Houston Car Accident Lawyer Blog

For most people being in a serious car accident is a new experience. Unfortunately, due to a combination of tort reform and the failure to regulate claims handling practices in Texas, the claim handling process has gotten very painful for Texas families.

In an effort to curb "frivolous lawsuits" Texas enacted tort reform and it has had a consequence of emboldening insurance companies and actually making more lawsuits necessary for legitimate and fair compensation. Prior to tort reform the number of lawsuits filed after a car accident was about 10 to 15% at best. Today, the number is much higher mainly due to the "sue us" positions now taking by insurance companies.

Between recent court rulings and provisions legislated the consumer or the Texas family is left with little choice but to hire an attorney after even the clearest liability claims. The situation is compounded by the refusal of the insurance carrier to give any consideration to the individual claimant by the adjuster.

In Texas, lawsuits are required more frequently and unfortunately, tort reform has made the litigation much more expensive to the innocent victim-the Texas family. Changes in the way that medical bills are presented to the court have wreaked havoc and vastly increased the costs to a lawyer in handling a personal injury claim from a car accident.

The insurance carriers hiring "employee" attorneys to represent the negligent party in a car accident case also exacerbate the situation. The conflict between an employee of the insurance company and a lawyer who wants to do the right thing for the client is obvious. Nevertheless it is how business is done in Texas today.

Requiring a lawsuit for reasonable compensation does more than inconvenience the victims and run up the cost to the victims, it also is a hassle for the negligent party by requiring their attendance at trial and the stress of a deposition and court appearance.

The refusal of the insurance company to give fair or reasonable consideration to the claim cost time and money to the innocent Texas family and also requires substantial time and effort on the part of the wrongdoer.

Texas is in need of insurance reform to rectify the runaway abusive claims handling practices in Texas. One easy solution that would benefit all Texas families is to require the insurance companies reaping profits in Texas to pay out 80% of their premiums collected in actual claims. If the insurance company saves money on claims, the policyholders (Texas families) will be the winner by reducing everyone's premiums.

It is a sad day in Texas when the benefits of tort reform combined with failure to regulate insurance companies has been used against Texas families to the sole profit of the insurance companies, all on the backs of Texas families.

Call your state legislator and demand meaningful insurance reform to return fairness to Texas families.

If you have been involved in an automobile or 18-wheeler accident in Texas then you may have a number of questions you need answered relating to responsibility and compensation.

If I and/or my family were victims in an automobile accident then will I be required to use my own insurance to pay for medical and/or property damage expenses?

Hopefully not, if the other driver has insurance is ticketed by the police for that would demonstrate he or she may have been negligent in causing the accident then his or her insurance company should be responsible cover the reasonable cost of medical expenses and car repairs.

Sometimes however, in Texas, insurance companies are now extremely aggressive and often deny legitimate claims and force litigation in part because of the rights stripped from Texas families with "tort reform".

In other situations some large well known insurers take such outrageous positions that an innocent victim can not settle his or her own clear liability claim and they are made to either accept an outrageous lowball insurance company settlement offer or hire a personal injury lawyer.

The real adverse consequences to Texas tort reform has been that insurers now routinely force families to file lawsuits on clear liability claims, which is an injustice to the victims and also to the negligent person who now gets sued because his or her insurer required a lawsuit to be fair on the claim. Some insurers use "employee" attorneys to keep their costs down and profits high and many take steps to make sure that the litigation is a costly to bring as possible to the injured victim. Often hiring bogus medical professionals to run up the lawsuit cost to the innocent victim.

There are now a number of frivolous claims in lawsuits in Texas and the vast majority of them are frivolous defenses by the insurance companies in litigation only because of their unfair and bad faith claims handling practices that forced into court a matter that should have been settled.

Other states have taken some of the well know insurers (who reap huge profits in Texas) to court and have not only reduced the outrageous premiums sought but required changes in their claims handling practices- to protect their states families.

Unfortunately, for Texas families, in Texas it does not appear that anyone is trying anything to protect our families from the insurance company abuses we now see in Texas every day.

Six years ago Texas had very sweeping "tort reform" that included not only medical malpractice damage limits but also radically reshaped the legal landscape for Texas families.

The result for Texas consumers was a disaster. The winners big insurance companies -the losers Texas families.

Although Texans are forced to buy car insurance and premiums have risen at a record pace since tort reform- good luck if you are an innocent victim in a car accident in Texas.

Tort reform has given the green light to insurance companies to hardball Texas families and has led to forced litigation in smaller cases like car accidents.

In other words the insurance companies offers are so low (many times less than medical expenses) that Texas families have little choice but to retain a lawyer and go through expensive litigation - a strategy designed by the insurance companies to discourage legitimate claims by Texas consumers.

