Injury car accidents are expensive. Doctor and hospital costs add up very quickly. Even if you have good medical insurance, it probably won’t cover all of your bills. In addition to needing costly medical treatment, you may miss time at work. Sometimes people are so disabled from accidents they can’t work at all anymore. There are so many monetary and other harder-to-measure costs of a serious car accident. Besides the severe physical pain, you may also experience emotional effects from the frightening crash. You could get damages for pain and suffering as well as payment for your medical bills and other economic losses through a legal claim against the at-fault driver or other party.
Don’t let someone else’s negligence harm your financial future as they have your physical health. Learn your options for getting compensation for your injury car accident by speaking with an experienced West Texas car accident lawyer. To serve our clients locally, we have offices in Abilene, Midland, Odessa and Sweetwater.
Call us today at (432) 580-4878 to set up a free consultation.
What Our West Texas Car Accident Lawyer Can Do for You
We Help Victims of Negligent Car Accidents Get Compensation
If you’ve been in a crash in Texas, don’t take on Big Insurance yourself. The insurance claims process can be highly complex and hard to understand, especially when serious injuries are involved. Insurance companies have adjusters and lawyers working for them who are skilled at negotiating car accident claims with the goal of saving insurers money.
You stand a much better chance of getting fair compensation that will cover your damages when you have a lawyer on your side who knows how insurance companies operate. You can trust our car accident attorneys in West Texas to protect your rights and fight to get you the full compensation you need to pay the costs of your injuries.
A car wreck is a terrifying experience, but an experienced car accident attorney can ensure the aftermath goes as smoothly as possible. An attorney can negotiate insurance claims, go to court if necessary, and recoup the money you need to move on with your life.
If you are like a lot of Texans, you rely on your car every single day to transport you and your family members to work, school, shopping, and various activities around town. And while we tend to take them for granted, our streets and highways can be treacherous places. Even if you are a cautious and attentive driver, you can’t control the actions of the drivers around you. Sadly, too many people make poor decisions while behind the wheel — driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, at unsafe speeds, or while texting or otherwise using their phones.
Let Our Car Accident Lawyers Fight for You While You Heal
You shouldn’t have to pay the financial price for the negligence of distracted and dangerous drivers. Our car accident lawyers will work toward ensuring you don’t.
If you’ve been in a car wreck, one of the first steps you should take is to call an experienced car accident lawyer at the Hanna Law Firm. We take pride in the quality of our work in representing our clients and making sure their interests are served. Get in touch with us online or call us at (432) 580-4878.
LET US START TODAY
A car accident attorney will pursue compensation for your injuries when you’ve been in a wreck caused by another party’s negligence. If the wreck was relatively minor, you may think hiring a car accident attorney is an unnecessary expense. But it’s a big mistake to think you can negotiate with the insurance company yourself and get the same results.
At the Hanna Law Firm, we have years of experience advocating for victims of reckless drivers. Our car accident lawyers serving West Texas are meticulous, hard-working, and committed to representing our clients and their best needs.
- Once we’ve met with you and determined you have a claim, we will conduct a thorough investigation of the accident and its consequences. This may include going through police reports, looking at photographic evidence, collecting any medical bills you’ve accrued, and looking at repair or replacement costs for your car and any other personal property.
- We will negotiate with the insurance company on your behalf. It’s critical that you not attempt to do this part on your own or to speak with their representative without consulting us. They will almost certainly offer you a lowball sum that’s designed to save them money, not fully compensate you. We will make sure all expenses related to the accident — including future expenses and pain and suffering — are covered in any offer.
- If the insurer is unwilling to give you the amount we believe you are owed, we will guide you in initiating a lawsuit and fight for you in the courtroom. In a courtroom trial, a jury or judge decides the outcome of the case and how much compensation may be awarded.
Call a West Texas car accident lawyer at the Hanna Law Firm for a free initial consultation. Dial (432) 580-4878 or request an appointment through our online form.
When you hire a car accident attorney from Hanna Law, you only pay us if we get you compensation through an insurance settlement or jury award. Once we get you a settlement or award, you pay us a previously-agreed-upon percentage of the money you receive. If for some unusual reason, we aren’t able to get you compensation, you don’t owe us anything. We also provide free, no-obligation consultations to clients to learn about their cases.
When you meet with us in your free initial consultation, we will review all the evidence of your car accident and tell you whether we think you have a strong case. Then we’ll explain your claim options and how we would handle your case going forward. As you can see, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by meeting with one of our experienced car accident lawyers.
In any vehicle accident, an important step is to determine who was at fault for the collision. To determine who was at fault, we (and insurance companies) will look at police reports and any other available documentation relating to the incident. There are certain cases that are more clear-cut than others. For example, in a rear-end collision, the driver of the car in the back is almost always at fault. Likewise, the driver of a car turning left that hits a car coming straight on is usually at fault. If an accident is caused not by driver error, but by a defect in a part of the vehicle itself, the manufacturer may be found to be responsible.
Texas: A Comparative Negligence State
If one party is determined to be 100% at fault for the accident, then they (meaning their insurance company) will be responsible for reimbursing you for all of your economic and non-economic losses. But Texas is a state that uses a “comparative negligence” rule. This means that more than one party may be determined to be at fault, and financial liability is calculated based on the percentage of responsibility.
For example: As discussed above, the driver of a car that turns left into oncoming traffic and hits another car is generally at fault. But what if the car it hits is speeding? In that case, the driver of the oncoming car may be found to be partly responsible for the collision, and their compensation will be reduced by the percentage they are at fault. But as long as the other driver is found to be at least 51% responsible, you may receive some compensation from their insurer.
How Much Can I Get in a Car Accident Claim?
We Will Carefully Examine Your Losses to Determine a Value Range
To determine the value of your claim, your car accident attorney from the Hanna Law Firm will collect all bills and other documentation related to your wreck to best determine how much in damages (or compensation) you should receive.
In car accidents and other personal injury cases, there are two main categories of damages: economic (or special) and non-economic (or general).
Calculating Economic Damages in a Car Accident
Economic damages are the most straightforward and easy to calculate, because these are the tangible expenses that have a real dollar amount attached to them. Examples of economic damages related to a car accident include:
- Medical expenses, including doctor bills and copays, medication, therapy and rehab costs, mobility aids and medical devices like wheelchairs
- Projected future medical expenses
- Lost earnings due to inability to work
- Lost earning capacity, if the injuries suffered will prevent the victim from earning at previous levels for the long term or permanently
- Reimbursement for repairing or replacing damaged property, like your car or personal items that were inside the car and damaged in the wreck
- Household services, such as cleaning help or extra childcare needed during your recovery.
Calculating Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are the tougher of the two to calculate, because there are no bills, paystubs, or price tags to guide us in determining the value of a loss. Non-economic damages are designed to cover these examples of losses related to a car accident:
- Physical, mental, and emotional pain and suffering
- Disfigurement
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of quality of life or enjoyment of life.
There are generally accepted methods of evaluating non-economic damages in a car accident case. Even though many times, pain, worry, and inconvenience are the worst part of an injury, Big Insurance doesn’t value it all. This is where our years of experience and trial ability can make all the difference between a full recovery and an inadequate one.
At the Hanna Law Firm, we will look at the facts of your case and make sure you win the full amount of damages you need to rebuild your life. If a car accident resulted in the loss of a beloved family member, we will counsel you about the damages you may be able to receive in a wrongful death claim.
