Legal Question in Personal Injury in Texas

Re: What is maximum amount

Slip and falls are difficult personal injury suits. The law requires that the defendant knew or should have known a danger existed and did nothing about it. ie. broken egg on floor of big grocery store chain - if that chain does regular check ups of the store and cleans up what they find on a regular basis - usually no negligence is found. In my example, you have to prove they knew the egg was there and did not clean it up in a reasonable period of time. No maximum amount to sue for in Texas if in district court. Long ago ins. companies paid 3x's actual medicals as a fair recovery. Now with tort reform and most juries believing people sue over everything and that makes rates go up they get away with paying much less. No rule of thumb anymore. You may have to sue or be in hallway of courthouse at trial setting to get a decent offer and that is only if they think a jury will find them negligent. $10,000 in meds - if they are medical doctors and not chiropractors (yes, they still look down on Chiros) - if it was not a slip and fall could range in total recovery between $13,000 and $20,000. If facts are blantant negligence and your future meds are high maybe more. But, again, most attorneys won't take slip and fall cases. If you can prove negligence you can recover for actual medical costs, lost wages, pain and suffering, past, present and future pain and suffering and medical costs, loss of consortium, etc. Most attorneys will take PI cases on contingency - 33-1/3% - 40% of total recovery + expenses. Atty gets pd 1st. Then health insurance company get reimbursed. You get what is left. I know this response sounds very negative, but slip & falls unless circumstances show blantant negligence are usually loser cases. I don't lie to my clients. I would be happy to talk to you about the specific details - maybe you have just the right circumstances. 512-336-1683 is ofc but e-mail is probably easier and would save both of us much time. My e-mail is [email protected]. Identify who you are in the subject line because I don't open strange e-mails for fear of a virus. Good luck. I hope you are recovering well and are not in much pain.

Re: What is maximum amount

One may "sue" for any amount one wishes; there is no maximum amount. However, suing for an amount and collecting an amount are two different matters. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula for determining the value of a case. The true value of a case is determined by what a jury would award on that particular case. Only a skilled personal injury attorney with years of experience can estimate what that sum might be. (There are 13 potential catagories of damages that an attorney considers when arriving at a fair settlement value.) As to future medical costs, if you are already in suit, a deposition of your treating doctor will be required. He or she will be asked to state "in reasonable medical probability" the cost in today's dollars of care that is likely to be needed in the future.