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Car Accident Attorney

TAL TLO Hero

Tim Tate

Claire Tate Rehmet

Chris Rehmet

$13,000,000

Gross Recovery

Pedestrian Accident

Wrongful Death

$10,750,000

Gross Recovery

Motorcycle Wreck

Head Injury

$9,500,000

Gross Recovery

Defective Product

Brain Injury

$6,500,000

Gross Recovery

Workplace Accident

Head Injury

Experienced Texas Car Accident Lawyers
A Family-Owned Law Firm

Each of our senior attorneys has over 30 years of experience focused on car accidents, 18 wheeler wrecks, and suing drunk drivers. We have represented thousands of victims who have been injured or lost loved ones in auto collisions in Texas, Oklahoma and the surrounding states.

Car speeding accident

Our Texas car accident attorneys know how to build the strongest case possible to get maximum results for our clients.

Claire, Chris, Tim and Bart are attorneys who have represented victims of car accidents throughout their careers. Most of these cases involve wrongful death, serious brain injuries, paralysis and a variety of bone and joint injuries. We have the experience and knowledge to guide you to a resolution of the legal issues you are facing after a car wreck.

If you want to read about what others are saying about our firm, please see our five star Google reviews. Call Tate Accident Law for a free consultation if you have been involved in a car accident.  We can be reached at (972)433-6113. Our offices are located at 118 S Tennessee, McKinney, Texas and  2902 N US Highway 75, Sherman, Texas. 

Do your accident attorneys handle death and catastrophic injury car wrecks?

Yes, we have handled many death and catastrophic injury cases and helped clients through the multitude of issues they face after their car accidents. 

 If you are reading this and a family member has passed or is catastrophically injured as a result of a car accident, we are sincerely sorry for your family’s loss. We understand that you are horribly damaged.  We also know you have many questions and may want a better understanding of how and why the car accident occurred. Understanding how and why a car crash occurred is the one step in building a strong case because this allows us to hold the person or business who caused the auto collision responsible. 

There are scenarios where a car wreck can give rise to claims against other defendants besides the driver. Investigating these scenarios can uncover additional coverages and defendants who may be liable for the damages. These include wrecks where the at fault driver was on the job for a company, products liability claims such as faulty airbags, tires, or roof crush rollovers. These scenarios can lead to other sources of recovery who may be liable to pay for your damages.

For instance, if the car crash involves a drunk driver, investigating how and where the driver became intoxicated is extremely important. If a bar or restaurant served the drunk when they were obviously intoxicated, then you may have a dram shop cause of action against the bar. If a bar or restaurant is a substantial business, then they may have assets to pay for the damage.  Many bars and restaurants carry Liquor Liability Policies. Our lawyers know these policies typically have $1,000,000 worth of coverage. Dram shop causes of action are discussed in more detail on our drunk driving page.  

How can a car accident attorney help me immediately after an auto wreck?

Right after a car accident, a lawyer can help you by preserving evidence and performing an investigation. If someone has died or is catastrophically injured in the car collision, we will conduct an investigation on your behalf. Preserving evidence is one step toward building a strong personal injury case so that we can successfully get you a full recovery. 

Each of our senior car accident attorneys have investigated countless auto collisions to determine their causes. Many of these auto accidents involved death or catastrophic injury caused by the negligence of the other driver who was distracted, texting, drunk, exhausted from work, or not paying adequate attention. The police entity investigating the wreck is a primary source of evidence in many cases, but there is often evidence which the police department does not collect. This evidence includes Electronic Control Module data, evidence from the scene of the accident, and the identities of witnesses. That evidence can help establish how and why a wreck happened allowing us collect money from every responsible party. In addition, our lawyers sometimes find that the police do not have the same training and experience as a fulltime, professional accident reconstructionist.  As a result, the police accident investigator may or may not reach fully informed conclusions about how the accident occurred. Police investigations are often thorough and accurate; however, there is often additional investigation needed. For instance, our attorneys helped a client who was involved in a car accident involving death and serious injury, and the police investigation concluded the vehicles were traveling in the exact opposite direction from the way they were at the time of the wreck. Establishing how the wreck occurred was critical and allowed us to get a good result for the client. 

Our Texas auto accident attorneys will perform an independent accident investigation to strengthen your case and get you the results you expect and deserve.

Why do lawyers hire an independent car accident reconstructionist in cases Involving serious injury and death?

Attorneys hire car accident reconstructionists to help preserve evidence and determine the root cause of a motor vehicle collision. 

In every death and catastrophic injury case our lawyers hire a professionally trained auto accident reconstructionist to investigate the motor vehicle collision to determine how the car wreck happened. Our attorneys go to the scene of the car accident as soon as possible and look for physical evidence on the road.

Collisions often leave tire skid marks, tire tracks on grassy medians, debris and fluids on the road . These can  be important evidence that will fade with time. Sometimes in motor vehicle accidents, the cars collide hard enough to deflect one or both cars into the road surface causing gouge  marks that can indicate point of impact on the road where the accident happened.

