Lakeway, TX, Car Accident Lawyer
Justice for the Losses You Have Suffered
There are more than 23 million registered cars in Texas. Not all of those cars have safe drivers. Even if you are a good driver, you can become the victim of someone else’s negligence or carelessness.
If you have been the victim of a reckless driver, you need the help of a Lakeway, TX, car accident lawyer to get the compensation you deserve. At Evans/Reilley, we have helped thousands of people like you get the compensation they need to recover from their injuries.
Call us today at (512) 732-2727 for a free consultation with a Lakeway, TX, car accident lawyer who cares.
Why Choose Evans/Reilley to Handle Your Case?
Let Our Lakeway Car Accident Lawyer Fight for the Compensation You Deserve
At Evans/Reilley, we believe you deserve to be justly compensated for your injuries. Our car accident lawyers in Lakeway, TX, are experienced in handling vehicle accident cases and will negotiate with the insurance company and their attorneys to get you the outcome you deserve.
Evans/Reilley keeps you updated about your case and is available whenever you have questions or concerns. If your case goes to trial, we will advise you when you must appear and what you can expect.
Attorneys Chip Evans and Scott Herlihy have more than 20 years of experience dealing with insurance companies to get settlements for victims after their claims have been denied. They are here to help you get justice and compensation for your injuries and damages.
Call (512) 732-2727 today for a consultation with a Lakeway car accident attorney. This free session will answer many of your questions.
Getting Compensation for Your Losses
How Your Attorney Can Help
Texas law allows you to receive just compensation for your injuries following a car accident. This can be more complicated than just filing an insurance claim and waiting for your payout. Even your own insurance company has deadlines that need to be met and documents that must be provided with the forms.
Your attorney will help avoid missed dates and rejected filings by reviewing your claims before you send them to your insurer. If you are dealing with the other party’s insurer, they may reject your claim for any number of reasons or offer you a lowball settlement.
Having a car accident attorney in Lakeway, TX, can avoid these problems and keep the case on track.
What You Can Recover
There are no guarantees in law. Texas law allows you to file claims for economic and non-economic damages. As the plaintiff in the case, you and your attorney must prove the damages in your claim. You are allowed to claim:
- Medical costs, including hospital visits, surgery, rehab, and long-term care
- Loss of income, including future wages, if you cannot work or return to your regular employment
- Pain and suffering, a catch-all phrase that includes emotional trauma, PTSD, loss of consortium, and other less easily defined damages.
Proving your case can be difficult, especially if you try to do it yourself. The insurance companies have their own attorneys, so you should, too. You need the knowledgeable legal team of Evans/Reilley on your side.
Making Your Car Accident Case
Car accident claims involve negligence. This is a legal term with elements that must be proven in court before you can win your case. It can help to understand what is involved in making your case if you know what your attorney is trying to do.
What is Negligence?
Negligence is more than just carelessness or recklessness. That is part of it, but it isn’t enough for the other driver to be careless. Your attorney needs to show how their carelessness caused your accident.
- Duty. This means that the other person was required to act in a certain way. For instance, drivers are all required to obey the rules of the road, follow traffic signs and speed limits, and not drive impaired or distracted.
- Breach. If the other person does not act as they’re required, they are in breach of their duty. Speeding or running red lights is a breach of the duty to drive safely.
- Causation. The breach must have caused your harm. If the person ran a red light and hit your car, that would be causation; however, if they ran a red light, but your accident was caused when you hit a pothole, it would not.
- Injury. It might seem obvious, but you must have suffered an injury to make a claim. You cannot file a negligence claim because someone might have gotten hurt except under certain very narrowly defined circumstances.
It’s possible for there to be multiple parts to each of these elements. For instance, drivers have a duty to drive safely, but the city has a duty to keep roads safe, and speed limits clearly posted. Auto manufacturers have a duty to produce vehicles with working parts.
Therefore it’s important to discuss your case with an experienced car accident lawyer before making any decisions about your claim.
Filings, Documents, and Deadlines
One of the main reasons insurance claims are denied is simply because the claim form has errors. Insurance companies will reject forms if they are not filled out correctly or lack supporting documents.
Another cause is missed deadlines. Many insurance companies, both your own and the other party’s, require you to file an initial claim within a specific amount of time, usually 30 days. If you miss this deadline, they can reject your claim.
In Texas, the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit is two years from the date of the accident. After that date, you may be barred from filing any legal action. Two years may seem like a long time, but it goes by quickly.
Your Lakeway, TX, car accident attorney will ensure you meet all the filing requirements and deadlines to avoid having your claim rejected solely for improper paperwork and missed deadlines.
Getting to the Settlement
Despite their advertising, insurance companies are not your friends. This is especially true of the other party’s insurer. The insurance agent’s job is to make money for the company, not to pay you.
You should never sign anything from any insurance company without having your attorney review it first. This includes settlement offers, statements of liability, or any other document that could affect your compensation.
One advantage of having Evans/Reilley represent you is that insurance companies can no longer bother you with phone calls and texts. You can instruct them to speak with your attorney, and we will handle all the discussions with the agent.
Feel free to call our office in Lakeway to get more answers to questions. We make every effort to clarify any confusion our clients have. Remember, your communications with us are always confidential.
What If I Was Partially At Fault?
Sometimes you may be partially to blame for your own accident. We don’t all drive as carefully as we should. The insurance company may claim that your injuries predated the accident, or that your actions caused the accident.
- Comparative negligence. In Texas law, this is also called “proportionate responsibility.” If you are partially responsible for an accident, the court will look to see who had greater fault in causing the accident. If you are found to be less than 51% responsible, you can recover damages proportional to your degree of responsibility. If you are more than 50% responsible, you cannot recover anything.
- Pre-existing conditions.If you have existing injuries, like back or neck injuries, an insurance company may try to deny your claim by saying the accident was not the cause of your pain or disability.
For these reasons, it’s important that you give your attorney all relevant information when you come to see us. For instance, if you already had a back injury, we can use your medical records to show that the injury was made worse by the accident.
Just being partially at fault or having an existing condition is not a bar to recovering compensation in an accident. You are still entitled to recover for your injuries. That is what the car accident lawyers in Lakeway, TX, are here to do. Bring us all your information, and we will help you get the compensation you deserve for your case.
Evans/Reilley: Big Results When You Need Them
Trust Our Lakeway Car Accident Lawyers to Represent You
At Evans/Reilley, we know that every car accident case we take is different. What they all have in common, though, are injured clients who desperately need compensation to recover after their physical and emotional losses. Our clients need significant results for the injuries they’ve suffered. For this reason, we fight for the maximum compensation allowable.
If you have been injured in a car accident, your claim may be worth far more than the other driver’s insurance company offers. By attending a free consultation with an experienced car accident attorney in Lakeway, you will get a better idea of the actual value of your claim.
Call Evans/Reilley today at (512) 732-2727 to explore your options.