When Should You Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer After an Accident?

Defective products can cause a victim severe injuries, and these product liability accidents can result in large personal injury claims. If you've been harmed by a product, talk to an accident lawyer in McAllen, TX to find out all your options for holding those responsible accountable. What Counts as a Defective Product? Everyday items fail to work properly all the time. A car part fails, or a household tool breaks, or a medical device does not perform. These failures can cause broken bones, burns, internal injuries, or worse, and the question is how to know when these harms are true accidents or the fault of the user and when they signal a problem with the product itself. The law recognizes three main ways that a product can be considered defective: Design defect Manufacturing defect Marketing defect Design Defect A design defect exists when the product is unsafe even though it was made exactly as planned. The entire product line shares the same problem, in other words. For example, if an entire line of baby bath seats has a tendency to flip over when water levels rise to a certain level, this is a design defect. Manufacturing Defect A manufacturing defect occurs when the design is fine, but something goes wrong during production. In these cases, usually only certain units contain the flaw. If 20,000 cars are made on an assembly line to the same specification, but 5,000 of them got airbags from a run of airbags containing a fault, only those 5,000 vehicles are a problem. This is a manufacturing defect. Marketing Defect A marketing defect is also sometimes called "failure to warn," and it happens when the product either doesn't have clear instructions or lacks a warning about risks that wouldn't be obvious to the user. How Defective Products Cause Product Liability Accidents Physical Mechanisms Mechanical failure is a common cause of harm and often happens when a structural member breaks. The sudden release of stored force can accelerate a broken part and essentially turn it into a missile. In other cases, the structural failure causes an item to collapse, and someone leaning or standing on it in that moment falls. Torn ligaments, fractures and breaks, dislocations, and internal hemorrhages are often the result. Thermal Burns Overheating components or exposed heating elements that should be protected are another common cause of harm and product liability claims. The overheating itself can cause harm or flammable materials can be ignited. Chemical and Electrical Burns Sometimes burns are from chemicals. These can be contaminants that shouldn't be there at all, or they can be leaks of known chemicals that were improperly sealed. Electrical currents can also cause serious injuries when a short or other issues ccauseelectricity to pass through a person. Talk to an Accident Lawyer in McAllen, TX If you've been injured by a defective product and want to discover if you have a claim, reach out to the Almaraz Law Firm in McAllen, Midland, or San Antonio, TX today to start your free consultation.

If a big rig or delivery truck has slammed into your vehicle, you're likely already getting the sense that commercial vehicle accidents create problems far more serious than your typical two-car collision. A car accident lawyer can help you sort out the layers and get the help and compensation you're entitled to. How Commercial Vehicle Accidents Are Different Size & Stopping Room A fully loaded tractor-trailer can tip the scales at 80,000 pounds, and most passenger cars are around 4,000 pounds. That twenty-to-one weight gap means the force that's transferred in a crash is enormous. The smaller vehicle absorbs the bulk of the energy, which is why injuries in these collisions often involve broken bones, spinal damage, or worse. Regular car-on-car wrecks simply do not generate the same level of kinetic energy. At 65 miles per hour under ideal dry conditions, a passenger car needs roughly 316 feet to come to a halt. A loaded semi, in contrast, needs nearly the length of two football fields. Simply put, the physics leave less room for error. Rules & Regulations Commercial operators must follow hours-of-service limits set by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and log every mile with electronic devices that record their speed, braking, and rest periods. When those logs show a driver pushed past the limit, the violation becomes powerful evidence against the driver. Violations of the rules can make a trucker partially liable even if they didn't actually cause an accident, under the right circumstances. Liability & Insurance In a regular crash you usually just deal with one other driver and that driver's insurance company. A commercial crash can pull in the driver, the trucking company, the maintenance shop that last serviced the brakes, the shipper who loaded the cargo, and sometimes even the manufacturer of a defective part. Each of those parties will have their own insurance and their own set of records. Tracking them all down takes time and specialized knowledge. In addition, commercial carrier insurance policies often have higher limits because the potential for damage is so much greater, yet the carriers also fight harder and move slower precisely because there's so much of their money at risk. Injuries & Evidence In fatal large-truck crashes, roughly 82% of the people killed are not truck occupants. Passenger-vehicle drivers and their passengers absorb the worst of the impact, and thus catastrophic injuries like traumatic brain injury, spinal-cord damage, and amputations occur at higher rates in these accidents than in collisions between similar-sized cars. This means much larger medical bills and much longer recovery. And, unlike with a passenger car, you need some critical black-box data from the truck's engine control module and the electronic logging devices. Companies must also keep maintenance records for the vehicle, driver drug test results, and hours-of-service logs. In a regular car crash you might rely primarily on police photos and witness statements; here, the paper and digital trail runs much deeper, and you are likely to need legal help to dig it all out. Talk to a Car Accident Lawyer Soon Commercial accidents can be devastating, but we have experience in these types of cases. Visit the Almarez Law Firm now in McAllen, San Antonio, or Midland, TX today to start your free consultation.

A serious job site accident can upend your life, and these workplace accidents require quick action if you're going to fully recover, both physically and financially. An injury attorney can map out your options clearly and help you pursue every avenue for compensation. Practical Steps to After Workplace Accidents Immediately Medical Attention You need medical attention as soon as the accident happens, and you can't let your boss or anyone else talk you out of this step. Job sites are dangerous places, and there are plenty of injuries that can seem minor at first but turn serious fast, like concussions, soft tissue damage, or fractures. Head to an emergency room or your doctor right away and describe exactly what happened. This also creates a clear medical record that will go a long way to supporting any benefit claims you bring and prevent complications down the road. Follow up as recommended even if you start feeling better. Report Right Away Report the details of the incident your employer or supervisor immediately, even if you think they already know. Give them a written account if possible, with a record of the date, time, location, what you were doing, and any witnesses. The faster you report, the faster you can access your workers' compensation coverage (if your employer participates in this program). Keep your own copy of everything you send them and any responses you receive. Your lawyer will help you keep on your employer to make sure they follow through on their side once your report has been made. Access Your Workers' Comp Apply for your workers' compensation benefits right away, if your employer carries this insurance. The coverage typically pays for all reasonable and necessary medical treatment related to the injury. It can also replace a portion of your wages once you miss more than seven days of work. Your lawyer can talk to your employer's insurance carrier or the Texas Department of Insurance directly to get all the information on your eligibility and guide you through the claims process. Record Everything Keep detailed records of every expense that is tied to the injury, and any lost income. Save your receipts for prescriptions, any travel to and from appointments, your medical equipment purchases, and any home modifications you had to make during recovery. Track your missed workdays and lost pay accurately and keep it all organized. Organized files like that make conversations with claims representatives smoother and reduce the chance of disputes. Depending on how the accident happened and your employer's insurance status, you may have access to additional compensation for both economic and non-economic damages. Follow the Plan Stick closely to the treatment plan your doctors outline and begin rehabilitation as soon as they advise. Attend every appointment, complete any prescribed exercises, and take your medications just as directed. Not only can neglecting this plan slow your healing, but it can also raise questions later about how seriously you took your recovery. You could even lose out on benefits or personal injury claim awards if it can be successfully argued that you didn't do everything a responsible person should to promote your own quick recovery. Talk to an Injury Attorney Recovery from a serious job site accident takes patience, and you need to focus not just on your medical needs, but also your financial ones. Call us today at the Almaraz Law Firm at 956-450-1671. We serve clients in Midland, McAllen, Odessa, Edinburg, and San Antonio,