Posted on February 11, 2010 by Bryan Fears

Proving fault in a personal injury lawsuit

 

As the plaintiff in a Texas personal injury lawsuit, you have the burden of proving that the defendant was at fault for your injuries. In civil lawsuits, the burden of proof is a “preponderance of the evidence.” Preponderance of the evidence simply means that your version of the facts is more likely than not to be true.

Most personal injury claims are based on the legal principle of negligence. A person is negligent when they fail to exercise the care that a reasonable person would under the same circumstances. If someone’s negligence causes an injury to another person, then they can be held liable for their damages.

To prove fault under a theory of negligence, you must show four things:

  1. The defendant owed you a legal duty of care.
  2. The defendant breached that duty through their actions.
  3. The defendant’s conduct caused an accident involving the plaintiff.
  4. The plaintiff was injured or harmed in some way as a result.

Here’s an example of how these four elements would work in a personal injury lawsuit. Let’s say that Joe runs a stop sign and hits a car being driven by Sue. Sue had no stop sign, so she had the right of way. In order to bring a successful personal injury lawsuit, Sue will need to prove that:

  1. Because Joe was operating a vehicle on public streets, he owed Sue and all other drivers a legal duty to drive with reasonable caution.
  2. By running the stop sign, Joe breached that duty of care.
  3. As a result of breaching his legal duty to drive with reasonable caution, Joe caused his car to collide with Sue’s car.
  4. Due to the collision with Joe’s car, Sue suffered injuries.

If you have been injured in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you should seek the immediate advice of an experienced personal injury attorney to learn about your legal rights.

 

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted on August 12, 2009 by Bryan Fears

Texas wrongful death lawsuit filed over fatal semi-trailer accident

A Texas wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by a woman who lost two family members in a car accident with a semi-truck over the 4th of July weekend.

The accident took place on I-35, just south of Gainesville, when the semi-truck crashed into the Ford Explorer as it entered a construction zone. The car had slowed down for the construction zone when it was struck from behind by the semi.

The woman bringing the wrongful death lawsuit is Melissa Hinkle. She is suing five parties, including the driver of the truck, the company for which the driver worked, the company that had the contract to perform the construction work on the interstate bridge and the Texas Department of Transportation.

The driver of the truck was Randy Crume. According to a Texas state trooper, Crume was driving too fast as he entered the construction area, causing him to crash into Hinkle’s SUV as well as several other vehicles.

The lawsuit alleges that the construction company, KKM Construction Inc., caused a traffic jam which was backing up interstate traffic for miles at the time of the accident.

The fatal accident resulted in the death of 13-year-old Casey Hinkle and his 63-year-old grandfather, Gervious Dale Hinkle. Melissa Hinkle spent 5 days in ICU as a result of the injuries she suffered in the car accident.

A similar tragedy occurred on August 3rd when another semi-trailer crashed into vehicles that were stuck in a traffic jam caused by the same contractor named in Hinkle’s suit. The accident resulted in the death of three people: Anthony Brandon, 48; Kimberly Brandon, 47; and Darryl Hoosier, 55. Two others were injured in that same accident.

As of Friday August 7th, the construction on the bridge has still not been completed. The company is being fined $400 a day until the work is completed.

To read more about Hinkle’s Texas wrongful death lawsuit, click here for the complete story.

If you have lost a loved one in a car accident, get in touch with the Texas personal injury lawyers of Fears | Nachawati today. We provide free legal advice about wrongful death lawsuits. Simply email us at info@fnlawfirm.com or call our toll-free helpline at 1.866.705.7584.

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,