This evidence can be used against the at fault driver and other possible defendants such as auto manufacturers who built a faulty car.

What is an Electronic Control Module and why would an attorney download the data?

Electronic Control Modules are data recorders which are built into most cars and 18 wheelers. They record data from about 5 seconds prior to a triggering event, such as a car accident. Some ECMs even take photographs and record video. Our lawyers may download the EMC to prove exactly what happened.  This allows us to hold the responsible party accountable and pay full compensation to you.

We regularly download ECMs in order to gain a better understanding of how a car wreck occurred as part of our investigation. Our lawyers know that this type of evidence can strengthen the case and provide leverage to force a defendant to fully pay what they owe to you.

What other types of car accident investigation do you, perform?

By inspecting the scene of the wreck, our attorneys  have discovered evidence which was not found by the police. On several occasions, our lawyers investigated car accidents and located video footage of an accident by going to businesses adjacent to the scene of a car accident and asking for security camera footage.

In one case our attorneys located car crash footage on a Ring door camera. When investigating an auto collision our attorneys have also located witnesses that were not on the initial police accident report. This evidence was vital, allowing our attorneys to prove how the car accident occurred and us to get full compensation in a wrongful death case stemming from a car wreck.  

If I hire a motor vehicle accident attorney, will a lawsuit be filed?

Our Texas motor vehicle accident lawyers file accident lawsuits when the adjuster is not offering adequate compensation. We do not file lawsuits, without first consulting with our clients to decide if this is the best strategy.  We will depose the driver responsible for the accident. If the other driver was on the job, the company’s officers, managers, and supervisors may also give a deposition about how and why the collision happened.

Our  attorneys have frequently litigated cases where the defendant was on the job for a major corporation at the time of the car accident. We have deposed chief executive officers, mid-level managers, and safety managers about the car wreck to ask what steps the company took to make sure the driver was properly qualified, trained, and supervised before the accident occurred. Our attorneys will use the lawsuit as a means to get to the root cause of the crash, identify all responsible parties, and to maximize monetary recovery.

Areas We Serve

We have offices in McKinney, Texas and Sherman, TX. We serve all of Texas and Oklahoma.

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Do your lawyers perform the same investigation for car accidents where someone is injured, but not catastrophically injured?

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Yes, we use many of the same investigation tactics for motor vehicle collisions where a person is seriously injured, but the injuries are not catastrophic. 

If have been in a wreck and the injuries that are serious, but not catastrophic, our attorneys will conduct an investigation, but we will give thoughtful consideration about hiring an accident reconstructionist. Our goal for every client is to collect as much money as possible from all available sources whether an insurance policy, negligent driver, or an 18-wheeler trucking company.

Sometimes it is not necessary to incur the expense of a full accident reconstruction  to prove the case. Many times the police report, black box, and/or witness accounts are enough to prove the case. Under these circumstances it would be wasteful to pay an accident reconstructionist $10,000-$20,000 to do a full reconstruction of the accident.        

What are the types of injury cases that might not support the expense of accident reconstruction? Serious, but not catastrophic, injury cases might not support accident reconstruction. Serious injury cases may include torn ligaments or tendons, hairline breaks in bones that heal well, and severe whiplash. Our attorneys will consult with you and make decisions about how to cost efficiently proceed with your case . 

Fortunately, there are many effective ways to investigate a car collision without hiring an expensive accident reconstructionist to reconstruct the entire crash. We can  download the ECM, scour business and residential areas for video footage, and search the scene for physical evidence. Our lawyers and paralegals can work with you to locate witnesses to the collision if possible. This type of car accident investigation is cost effective and many times   produces the best monetary result for the victim.

Why do lawyers caution people not to speak to insurance adjusters?

Under Texas law recorded statements can only be used against you later, and they can never be used to bolster your case.  We strongly prefer not to give a recorded statement because we are concerned a defense attorney may try to use it to cross examine our client if  we must file a lawsuit.

A recorded statement might avoided all together if we can gather other evidence showing how the wreck occurred, like the police report, photos, or eye witness statements. If the evidence about a car wreck is provided to an adjuster showing how the wreck occurred, the insurance company may accept liability for the wreck without a recorded statement. 

car wreck

If we must give a recorded statement we review all the available evidence with our client before the statement and prepare the client in advance. We are always present with the client when they give any statements to adjusters.   

If your own insurance carrier asks for a statement about the car accident, however, there is a duty to cooperate with their investigation. This may include providing a statement. It is important to wait until the police report is received and reviewed to determine if it is consistent with your recollection of the car wreck.

It is also important to know that your statement to your own insurance carrier may be turned over to the negligent driver’s insurance carrier. That carrier may try to use it against you to allege contributory negligence or other defenses. There are several things that you might say in a recorded statement that can be interpreted in such a way as to cause an auto claim to be prolonged and potentially be denied. Wherever possible we want to rely on accurate police reports and not put the victim through unnecessary and multiple recorded statements. 

