Personal Injury

Corpus Christi Personal Injury Firm

Serving the Injured Across Texas

Bandas Law Firm is a personal injury law firm in Corpus Christi. Led by Chris Bandas, the firm focuses on obtaining substantial recoveries on behalf of injured persons who were harmed by defective products, intentional misconduct, or the negligent or reckless acts of others.

We recognize the financial, emotional, and physical burden that catastrophic personal injuries can pose, and seek compensation to cover your doctor bills in the past, your doctor bills in the future, hospital costs, pain and suffering, lost wages, and other elements of damages recoverable under applicable law. Additionally, if the circumstances merit, we may also consider seeking punitive damages.

Our attorneys handle a variety of serious injury claims, including:

• Automobile defects
• Car accidents
• Motorcycle Accidents
• Aviation accidents
• Construction accidents
• Defective products
• Oilfield accidents
• Trucking accidents
• Work injuries
• Wrongful death

Long-Term Effects of Catastrophic Personal Injuries

Catastrophic personal injury typically refers to injuries that require considerable medical treatment and which often have a long-term or permanent adverse effect on a person’s life. While some
catastrophic injuries can be effectively treated and may even be reversible, others cause significant pain and suffering, permanent disability, and possibly even death.

Some of the most serious injuries sustained by victims of catastrophic incidents include:

• Brain injury
• Spinal cord injury
• Severe burns
• Paralysis
• Amputation

Even seemingly minor injuries caused by defective products and automobile defects, including whiplash, can cause long-term suffering for the injured individual. In fact, statistics show that 15-20% of victims who experience whiplash struggle with chronic, debilitating pain as a result of the injury. Furthermore, only 70% of individuals who sustain whiplash injuries are fully recovered within 1 year, and only 82% fully recover within 2 years.

Financial Effects of a Serious Accident or Injury

In addition to physical pain and suffering, catastrophic injuries can also impose a severe financial burden on the affected individual and his or her family. Long-term medical care often results in costly medical bills, which can be a difficult expense for many families to handle, especially if their injured loved one was responsible for their primary source of income. This, coupled with the loss of income due to the individual’s inability to return to work, can have devastating consequences for injured victims and their loved ones. Fortunately, vital financial compensation may be available to victims of catastrophic injury, which can be collected by filing an injury lawsuit against the party responsible for your injuries.

Negligence, Liability & Personal Injury Actions

When you’re hurt in an accident, in order to get the compensation you deserve for the injuries you’ve suffered, you’ll need to be able to prove liability. This is done through a concept known as negligence. Legal negligence, at its most basic, means that someone else holds the blame (called “fault”) for your accident.

Proving negligence requires three basic factors:

• First, you need to demonstrate that the other party in the accident acted so irresponsibly that no reasonable other person would have acted the same way. This, in legal terms, is known as the “reasonable person” standard.
• Next, you need to be able to show that it was this irresponsibility which resulted in, or caused, the accident you suffered.
• Finally, you must demonstrate that the accident was the reason for your injury, even if indirectly. This is known as establishing the direct or proximate cause of your injuries.

The problem can get more complicated in Texas because the state has what is called a “modified comparative fault” law. This means that the courts will consider the degree of fault both parties hold and reduce the award accordingly. So, if you’re found to hold 20% of the fault for an accident, and your total award would be $100,000, you’d only receive $80,000. Even worse, if it can be shown that you hold greater than 51% culpability, you won’t receive an award at all.

Every insurance company will latch onto this law to try and get out of paying your claim.

Fighting the Insurance Adjuster

Insurance companies are represented in these cases, at least at first, by insurance adjusters. These are people who get paid to settle your case as fast as possible, and for as low a cost as possible. In fact, some of them are even limited to as low as $5,000 in what they’re allowed to offer you. This means they’ll try absolutely any tactic they can to try and get you to just sign off. They might sweet talk you, cajole you, or even strongarm, bully, and threaten you.

They’ll look for any reason they can to pin the accident on you. They’ll claim that you’re not actually hurt or that your injuries weren’t from the accident. They’ll threaten you with nothing if you choose not to accept their “generous” offer.

There are a couple of things to remember when dealing with claims adjusters:

• They probably don’t know anything about your case other than a cursory glance at a file. You know exactly how much your accident has cost you.
• You don’t have to fight them alone. You can always direct them to speak to your attorney, and that will often end the bullying immediately.

How an Attorney Can Help

The right Corpus Christi personal injury lawyer will know exactly how to protect your rights, fight back against these non-payment tactics, and get you the full compensation you deserve. In the end, you have nothing to lose by speaking with an attorney. Good injury lawyers work on contingency, which means that not only do they never charge for a consultation, they don’t charge any fee unless they win your case. That is how we operate at Bandas Law Firm.

This means that by calling our attorneys, you’re protecting your rights and equipping yourself with the tools you need to seek the best possible result in your case. You have someone in your corner who can fight for you and remind profit-minded insurance companies who the victim is. After all, the insurance company certainly has attorneys at their disposal; shouldn’t you as well?

Contact Bandas for a Free Consultation!

The first step you should take after sustaining a catastrophic injury is to seek experienced legal counsel to discuss your compensation options. It is important to have an experienced personal injury lawyer on your side when seeking financial compensation, in order to improve your chances of collecting fair reimbursement for your injuries, medical expenses, loss of past and future income, and pain and suffering.

Our Corpus Christi personal injury lawyers have experience in litigating catastrophic injury cases and can help injured victims through the sometimes complicated process of filing a personal injury claim. You are not at fault for any injuries caused by the actions of a negligent person or party.

Bandas Law Firm is a leading personal injury law firm based in Corpus Christi that serves all of Texas. We focus on practice areas such as car accidents, truck accidents, oilfield accidents, and railroad cancer lawsuits, among many others.