Austin Personal Injury Lawyer Winning Big in Texas

Our Texas Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help You Get Compensation

Was Your Injury Due to Someone Else’s Negligence?

Injuries happen. Whether it’s on the road, at home, or at a place of business, you can be injured without any fault of your own. When you suffer a severe personal injury, you have to deal not only with the physical and emotional pain and trauma, but also with the financial losses from medical, hospital, and rehabilitative bills, the loss of income from being unable to work, and the possibility of property damage resulting from the accident. Filing a successful personal injury lawsuit against the parties whose negligence caused your accident can alleviate your financial problems and allow you to concentrate on getting well.

Texas laws regarding personal injury are complicated; insurance companies and their lawyers will attempt to deny your claim or get you to settle for the lowest amount possible; and making mistakes can be costly, so it helps to have an experienced personal injury lawyer on your side to fight for a fair settlement. The skilled attorneys of the Evans & Herlihy Law Firm may be just the right choice for you.

Our personal injury lawyer in Austin can help you prepare a case that will give you the best possible chance of getting justice and receiving the financial compensation that will allow you to get through this difficult time. If you or a loved one has been injured or someone has been killed due to the negligence of another, we have the compassion, skills, and experience you need to fight for the compensation you deserve.

If you think you may have a case, call an Austin personal injury lawyer at the Evans & Herlihy Law Firm for a free, no-obligation consultation at (512) 732-2727.

Why Choose Us?

Our Personal Injury Lawyers are Here to Help

There are a lot of attorneys out there, so why should you choose the Evans & Herlihy Law Firm? Here are some reasons why:

We are dedicated. We understand that this is a difficult time for you, and you may not be very comfortable with the legal process.

We are experienced. Every case is different, but you can be sure that we’ve successfully brought cases like yours to a satisfactory conclusion. We know the process, the courts, and the system, and we have what it takes to help you.

You can get started at no cost to you. Money can be tight when you’re faced with a personal injury. When you choose the Evans & Herlihy Law Firm, you can rest assured that you won’t have to pay for anything unless we win or settle your case.

We have a track record. Evans & Herlihy has earned recognition in Texas and nationwide for our large settlements and verdicts. We work diligently to ensure injured victims get the maximum compensation they deserve.

We have the resources. Evans & Herlihy utilizes all resources at its disposal when building strong personal injury cases. We work closely with investigators, medical personnel, the police, engineers, and accident reconstructionists when building injury cases.

We are focused on client satisfaction. One of the best testaments to the success we’ve achieved in personal injury cases is the satisfaction of our clients. Find out what our past clients have to say about their experiences with Evans & Herlihy.

What Our Personal Injury Attorneys Do

An injury can mean you’re suddenly faced with medical bills and other expenses you didn’t expect to deal with. When people are injured because of someone else’s negligence, we work to make sure they get the financial compensation they need to cover their expenses. Most of the time, cases like this are settled out of court, and we work to negotiate a settlement that you and the negligent party can both accept. Sometimes it’s impossible to reach a settlement, though, and in those cases, we are ready to represent you in court and prepare a case that will give you the best possible chance of getting what you deserve.

How We Can Help

As an injured victim, you have the right to file a lawsuit against any negligent parties responsible for your injury. Unfortunately, you may face many legal hurdles if you don’t have an experienced Austin personal injury attorney by your side. Many victims of truck wrecks, car accidents, workplace accidents, dog bites, and pool accidents never get the full compensation they are entitled to when they handle their personal injury claims on their own.

In truth, the legal process can be confusing for lay people, and that’s what insurance companies bank on. Don’t be surprised if your insurance company advises you not to hire an attorney. If an insurance representative discourages you from hiring a personal injury lawyer in Austin, that should be your cue to hire one immediately.

As a personal injury victim, you may worry about how you will pay for your medical bills, especially if you can’t go back to work. This may push you to consider accepting an insurance company’s quick settlement. But what about your future medical expenses? Will the money cover your lost wages or your vehicle repair costs?

At Evans & Herlihy, our experienced personal injury lawyers will ensure you receive compensation that covers your future damages. We will not only protect your legal rights throughout the claims process, but also:

• Establish fault: Many catastrophic accidents involve multiple parties that can be held liable. For example, you may hold a truck driver and the trucking company responsible for your injuries. If the truck driver was drowsy when they drove, they might be responsible for your injuries. Investigations may also point out that the truck wasn’t properly maintained, which could have also contributed to the accident. The more parties involved in a personal injury case, the more complex the case can be.
• Estimate the value of your claim: Typically, the first offer you receive from an insurance company won’t cover all your expenses. This is because the insurance company is trying to pay you as little as possible for the accident. Unfortunately, many injury victims in Austin, TX, have no idea about the true worth of their cases and end up taking the first offer they receive from insurance adjusters. At Evans & Herlihy, our personal injury attorneys will gather and analyze all your medical records, property damage, and any other relevant pieces of evidence to determine the value of your claim.
• Negotiate with insurance adjusters: Insurance companies are for-profit businesses. They make money by minimizing or denying payouts for insurance claims. Claims adjusters will try to persuade or bully you into accepting the first amount they offer. However, with our strong negotiating team, Evans & Herlihy will push hard to secure fair compensation for the accident and your injuries.
• Represent you in court: If negotiations with the insurance company don’t work out, our aggressive trial team is ready to battle with the defense team in court. Our attorneys have experience in Austin and Texas courtrooms and are ready to fight on your behalf.