Spend a few minutes on a free consultation with an attorney before talking to an adjuster or giving a recorded statement.

What is the defense the auto insurance adjuster is most likely to use against me in my accident claim?

Contributory negligence is the primary defense that our lawyers see insurance companies use to deny or diminish an auto collision claim. Contributory negligence means that you theoretically caused or are partially responsible for the auto accident. Attorneys who handle car accidents know this is the defense most used by adjusters. 

car wreck lawyer TX

Contributory negligence in Texas means that if your actions contributed to the cause of the vehicle collision, then the damages owed to you as the injured victim will be reduced.

To illustrate contributory negligence we can construct a hypothetical where both parties involved in an auto accident truly share some responsibility for the car crash. The car accident hypothetical is as follows: you and another car approach an open intersection with no signs and a collision occurs. You then sue each other claiming the other was at fault. 

Under these circumstances a jury would ultimately have to apportion the fault for the motor vehicle collision between you and the other driver. Let’s pretend your lawyer is a little better than the other person’s attorney and the jury finds you are only 40% at fault for the crash and the other person was 60% at fault for the crash and the jury included all of your damages, $10,000.00 for your injuries. Under contributory negligence the judge would then reduce the damage in proportion to the fault in causing the car accident. You would only receive 60% of the jury verdict or $6,000.00.

Change the scenario and assume that your attorney does not persuade the jury the car accident was mostly the fault of the other driver. If a jury finds you to be over 50% at fault (the majority at fault in the accident) then, under Texas law, you get nothing. 

 Once you understand how contributory negligence law works, you can see that the adjuster has a powerful financial incentive to blame you, even a little, for contributing to the auto accident. This defense is available in death and catastrophic injury car wreck cases worth tens of millions of dollars and car accidents with whiplash type injuries. The bigger the case, the more powerful the incentive, but adjusters allege contributory negligence in small auto claims cases as well major collisions. 

The financial incentive to allege contributory negligence causes the adjuster to allege it even when they do not have good grounds. We frequently see auto accidents where the adjuster will allege that a victim is 10% at fault when the other driver blatantly ran a red light. When pressed to state why they are putting 10% on the victim, the adjuster will say the victim should have seen the red light runner and taken some evasive action to avoid the accident. This is not right or fair, but the insurance company wants to reduce the value of the auto claim. 

There are many other defenses in addition to contributory negligence.

What you say can make the difference in whether and to what extent these defenses exist in your claim and whether there is any insurance coverage for your car accident. Our Texas car accident attorneys in McKinney or Sherman can discuss your car wreck with you and help you to avoid these pitfalls so that you can get a better outcome.

Are my statements on social media protected, or can they be used against me in a car accident?

Social media posts are not protected and can be used against you later just like recorded statements. The Texas Rules of Evidence apply, and this means prior statements can only be used against you. Please don’t post about your car accident on social media. 

What type of medical care can an attorney help me get after a car accident and how is it paid?

Our philosophy is that quality health care is a priority. We help our clients obtain quality medical care after a car accident using a deferral agreement, when appropriate, to help you pay for medical care. Getting quality medical attention is important for your health first and foremost. If you need help finding a doctor, physical therapist, or other medical provider, we are familiar with many local orthopedic specialists, neurologists, surgeons, and physical and occupational therapists in areas such as Dallas, Fort Worth, McKinney, Gainesville, Denison, Sherman, and Bonham and Durant, Oklahoma.

Getting quality medical attention is the first step toward healing, but it is important evidence in your  personal injury case for your auto accident. Medical bills and records are one cornerstone of your auto claim. Well-qualified medical providers who are willing to provide deposition testimony about the nature and extent of the injuries are vital to your case as well as your health.

Choosing the doctors who will treat you is an important personal decision, as is the financial decision about how those providers will be paid.As early as possible there needs to be a conscious, well-informed decision as to whether you should obtain your medical care through health insurance or through a deferral agreement. 

A deferral agreement is a letter from a lawyer to a medical provider where the medical provider agrees to treat the patient without payment upfront. Instead, the provider waits until the end of the auto accident claim to be paid from auto carrier insurance proceeds. Deferral agreements mean you don’t have to pay co-pays or meet deductibles after a motor vehicle collision. If you do not have health insurance, a deferral agreement may be the only way for you to get medical care after a car accident.  

 When deciding whether to use deferral agreements or health insurance, it is important to consider that the health insurance carrier will have a right to subrogation (reimbursement) out of money recovered. The extent of this right of reimbursement will vary from health plan to health plan and your attorney should review the plan language, but ERISA plans will generally have a greater right to be reimbursed from your auto claim recovery. We can consult with you about your health insurance and how to go about paying for your medical care so that you get to keep as much of your recovery as possible.

How can an attorney help me recover lost income after a car accident?

Our attorneys know that lost income after a car accident compounds stress and creates immediate hardship.

