If someone else’s carelessness hurt you in Dallas, a personal injury lawyer’s work is to prove what happened, show what it cost you and collect it from the people and insurers responsible. This page walks through how that works under Texas law.
Injury Claim Lawyer Dallas is the Dallas website of LAWBOSS – Harris, Nelsen & Uvalle, PLLC, a Texas personal injury law firm with its principal office on Spring Valley Road in North Dallas. When you call or send the form on this site, you reach our own Dallas intake team, and the attorneys who work on your claim are ours. Michael Uvalle, who founded the firm, is the attorney responsible for this site.
Fees
No Fees or Costs Unless We Win. The firm advances case costs, and you owe no attorney’s fee and no case costs unless money is recovered for you.
What a personal injury claim is
A personal injury claim is a request for payment from a person or a business whose carelessness caused your injury, and in most cases from that person’s insurer. The claim covers what the injury cost you: medical care, lost pay, pain and the ways it changes your days. Most claims are resolved with the insurer without a trial, but every step is taken with the possibility of a lawsuit in mind, because that is what gives a claim its weight.
The cases we see most often in Dallas start on the road: car wrecks on Central Expressway, rear-end crashes in LBJ traffic, trucks merging onto Stemmons, motorcycles and pedestrians hit at intersections. Others start on someone else’s property, at work, or with a dog. Each has its own page on this site, linked below, and the same Texas rules run through all of them.
The Texas rules that decide a Dallas claim
Two years to file suit
A Texas personal injury lawsuit generally must be brought no later than two years after the day the claim arises (Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003). For a death the two years generally run from the date of death. The time a person is under 18 or of unsound mind is generally not counted (section 16.001), so a child’s two years usually start at 18.
Claims against a government unit move much faster. If a city bus, a county truck or a police car was involved, written notice describing the injury, the time, the place and the incident generally has to reach the government within six months (section 101.101), and a city charter may set a shorter period. The Texas Tort Claims Act also caps what can be recovered from a government unit (section 101.023). If a public vehicle or public property was part of your crash, tell us on the first call.
The 50 percent rule
Texas uses proportionate responsibility. The jury or the parties assign a percentage of responsibility to everyone involved. You can recover if your share is 50 percent or less, and your recovery is reduced by your own percentage; if your share is greater than 50 percent, you cannot recover (sections 33.001 and 33.012). A defendant found more than 50 percent responsible can be held jointly and severally liable (section 33.013).
This rule is why the first conversation an adjuster has with you matters. A few percentage points of blame can change a claim, so insurers look for anything that moves responsibility onto you or onto someone else. A defendant may even ask the court to designate a responsible third party, generally at least 60 days before trial (section 33.004). We build the fault picture from the start so the facts answer that argument.
The insurance behind the claim
Texas requires drivers to carry liability coverage of at least 30,000 dollars for injury or death of one person, 60,000 dollars for two or more people and 25,000 dollars for property damage in one crash (Transportation Code section 601.072). These are minimums written into the statute, not a measure of what any claim is worth. Many drivers carry more; some carry nothing at all.
Your own policy may also help. Personal injury protection (PIP) must be included in every Texas auto policy unless you rejected it in writing, and it is paid without regard to who caused the crash (Insurance Code sections 1952.152 and 1952.155). Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage must also be included unless rejected in writing (section 1952.101). We look at every policy that could apply, not only the other driver’s.
Not sure which policies apply to your crash? Call us and we will look at them with you.
What happens after you call
- The free consultation. You tell us what happened. An attorney reviews it and tells you plainly whether we can help, what the main issues are and what happens next.
- The agreement. If you hire us, the terms are written down and explained before you sign. No Fees or Costs Unless We Win: the firm advances case costs, and you owe no attorney’s fee and no case costs unless money is recovered for you.
- The file. We request the crash report, collect photos and witness names, send letters asking that video and vehicle data be preserved, and gather your medical records and bills as treatment goes on.
- The calls. The insurers talk to us, not you. We handle the property damage questions and keep the injury claim moving.
- The demand. Once your treatment is understood, we send a demand that sets out how the crash happened, who is responsible and everything it has cost you.
- The negotiation. The insurer answers, and we negotiate. Every offer comes to you with our advice; the decision to accept is yours.
- The lawsuit, if needed. If the insurer will not deal fairly, we talk with you about filing suit before the deadline. A Dallas County case is filed in the civil district courts at the George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Building on Commerce Street.
What a Texas injury claim can include
Depending on the facts, a claim can include the medical care you have had and will need, earnings you lost and the earning capacity the injury takes from you, physical pain, mental anguish, physical impairment, disfigurement and damage to your property. Each has to be shown with records and testimony, which is why we start collecting them early.
We do not put a number on a claim from a phone call, and we never quote past settlement figures. What a claim is worth depends on the facts of the crash, the injury, the treatment, the coverage available and the proof, and no two are the same. What we can tell you early is which pieces matter most in your case and how to protect them.
Why our attorneys watch the other side’s file
Michael Uvalle worked for several of the largest insurance companies in Texas before he became a lawyer. He saw how adjusters evaluate injury claims, which records they look for first and why some claims are paid while others are pushed aside. He decided to switch sides, and the firm calls the result the Insurance Insider Advantage. Five of the firm’s seven attorneys came from the insurance side, as adjusters, insurance defense lawyers or trial attorneys for insurers.
In practice that means we anticipate the moves an adjuster is trained to make: the quick recorded statement, the early offer with a release, the argument that your injury came from something else, the slow file that waits for a deadline to pass. Our insurance tactics page explains each of them and what we do about it.
Personal injury cases we handle in Dallas
- Car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian and rideshare crashes on Dallas freeways and streets
- Serious injuries and the medical records and bills that prove them
- Work injuries, slip and fall, bicycle accidents, dog bites and wrongful death
- Claims across Dallas and nearby towns, including Plano
If you want to know more about the attorney relationship itself, read our page on working with a personal injury attorney in Dallas, and for the firm behind this site, our page on LAWBOSS as a personal injury law firm in Dallas.
What to do in the first days
- Get medical care and follow the plan your doctors give you.
- Photograph the vehicles, the scene, your injuries and anything that changes as you heal.
- Write down names and numbers of witnesses and the officer who responded.
- Keep every bill, receipt, pay stub and note from work about time missed.
- Do not post about the crash or your injuries online.
- Do not sign a release or give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement before you have talked with a lawyer.
None of this has to be perfect. If you have already talked to an adjuster or thrown away a receipt, tell us, and we will work with what there is. The consultation is free, and the phones at our Dallas office are answered 24 hours a day.
Questions people ask
Do I need a personal injury lawyer for a minor crash in Dallas?
Not always. If no one was hurt and the property damage is being paid, you may not need one. If you were hurt, missed work or the insurer disputes fault, a free consultation will tell you where you stand.
How long does a Dallas injury claim take?
It depends mostly on how long treatment takes and whether the insurer disputes fault. We generally wait until your treatment is understood before sending a demand, so the claim covers the whole injury.
What if the other driver has no insurance?
Your own uninsured motorist coverage may apply. It is part of every Texas auto policy unless you rejected it in writing (Insurance Code section 1952.101), so check your declarations page.
Will my case go to trial?
Most claims are resolved without a trial, but we prepare every claim as if it might be filed, because that is what gives it weight. If suit is needed, we discuss it with you first.