Texans were promised their insurance rates would drop with tort reform. That was not true.

Texans were promised that they would benefit from tort reform, Texas families have not.

Now as a result of "tort reform" in Texas insurers mount frivolous defenses in small cases forcing what should be unnecessary litigation to deter claims.

Victims have to incur the costs of litigation when they have done nothing wrong because Texas has no accountability for bad faith and brutal claims handling practices- in short "tort reform" has promoted groundless defenses by insurance companies and made litigation necessary- for any kind of fairness.

Texas has become a "honey hole" for insurance company excessive profits on the backs of Texas families.

Not only do wrongdoers escape accountability under the Texas tort reform plan but
Texas tort reform has allowed insurance companies to abuse the system and force litigation with groundless defenses.

Many families find themselves in the position where they can't deal with an insurance company fairly and they can't find a lawyer to take smaller cases even though they did nothing wrong and suffered at the hands of a wrongdoer.

It is unfortunate that politics served in this case to hurt Texas families while benefiting wrongdoers and insurance companies reaping excessive profits on the backs of Texas families.

In other states, claims handling practices are closely monitored by the state. In Texas we protect the insurance industry and not the Texas family. It is time that the Texas family came first and wrongdoers and insurance lobbyists come in second.

The headlines of newspapers and other news sources are regularly filled with a sensational story about someone who is suing another party for what might appear to be a ridiculous sum of money. The fact that they ask for a number does mean that is the true value of the claim.

To 'sue' someone is to 'bring a legal action against a person, company, or other entity by filing a lawsuit'.

In a neighboring state there were over 1.4 million suits filed in a single year. We Americans embrace the notion that if we have been wronged we deserve our day in court. The news loves to tout the frivolousness of many lawsuits. When this happens I shake my head in disbelief because who among us can casually deem the extent of another's injury. Our juries hear the evidence are in the best position to set the consequences for wrongful conduct and value of the injury or life lost.

Recently a family sued a semi truck driver and his company for over $20 million when their son was killed due to negligence on several counts. Now some may gasp that the sum is too high. But I would counter by saying not 'what is the value of a life' but 'what is the value of the life of your loved one'?

If it was your child, your mother or father, your aunt or uncle, your grandparents, your best friend then what would you consider to be a just compensation - what amount of money would you trade?

Perhaps the saddest thing about this entire conversation is that even if a family receives a monetary award in the end their victory is hollow because no amount of money can ever replace the life of someone that you love.

However, you would be happy to know that many of my clients use a large part of the money from a personal injury case to do good for the community and prevent similar accidents.

Continue reading "What is the Value of a Wrongful Death?" »

I get phone calls every day from people who are disillusioned when dealing with an adjuster over a car accident. In a typical scenario, a clear liability accident has happened such as being rear-ended while stopped at a stoplight and the adverse adjuster tells the injury victim there accepted responsibility. In the conversation, the adjuster also indicates they should turn it over their medical bills to the adjuster.

The injury victim assumes that the adjuster will be fair and reasonably value their injury claim. That is a mistake. What happens frequently it is several months down the road, the injury victim learns that the adjuster intends to disallow some of the necessary medical treatment and discount others.

When it comes time to value the injury, things such as pain and suffering and temporary disability seen to have little or no value to the adjuster. It is then; for the first time that the injury victim understands they need a personal injury lawyer.

The moral of this short story is that insurance adjusters get paid not to pay fair value to injury victims. On top of that, Texas has adopted radical tort reform, which benefits not only insurance carriers but also wrongdoers such as drunk drivers and truck drivers on drugs, at the expense of the innocent victim.

If you have been injured in an accident and the adjuster accepts responsibility do not assume they will make a fair offer of settlement to you.

In the news this week are many stories about our former first lady Mrs. Bush talking about a fatal car accident that happened when she was a teenager.

The news reports struck home with me because it highlights the fact that serious or fatal car accidents touch almost every family at some point. I lost a cousin and numerous friends in car accidents. Several of my very good friends have been seriously injured in car wrecks.

The touching thing here is the ongoing impact that a car accident can have on lives from something that happens in a split second. A bad car wreck can change or impact your life forever.

In my blog posts I discuss driver safety at every opportunity. Sometimes no matter what you do you're at the mercy of what someone else did or did not do.

One of the things that I have found true in my personal injury law practice is that no one believes that it will happen to their family. It's always the other guy.

Texas enacted very radical tort reform several years back. The impact of tort reform has been to substantially reduce victim's ability to find competent counsel and be treated even decently by an insurance company.

Continue reading "Former first lady talks about the fatal car crash" »