San Antonio is known for a lot of things: The Alamo, the Riverwalk, NBA basketball... but it's also home to some great personal injury attorneys. In a city of over two million, however, finding the best personal injury lawyers can be difficult.
Although there is nothing to worry about. You can find the best personal injury lawyers in San Antonio right here.
At Forbes Advisor, we've looked at dozens of factors and carefully weighed them to make sure that only the best personal injury attorneys in the San Antonio area make the list.
Texas personal injury law
All states have their own laws regarding personal injury, and Texas is no different. Because these laws can be confusing, you should contact a great personal injury lawyer — like the ones listed in this article — as soon as possible if you've been injured.
Waiting to speak to a lawyer could mean losing any chance of recovery. An experienced personal injury attorney will be able to guide you through all the specifics of Texas law, but here are some of the ways Texas law is unique.
Statute of limitations in san antonio
Most states have statutes of limitations of between one and three years. Texas falls in the middle of the spectrum with a two-year statute of limitations on most personal injuries.
This means you must file a personal injury case within two years of the initial injury or you may be barred from fully recovering.
You may have even less time if you were injured by someone who worked for the government. For example, the City of Austin can bar you from recovering if you don't notify them of your injury within 45 days.
If you have been injured, it is best to contact a skilled personal injury attorney without delay so that you do not jeopardize your chance of receiving compensation for your injuries.
Determining Defects in San Antonio
There are a few different rules for fixing a fault. One of the most common is used in Texas, called "modified comparative negligence."
This rule deals with how courts award damages when both parties are partly to blame for an injury. Imagine a car accident with $10,000 in damage to your vehicle. In the test, you were found to be at fault 10% of the time and the other driver was at fault 90% of the time. In Texas, you will only be awarded $9,000 (after reducing your award by the percentage that you were at fault).
Importantly, however, if the other driver sues for $20,000 in damages to his car and the jury finds him more than 50% responsible for the accident, this prevents him from recovering anything.
This differs from states that use the regular comparative negligence rule, where the other driver would be allowed to recover 10% of their damages, getting back $2,000 of the $9,000 they would have to pay you.
Some states use a rule called contributory negligence which is even stricter. In these states, you are not allowed to sue for anything if you are even 1% responsible for the accident.
Caps on Medical Malpractice Awards in Texas
Texas has put a cap on how much plaintiffs can be awarded in medical malpractice cases. However, these limitations only apply to non-economic damages. Any treatment costs or lost wages are capped, but non-economic damages such as pain and suffering are capped at $250,000 per defendant.
There is also a cap on medical malpractice wrongful death. It was initially set at $500,000 and is indexed for inflation, currently worth about $2 million.
How To Find The Best Personal Injury Lawyers In San Antonio, TX
There are many types of personal injury lawyers. Some specialize in car accidents, while others specialize in workers' compensation or class action lawsuit injuries. As you shop around to find a personal injury attorney in San Antonio, you want to make sure that you choose an attorney who has experience with your type of accident. You also want an attorney who is professional, affordable, and reputable.
Most personal injury attorneys offer free consultations. Here's a list of what you should ask.
What kind of experience do they have?
Before you proceed with a consultation, ask the attorney about their experience with your type of injury. If you were in a car accident, you want an attorney who specializes in car accidents. If you have been injured on the job, consult an attorney with experience in workers' compensation claims and labor law. If you've been hurt when a product malfunctions, you'll want an attorney with experience in product liability cases. Finding someone with experience means they will understand what your case must be like. They'll be able to navigate legal hurdles, medical access, and insurance coverage on your behalf.
Procedure
To come up with the best personal injury attorneys in San Antonio for 2023, Forbes Consultants considered a number of factors. Forbes Advisor's mathematical module considers the information collected to calculate a specific rating and reviews these results to find the best attorneys in a given practice area.
Within the model, we take into account the factors that legal professionals and consumers value in qualifying a lawyer. After assigning weighted scores to hundreds of data points, we narrowed the field down to our top choices:
- legal experience
- Special License and Certificate
- Ethics and Bar Disciplinary Measures
- legal thought leadership
- Education and Employment Background
- Scholarly lectures and writings
- Awards and honors
Best Top 5 Personal Injury Attorney in San Antonio (List) 2023
Eugene W. (Chip) Breeze, II
Robert C. alden
Mark E. seriousness
Jeffrey S. Edwards
Daniel JT Sciano
How do they communicate with customers?
When you are injured in an accident, you may feel left alone on an island with a lot of frustration and confusion. Good communication helps you feel that the process is working and that you have a team. Talk to a lawyer about their communication process. Because personal injury cases can take a long time, seek an attorney with a regular schedule of communication with you when progress is slow. Of course, you want an attorney to communicate with you quickly when there are timely notices that you need to review and address.
How expensive are they?
Personal injury attorneys typically work on a contingency basis rather than charging an hourly fee. This means they get a percentage of your settlement and if you don't get a penny, they get nothing. When it comes to their fees, look for someone who falls within the general range of contingency fees. San Antonio personal injury attorneys typically charge between 33% and 40%. For a lawyer with a lot of experience, the higher contingency fee may be worth it because they typically negotiate higher settlements.
What percentage of their business comes from attorney referrals?
It's not an obvious question, but it's an important one. You want an attorney who is respected by their peers. Being referred by other lawyers is a good sign of skill who are willing to stake their own reputation on how well a personal injury lawyer performs. Good attorneys will also give you references to talk to, which will help you set better expectations about the attorney's process and success rate.
How professional is their office?
This is not a question you would ask a lawyer, but rather a feeling you get at your first consultation. You want someone who comes across organized and on top of all the details of your clients' cases. A well-organized, well-run office is a good indication that the attorney is not only capable and competent, but also has the bandwidth to take on another client.
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