Our Texas Personal Injury Attorneys Must Prove Negligence

To win your personal injury case, our personal injury attorneys must show that another party or parties, the defendants in the case, were negligent and at fault for causing your accident. In these suits, you — the plaintiff — must establish four points to prove damages to the court. Our Austin personal injury lawyer must show that:

• Duty: The defendant owed you a legal duty not to cause harm.
• Breach: The defendant breached this duty by acting recklessly or failing to act.
• Cause: This breach caused the incident that resulted in your injury.
• Damages: You suffered physical, financial, and/or emotional damages as a result.

In some cases, there may be more than one negligent party responsible for your injuries. For example, if a truck caused the accident, there may be other negligent parties besides the truck driver. Depending on the situation, we might be able to name as defendants the trucking company and its owner, maintenance personnel that didn’t maintain the truck properly, a supervisor that didn’t train the driver properly, the cargo company that didn’t load the cargo properly, or the manufacturer of a faulty part that failed. As we conduct our investigations, our attorneys will look to identify all responsible parties, as they may all have insurance and assets that could go toward a settlement.

Some of the evidence our Austin personal injury lawyers may use to prove negligence includes the following:

• Medical records
• Payroll records
• Witness testimony
• Toxicology reports
• Testimonies from professionals like the police, engineers, and doctors
• Video footage from dashcams, traffic cameras, security cameras, and body cams
• Maintenance logs.

Never underestimate the challenges of proving your personal injury case. Even if your case seems straightforward, the other parties involved may make the compensation process stressful and even more complicated. Insurance companies may fight you at every step of the way.

That’s why you need Evans & Herlihy to help you determine what caused your accident and who is to blame for your injuries. Contact us today: (512) 732-2727.

Compensation Our Personal Injury Attorneys May Recover

There may be a wide range of settlement amounts possible to recover in a successful personal injury case, depending on the circumstances of the case. Some settlements result in thousands of dollars in compensation, while others lead to millions of dollars in a verdict or settlement. In general, the greater the injury and its costs, the more you will seek in a claim.

Some factors that go into determining settlement amounts include:

• The extent, seriousness, and permanence of your injuries
• Whether you will need continuing care
• Your actual costs for medical expenses, lost wages, and property damage
• Your age, family situation, and earning capacity
• The availability of insurance and assets to go toward a settlement
• The inclination of a particular judge and jury
• The skill of your attorney in negotiating, building, and presenting your case.

In a successful case, you may receive compensation that covers both your economic or monetary losses and your non-economic damages that do not have a specific dollar value but negatively impact your life. Here are some examples of the damages you can demand in a personal injury claim:

• Medical and rehabilitation expenses
• Property damage
• Loss of income
• Pain and suffering (both physical and emotional)
• Loss of consortium and enjoyment of life
• Disability.

Our personal injury lawyers will look to recover an award that covers all of your losses and enables you to go on with your life.

Personal Injury Lawyer in Texas Answers Questions

Dealing with a serious personal injury is difficult, and you are bound to have questions and concerns. The following are some answers to questions our personal injury attorneys are often asked.

What should I do after an accident?

Thinking quickly and clearly after a personal injury accident is easier said than done. Nonetheless, you must act quickly to protect your rights and interests. Here’s what our Austin personal injury lawyers recommend:

1. Call the police.
2. Seek medical attention.
3. Don’t admit fault.
4. Take photos and videos of the scene.
5. Don’t talk to insurance companies alone.
6. Contact a reliable personal injury attorney in Austin from Evans & Herlihy.

It’s in your best interests to hire a reputable Austin law firm sooner rather than later. Things happen quickly after an accident, and you don’t want the other parties involved to blame you. Having an attorney who will protect your interests will put your mind at ease and allow you to focus on the most important thing — recovery.

How long do I have to file a lawsuit?

In general, you have two years from the date of the accident that led to the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. If the injuries result in a wrongful death, you generally have two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death claim. This time limit is called a “statute of limitations,” and the provisions can be found in detail in Texas statutes (Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code section 16.003). You do not have to have your case heard or tried within the two-year limit, but if you fail to get your lawsuit filed on time, the Texas civil court system will most probably refuse to hear your case, and you will permanently lose your right to seek compensation at any time in the future.

How do I know if I have a case?

Victims who sustain injuries due to the wrongful conduct of others have a right to financial compensation. While every personal injury case is different, various factors may help you understand if you have a case, including:

1. Negligence: Is someone else responsible for your accident and injuries?
2. Physical injury: Did you sustain a bone fracture or severe burns?
3. Financial loss: Have you incurred accident-related expenses like lost income, car repair costs, or medical bills?
4. Time limit: Have you filed your case before the statute of limitations in Texas has passed?

What is negligence?

