Austin Car Accident Lawyer

 

Choosing a Car Accident Lawyer in Austin

You can check a lawyer’s record before you sign anything, and past clients, published results, and the lawyer’s standing in Austin give you information you can verify on your own.

• Reviews from past clients tell you whether a lawyer got results for them, returned their calls, and explained each offer from the insurance company. You can read what Adam Loewy’s clients say in his Google reviews and on his Avvo profile.
• Results in car accident cases show whether a lawyer has recovered money for clients hurt the way you were hurt. Our verdicts and settlements page lists amounts our firm has recovered in past cases.
• Recognition from outside groups gives you a second opinion on a lawyer’s work. Adam has been named a Texas Super Lawyer every year since 2017.
• An Austin address in an advertisement does not tell you where your lawyer works. A national firm can list an Austin phone number or office and still refer your case to a lawyer in another city, so ask who will work your case and where that lawyer’s office is.
• Time in Austin tells you whether a lawyer has roots in the community where your case will be heard. Adam founded Loewy Law Firm in Austin in 2005, the Austin Bar Association gave him its David H. Walter Community Excellence Award in 2020, and our firm has donated more than $4 million to Austin-area charities.

Do You Have a Case?

You have a case against the driver who caused your crash when four things are true, and we go through each one with you in your free consultation.

1. The Other Driver Was Careless

Texas negligence laws expect every driver to drive with reasonable care, and a driver who runs a red light or texts behind the wheel falls short of it. You can recover from the careless driver even if you were partly to blame. Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule in Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, and your recovery drops by your share of the blame. If you were 40 percent responsible for the crash, your damages go down by 40 percent, and CPRC § 33.001 bars any recovery once your share goes above 50 percent.

An insurance adjuster can argue that you share more of the blame to lower an offer, and our lawyers gather the crash report and witness accounts to show what the other driver did.

2. The Crash Caused Your Injuries

Your medical records connect your injuries to the crash, starting with the first doctor visit after it. An insurance adjuster can argue that a back or neck problem came from an older injury or from something that happened after the crash. Our lawyers can work with your doctors to show which injuries the crash caused and whether it made an older injury worse.

3. Your Injuries Led to Measurable Losses

Texas car accident laws let you recover two kinds of losses, which CPRC § 41.001 defines as economic and noneconomic damages. Economic damages cover losses you can document with records, and hospital bills, pay you missed while you recovered, and repair costs for your vehicle all qualify. Noneconomic damages cover pain, emotional distress, and the ways the injury changed your life, and your doctors and the people who see you every day can describe them.

4. You Are Within the Deadline

The Texas statute of limitations gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit against the driver who caused it (CPRC § 16.003).

A case against a government driver has a shorter notice deadline. Texas law gives a government agency the right to notice of your claim within six months of the crash (CPRC § 101.101), and the City of Austin requires a notice letter within 45 days. A crash with a police car or other city vehicle is one example, and our firm can bring a case against the government under the Tort Claims Act when a government driver caused your crash.

Our lawyers can gather the evidence for each of the four points, and we use the evidence to press the insurance company for full payment or take your case to trial.

Steps to Take After a Crash in Austin

What you do in the days after a crash gives our lawyers the records they use to prove your case, and our car accident checklist puts each step on one page you can keep on your phone.

1. Call 911 and Ask for an Officer. An officer who comes to the scene writes a Texas Peace Officer’s crash report (form CR-3), and you can buy a copy through TxDOT’s website.
2. Exchange Information With the Other Driver. Get the driver’s name, phone number, license plate, insurance company, and policy number, and ask any witnesses for their names and phone numbers.
3. Take Photos. If you can do it safely, photograph the vehicles, your injuries, the traffic signals, and any skid marks before anyone moves the cars.
4. Get Checked by a Doctor. Go to an urgent care clinic or emergency room even if you feel fine, since a doctor can find injuries you do not feel yet and the visit starts the medical record that ties your injuries to the crash.
5. Notify Your Own Insurance Company. Report the crash to your insurance company and stick to what you saw, without guessing about speeds or who was at fault.
6. Hold Off on a Recorded Statement to the Other Driver’s Insurance Company. The other driver’s adjuster can use what you say to argue that you share the blame or that your injuries are minor, and our lawyers can speak with the adjuster for you.
7. Keep a Record of Every Loss. Save medical bills, repair estimates, and receipts, and write down each day you miss work because of your injuries.
8. Keep the Crash off Social Media. An insurance company can use social media posts to argue your injuries are less serious than your medical records show, and we advise clients to stop posting about the crash and their recovery until the case ends.
9. Contact a Car Accident Lawyer. Call our office at (512) 280-0800 or reach us online before you accept an offer or sign anything from an insurance company.

