The Basic Requirements for a Personal Injury Claim in Texas

Personal injury claims are legal disputes that arise when one person suffers an injury due to the actions or negligence of another party. If you were hurt in a car accident, for example, or bitten by a stranger’s dog, or hospitalized after a slip and fall, you may have grounds to file a personal injury claim in San Antonio. But do you know the basic requirements for a personal injury claim in Texas? If not, the experts at Carabin Shaw, one of the preeminent San Antonio personal injury law firms, are here to help. Read on to learn about the four elements of a personal injury claim, tips on choosing the right San Antonio personal injury attorney, and more.

Each personal injury claim is unique, but all personal injury claims have four basic elements in common. These elements are as follows:

The first component of any personal injury claim that your lawyer must establish is the relevant duty of care that applied in your situation. A duty of care is an obligation to avoid injuring another person by taking certain precautions. For example, drivers have a duty of care to not drink behind the wheel and to operate their cars safely.

In some situations (like the one above), duty of care is easy to establish, because there are laws governing how people should act. In other situations, the legal guidelines are less clear. For example, business owners must take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of customers—but there is room for interpretation here. Your lawyer, therefore, must establish what steps a reasonable person would take to prevent injury in your circumstances—and then demonstrate how the person who harmed you deviated from that standard. To determine the duty of reasonable care in your situation, you will need to consult with legal experts at San Antonio personal injury law firms.

Next, your lawyer will have to demonstrate that a breach occurred in exercising reasonable care. For instance, if you slipped on a recently-mopped floor in the grocery store because there was no warning sign, your attorney may argue that the store owner breached their duty of care by failing to ensure that a sign was set up.

Not all personal injury claims deal with negligence, however. Other claims are filed due to another party’s reckless behavior or intentionally-harmful actions. But regardless of the intention or lack of intention, the person who breached their duty of care is still legally considered liable for the outcome of their actions.

The third element of a personal injury claim is that your attorney must be able to prove that your injuries or losses were caused by the other party’s negligence or recklessness. Even if other factors played a role in causing your injuries, your San Antonio accident attorneys must be able to prove that the person who breached a duty of care contributed to your injury through their actions.

Your damages will be reduced by the percentage that you are personally found to be at fault for the injury. In Texas, the only way you can recover compensation is if your own degree of fault in the accident is determined to be fifty percent or less.

Even if your attorney is able to prove the first three components of a claim, you will not be able to recover compensation unless you can prove damages. In other words, you do not have grounds for a claim unless you have suffered losses from the accident that can be proven by your San Antonio personal injury attorney.

If you’re ready to find out whether or not you have the grounds for a successful personal injury claim, the attorneys at Carabin Shaw are here to help.

Call our San Antonio office today at 210-222-2288 to receive your free consultation with an attorney at one of the best San Antonio personal injury law firms in town, and to find out how our lawyers can help you receive the compensation you deserve.