If you or someone you love gets into a vehicle accident, it is critical to preserve evidence that can help the parties involved determine what happened and why. Take certain steps to protect, preserve and collect key evidence immediately after a car accident in Texas. This may be the only way you can prove liability and recover financial compensation for your collision.

Why Do You Need to Preserve Evidence During a Vehicle Accident Case?

Collecting and preserving evidence is important for your financial recovery after a vehicle accident in Texas. Texas uses a tort-based insurance system that holds the at-fault driver legally responsible for a victim’s damages. You will generally need evidence that establishes the other driver’s fault to qualify for insurance benefits.
Without clear and convincing evidence that the other driver owed you a duty of care, breached this duty and caused your car accident, you may be unable to convince the driver’s insurance company to pay for your losses. It will be up to you or your personal injury lawyer as a plaintiff in a car accident case in Texas to preserve evidence and present it to the insurance company. The burden of proving negligence rests with your side of the case.

Preserving Evidence From the Crash Scene Before Cleanup

The scene of a car accident can contain vital evidence of how and why the crash occurred. Before cleaning crews come and clear away the debris, do your best to either take photos yourself or have someone take photos for you. Photographs can preserve the crash scene as it looked immediately after your accident. Pictures and videos can capture images of a pothole that popped your tire, for example, before the city has the chance to repair the defect. If you cannot preserve evidence from the scene of the car accident immediately after the collision, return as soon as you can or have a lawyer return to the crash scene for you.

Gathering Statements From Eyewitnesses While Their Memories Are Still Fresh

Eyewitness statements are also important to gather from the scene of a car accident. You, a trusted friend or the police should collect contact information from all the eyewitnesses who saw the car accident occur. Write down their full names and contact phone numbers while still at the scene, if possible. Later, after you have obtained medical care for your injuries, reach out to eyewitnesses to collect their versions of what happened. Gather these statements as soon as possible to preserve details while their memories are still fresh and accurate.

Asking Companies to Preserve Key Information

Making phone calls to certain businesses and companies after a car accident may be necessary to ask them to preserve evidence that is relevant to your vehicle accident case. If you were injured in a truck accident, for example, contacting the truck company and asking them to preserve the truck’s black box could help you prove your case against the truck driver.
You may also want to reach out to businesses near the crash scene to request that they preserve any video surveillance footage that might have caught the accident on tape. Finally, contacting the other driver’s cell phone company could allow you to preserve phone records that prove the other driver was talking or texting while driving.

Need Help Preserving Evidence? Contact a Car Accident Attorney

Preserving evidence while it is still available can allow you to prove the other driver’s fault and recover fair compensation from his or her insurance company. If you need assistance preserving evidence after a car accident, contact an attorney to help you with this task. A car accident lawyer in Dallas will know exactly what steps to take and calls to make to preserve key evidence on your behalf. Your lawyer can take care of this for you while you focus on healing. Contact a lawyer as soon as possible for assistance preserving evidence for your legal claim.

Bringing a car accident claim in Texas does not guarantee your financial recovery. You will first need to prove the defendant’s liability before you can recover compensation. In turn, the defendant will have the opportunity to refute your claim and prove him or herself not responsible for your collision. Learning the most common defenses used in car accident cases can help you prepare your rebuttal.

Expired Statute of Limitations

A defendant may try to counteract a claim based on statutory rules or filing mistakes, such as an expired statute of limitations. A statute of limitations is a deadline to file a civil claim. In Texas, the statute of limitations on most car accident cases is two years from the date of the accident or injury discovery. If you filed your claim after this deadline, the defendant will most likely use this as a defense to liability. The courts in Texas generally will not agree to hear a claim filed after the statute of limitations has passed.

Comparative Negligence

Texas is a modified comparative negligence state. Called proportionate responsibility in Texas, comparative negligence refers to the accident victim’s portion of responsibility for the wreck. In Texas, you cannot recover financial compensation for a car accident that you were more than 50% responsible for causing. If an investigation confirms your majority share of fault for causing the crash, the defendant will not owe you any compensation.
A defendant may use the proportionate responsibility defense to bar you from recovery or reduce his or her liability for your losses. Even with less than 50% of fault, this defense could reduce your financial recovery by an amount equivalent to your percentage of responsibility. If you were 20% responsible for the car accident, for example, the courts will deduct 20% from your recovery award.

