Personal Injury Lawyers in San Antonio

Whether or not you have a case depends on whether you can prove your injuries occurred due to another person’s (or party’s) negligent or reckless behavior.

But what does that mean?

To understand what negligence is, it helps to know what criteria your claim must meet. Having a successful personal injury claim requires you to meet a specific burden of proof. If you’ve watched any crime show or have a passing knowledge of the law, you might have heard the phrase “beyond a reasonable doubt.” This is the legal standard in criminal cases, where if there is any doubt a defendant is guilty — assuming that doubt is reasonable — the jury must find them not guilty. This is a high burden, but fortunately, civil cases have a much lower standard.

In a personal injury claim, you need only prove the person was responsible for your accident “by a preponderance of the evidence” or, in other words, more likely than not. If the evidence is 51% in your favor, you win your case.

While this is an easier burden to prove, you still need sufficient evidence that shows:

• Another party owed you a duty of care
• This party breached that duty of care by being negligent or reckless, and it caused your injury
• Your injury resulted in monetary injury (or damages).

The duty of care can vary depending on your situation. For example, if you’re on the road, other drivers owe you a duty of care to drive responsibly and follow state and federal laws. If they breach that duty of care and it causes your injury, you can hold them responsible. The other party can breach this through negligence or recklessness.

The main difference between reckless and negligent behavior is that the former involves taking a risk knowing it may result in harm to others. Common examples of reckless behavior are speeding or driving while intoxicated. Negligence means acting carelessly or without thought for how their actions could impact another person. A negligent act may be something as simple as forgetting to check a blind spot or glancing at their cell phone to read a notification.

A personal injury case rests on the ability to prove your injuries occurred due to someone else’s negligence or recklessness. But the law is complex, and the last thing you want to do while recovering from an accident is to spend hours researching the law and interpreting long-winded legal jargon. That’s why you should always consult a personal injury lawyer in San Antonio to determine if you have a case.

To receive compensation for your injuries, you must show another party is liable. However, if you were partially responsible for the accident, you may still be entitled to compensation under a legal principle called “modified comparative negligence.”

As long as you are less than 51% at fault for your accident, you can recover compensation in Texas. The compensation you receive will then be reduced by your liability, so if you are 20% responsible for your accident, you will receive 80% of the settlement amount.

The share of responsibility is determined by a jury when you file a personal injury lawsuit. Comparative negligence can become especially complicated when multiple parties are involved, and each is partly to blame for an accident. Contact our San Antonio personal injury lawyer for a free, no-obligation case review and advice on whether you can claim.

The length of a case can vary depending on many factors, including if you’ve sustained a serious injury, the amount of evidence you have, the size of the court’s docket, and whether you decide to settle.

Most injury victims receive a fair offer during negotiations and settle relatively quickly. But your San Antonio personal injury lawyer may advise rejecting a poor settlement if they are confident they can secure you a much bigger payout by taking the case to court or if you’re still seeking treatment for severe injuries. While we’ll always aim to resolve your personal injury claim as quickly and with as little stress to you as possible, we don’t rush cases. We will never settle early if it means leaving you with a drastically low and unfair settlement.

The first thing you should do after getting injured in an accident in San Antonio is to seek medical attention. Documenting your injuries is vital so you can recover damages as part of your claim. These include the cost of your medical bills and lost wages from being unable to work. If it’s safe to do so, you should also document the scene. If you’re in a car accident, this might include taking photographs and writing down the contact information of any witnesses.

Then, you should contact a San Antonio personal injury attorney to learn about your legal options and begin the claims process.

Your initial consultation is an informal chat where you can tell us about your accident and injuries and learn about your legal options. We understand this can be difficult to talk about, so we will go at your pace and aim to put you at ease. During this meeting, we will ask how your accident happened, the injuries you’ve sustained, and any treatment you’ve had, are still having, and are expected to need in the future. If you have documentation such as medical records, accident reports, and photographs of the accident scene and your injuries, it can be helpful to your attorney to bring them to your appointment. However, don’t worry if you do not have these — we can help you get them.

During your free case review, we’ll also explain the claims process, how we can help, the next steps, and our fee structure. We’re here to address any concerns you have about choosing our San Antonio personal injury firm. We want you to feel comfortable asking questions about our experience and track record.

This meeting is not just about seeing if you have a claim — it’s about giving you all the information you need to help you decide if we are the right firm for you.  We promise to give you honest feedback about your chances and will never pressure you to make an immediate decision.

We appreciate you may be busy and want to focus on your health and treatment — not being stuck in meetings with attorneys. We value your time and won’t take up any more of it than we need to. Our case reviews generally last between 15 minutes and half an hour, but if you need more time to chat, we will always accommodate you.

Your relationship with your personal injury lawyer can last months or years, so we know how important it is to be kept in the loop and feel comfortable reaching out when you have questions or need advice. We never want clients to feel like they are getting anything less than world-class service, which is why we hate to hear about negative experiences with other firms, such as feeling like a burden or forever chasing their attorney for an update on their case and never being able to reach them. When you choose our firm, you’ll have direct access to your attorney through multiple channels:

• Regular case updates via your preferred method (phone, email, or text)
• A dedicated point of contact who knows the details of your case
• In-person meetings when needed
• Video calls if you cannot travel to our office.

