What to Expect

1.  SOMEONE IS INJURED

A personal injury claim like the ones we handle starts with a person being injured through no fault of their own.​​

2.  MEDICAL TREATMENT

It is important for your health and your lawsuit that you seek medical attention right away. The longer you wait to seek medical care, the more time it will take to heal and get you back to where you were before the injury. If you are unable to find a doctor that will see you or are worried about large out-of-pocket expenses, call us and we may be able to help find a doctor who will agree to hold your bills until after your lawsuit is over.​

3.  HIRING A LAWYER

It is usually after a person has seen to their immediate medical needs that they begin to think about hiring a lawyer.

4.  CLAIM IS INVESTIGATED

The lawyer and the client work together to gather evidence about what happened, the client’s injuries, and whether or not a judgment will be collectible.​

5.  LAWSUIT IS FILED AND ANSWERED

At this stage, a document known as a Petition is filed in Texas courts. Once a petition is filed, a Defendant must be served in person. This is usually done by a process server who looks for the Defendant and hands them the document. Once a Defendant has been served, they have about 30 days to respond. Usually, they contact their insurance company who is contractually obligated to provide them with a lawyer to represent them.​

6.  DISCOVERY

This is the most lengthy part of a lawsuit. The discovery process can take months or years, depending on the complexity of the case. Discovery can include answering written questions, providing documents, sitting through depositions and hiring experts, among other time-consuming and expensive events.​

7.  MEDIATION

Once both sides feel they have gathered enough evidence to fairly evaluate a case, they can agree at any time to go to mediation. Mediation is a structured process where a third party assists in resolving a dispute through negotiations. Texas courts require that people negotiate prior to trial to see if they can resolve their disputes. Even if an agreement can’t be reached, a mediation is an important step in evaluating your case and preparing for trial.​

8.  TRIAL

Trial is the next step in the litigation process and the one most people are familiar with. Trials can last days or weeks, depending on the complexity of the case. A court determines when a case goes to trial and a busy courthouse can sometimes delay a person’s day in court. A trial usually results in a judgment against the Defendant or a finding that the Defendant was not at fault in the case.​

9.  APPEAL, IF NECESSARY

Once the trial has ended, each party has a small amount of time to challenge the results of the trial based on some perceived error that occurred during the trial. When large money is awarded to an injured person and an insurance company or corporation is forced to pay, there is a good chance that the Defendant will appeal a judgment in a last-ditch attempt to avoid paying.

Let’s Talk Money

WHAT CAN I BE COMPENSATED FOR?

In a personal injury case when we talk about “compensation” we are usually referring to money you receive to make up for losing something like your health or a paycheck from work. The things you ask a jury to compensate you for are called your “damages.” In a personal injury lawsuit in Texas you can ask a jury to compensate you for the following damages if something or someone else was the cause:

• Medical Expenses – money for medical bills for treatment you have had in the past as well as treatment you are likely to need in the future. Examples of medical expenses are hospital bills, chiropractor bills, and money to buy equipment like crutches or wheelchairs.​
• Physical Pain and Suffering – money for pain and suffering you went through in the past and the pain and suffering you are likely to have in the future.​
• Mental Anguish – money for a high level of distress or mental pain in the past and in the future.​
• Lost Wages – money you lost due to time taken off of work to heal.​
• Lost Earning Capacity – the amount of money you will lose because you can no longer do the job you previously had and have to take a lower paying job. For example, if a plumber injures himself so severely that he can no longer twist a wrench, he may have to look for a lower paying job like a warehouse clerk.​
• Physical Impairment – money for losing the ability to do something, like run or climb stairs.​
• Disfigurement – money for any scarring or other injuries that affect your personal appearance.​

WHAT IS MY CASE WORTH IN SAN ANTONIO?

Determining the value of a case is difficult. It can depend on a number of things like the severity of your injuries, the nastiness of a defendant’s conduct, or even the place where the courthouse is located. No lawyer can (or should) ever guarantee a dollar amount to their clients. If a case has to go to trial a jury may choose to give an award much lower or higher than what a lawyer and his or her client thinks is reasonable. We do our best to level with you and let you know what you can reasonably expect as compensation in your case, but we can’t really guarantee you a favorable outcome. When we become partners in your lawsuit, we both risk a certain amount of time and money.

MEDICAL BILLS

Let us be clear from the beginning. The medical bills you get as a result of treatment for injuries related to an accident are your responsibility. If you are unable to pay them or can’t afford to front the out-of-pocket expenses, we may be able to work with doctors who will agree to take their payment at the end of a lawsuit, instead of at the end of treatment. We are experienced personal injury attorneys who often help our clients get medical treatment when money is tight and we take pride in being able to offer this service to our clients. However, we never assume payment of any of your bills.

One way to value a case is by the amount of medical bills incurred by the client. Unfortunately, this leads some firms to push their clients to undergo prolonged or unneeded medical treatment. But, when a jury goes to make their award, they get to determine whether the treatment was necessary. If they think you ran up the bills to get a higher award, they could leave you holding the bag.

In addition, high medical bills will certainly affect what you take home in a settlement. What lawyers sometimes don’t make clear to their clients is that the lawyer, more often than not, takes their fee first. Then after the lawyer gets paid, the doctors are paid next, leaving whatever is left to the client as compensation for their pain and suffering, lost wages and other damages. In this scenario, doctors and lawyers win by driving up medical costs, but the client is often left with little recovery beyond their medical treatment, some of which might have been unnecessary in the first place.

At Lopez Law Firm we will never ask you to undergo the risk, pain, and inconvenience of unnecessary medical treatment in order to drive up the value of your injury claim. The choice to undergo medical treatment is always a decision for clients to make in consultation with their doctor. We give clients all the facts necessary to help them make a decision in a way that helps them the most and optimizes their compensation and recovery.

CASE EXPENSES

We want to take another opportunity to be absolutely clear with our clients. Law firms front the money on case expenses and take a huge risk of losing that money if something goes south in your case.  But, law firms are typically paid back from the money you receive in a judgment or settlement. The money law firms spend is yours, not theirs.

Because large law firms have deep pockets, they often approach litigation with a one-size-fits-all, shotgun approach to case expenses. Their financial resources allow them to throw tons of money at every case in the same way. This may seem beneficial. But, while some firms flaunt their ability to outspend opponents, they fail to make clear that the money they spend belongs to their clients and not to them. They rack up huge expenses on videos, expensive graphics, and highly-paid experts then pass on the bills to their clients without evaluating whether or not the case warrants the expense or not. In the end, those expenses come out of your verdict or settlement.

At Lopez Law Firm the Small Firm Advantage means each client and each case is evaluated individually and we never use a one-size-fits-all approach. We keenly evaluate the potential recovery in each case and game plan with an eye toward a fast, cost-effective resolution. Some cases require large expenses and the assistance of the best experts in the field. However, many cases are able to be resolved at more reasonable costs which have less impact on our client’s bottom line. We take pride in our ability to make an accurate cost-benefit analysis in each and every case to maximize our client’s net recovery. We can only do this because we are a small firm, not a machine that gets fed the same way for every client.