There are several lost income scenarios that lawyers address after a car accident. The first is loss of income from a spouse that has died. We elaborate on this issue on our wrongful death page, so please visit the wrongful death page for a more thorough discussion.

The second is where a client is involved in a car accident and is catastrophically injured so that they can no longer work or no longer work in the same occupation. Under this scenario our attorneys may need a doctor to set forth the extent of the limitations. We also hire an economist to calculate the loss of past and future earnings. Sometimes our lawyers retain a vocational expert to testify that a car wreck victim had a greater earning potential before the car accident, but due to their injuries the victim can only work in jobs that pay less. The economist can then calculate the difference and extrapolate that loss over an expected working lifetime.   

In car accidents involving catastrophic injury we may create a life care plan to calculate future medical needs. The life care plan accounts for all expenses needed for medical care, nursing care and homes assistance as well as other services.  Funds recovered for clients who need a life care plan may be invested appropriately such that money is available to pay for the needs of the victim throughout their expected life span.

If you cannot work due to injuries after a wreck, payroll records, bank deposits or other income records can be used to prove the amount of the loss.  A doctor’s note taking you off work may be needed. A note may not be needed if you are hurt in a manner so that it is obvious you cannot perform tasks required by your employer. 

Loss of income and earning capacity is an important element of damage in a car wreck case. Our lawyers can help develop evidence of these losses in order to the best recovery possible.

Does your law firm help car accident victims with property damage issues, such as total loss or repair? Can I get diminished value for the reduced value of my car after an auto collision?

Our firm does help our clients with property damage claims and will help get cars totaled or repaired at no charge.

Many lawyers who handle personal injury cases do not want to handle the property damage portion of the claim because the attorney cannot make money on the repair or total loss of the car. Total loss or repair of a vehicle can be a complicated issue.  Our paralegals and lawyers can help you through the auto property damage claims process after a  collision. 

It is possible to recover diminished value after your car is repaired. Our attorneys and paralegals are knowledgeable about diminished value and can guide you through the process.

What questions should I ask an attorney about their services to make sure the accident lawyer is charging a reasonable price?

You should ask if the car accident attorney helps with property damage issues and whether they are charging you a fee for handling the personal injury protection (PIP) claim.

For the amount of money the car accident attorney is charging, they should provide guidance and help with regard to the property damage issues, but many car accident attorneys are not willing to give you the time or resources to help with the total loss or repair of a car. They do not help with these issues because the attorney is not paid from the property damage claim.  You should ask the car accident lawyer if they help with property damage claims. If not, you may want to interview another attorney for your car accident.

Our firm is different because we do help our clients with property damage, total loss and repair issues. While it is true that some aspects of total loss and car repair must be handled directly by the owner of the car, the car accident attorney should take the time to help set up claims and guide the client through the auto insurance claims process. Our clients appreciate this extra effort.

The second question you should ask is whether the lawyer charges a fee for collecting PIP benefits. PIP stands for Personal Injury Protection and is a no-fault policy that pays the medical bills and 80% of lost wages. It is very easy for the lawyer to collect because it is no-fault  coverage which mean it pays anytime someone is hurt in a car wreck, regardless of how the injuries happened. Typically the attorney or client submits an application for PIP benefits with lost wage documentation and medical bills incurred as a result of the motor vehicle collision.  Typically the auto insurance adjuster responds by sending a check. PIP is easy to collect.

If an auto accident lawyer tells you they charge 33% for collecting PIP, you might want to consider looking for another attorney. We handle PIP claims as a courtesy for our clients and do not retain any of the PIP money collected as a fee., instead we give the funds to the client or use 100% of the money to pay a medical bill. Charging for PIP may be a sign that the lawyer is placing his or her interest above yours.

Please call Tate Accident Law for a free consultation if you have been involved in a car accident at (972)433-6113. Our offices are located at 118 South Tennessee Street, McKinney, Texas and 2902 US Highway 75, Sherman, Texas.  Please feel free to stop by any time. If you want to read about what others are saying about our firm, please see our five star Google reviews.

We are a family-owned law firm and one or more of our senior attorneys will be directly involved in your case from start to finish. Claire, Chris and Tim are all attorneys who have represented victims of car accidents throughout their careers. Most of these cases involved wrongful death, serious brain injuries, paralysis and a variety of bone and joint injuries. We have the experience and knowledge to guide you to a resolution of the legal issues you are facing after a motor vehicle collision.

Please call Tate Accident Law for a free consultation if you have been involved in a car accident:

(972) 433-6113 for our McKinney, TX Office

(903) 892-4440 for our Sherman, TX Office

The initial consultation and investigation is free of charge. Our office is conveniently located at:

118 S Tennessee St in McKinney, TX 

2902 N US Highway 75, in Sherman, Texas

Please stop by at any time.

If you want to read about what others are saying about our firm, please see our five star Google reviews.

