Dallas Motorcycle Accident Lawyer: How Texas Riders Prove Fault and Recover Full Compensation
Why Motorcycle Cases Are Different from Other Types of Personal Injuries
When you have a Texas motorcycle accident claim, the injuries and related damages are often more severe compared to other minor personal injury cases. A motorcycle driver has limited protection on the road, which is why lifelong injuries are common when an accident occurs.
When you look at the data of all accidents that happen on the roadways, motorcycle crashes consist of a disproportionate share of severe injuries and fatalities.
Additionally, there is an unspoken anti-rider bias among both insurance adjusters and juries. Even before the accident evidence is reviewed, people often have a bias about motorcycle drivers being unsafe and irresponsible.
How a Motorcycle Accident Attorney in Dallas Helps with Proving Fault
In order to have a successful Texas motorcycle accident claim, you need strong evidence that proves liability. According to negligence law in our state, there are four elements that need to be proven through evidence: duty, breach, causation, and damages.
Various types of evidence can be helpful in proving liability, such as black box data, EDR downloads, photos, and even video footage from the area. Additionally, our team will gather medical records to show the severity of injuries that occurred as a result of the accident.
How Texas Modified Comparative Fault Affects Your Settlement
One reason why you need strong evidence to prove that the other driver was at fault is that your compensation can be reduced if a percentage of fault is assigned to you. If it is determined that you carry 51 percent or more of fault in the accident, then you won’t receive any compensation. Below this threshold, the settlement amount is reduced based on the percentage of fault that you carry.
Insurance companies will often reduce the amount that they need to pay by trying to prove that the motorcycle driver carried enough fault to cross the 50 percent line. You need an experienced Dallas motorcycle accident lawyer who can help you fight this strategy so that you can receive compensation for your injuries.
Motorcycle-Specific Factors That Might Affect Your Claim
- No Helmet Laws: Many people assume that not wearing a helmet will eliminate their ability to receive compensation. But the helmet laws here in Texas state that riders who are 21 and older who meet training and insurance requirements have legal exemptions. It’s likely that the insurance adjusters will still try to use a “no helmet” argument in an effort to reduce the damages that are awarded, even when there is no legal basis on liability.
- Lane Splitting: Under current Texas law, both lane splitting and lane filtering are illegal. Even if lane splitting didn’t cause the crash, insurance companies might weaponize this type of behavior as an argument for comparative fault. If the accident occurred when you were splitting lanes, then causation is still more important than the traffic violation for determining fault.
What You Can Recover from a Texas Motorcycle Accident Claim
- Economic Damages: Expenses that can be verified with receipts and documentation, including emergency medical care, future treatments and rehabilitation, lost wages, damage to your motorcycle, and more.
- Non-Economic Damages: This compensation covers things like pain and suffering, scarring, PTSD, and other forms of mental anguish that resulted from the accident.
- Punitive Damages: If gross negligence occurred, then there are times when additional punitive damages are awarded.
Who Actually Pays? How Insurance Coverage Works in a Motorcycle Case
When it comes to compensation, the at-fault driver’s insurance liability policy is where we start. But things get more complicated if the driver is uninsured or underinsured. The next step is to seek coverage through your own insurance policy through UM/UIM coverage.
No matter which insurance company you are working with, they are going to attempt to reduce the amount of money that is paid. In order to get a fair payment, you might need to add legal pressure, which is why it’s essential that you are working with a Dallas motorcycle accident lawyer that you can trust.