Proving the Other Driver Caused Your Crash

Each way a driver can cause a crash leaves a different kind of proof, and our lawyers go after the records that fit what happened in your crash. A few examples:

• Distracted driving. Our lawyers can request the other driver’s phone records to show a text or call at the time of the crash in a distracted driving
• Drunk driving. Blood or breath test results and records from the DWI case can show the driver was impaired, and in a drunk driving crash, a bar or restaurant that kept serving an obviously drunk driver can be responsible under Texas dram shop laws.
• Speeding and reckless driving. The event data recorder in the other driver’s car can store the speed and braking in the seconds before impact, and a crash reconstruction expert can use the data and the damage to the vehicles to show what the driver did in a speeding or reckless driving
• Right-of-way crashes. Traffic camera footage and witness accounts can show who had the right of way in a failure to yield, side-impact, or head-on
• Rear-end crashes. The driver who hit you from behind in a rear-end crash can claim you stopped suddenly, and dashcam footage and witness accounts can show the driver was following too closely.
• Poor vehicle maintenance. Repair and inspection records can show the other driver kept driving on worn brakes or tires.

Our lawyers can gather the crash report, scene photos, and witness statements in any car accident case, and we bring in accident reconstruction experts when the other side disputes fault.

Proving the Full Extent of Your Injuries

An insurance adjuster can only value your injury from the records in front of them, and our lawyers work to make your records show everything the injury has cost you and will cost you.

• Injuries that do not appear on an X-ray. An adjuster can call whiplash and other neck and back strains minor because an X-ray of a strained neck can look normal. Our lawyers can use MRI results and your doctor’s notes on your pain and physical limits to prove soft tissue injuries.
• Brain injuries. Memory problems and headaches after a brain injury can be hard for anyone outside your family to see, and a neurologist’s evaluation can put them in your medical record. Our lawyers can pair the evaluation with accounts from the people closest to you to show how the injury changed your daily life.
• Injuries that need years of care. A spinal cord injury or a broken bone that needs surgery can require treatment for years after your case ends. Our lawyers can work with your doctors on cost estimates for future surgeries and therapy, and for the work you can no longer do, so the demand to the insurance company covers more than the bills you have today.

You can help your case by going to every follow-up appointment and telling your doctor about each symptom, even ones that seem small, so your doctor’s notes give a complete account of your injury.

Insurance That Pays for Your Losses

More than one insurance policy can pay for the losses from a single crash, and our lawyers look at every policy that applies to yours.

• The other driver’s liability insurance. Texas requires every driver to carry at least $30,000 for each injured person, $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage, known as 30/60/25 coverage. A driver with only the minimum can leave you with medical bills larger than the policy pays.
• Your own PIP coverage. Personal injury protection pays medical bills and 80 percent of lost wages up to your policy limit regardless of who caused the crash, and Texas insurance companies have to include at least $2,500 per person unless you turned it down in writing.
• Your uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. Your own policy can pay when the driver who hit you has no insurance, has too little insurance, or drove away from a hit-and-run. Your insurance company can dispute a UM claim, and our lawyers prove fault and your losses to your own insurance company with the evidence we would gather for any other claim.
• A Stowers demand. When your losses are more than the other driver’s policy limit, our lawyers can send a Stowers demand offering to settle within the limit. Texas law can make an insurance company that turns down a reasonable demand within the limit responsible for a later verdict above it.
• Uber and Lyft coverage. If you were in a rideshare accident, Texas Insurance Code § 1954.052 requires $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage while the driver is logged in to the app and waiting for a ride, and § 1954.053 requires $1 million while the driver is on the way to a pickup or carrying a passenger.
• A company’s insurance. An employer’s commercial policy can pay when the driver who hit you was working at the time of the crash and driving a company vehicle.

What Compensation is Available in a Car Accident Case?

Each kind of compensation is available only when the facts of your case support it, and the amount depends on your injuries and the records that show what they cost you.