On this page we provide information about how our attorneys help people who have been involved in an auto accident and discuss the following topics in some detail:

  • 01 Car accidents that cause death or catastrophic injury.
  • 02The importance of car accident investigation and reconstruction.
  • 03Why you should consult with a car accident attorney before talking to an adjuster, giving a recorded statement, or posting about your motor vehicle collision on social media.
  • 04How a lawyer can help you get access to quality medical care after a car wreck, even if you do not have health insurance.
  • 05How our law firm helps with auto property damage issues such as repair and total loss after a car wreck.
  • 06Questions you should ask a car wreck lawyer before you hire them. The answer to these few questions may indicate the lawyer places his or her interests above yours.

Yes, we have handled many death and catastrophic injury cases and helped clients through the multitude of issues they face after their car wrecks.

If you are reading this and a family member has passed or is catastrophically injured as a result of a car accident, we are sincerely sorry for your family’s loss. We know you have many questions and may want a better understanding of how and why the car accident occurred. Understanding how and why a car crash occurred is important because this allows us to hold the person who caused the auto collision responsible and also gives you some peace of mind.

If a loved one has died, you are facing a multitude of legal issues and decisions including whether to have an autopsy performed, making funeral arrangements, and whether a formal probate is needed. If a family member is seriously injured, you may need an attorney who specializes in car collisions to answer questions about future medical needs and permanent loss of earning capacity. These are all difficult issues which require consultation with a knowledgeable attorney. Some of these issues are discussed on our page regarding wrongful death, but here we will discuss steps that need to be taken to investigate the car accident right after it happens.

Right after a car accident, a lawyer can help you by preserving evidence and performing an investigation. If someone has died or is catastrophically injured in the car collision, an attorney can provide valuable advice. The initial consultation is free.

Each of our senior car accident attorneys has investigated countless auto collisions to determine their causes. Many of these auto accidents involved death or catastrophic injury caused by the negligence of the other driver who was distracted, texting, drunk, exhausted from work, or not paying adequate attention. Many car accident attorneys know that the police entity investigating the wreck is a primary source of evidence in many cases, but there is often evidence which the police department does not collect such as Electronic Control Module data, evidence from the scene of the accident, and the identities of witnesses. We can help you collect that evidence.

In addition, our lawyers have sometimes found that the police auto accident reconstructionists often do not have the same training and experience as a fulltime, professional accident reconstructionist. As a result, the police car accident investigator may or may not reach correct conclusions about how the accident occurred. Police investigations are often thorough and accurate; however, the police can reach erroneous conclusions about collisions. For instance, our attorneys helped a client who was involved in a car accident involving death and serious injury, and the police investigation concluded the vehicles were traveling in the exact opposite direction from the way they were at the time of the wreck. Our Texas auto accident attorneys will perform an independent accident investigation to strengthen your case.

Attorneys hire car accident reconstructionists to help preserve evidence and determine the root cause of a motor vehicle collision. In every death case and catastrophic injury case our lawyers hire a professionally trained auto accident reconstructionist to investigate the motor vehicle collision to determine how the car wreck happened. Our attorneys go to the scene of the car accident as soon as possible and look for physical evidence on the road. Collisions often leave tire skid marks, tire tracks on grassy medians, and the location of car debris and fluids from impact can all be important evidence that will fade with time. Sometimes in motor vehicle accidents, the cars collide hard enough to deflect one or both cars into the road surface and the collision causes gouge marks that can indicate point of impact on the road where the accident happened. Our experienced car accident lawyers know that preserving this evidence is paramount to the car accident reconstructionist so they can gain an understanding of how the accident happened.

Electronic Control Modules are data recorders which are built into most cars and 18 wheelers. The record data from about 5 seconds prior to a triggering event, such as a car accident. More recently manufactured ECMs even take photographs. Attorneys often find useful data regarding the car accident on these recorders.

Experienced car accident lawyers also know to download electronic control modules from the wrecked cars after the motor vehicle collision. Most autos have an electronic control module (ECM) which is a type of “black box” recorder. ECM’s will record data after a car accident, sudden braking event, steering event, or auto collision. ECM downloads can provide the attorney handling the car crash with a variety of information about the wreck, including speed, steering wheel vectors, which pedals were being pushed and to what degree, among other data points. We regularly download ECMs in order to gain a better understanding of how a car wreck occurred as part of our investigation.

When investigating car accidents, our attorneys have discovered evidence which was not found by the police. We find additional evidence about the car accident by looking for video footage of the actual car wreck on security cameras and trying to find any witness to the auto accident.

Our Texas car accident  lawyers and car wreck investigators have also located video recordings, audio recordings, and other witnesses that the police did not find. On several occasions, our lawyers investigated car accidents and located video footage of an accident by going to businesses adjacent to the scene of a car accident and asking for security camera footage. In one case our attorneys located car crash footage on a Ring door camera. When investigating an auto collision our attorneys have also located witnesses that were not on the initial police accident report. This evidence was vital and allowed our attorneys to prove how the car accident occurred.

