Child hurt trick-or-treating in Austin? It depends on how it happened: a driver, a homeowner, a dog owner, or a bar that over-served a drunk driver may be responsible. Here is how I sort it out, and what to do that night.
It feels backwards: you’ve paid premiums for years, you’re the victim of someone else’s negligence, and yet your own insurance company is treating your UIM claim like an adversarial lawsuit. There’s a reason for that, and it’s worth understanding before you’re surprised by it. Your Insurer Is Standing in the At-Fault Driver’s Shoes When you […]
Once you’ve established a UIM claim, the next question is how much it’s actually worth — and that depends on math most people have never had to think through before. Start With the At-Fault Driver’s Limits Say your damages total $150,000, and the at-fault driver carried Texas’s minimum $30,000 liability policy. Once that $30,000 is […]
Two things surprise most people about slip-and-fall claims in Texas: how quickly the evidence that proves your case disappears, and how a single legal doctrine — “open and obvious” — can end a claim before it starts. The Open and Obvious Defense Texas property owners generally don’t owe a duty to warn about hazards that […]
A product recall doesn’t automatically mean you have a case — and being hurt by a product with no recall doesn’t automatically mean you don’t. Here’s how recalls actually fit into a products liability claim. What a Recall Actually Means A recall means a manufacturer or a federal agency (like the Consumer Product Safety Commission, […]
These two categories sound similar, but they require proving completely different things — and knowing which one applies to your situation shapes the entire case from the start. For an overview of how these claims work, see my Texas product liability lawyer page. Manufacturing Defect: Something Went Wrong Making This One A manufacturing defect means […]
Most people assume the rear driver is automatically at fault in a rear-end collision. That’s usually true in practice, but it’s worth understanding why, and the situations where it isn’t as simple as it sounds. Why the Rear Driver Is Usually Presumed at Fault Texas doesn’t have a literal statute declaring rear-end collisions automatically the […]
Being partly at fault for an accident doesn’t mean you get nothing — but it does mean your recovery gets reduced, and insurers know exactly how to use that rule to their advantage. Texas’s Modified Comparative Negligence Rule Texas follows a 51% bar rule: you can recover damages as long as you’re found 50% or […]
Being hit by a driver who then flees the scene leaves you dealing with real damages and, seemingly, no one to hold responsible. There are still real paths to recovery — they just look different from a typical claim. Report It Immediately Call the police right away. Even a partial description of the vehicle, a […]
The insurance adjuster who calls you within a day or two of your accident sounds friendly, sympathetic, and eager to help. Their job, however, is to close your claim for as little as possible — and understanding that changes how you should handle that call. Their Job Is Cost Containment, Not Advocacy Adjusters are evaluated […]