Third-Party Liability

The defendant’s insurance company may try to avoid a payout by refuting fault for your accident altogether. It may do this by naming a third party that is to blame for your losses instead. For example, the other driver’s car insurance company may deny liability if an investigation finds that a defective vehicle part caused your crash, not its client, and that you should therefore bring your claim against the manufacturing company. In this scenario, you and your car accident attorney can bring an injury claim against the third party for compensation instead.

Pre-Existing Conditions

If you are filing a claim for injury-related damages, such as medical bills, you may encounter the pre-existing condition defense. An insurance company may use this defense if it finds a pre-existing injury or condition in your medical records that is relevant to the current injury claim. This is why it is important to submit only the relevant medical records to the insurance company rather than signing a blanket authorization form. Even if you have a pre-existing condition that impacts your claim, the insurance company cannot deny benefits for accident-related injuries or the exacerbation of your existing condition. You may need to prove, however, that your injuries are from the car accident and are not pre-existing.

Failure to Mitigate Losses

Another common defense used in car accident cases is the plaintiff’s failure to mitigate his or her losses. As a plaintiff in a car accident claim, it is your responsibility to take certain steps to mitigate your losses or prevent them from worsening. If you have an injury from the crash, for instance, you will need to go to the hospital immediately and follow your doctor’s treatment plan. Failing to mitigate your losses could be a valid reason for an insurance company to deny your claim or reduce the benefits awarded. If you most likely could have reduced your losses but failed to do so, the insurance company most likely will not be responsible for their full value.
You may encounter one or more defenses during your Texas car accident case. Hire a lawyer to represent you for the best odds of a successful claim even with these common defenses.

Many roads in Texas have defects that make them excessively dangerous for drivers, such as ruts or potholes. These bad road conditions can cause car accidents and related serious injuries. If you were in a car accident as a result of a dangerous road condition in Texas, you may be able to hold someone else responsible. While you may not have another driver to blame, you could file a claim against the city or state.

Who Is Responsible for Road Conditions?

Under the doctrine of premises liability law, a property owner is responsible for the care and maintenance of that property. If the property contains a road, this includes the upkeep of the roadway. A road owner’s duty of care includes taking reasonable steps to prevent auto accidents from dangerous road conditions. What is reasonable depends on the circumstances and what a prudent property owner would do in the same situation. The failure to properly maintain a road could result in many dangerous conditions.

• Potholes
• Cracks or ruts
• Rubble or loose gravel
• Uneven shoulders
• Storm debris
• Dangerous construction zones
• Flooding
• Ice or snow
• Obscured road signs
• Faded paint
• Missing guardrails

The private property owner or the government could be liable for a car accident caused by bad road conditions in Texas. If you crashed on a private road or driveway, the owner of that road could be liable. If you crashed on a public road, the city or state government could be responsible instead. You could bring a case against the government for the failure to maintain a defect-free road or a dangerously designed roadway.

What Are the Elements Necessary to Bring a Claim?

To hold a property owner responsible for a car accident, you will need to understand the basic rules of premises liability. In general, a property owner has the legal task to regularly inspect his or her roads, repair visible or obvious defects, and warn drivers of nonobvious defects. If a property owner is negligent in fulfilling these responsibilities, he or she could be liable for a related car accident. It will be up to you or your car accident lawyer to prove the defendant’s fault for your collision. This will take four main elements.

1. The defendant owed you a duty of care to maintain a safe roadway.
2. The defendant failed to fulfill his or her duty of care.
3. The defendant’s negligence caused or contributed to your car accident.
4. You suffered compensable losses as a result of the accident.

If you crashed your car due to a bad road condition, the property owner or government could be responsible for your losses if you can prove these four elements using clear and convincing evidence. Evidence may take the form of photographs of the road defect, copies of previous complaints, your accident report, eyewitness statements and expert testimony. If your lawyer can prove these four elements, you can recover compensation for your losses from the at-fault party.

What Damages Are Available for a Crash Caused by Bad Road Conditions?

Understanding liability for a bad road condition is important to your future. Determining and proving liability will allow you to recover financial compensation for several past and future losses, meaning you will not have to pay them out of pocket. A successful personal injury claim against the government or another party could result in damages for several losses.

• Medical bills
• Lost wages (past and future)
• Property damage
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional injuries
• Loss of consortium
• Punitive damages
• Wrongful death damages

Find out if you have a claim against someone for a car accident caused by bad road conditions in Texas by consulting with an attorney. Some bad road conditions are no one’s fault, meaning you would need to file a claim with your own insurance company. Others, however, trace back to a property owner’s neglect or breach of duty of care. Consult with a lawyer for more information about your specific case and legal rights.