Every car crash does not require the attorney to file a lawsuit, but the lawsuit can yield valuable information about how and why a car accident occurred. Lawsuits provide the attorney the opportunity to depose the driver responsible for the accident. If the other driver was on the job, the company’s officers, managers, and supervisors may also give a deposition about how and why the collision happened.

Our lawyers file car accident lawsuits against drivers who caused wrecks on a regular basis when we determine that an adjuster is not offering adequate compensation. We do not file lawsuits without first consulting with our clients to decide if this is the best strategy. Through the course of the lawsuit, the driver responsible for the car accident is placed under oath and must testify under penalty of perjury about how the collision occurred. Our car wreck attorneys have frequently litigated cases where the defendant was on the job for a major corporation at the time of the car accident. Our attorneys have deposed chief executive officers, mid-level managers, and safety managers about the car wreck to ask what steps the company took to make sure the driver was properly investigated before being put on the road, properly qualified, trained, and supervised before the accident occurred. Our attorneys will use the lawsuit as a means to get to the root cause of the crash, which is often more than a mere car accident, because it was likely foreseeable and preventable.

Yes, we use many of the same investigation tactics for motor vehicle collisions where a person is seriously injured, but the injuries are not catastrophic.

If you are searching for a lawyer for a car crash  and have injuries that are serious, but not catastrophic, our Texas car accident attorneys in McKinney and Sherman will conduct an investigation, but we will give thoughtful consideration about hiring an accident reconstructionist. Our goal for every client is to collect as much monetarily as possible from all resources available whether an insurance policy, negligent driver, or an 18-wheeler trucking company. We keep a close eye on the client’s net bottom line trying to incur only expenses that will add to the client’s compensation at the end. Sometimes it is not necessary to do a complete accident reconstruction to prove the case. Many times the police report, black box, and/or witness accounts prove the case. Under these circumstances it would be wasteful to pay an accident reconstructionist $10,000-$20,000 to reconstruct the accident.

Everyone has heard about cases where an injured person hires an attorney and at the end of the case the lawyer gets paid, the doctors get paid, but there is little left for the client. Our lawyers will do everything within our power to make sure this does not happen to you, and one step to avoid this outcome is to consider how much expense to incur on any given case.
What are the types of injury cases that might not support the expense of accident reconstruction? Serious, but not catastrophic, injury cases might not support accident reconstruction. Serious injury cases include torn ligaments or tendons, hairline breaks in bones that heal well, and severe whiplash. Our attorneys will consult with you and make decisions about how to proceed in your case after discussion with you.

Fortunately, there are many effective ways to investigate a car collision without hiring a car accident reconstructionist to reconstruct the entire crash. We can still download the ECM, scour business and residential areas for video footage, and search the scene for physical evidence. Our lawyers and paralegals can work with you to locate witnesses to the collision if possible. This type of car accident investigation is cost effective and can still yield much of the same types of evidence our attorneys develop in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases.

Contributory negligence is the primary defense that insurance companies attempt to use to deny or diminish an auto collision claim. Contributory negligence means that you theoretically caused or are partially responsible for the auto accident. Attorneys who handle car accidents know this is the defense most used by adjusters.

The best example of a defense which the adjuster most likely wants to apply to your auto wreck claim is contributory negligence and this defense is the main reason why attorneys tell victims not to talk to the adjuster. Contributory negligence in Texas means that if your actions contributed to the cause of the vehicle collision, then the damages owed to you as the injured victim will be reduced.

To illustrate contributory negligence we can construct a hypothetical where both parties involved in an auto accident truly share some responsibility for the car crash. The car accident hypothetical is as follows: you are in an accident at a completely open intersection with no stop sign or lights of any kind where you and the other driver enter the intersection at the same time causing the car crash. You then sue each other claiming the other was at fault.

Under these circumstances a jury would ultimately have to apportion the fault for the motor vehicle collision between you and the other driver. Let’s pretend your lawyer is a little better than the other person’s attorney and the jury finds you are only 40% at fault for the crash and the other person was 60% at fault for the crash and the jury included all of your damages, $10,000.00 for the damage to your car and $20,000.00 for your injuries. Under contributory negligence the judge would then reduce the damage in proportion to the fault in causing the car accident. You would only receive 60% of the jury verdict or $6,000.00 for your car and $12,000.00 for your injuries.

Change the scenario and assume that your attorney does quite persuade the jury the car accident was mostly the fault of the other driver. If a jury finds you to be over 50% at fault (the majority at fault in the accident) then, under Texas law, you get nothing.

Once you understand how contributory negligence law works, you can see that the adjuster has a powerful financial incentive to blame you for the car wreck, even a little, for contributing to the auto accident. This defense is available in death and catastrophic injury car wreck cases worth tens of millions of dollars and car accidents with whiplash type injuries. The bigger the case, the more powerful the incentive, but adjusters allege contributory negligence in small auto claims cases as well major collisions. .