Negligence is a “failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the same circumstances.” One is considered negligent if they do something that a reasonably careful individual wouldn’t do in similar circumstances. For example, no reasonable person would drive drunk on Austin roads.

Do I have a valid case if I wasn’t severely hurt?

Technically, yes. If someone else’s negligence led to your accident, you can file an injury claim and recover the damages you lost due to the accident. This applies regardless of how severe your injuries are.

You should still visit a doctor even if you feel okay. Such visits provide evidence that you can use to prove that you sustained injuries due to the accident. A hospital visit also helps to rule out injuries that may not be immediately apparent, like concussions.

Should I talk to the insurance company?

No, the less you say to them, the better. Insurance adjusters are not on your side; their goal is to increase the company’s bottom line and pay out as little as possible. They will use tactics to lessen or deny the payments. Anything you say to them can be used against you. They have high-powered lawyers on their side, so the best approach to take with insurance companies is to tell them to speak to your attorney and let us handle all dealings and negotiations with insurers.

If it is your own insurance company who calls, you can give them the information or documents they request. However, if your insurance company offers you an inadequate amount, you don’t have to accept their offer. Our attorneys can negotiate for more compensation.

What if I did something to contribute to the accident?

If you did something that contributed to the accident, you might still be able to get a settlement as long as you are not more than 50 percent at fault. According to Texas law (Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Title 2, Subtitle C, Chapter 33, Subchapter A, Sec. 33.001), the amount of damages you can recover is reduced by the same percentage as what is determined to be your level of fault in causing the accident. For example, if it is determined that you were 20 percent at fault and the settlement was for $100,000, our attorneys could still help you collect $80,000.

What if a loved one died in the accident?

In Texas, a victim’s spouse, child, parent, or estate executor may pursue a wrongful death claim, seeking a damage award to cover financial losses and emotional suffering. In addition, our attorneys can help you file a survivor action, which is like a personal injury lawsuit allowed after a death.

Texas law (Texas Statutes, section 71.001) states that an action for wrongful death may be brought if the “wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default” of one party causes the death of another.

The damages you may receive for wrongful death include compensation for the following losses:

• The lost earning capacity of the deceased
• Medical expenses leading up to death
• Funeral expenses
• The loss of an inheritance, including what the decedent would have reasonably been expected to earn and gift had they lived
• The emotional pain and mental anguish suffered by survivors
• The loss of companionship, society, comfort, household services, and love.

How much does it cost to hire a personal injury lawyer?

The good news is that hiring our Texas personal injury lawyers doesn’t cost anything up front. We work on a contingency basis, which means we take on all costs and expenses of your case, and you pay nothing unless and until we win. Fees and costs are then taken out of the settlement award.

Once you have our personal injury lawyers on your side, we will be there throughout the entire process to explain what goes next and be available to answer your questions and address your concerns.

If you have any pressing questions or concerns, please call (512) 732-2727. Our lawyers are available to help you with your personal injury case.

Texas Personal Injury Attorney Gets Results for Injured People

These are just a few of our clients who have benefited from our personal injury law expertise:

• A Dallas County man, struck by an out-of-control car. His severe injuries resulted in months of missed work and led to a pulmonary embolism. We were able to recover compensation for his injuries, lost wages, and hospital care for his embolism recovery.
• A Collin County boy, attacked by a dog while playing in his front yard. We secured enough compensation that the boy’s parents were able to put aside funds for his future educational needs.
• A Tarrant County man, struck by a drunk driver. We won the maximum amount of all available liability insurance payout for our client, and we found extra health and disability coverage to cover his medical costs.

We work hard to help our clients move forward with their lives. For example, we often call upon our medical provider contacts in order to get clients the care they need to recover from an injury – quickly.

Combating Carelessness

Personal injury lawsuits require in-depth knowledge of insurance laws in order to secure maximum compensation for victims. Our personal injury attorneys in Texas know how to explore every possible avenue when seeking damages for our clients.

We’ve handled cases that cross state lines — when the victims resided in another state and were injured in Texas, or a Texas resident was injured while outside the state.

Those types of cases involve a level of complexity beyond the scope of many law firms. But the Evans & Herlihy Law Firm understands how Texas state laws, federal law, and insurance practices affect victim compensation.

Contact an Experienced Texas Personal Injury Attorney Today

Most Texas personal injury cases we’ve handled have been resolved before trial, but when a case does go to trial, we’re able to use our extensive litigation experience to secure favorable compensation for our clients. We may bring in expert witnesses or use accident reconstruction techniques to illustrate your case for the court. We can’t guarantee that we can win your case, but we can guarantee that we’ll use all the resources we have to pursue your claim.

At Evans & Herlihy, we handle a wide range of personal injury cases. In addition to vehicle accidents, including those involving trucks, other motorists, cyclists and pedestrians in our city and state, we handle cases that include slip and falls, wrongful death, burn injuries, spinal cord and brain injuries, nursing home abuse, premises liability, car accidents, and work injuries. If you believe you’ve been injured due to someone else’s negligence, call us today.

Don’t delay. Let us get to work for you while the evidence is fresh, and witnesses can be found. Call Evans & Herlihy today at (512) 732-2727 for a free and confidential consultation.