Unlike larger firms where you might speak to a different person each time, we ensure you work consistently with the same team members who know your case inside and out. We believe this personal approach leads to better outcomes and a less stressful experience for our clients.

The best personal injury attorney knows from experience that obstacles are part of the process of recovering compensation. Insurance companies won’t simply roll over and pay up — they will fight to dispute claims so they can get away with paying out less. Some firms might say they can guarantee a specific outcome and that it will be smooth sailing, but we are honest about the challenges we may encounter during your claim.

For example, insurance companies can argue:

• Witness statements are unreliable
• The evidence isn’t conclusive
• Your injuries aren’t as severe as you claim
• You deserve less compensation because you didn’t get immediate medical attention
• You’re partially or majorly at fault for your accident, reducing your entitlement to compensation.

Insurers might even delay proceedings, hoping you’ll accept a lower settlement out of frustration or financial pressure. We take these challenges in our stride because we know how to overcome them. Our clients know we have the knowledge and experience to anticipate these objections and develop a strategy to shut them down. You can trust us to get the best possible result as we handle all aspects of your claim so you can concentrate on getting better.

While we cannot guarantee a specific amount, personal injury settlements in San Antonio can range from thousands to millions of dollars, depending on several factors.

The key is understanding that every case is unique. Two people might suffer similar injuries but receive different compensation based on their specific circumstances, such as their ability to return to work or their need for ongoing treatment.

Your potential settlement depends on multiple factors, including:

• The severity of your injuries and prognosis (for example, whether you will ever fully recover)
• Whether you can return to work or need to change careers
• The cost of your current and future medical treatment
• The strength of your evidence proving the other party’s fault
• Whether you contributed to your accident
• The defendant’s insurance coverage limits
• The emotional impact of your injuries on your quality of life
• Whether your case settles or goes to trial.

Our San Antonio personal injury lawyer will thoroughly evaluate these factors and fight to secure the best possible outcome.

You might consider dealing with the at-fault party’s insurance company directly — if you can negotiate a settlement without an attorney, you won’t have to pay legal fees. However, accident victims who hire a lawyer typically receive larger settlements than those who handle claims alone. An experienced personal injury lawyer knows how to:

• Calculate the true value of your claim, including future costs
• Gather compelling evidence to strengthen your case
• Counter insurance company tactics aimed at minimizing your payout
• Negotiate effectively using knowledge of similar case outcomes
• Present a convincing case at trial if necessary.

When you have a personal injury lawyer in your corner, you can rest assured that we’ll explore every potential avenue for compensation. We’ll demand damages you might not know you can claim for — such as the emotional distress you experience because you can’t play with your children because of your injuries — and consider what other parties might be liable. For example, if the at-fault party’s insurance limit caps the settlement the insurer is willing to offer; we can investigate whether we have a case against their employer or another party, allowing you to recover much more.

Plus, going it alone can have an emotional and physical toll, potentially compromising your recovery. We will handle it all, leaving you free to get the care you need.

Texas law allows you to recover several types of damages in a personal injury claim, split into two categories: economic damages, and non-economic damages.

Economic damages comprise:

• Past and future medical expenses
• Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
• Property damage
• Home modifications needed due to disability
• Travel costs for medical appointments.

Examples of non-economic damages include:

• Physical pain and suffering
• Emotional distress and mental anguish
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Disfigurement
• Physical impairment
• Loss of consortium.

Our San Antonio personal injury attorney will pursue every type of compensation you’re entitled to under Texas law.

San Antonio personal injury claims are typically calculated by taking the sum of your economic damages — your tangible losses — and applying a multiplier to determine your non-economic damages (to compensate you for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of consortium, and other such subjective losses). This multiplier ranges between one and five depending on the severity of your injury and its overall impact on your life, with catastrophic, life-changing injuries with little to no chance of recovery warranting a higher multiplier. However, the formulas used by insurers to determine which multiplier to apply vary by provider.

Some insurance companies instead calculate damages on a “per diem” or “for each day” basis, where they calculate how much your losses are worth for a single day and multiply it by the number of days you have suffered and are expected to continue to suffer.

However, an insurance company’s calculation does not necessarily show how much you will receive. Our San Antonio personal injury lawyer will push back to secure the maximum amount you’re entitled to, consulting medical and economic experts to determine your future medical costs and lost income potential to ensure your compensation provides for you long into the future.

We strongly advise against accepting the first compensation offer made by an insurance company. While it can be tempting to settle quickly so you can put your accident behind you and move forward, insurance companies are notorious for lowballing, and your initial offer will likely be far less than what you deserve. You may even find your settlement isn’t enough to pay for additional treatment or provide for your family while you take time off work, especially if your injuries worsen.

An insurance company might pressure you into making a decision or use scare tactics to persuade you that you do not have a strong case and will be left struggling to pay your bills, but you should always seek legal advice to see where you stand.

Our personal injury attorney can handle all communications with insurers to protect you from being taken advantage of while you’re vulnerable. If you’re worried about finances and your main motivation for accepting the first compensation offer is to pay for treatment or other bills, your attorney can defer payment, negotiate a payment plan, or help you claim on your insurance to alleviate the burden until you receive the full, fair compensation you’re owed.