Potential defendants are usually covered by insurance. The insurance companies are notified immediately when an accident occurs, and they usually hire attorneys and expert witnesses to investigate the claim. It is important that witnesses be interviewed as soon as possible and evidence be preserved. Witnesses will often be more difficult to locate or will have a poor memory if they are interviewed much later after the accident has occurred. Evidence such as machinery parts or skid marks on the highway will disappear unless preserved quickly. Insurance companies have insurance adjusters who will contact you and try to be friendly. You should not trust the statements that insurance adjusters make to you. They are not working for you and will sometimes make misleading statements in an effort to trick you into resolving your case. Insurance adjusters also might record your conversations with them and use your statements against you in order to try to save money for the insurance companies.

The main thing we try to impress upon people is that it’s never too early to talk to an attorney, and it’s always too late. By that we mean that speaking with an attorney very soon after a crash or other accident in no way will harm you. Along the same lines, the longer you try to handle a claim on your own or delay hiring competent counsel, irreparable damage can be done in the form of recorded statements given to the insurance companies and evidence not being preserved. There is no risk or fee for speaking with an attorney and arranging an initial consultation.

Most personal injury attorneys work on what is called a contingency fee basis, which means that you pay the attorney only if and when the attorney has successfully made a recovery in your case, either by settlement or by winning a jury trial. Our philosophy is that clients have enough to worry about, so clients at Glasheen, Valles & Inderman never pay us a dime out of their pockets directly; when you’re case is finished, the insurance company sends a check to our law firm, we take our percentage fee from that check, and send the remainder to the client.

In the rare event we are unable to make a recovery on your case, you still don’t pay us a dime, and that even includes case costs, court costs, expert fees, and any advances. There is truly zero risk in hiring a personal injury law firm like Glasheen, Valles & Inderman.

Truck wreck crashes can cause substantial injuries or death. It is critically important to contact an attorney immediately after a crash because of the nature of the evidence in these types of crashes. Our top priorities when investigating a new truck crash are to photograph the scene—including aerial drone photos of the scene—gather physical evidence, hire an expert engineer to download the engine control module data (like a black box), and talk to any witnesses. All of these things must be done in the hours or days after the crash.

Truck drivers are required to have a minimum of $750,000 of insurance if they drive intrastate and $1,000,000 if they drive interstate. Many trucking companies have more insurance than the required minimum. Our experience in truck driving cases helps us identify important evidence. We have found truck drivers falsifying their log books and driving in excess of the maximum amount of work hours allowed by DOT regulation.

Learn more about truck wreck cases.

Yes, but it is very important that you hire an experienced and aggressive dram shop attorney right away. The Dram Shop Act is very specific. It applies to bars, restaurants, night clubs and any other business that serves alcohol. Generally, there is no “social host” liability in Texas for serving adults, only commercial vendors of alcohol can be liable. (A “social host” can be liable for serving alcohol to minors.) If a business decides to keep serving beer or alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person and that person causes a motor vehicle accident, the business can be found liable for injuries caused by the intoxicated person.

You always have the right to fire your attorney; however, if you have signed a contract with that attorney, you may have to pay that attorney a fee. The answer to that question is very fact-specific, because one of the considerations as to whether you owe the first attorney a fee is whether you have “good cause” for firing that attorney.

What we recommend is, if you are unhappy with your current attorney, try to communicate that to them first. Let them know why you are unhappy so that they have a chance to remedy the problem. If you cannot get in contact with your attorney, or if they are unable or unwilling to remedy the problem, then your next step would be to consult another personal injury attorney. The new attorney can advise you about your contract with the first attorney. If you have “good cause” for firing the first attorney, and you have made an unsuccessful, good-faith effort to resolve the problems with the first attorney, then your new attorney will likely be able to resolve any claims from the first attorney. Such a resolution typically involves the old attorney and the new attorney dividing the contingency fee between themselves so that you do not have to pay double fees.