San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyer

Helping Personal Injury Accident Victims to Recover Monetary Compensation and Damages in their Cases

With a population of almost 1.5 million people, the greater San Antonio region is a popular place. With all of the busy highways, roadways, and waterways in and around the greater San Antonio metropolitan region, the busy conditions can create the risk of accidents and personal injuries.

If you were injured in an accident that was not your fault, you may be eligible to recover monetary compensation. The team of legal professionals and lawyers at Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law, has settled personal injury cases in Texas for more than 20 years. The experienced legal team knows how to maximize compensation in personal injury cases, holding insurance companies accountable. If you have suffered injuries in an accident, the professionals at Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law, are waiting to give you your free consultation, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 800-898-4877—or you may contact us now by CLICKING HERE.

Statute of Limitations in Personal Injury Cases

The statute of limitation in a case is the deadline by which a lawsuit must be filed. With very limited exceptions, statutes of limitation are hard and fast deadlines. In other words, if a lawsuit is not filed within the specified time period, the plaintiff is barred from ever receiving closure for their case.

In a Texas personal injury case, any claim or lawsuit for damages must be filed within two years of the date of the accident.

Statute of limitation deadlines are in place to make sure all convictions are done with. If no statutes of limitation were in place a good chance that essential witnesses to a be unavailable by the time the case is filed, or people involved may forget or misconstrue important details.

Call our office as soon as possible so that our team of attorneys and legal professionals can work to ensure that your personal injury claim or lawsuit is filed within the applicable statute of limitations time period.

Types of Accidents Resulting in Personal Injuries

People can sustain personal injuries in a variety of accidents and under many different circumstances. Some of the most common bases for personal injury cases include the following:

Car accidents—When car drivers violate the rules of the road or otherwise operate their motor vehicles recklessly, carelessly, or with distraction, they significantly increase their chances of causing an accident accompanied by personal injuries.

Truck and tractor-trailer accidents—Large box trucks, semis, and 18-wheelers are large and fast vehicles. When they collide with much smaller cars and trucks, the injuries and damages can be significant. This is especially true in the cases of truck rollover accidents and head-on collisions that occur at high rates of speed. In addition to negligent truck drivers, employer trucking companies may also be held accountable for personal injuries sustained as a result of an employee truck driver’s negligence.

Bicycle and motorcycle accidents—When it comes to serious accidents, bicycle and motorcycle operators and their passengers are at a significant disadvantage. While occupants of a car or truck have the protective body of a vehicle surrounding them, bicyclists and motorcyclists do not. Since their bodies are directly exposed to their environment injuries they sustain in a serious collision can be permanent and life-threatening. Those injuries may include paralysis, traumatic brain injuries, fractures, broken bones, and even death.

Boating accidents—Boating accidents can occur on San Antonio waterways when boaters operate their watercraft irresponsibly—or while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Boating accidents can involve serious impacts with other watercraft, as well as collisions with docks or other objects in the water. These collisions may cause the watercraft to overturn and eject passengers from the watercraft, causing them to sustain serious injuries.

Pedestrian Accidents—San Antonio pedestrian accidents can occur at traffic intersections when motor vehicle operators fail to give pedestrians the right-of-way at a crosswalk or other designated area. In addition to intersections and crosswalks, pedestrian accidents can occur on sidewalks, as well as in parking lots and parking garages. When a motor vehicle collides with a pedestrian, the pedestrian may fall to the ground and sustain serious injuries. The chances of injury in these cases increase significantly when a motor vehicle strikes the pedestrian at a high rate of speed.

Slip and falls—Slip and fall accidents can occur both indoors and outdoors. Indoor slip and fall accidents usually occur when a place of business fails to properly maintain the premises and ensure that defective or hazardous conditions are properly removed or corrected. When accident victims slip and fall on someone else’s premises, they are likely to injure their heads, backs, hips, or ankles. In order to show that the place of business is liable for the personal injuries sustained, the accident victim must be able to show both that the business was aware of the defect (or should have been aware based upon a reasonable inspection), and that the business had a sufficient opportunity to warn about or correct the known hazardous condition on the premises.

The San Antonio team at Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law can review the facts of your accident with you, explain your legal options, and determine the best method for moving forward with your case.

Burden of Proof

In personal injury cases, the injured victim has the responsibility of proving liability, injuries, and the monetary need to compensate for those damages.

In personal injury cases, the accident victim must be able to show that the other person owed a duty of care. In a car accident case, for example, motor vehicle operators owe a duty of care to all other drivers and pedestrians on or near the roadway at that time by obeying the laws of the roadway. The accident victim must also be able to show that the other person violated this duty of care. In the motor vehicle accident context, this means violating a traffic law, such as by significantly exceeding the posted speed limit.

