Your Personal Injury Lawyer in McAllen

Our McAllen personal injury lawyers handle various cases, ranging from car accidents and burn injuries to truck accidents, premises liability, and wrongful death. Every injury and its related circumstances might differ, but the legal requirements to recover compensation from a personal injury are often the same.

Whatever the cause of your accident or injury, the first thing you should do is seek medical attention. Above all else, you need to ensure that you receive proper medical care to resolve any issues — even if you feel fine — as they could become more serious.

If you have been in an accident and haven’t sought medical care, you should document the accident as thoroughly as possible. Take photos and videos, jot down names and contact information of witnesses, and contact the police to file a report. It’s vital that you do not admit fault or make any deals with the other party without first speaking to a personal injury lawyer in McAllen.

You should consult a personal injury lawyer to determine if you have a case. Often, evaluating a claim on your own is difficult. As a layman, you will likely spend an excessive amount of time conducting legal research and surveying complex case law that’s challenging to interpret correctly on your own. Our personal injury lawyers in McAllen know the relevant law and where to find information on your case’s specific facts.

Your attorney can also compare your case to previous cases to determine the likelihood of success for recovering compensation, how much you might recover, and whether you should proceed with a claim.

At Patino Law Firm, we offer a free consultation to determine whether you have a viable case. Our personal injury lawyers can provide a general evaluation of your case and advise you on your next steps.

When you should file your case will vary based on the specifics of your claim. It may be more strategic to file a lawsuit earlier than later, but this is not always the case. Most importantly, you must ensure that you file your claim before the statute of limitations expires. If you wait too long, you waive your ability to bring a lawsuit and recover compensation for your incurred damages. You typically need to file a personal injury claim within two years from the accident date in Texas, although there are exceptions.

Contact a personal injury lawyer in McAllen to evaluate your case and determine whether you can still file a claim.

Personal injury attorneys can help secure the following types of financial compensation to cover your damages:

• Compensation for actual expenses, including medical expenses; future medical expenses, such as surgeries, follow-up appointments, and medication; and property damage or replacement of lost property
• Compensation for lost wages, including future lost wages and loss of earning potential
• Compensation for pain and suffering, including physical and emotional suffering
• Compensation for loss of a body part or other disfigurement (for example, scarring)
• Compensation for loss of companionship or consortium
• Compensation for wrongful death
• Monetary punitive damages.

It’s difficult to predict precisely how much compensation you can or will receive for your injuries. Every personal injury case is unique and requires a case-by-case examination to determine proper compensation. The best way to estimate how much you might recover is to contact a personal injury lawyer in McAllen.

At Patino Law Firm, we offer a free consultation to help evaluate your case. Our personal injury lawyers in McAllen have successfully filed many personal injury lawsuits and can help determine your likelihood of success and what it might involve. We can advise on what types of damages you can reasonably recover and answer any other questions you might have about the viability of your claim.

The length of time a case takes varies and depends on many factors, including:

• The type of injury
• The amount of evidence you need to gather
• The size of the court’s docket
• The judge’s preference on which cases they will hear first
• The strength of a plaintiff’s claim
• Whether the parties prefer to settle.

In many cases, parties can agree to settle relatively quickly. In others, the parties may prolong the lawsuit (for example, the plaintiff might want to litigate the case to receive maximum financial compensation, or the defendant might dispute that they’re at fault). Often, cases that settle early in the litigation stage occur within a few months. In other instances, though, cases may take years to litigate fully.

Whether your case settles depends on many factors. Most importantly, both the defendant and plaintiff must agree on a settlement amount and its terms. There are many reasons why parties might want to settle. Often, trials are uncertain, while a settlement guarantees a satisfactory result for all. Parties might also wish to settle a case to avoid an unreasonably low or high payout. However, your settlement must be fair, especially if your injury has had a life-changing impact. Our McAllen personal injury lawyers can advise whether you should settle or pursue litigation to receive a more substantial payout.

If your employer has workers’ compensation insurance, you’ll be able to file a workers’ compensation claim if you’re in an accident at work. A successful workers’ compensation suit will cover any medical bills, a portion of lost wages, vocational rehabilitation assistance if needed, or a lump sum for specific injuries. Arguably, workers’ compensation suits are easier to win because you do not need to prove negligence — only that the accident happened at work — but the trade-off is that there are fewer opportunities to recover all incurred damages, such as pain and suffering.

However, Texas is the only state in the U.S. where workers’ compensation insurance is not mandatory for employers. This means that if you can prove your employer was negligent and caused your injury, you may be able to file a traditional personal injury claim and receive more compensation.

Several complex and complicated statutory and common laws (i.e., laws created through judges’ past case decisions) determine whether a government might be accountable for negligence. For example, the Federal Tort Claims Act provides liability in some circumstances when a federal employee acts negligently. The Act essentially waived the federal government’s sovereign immunity, which would otherwise bar all lawsuits, for some claims.

Patino Law Firm can help evaluate whether your lawsuit against a government will likely succeed. If a negligent or reckless government employee injured you in McAllen, you can contact us today for a free consultation about your legal case.

Different states take different approaches to determine whether you can recover compensation if you contribute to an accident. Texas uses the modified comparative fault model. Comparative negligence divides the blame for an accident by assigning a proportionate share of responsibility, which means you might still be able to claim even if you were partially responsible for your accident.

If you or multiple individuals contributed to an accident, you should contact a personal injury lawyer in McAllen for an evaluation of your case.

Yes, and especially when substantial injuries involve more facts and complex laws. Additionally, if the at-fault party seeks to contest liability or you are suing for a large amount, you should hire a personal injury lawyer in McAllen to advocate on your behalf.

Personal injury attorneys are knowledgeable about personal injury laws, and they’re also professionals trained to handle these types of confrontations. Personal injury lawyers specialize in seeking compensation for their clients and can substantially increase your chances of bringing a successful lawsuit compared to going it alone.

At Patino Law Firm, we have helped many victims recover from past injuries. We offer a free consultation to ask questions about your case, answer your questions, and provide our advice on your case’s viability.

The plaintiff bears the burden to prove “by a preponderance of evidence” that the defendant is legally liable for their injury, which means it must be more likely than not that the defendant is responsible for your injuries. This high standard often requires a substantial amount of corroborating evidence. Your personal injury lawyer in McAllen will seek to collect a wide range of evidence, such as medical records, expert testimony (for example, from a medical doctor), video or photographic evidence, eyewitness testimony, and written or oral communications.

Some attorneys require payment upfront for taking on your case, but our personal injury lawyers in McAllen operate on a contingency fee basis. This means that we will offer to take on your case at no initial charge and instead receive a percentage of any settlement or judgment obtained. You will only ever pay if we win your case.