The financial incentive to allege contributory negligence causes the adjuster to allege it even when they do not have good grounds to say you caused the vehicle collision. We frequently see auto accidents where the adjuster will allege that a victim is 10% at fault when the other driver blatantly ran a red light. When pressed to state why they are putting 10% on the victim, the adjuster will say the victim should have seen the red light runner and taken some evasive action to avoid the accident. This is not right or fair, but the insurance company wants to reduce the value of the auto claim.

There are many other defenses in addition to contributory negligence. Furthermore, there are insurance coverage issues that may void coverage for the motor vehicle collision under certain circumstances. What you say can make the difference in whether and to what extent these defenses exist in your claim and whether there is any insurance coverage for your motor vehicle collision. Our attorneys can discuss your collision with you and help you to avoid these pitfalls.

Attorneys know that after a motor vehicle collision, recorded statements can only be used against you, and not for you.

You shouldn’t give a recorded statement after an auto accident without talking to a lawyer. Under Texas law a statement can only be used to attack your credibility and never used to show you were telling the truth about the car crash or your injuries. In other words, the Texas Rules of Evidence do not allow your lawyer to take your recorded statement which you gave right after the car accident and use it to show that you have been telling the same consistent story since the date of the wreck. On the other hand, the Rules of Evidence do allow a defense lawyer to look for inconsistencies and try to show that you have changed your story about the car wreck or injuries over time. A recorded statement can only be used against you.

If it is your own auto insurance carrier asking for a statement about the car accident, there is a duty to give them a recorded statement at some point in time. It is important to wait until the police report is received and thoroughly reviewed to determine if it is consistent with your recollection of the car wreck. Know that your statement to your own insurance carrier will probably be turned over to the negligent driver’s insurance carrier and they may try to use it against you to allege contributory negligence or other defenses. There are several things that you might say in a recorded statement that can be interpreted in such a way as to cause an auto claim to be prolonged and potentially be denied. Wherever possible we want to rely on accurate police reports and not put the victim through unnecessary and multiple recorded statements.

Spend a few minutes on a free consultation before talking to an adjuster or giving a recorded statement.

No. Social media posts about your car accident are just like recorded statements. An attorney can only use them against you later.

Social media posts that contain your written statements about the car accident are prior written statements, just like the recorded statement. The Rules of Evidence apply, and these can generally only be used by a lawyer against you later, and not to support your case. Please don’t post about your car accident on social media.

We help our clients get quality medical care after a car accident. An accident attorney can use a letter of protection, when appropriate, to help you pay for medical care after a collision.

Getting quality medical attention after a wreck is important for your health first and foremost. If you need help finding a doctor, physical therapist, or other medical provider, we are familiar with many local orthopedic specialists, neurologists, surgeons, and physical and occupational therapists in areas such as Gainesville, Denison, Sherman, and Bonham and much of North Texas and South Oklahoma. Getting quality medical attention is the first step toward healing, but it is also one step of building a personal injury case for your auto accident. The medical bills and medical records created become one cornerstone of your auto claim. Well-qualified medical providers who are willing to provide a deposition for the lawyer about the nature and extent of the injuries are vital to your case as well as your health.

Choosing the doctors who will treat you is an important personal decision, as is the financial decision about how those providers will be paid. How medical care is billed and paid after a car accident is almost as important as the medical care itself. As early as possible there needs to be a conscious, well-informed decision as to whether you should obtain your medical care through health insurance or through a Letter of Protection (LOP). A LOP is a letter from a lawyer to a medical provider where the medical provider agrees to treat the patient without payment upfront. In this case the provider waits until the end of the auto accident claim to be paid from auto carrier insurance proceeds. LOPs mean you don’t have to pay co-pays or meet deductibles after a motor vehicle collision. If you do not have health insurance, the LOP may be the only way for you to get medical care after a car accident.

In an auto claim where there are very high damages such as a fatality, paralysis and multiple surgeries, it is probably best to have the medical care paid for by health insurance. This is true for several reasons. First, finding surgery centers, anesthesiologists and other medical providers in addition to a surgeon who are all willing to accept an LOP is difficult. Our attorneys have managed to arrange surgeries after car wrecks on LOP, but it is challenging. Second, in catastrophic car accident cases there is a chance the damages suffered will be greater than all the applicable car insurance, so we do not want to rely on car insurance to pay for very large medical bills.

When deciding whether to use LOPs or health insurance, it is important to consider that the health insurance carrier will have a right to subrogation/reimbursement out of future money recovered. The extent of this right of reimbursement after a car accident will vary from health plan to health plan and your attorney should review the plan language, but ERISA plans will generally have a greater right to be reimbursed from your auto claim recovery. We can consult with you about your health insurance and how to go about paying for your medical care so that you get to keep as much of your recovery as possible.

In car accidents involving catastrophic injury we may create a life care plan to calculate future medical needs. The life care plan is set up to ensure that victims who require regular daily nursing care or home health assistance have adequate funds invested appropriately such that money is available to pay for the needs of the victim throughout their expected life span.