• Medical expenses. You can recover the bills for emergency care, surgery, therapy, and medication tied to the crash, along with the cost of treatment your doctors expect you to need in the future.
• Lost wages and lost earning ability. You can recover the pay you missed while you recovered, and the income you can no longer earn if your injuries keep you from returning to your job or working the hours you did before.
• Pain and suffering. Compensation for the physical pain and mental anguish from your injuries can be part of your recovery, and your medical records and the people around you can describe what you went through.
• Loss of consortium. When a serious injury changes your marriage, your spouse can have a separate claim for the loss of your companionship.
• Property damage and loss of vehicle value. You can recover the cost to repair or replace your vehicle, and the drop in your car’s value after a repair can be part of the claim.
• Exemplary damages. A jury can award exemplary damages to punish a driver who caused the crash through gross negligence, which can be the case with a drunk driver, and CPRC § 41.003 allows them only when you prove fraud, malice, or gross negligence by clear and convincing evidence.

Our case results show what our firm has recovered for clients hurt in crashes like yours, and we negotiate with the insurance company for the maximum compensation your case supports. When the insurance company refuses to make a full offer, we can file a lawsuit and take your case to trial.

 

The Timeline of a Car Accident Case

A car accident case goes through a series of stages, and your case can settle at any point before a trial ends.

1. Free Consultation. We review the crash, your injuries, and the insurance coverage, and we tell you whether you have a case.
2. Investigation. Our lawyers gather the crash report, witness statements, camera footage, and your medical records while you get treatment.
3. Insurance Claim and Demand. We open a claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company, and once the cost of your injuries is clear, we send a demand for payment with the records that support it.
4. Negotiation. We negotiate with the adjuster, and your case can settle before any lawsuit if the insurance company makes an offer that covers your losses.
5. Lawsuit. When the insurance company will not make a full offer, we file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver before the two-year deadline.
6. Discovery. Both sides exchange evidence and take sworn testimony in depositions, and we prepare you before you give yours.
7. Mediation. A judge can order both sides to meet with a mediator, a neutral person who works with each side to reach a settlement before trial.
8. Trial. We present the evidence and witnesses to a judge or jury, who sets the amount the at-fault driver owes you.
9. Payment. We pay any medical liens and our fee from the settlement or verdict, and you receive the rest.

The settlement timeline for your case depends on how long your medical treatment lasts, whether the insurance company disputes fault or the cost of your injuries, and whether your case needs a lawsuit.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is It Worth Getting a Lawyer After a Texas Car Accident?

Getting a lawyer after a Texas car accident is worth considering when your injuries need ongoing treatment, the other driver blames you for the crash, or the driver who hit you has little or no insurance. A lawyer can take over the calls with the insurance company, gather the evidence of fault, and put a value on future medical care before you accept an offer.

How Do I Prepare for My Initial Consultation?

Bring the crash report, your medical records and bills, your insurance information, photos of the crash, the names of any witnesses, and any letters or offers from an insurance company. Write down what happened in the order it happened, along with anything the other driver said at the scene, and bring a list of your questions for us.

What Percentage Does a Car Accident Lawyer Take?

A car accident lawyer who works on a contingency fee takes an agreed percentage of the settlement or verdict, and you owe no attorney fee if you do not recover. Texas law requires a contingent fee contract to be in writing and signed by both the lawyer and the client (Government Code § 82.065), so you see the percentage before any work begins. Loewy Law Firm charges no upfront fee, and the agreement states how the percentage and case costs come out of a recovery.

Is Texas a No-Fault State?

Texas is an at-fault state, which means the driver who caused the crash is responsible for your losses and the at-fault driver’s liability insurance pays up to its limits. Your own PIP coverage can pay medical bills regardless of fault, and you can still pursue the at-fault driver for losses PIP does not cover.

Can I Still Recover If I Was Not Wearing a Seat Belt?

You can still recover if you were not wearing a seat belt, but the Texas Supreme Court ruled in Nabors Well Services v. Romero (2015) that seat belt evidence can be used when it is relevant to how responsibility for your injuries is divided. A jury can reduce your recovery by the share of responsibility it assigns to you, an insurance adjuster can argue for a larger share during negotiations, and our lawyers can work with medical experts to show which injuries a seat belt would not have prevented.

Who Pays My Medical Bills While My Case Is Pending?

Your PIP coverage and health insurance can pay your medical bills while your case is pending, and the settlement or verdict from the at-fault driver’s insurance company repays the costs when the case ends. If you do not have health insurance, a doctor can agree to treat you under a letter of protection, which lets the doctor wait for payment until your case resolves.

Hold the Driver Who Hit You Accountable

When another driver caused your crash, Texas law puts the cost of your injuries on the driver who caused it, and our job is to make the driver and the insurance company pay the full amount the law allows. We expect our clients to be fully compensated, and we judge every offer by what your injuries will cost you in the years ahead. Call Loewy Law Firm at (512) 280-0800, and let us take on the insurance company while you put your energy into getting better.