment can prevent injuries from worsening.
Further, it denies the at-fault party the chance to argue your delay in care worsened your injury or that you did not seem hurt at the scene and only “invented” injuries after realizing you could file a claim.
Other auto accident dos and don’ts include reporting the accident to your insurance company but limiting your comments to the basic facts of the accident and without minimizing your injuries. Then, connect with a Beaumont car accident attorney.
Zinda Law Group will handle all communication with insurance companies and the at-fault party’s representatives once we enter a legal partnership.
How a Car Accident Attorney Can Help Recover Your Losses
An experienced car accident lawyer in Beaumont will conduct a thorough post-accident investigation, collecting evidence to prove your claim and the at-fault party’s negligence.
Fast connection with an attorney allows time to perform this investigation and file your injury claim within the Texas two-year statute of limitations, established in Chapter 16 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
Your attorney will assess your losses, accounting for every detail, and send a settlement demand letter to the at-fault party’s insurance representatives.
You can seek compensation if you are partially at fault for a car accident, but according to Chapter 13 of the Texas code, only if you are less than 51% responsible for causing it.
Those who meet this standard can still see their compensation reduced proportionately to the lower percentage of fault they hold. Most likely, the at-fault party will work to put as much blame as possible on you to lower their payout.
Your car accident attorney in Beaumont will come to the negotiating table armed with knowledge of Texas law, evidence supporting your claim and proving the other side’s negligence, and an understanding of the true value of your case.
Count on Zinda Law to challenge accusations of blame, protecting your settlement from unfair reduction. Our team comprises strategic, bold negotiators who will fight to get you the financial justice your case warrants.
Going to Trial
Personal injury cases are most often settled through negotiations. Still, there are times when the other side stalls the process or refuses to offer a fair settlement.
In this scenario, your attorney will discuss your options with you and if you choose to go to trial, will continue to fight to recover all your losses, providing exceptional representation at all trial proceedings.
Effective, Individualized Representation
Your case is unique, and your Beaumont car accident lawyer will design a case strategy to meet your individual needs and address the specific challenges of your situation.
Zindra Law Group offers personalized representation, not a cookie-cutter approach to personal injury. We will fight hard and work with efficiency to bring your accident case to a favorable resolution.