Our attorneys know that lost income after a car accident compounds stress and creates immediate hardship.

There are several lost income scenarios that lawyers address after a car accident. The first is loss of income from a spouse that has died. We elaborate on this issue on our wrongful death page, so please visit the wrongful death page for a more thorough discussion.

The second is where a client is involved in a car accident and is catastrophically injured so that they can no longer work or no longer work in the same occupation. Under this scenario our attorneys may need a doctor to set forth the extent of the limitations. We also hire an economist to calculate the loss of past and future earnings. Sometimes our lawyers retain a vocational expert to testify that a car wreck victim had a greater earning potential before the car accident, but due to their injuries the victim can only work in jobs that pay less. The economist can then calculate the difference and extrapolate that loss over an expected working lifetime.

In other automobile injury cases where the victim is only off of work for a few weeks or months after the car wreck it is important to obtain a doctor’s order to be off of work unless the injuries were such that it is obvious the victim could not perform the job duties. While this type of note might not be required by the employer, it may be needed to prove to the defense or insurance adjuster that the time off of work was necessary per the doctor’s opinion. In cases where the car accident victim is off work for a set time period of weeks or months, our lawyers use pay records, bank deposits or other records to show the loss of income.

Loss of income and earning capacity is an important element of damage in a car wreck case. Our lawyers can help develop evidence of these losses in order to the best recovery possible.

Our firm does help our clients with property damage claims and will help get cars totaled or repaired.

Many lawyers who handle car accidents do not want to handle the property damage portion of the claim because the attorney cannot make money on the repair or total loss of the car and are not willing to allocate any paralegal time to resolving these issues. Total loss or repair of a vehicle is a complicated issue. Our paralegals and lawyers can help you through the auto property damage claims process after a motor vehicle collision.

Often the victim of a car wreck only needs some guidance in order to resolve their own property damage issue. For instance, many people have a note on their car and when the car is deemed a total loss after a car wreck, the client is the only person the bank or note holder can talk to due to confidentiality. In car collisions where there is a note, we often work in the background providing advice as the client must be the point of contact. Nonetheless the advice and service we provide regarding the car total loss claims processes is very helpful.

When the victim of a car accident has a property damage claim that requires repair, we help guide the client through the claims process as well. Often, once the auto repair gets under way, the repair shop handles supplemental claims the repair proceeds. Again, the advice we provide to guide car wreck victims through an auto claims process is helpful.

It is possible to recover diminished value after your car is repaired. Our paralegals and attorneys are knowledgeable about diminished value and can guide you through the process.

You should ask if the car accident attorney helps with property damage issues and whether they are charging you a fee for handling the PIP claim.

Car accident attorneys typically work on a contingency fee where they are paid 33% of the injury claim if the case settles without litigation and 40% of the injury recovery if the personal injury case requires a lawsuit. The expenses associated with the case are usually paid by the attorney, but are paid back out of the recovery.

For the amount of money the car accident attorney is charging, they should provide guidance and help with regard to the property damage issues, but many car accident attorneys are not willing to give you the time or resources to help with the total loss or repair of a car. They do not help with these issues because the attorney is not paid from the property damage claim. You should ask the car accident lawyer if they help with property damage claims. If not, you may want to interview another attorney for your car accident.

Our firm is different because we do help our clients with property damage, total loss and repair issues. While it’s true that some aspects of total loss and car repair must be handled directly by the owner of the car, the car accident attorney should take the time to help set up claims and guide the client through the auto insurance claims process. Our clients appreciate this extra effort.

The second question you should ask is whether the lawyer charges a fee for collecting PIP benefits. PIP stands for Personal Injury Protection and is a no-fault policy that pays the medical bills and 80% of lost wages if a covered person is hurt in a car accident. It is very easy for the lawyer to collect because it is no-fault and there are no liability defenses which are normally available to the auto insurance carrier which are usually asserted in a car accident. Typically the attorney submits lost wage documentation and medical bills incurred as a result of the motor vehicle collision and the auto insurance adjuster responds by sending a check. PIP is easy to collect.

If an auto accident lawyer tells you they charge 33% for collecting PIP, you might want to consider looking for another attorney. We handle PIP claims as a courtesy for our clients and do not retain any of the PIP money collected as a fee, but instead give the funds to the client or use 100% of the money to pay a medical bill. Charging for PIP may be a sign that the lawyer is placing his or her interest above yours.

Please call Tate Accidetn Law for a free consultation if you have been involved in a car accident at:

(972) 433-6113 for our McKinney, TX Office

(903) 892-4440 for our Sherman, TX Office

The initial consultation and investigation is free of charge. Our office is conveniently located at:

118 S Tennessee St in McKinney, TX 

2902 N US Highway 75, in Sherman, Texas

Please stop by at any time.

If you want to read about what others are saying about our firm, please see our five star Google reviews.