
In a city with some of the worst traffic congestion in Texas, Houston drivers face tens of thousands of accidents a year. Every day, car accidents cause major injuries and weeks or months of lost income.
Worse, auto insurance companies can pressure survivors and families with denials or low settlement offers, especially if they do not have a personal injury attorney to protect their rights. As your Houston car accident lawyer, Attorney Brant Stogner could help you learn what damages you can claim and pursue maximum compensation.
How Car Accidents Cause Injuries
All car crashes carry the risk of serious physical trauma. Attorney Brant Stogner has handled Houston auto collision cases involving the following types of injuries:
- Whiplash-associated disorder (WAD): Pain and loss of function in the neck and back due to soft-tissue injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs): Simple concussions to bleeding within the skull
- Spinal cord injuries, ranging from herniated discs to nerve damage that leads to paralysis
Car accident attorneys frequently see specific injuries resulting from the same types of crashes. For example, rollover accidents often result in serious TBIs and upper body trauma from the road’s impact with the top of the vehicle. T-bone accidents can lead to major limb and pelvic fractures, while rear-end accidents create opportunities for whiplash.
What Kind of Compensation Do Crash Survivors and Families Need?
After a car accident, a survivor’s injuries can require intensive or long-term medical care. This may include:
- Home health aides after discharge from the hospital
- Burn unit stays for patients needing extensive skin grafts
- Inpatient care for major fractures that require surgery or stabilization
- Adaptive technology and mobility aids such as wheelchairs, as well as frequent adjustments and training for their use
- Physical rehabilitation and therapy for those with TBIs, paralysis, and muscular injuries, allowing them to reclaim their motor skills and cognitive abilities
Survivors often also face major expenses for childcare or domestic help that they would not have needed before the accident. And while they cannot work, they lose their income, sometimes permanently. All this time, they struggle with the pain and horror of the injury’s aftermath.
Those who have lost a close relative to a car accident must bear not only their grief but the expenses of an unexpected death: a funeral and a burial. They must also live without their loved one’s financial contributions and emotional support. Our car collision lawyers in Houston could help you file a wrongful death claim to recover these losses.
Challenges to the Rights of Car Accident Survivors
Car accident victims and their families hope for a quick and fair insurance settlement for damages (the legal term for compensation). Sadly, even when injuries are devastating, insurance companies work to protect their bottom line first by avoiding payments.
According to Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.001, someone injured in a car accident cannot recover damages if they were more than 50 percent at fault. If their percentage of fault is less than that, they can recover damages, but their award will be reduced by their proportion of fault.
Insurers will investigate car accidents to determine what happened, but they often will try to place the fault on the driver or argue that the policy does not cover the accident due to certain circumstances. They may even investigate an injured person’s life and social media to claim that the car accident did not hurt them that badly.
With the help of a car accident lawyer in Houston, you could secure the compensation you need to facilitate a smooth recovery.
Rely on a Houston Auto Wreck Attorney With Extensive Experience
In his years of service, Attorney Brant Stogner has learned how to protect his clients from corporate pressure and insurance company tactics. When you need a Houston car accident lawyer for catastrophic injuries or the loss of a loved one, contact an attorney who has experience recovering favorable settlement awards.
No one can guarantee you a favorable outcome, but Attorney Brant Stogner brings over 20 years of experience. Get in touch with the office today to discuss your case.