Texas Personal Injury Law Overview
Personal injury law is one area of law that is very broad and encompasses cases such as medical malpractice, defective products, vehicle accidents, and premises liability. These cases often result in serious personal injury or even death. If your loved one died following a medical error or a vehicle accident, then you may be able to file a wrongful death claim. Personal injury cases arise from injuries and deaths caused by someone else's negligence or wrongdoing.
Damages
Caps on personal injury awards have been the hot topic in Texas in recent years, but in order to understand caps, you must first understand how compensation in personal injury awards works. Compensatory damages include all non-economic and economic damages intended to compensate you for the injuries you suffered. Some examples of economic damages are:
- Medical bills: past, present, and future
- Lost wages
- Future lost wages
- Any financial loss to which a specific dollar amount can be tied
Non-economic damages are losses such as pain and suffering, loss of companionship, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Punitive damages are those damages awarded to the plaintiff intended to "punish" the defendant. In Texas, punitive damages may be twice the amount of compensatory damages plus non-economic damages but no more than $750,000 or up to $200,000, whichever amount is greater.
In 2003, the state of Texas implemented a complex system of caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases.
Negligence
Texas law states that even if you were partly responsible for your own injuries, you can still collect damages from other responsible parties. Texas' doctrine of "modified comparative negligence" state that as long as you were less than 50% responsible for your injuries, you can collect from other parties. Texas law also follows the doctrine of "joint and several liability," which states that "defendants who are less than 50% to blame can only be held responsible for their share of the damages, but a defendant who is found more than 50% at fault can be held liable for the entire amount."
Statute of limitations
Every state has a certain time limit the victim has to file a personal injury lawsuit following the injury. In Texas, for most personal injury cases, the statute of limitations is two years; however, in some cases the time limit is different. An experience personal injury attorney will tell you what your time limit is for your case.
If you live in Texas and feel you may have a valid personal injury claim, please contact an experienced personal injury attorney in your area today.