This violation of the established duty of care must directly result in the accident that caused accident victim to have sustained the claimed injuries and damages.

Proving the elements of a personal injury negligence case can be difficult. This is made most difficult by insurance companies and their adjusters who’s job it is to do everything they can to minimize the damage settlement of a personal injury case. The team of San Antonio personal injury attorneys and legal professionals at Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law, can help you prove the legal elements that you need to prevail in your personal injury case.

Comparative Fault in Personal Injury Cases

When it comes to assessing fault in a personal injury case, the State of Texas employs the legal doctrine of modified comparative fault. Under this doctrine, an accident victim is not eligible to recover their damages in a personal injury case if he or she is deemed 51 percent or more responsible for the accident. If the accident victim’s level of fault is determined to be less than that number, however, the accident victim can still recover monetary return for their personal injuries. However, any potential recovery will be offset by the accident victim’s proportion of fault.

For example, in a pedestrian accident case, if the accident victim was walking slightly outside of the crosswalk lines and was deemed 25 percent responsible for the accident—the motor vehicle being deemed 75 percent at fault—then the accident victim can still recover 75 percent of the available monetary coverage.

If the insurance company is claiming that you contributed to an accident and your personal injuries, the team of skilled lawyers and legal professionals at Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law, may be able to help you fight a liability dispute and maximize the value of your case.

Recoverable Damages in a Personal Injury Case

The amount of compensable damages available to personal injury accident victims varies depending upon the circumstances, as well as the nature and extent of the injuries sustained in the accident. Common types of economic and noneconomic damages which are available to personal injury plaintiffs include compensation for:

• Medical and physical therapy bills—Serious accidents can result not just in medical treatment, but also physical therapy, occupational therapy, and complicated surgical procedures. All of this is compensable under the law when directly related to the subject accident.
• Lost wages—Following some accidents, the injuries are so severe that the accident victim must miss time from work to attend medical appointments—or just to rest up and recover from the injuries sustained. Missed work time is compensable if a doctor completes an off-work slip, authorizing the accident victim to remain off work for a certain period of time.
• Pain and suffering<—In addition to receiving compensation for medical bills and lost wages, accident victims may also be able to recover monetary compensation for the suffering, pain, and inconvenience they were forced to go through following a serious accident. Although the amount of these damages can vary from case-to-case, they are usually based upon the impact an accident has on the accident victim’s quality of life and ability to function and perform normal tasks.
• Emotional distress—An accident victim may also be able to recover monetary compensation for all of the mental anguish and emotional distress suffered because of the accident. These damages may include monetary compensation for related psychiatric or psychological evaluations or treatment.
• Loss of companionship—An accident victim may be able to recover compensation for loss of spousal (sexual) companionship that is related to personal injuries sustained in an accident, as well as for the inability to spend time with other family members.
• Wrongful death—If the accident causes the accident victim’s death, then the surviving family members may be able to file a claim or lawsuit for wrongful death. Proving a wrongful death case is much like proving a standard personal injury case. However, the damages available to the surviving family members may include compensation for funeral expenses, as well as compensation for the decedent’s pain and suffering leading up to the time of their death.

Talk to a San Antonio Personal Injury Accident Law Firm Today for a Free Case Evaluation and Consultation

When it comes to personal injury cases, not all personal injury law firms are the same. While effectively settling cases is important, law firms that have successfully tried and litigated cases in court frighten insurance companies. The team of San Antonio personal injury accident attorneys and legal professionals at Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law, have litigated and tried many personal injury cases across Texas. Our law team consists of tough negotiators and litigators who are ready to fight for your right to monetary compensation. Unlike some personal injury law firms, when the insurance company refuses to make a decent settlement offer, our team of lawyers and legal professionals are ready and willing to take your case to trial.

The team at Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law are nationally recognized personal injury lawyers and legal professionals who have protected the rights of injured victims for more than 20 years. If you were injured in an accident, call our office right now for your free consultation! Because we take all of our personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis, you will not owe us a DIME unless we win your case. We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so call us today at 800-898-4877 or contact us now by CLICKING HERE.

See what past clients have to say:

Review: 5/5
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“As a relatively new resident of Houston, I did not know of an attorney to contact for a personal injury suit. I randomly went through the yellow pages contacting two attorneys that had rejected my case prior to me contacting Stewart Guss. Stewart took my case on and settled for far more than I had anticipated. The silver lining of this is that I will now have enough money to go back to school for retraining, so I will be able to reenter the workforce in a new capacity. The paralegal, Angela, was kind and supportive throughout the process. If I did not understand the legal jargon, I did not hesitate to ask, and was never once made to feel that I was incompetent. Thank you Stewart and Angela for giving me a new lease on live.”

-Sally T.