When someone else’s negligence or wrongful actions cause you to suffer a serious injury in Texas, with medical costs, lost wages, and significant pain and suffering, the state’s tort law allows you to seek compensation for your losses by filing a claim or lawsuit against the party responsible for your injury. A personal injury claim is typically filed against a defendant’s insurance policy.
For instance, against an auto insurance policy after a car accident, medical malpractice insurance after harm caused by a doctor’s error, or commercial liability insurance after a slip-and-fall in a store. Unfortunately, insurance companies have a variety of tactics they use against claimants to protect their profits at the victims’ expense. Still, a confident, assertive Carrollton personal injury lawyer may make a policy limit demand on your behalf in your personal injury case and pursue additional avenues for compensation.
Recovering the Policy Limits In a Texas Car Accident or Personal Injury Claim
Personal injury law in Texas operates under a system of modified comparative negligence, which allows an insurance company to investigate personal injury claims against its policyholder and assign percentages of fault to all involved based on the insurance adjuster’s findings. As long as an injury victim is no more than 50% responsible for the injury, they may recover compensation minus their percentage of fault. In other words, suppose an injury victim has a $100,000 claim, but the insurance company assigns them 25% fault. The insurer only pays $75,000 of the claim.
This system benefits injury victims who truly contributed to their injury, but it frequently incentivizes insurers to assign undue fault to an injury victim so they can protect their profits by paying less. An assertive personal injury attorney with strong evidence of the at-fault party’s full liability and a list of extensive damages may send a demand letter to the liable party’s insurance company seeking the full amount available under the at-fault party’s policy limits.
What If My Damages Far Exceed the Policy Limits?
An assertive Texas personal injury lawyer pursues all available compensation for their client. Depending on the unique circumstances of the case, an attorney can seek additional compensation through the following methods:
- A third-party claim against another party that contributed to the cause of the injury or the severity of the damages; for instance, if a negligent driver caused a collision, but they caused it by swerving to avoid a pothole, the injury victim may file claims against both the driver and the negligent road maintenance agency
- Filing a personal injury lawsuit against the defendant’s personal financial resources in addition to a claim against their insurance policy
- Filing a claim against your uninsured/underinsured motorist policy after a car accident with damages that exceed the at-fault party’s insurance limits
- Filing a claim against an umbrella insurance policy if one is available
Depending on the circumstances of your injury, your Texas personal injury lawyer can assist in filing a claim against your short-term or long-term disability coverage.
How Can a Lawyer Help Me?
If you’ve experienced a serious injury with damages that far exceed the at-fault party’s liability insurance, an accident lawyer will scrutinize all aspects of your claim, seek the policy limits of the at-fault party’s insurance coverage, and pursue all available additional avenues to maximize your total compensation.