If you are injured at the fault of another party, the state of Texas has laws to protect you. Your attorney will fight to get you all the damages and compensation you deserve. This isn’t something you should try to do on your own because you do not know what the laws are and you may settle for less than is possible. It doesn’t matter if you were at work, at home, in your car, or even in a public place. If the accident that hurt you was someone else’s fault, you are entitled to be compensated.
Here are some of the items you should be able to claim. The amounts of these damages will vary depending on the severity of the loss.
- Reasonable and fair payment if all of your medical bills and including the bills you may face in future. This includes items you needed while you were in recovery such as medical equipment or home care assistance.
- Pay you were unable to receive due to the injury and money you will not be able to recover in the future due to the injury.
- You should be compensated for the damage to any of your personal property. This includes replacement value but also the reduction of the value of something you owned that was damaged due to the accident.
- You are allowed compensation by law for the amount of pain and suffering you endured. This is not a gift. The legal system cannot go back and make you not hurt. But they can compensate you for it.
- If your injury left you with a permanent disability, your lawyer will request compensation which will include many things. Your life will never be the same and you may not be able to do the things you love or do the job you were trained for.
- Emotional distress, PTSD, and other emotional issues you suffer from are real medical issues that must be addressed.
- Punitive damages – It is very rare for a personal injury attorney to request (or for a judge to rule) payment for punitive damages.In rare cases, where the judge believes that the person responsible did something so outrageous that they deserve punishment, it can be awarded, This is a punishment not a award to make the victim whole. It is a judicial “spanking”.
What you need to know
There are time limits in Texas (as well as other states) to bring a lawsuit. Good people often hope they will heal and assume that the party responsible will do the right thing. Unfortunately, they are often wrong. When an injury causes more damage than originally believed, or the healing process does not happen as expected, it can get costly. Infections that can lead to surgeries are not uncommon. What the good person thought was just a bump on the head could cause migraines, seizures, bleeding on the brain, and much more.
In that case, the person responsible may become less reasonable and less willing to do the right thing. If you wait too long to seek legal help, you will find yourself injured with mountains of medical debt and often not able to pay them. The time limit in Texas is 2-years.
Hope for the best and prepare for the worse. Retain a personal injury lawyer. Keep all medical records and expenses, and follow his instructions. If you are right, the person responsible will do what needs to be done. If you are wrong, you have a personal injury attorney to seek justice for you.