There are many ways riding a motorcycle can be more dangerous than driving a standard motor vehicle. One of them, unfortunately, is the behavior of other drivers around you. Even though the law requires Texas drivers to give motorcyclists the same space and respect on the road as anyone else, far too many of them fail to comply with that obligation. This sometimes results in collisions with devastating repercussions.
If a reckless or careless driver struck and injured you while riding recently, you have help available to you from a Hitchcock motorcycle accident lawyer. You deserve fair financial restitution for every form of harm you have suffered due to someone else’s misconduct; and the support of a seasoned personal injury attorney should improve your odds of getting paid for your medical losses, among others.
As with personal injury lawsuits built around most other types of auto accidents, a successful motorcycle accident claim typically revolves around “negligence.” In short, establishing negligence means proving that the defendant(s) named in the claim violated their “duty of care” requiring them to drive safely, carefully, and lawfully. In doing so, they directly caused a collision and subsequent injuries that otherwise would likely not have happened.
Anything from an overt breach of traffic law to a momentary loss of concentration could be the basis for a motorcycle crash claim, provided that it was reckless or careless enough to be the direct and primary cause of an accident. It is also worth noting that Texas civil law does not take into account the severity of a defendant’s negligence behavior when determining whether they should be liable for damages. Courts will sometimes impose additional punitive damages against defendants who acted extremely irresponsibly or showed intentional malice.
A successful claim built around negligence can seek restitution for economic and non-economic damages stemming from the motorcycle accident, including:
A Hitchcock motorcycle accident attorney could discuss damages which might be recoverable in a specific case during a private consultation.
Importantly, named defendants are not the only people who could be found negligent in relation to a motorcycle crash. Texas civil courts can also assign percentages of “comparative fault” to plaintiffs who contributed to causing their own injuries through their own negligence. For example, they may have broken a traffic law on their motorcycle when someone else also ran into them.
In accordance with Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §§ 33.001 through 33.017, courts can reduce the total compensation available to an injured person in proportion to their share of total fault. If that share is over 50 percent, it can bar them from civil recovery altogether. Support from a qualified lawyer is important to contesting these allegations and maximizing available recovery following a motorcycle wreck in Hitchcock.
Due to the relative lack of safety devices and protective equipment around them, motorcycle riders are especially susceptible to life-altering injuries in traffic collisions. Even if your injuries will heal completely with time and proper care, you still deserve fair restitution for your damages if your accident only happened because another person was negligent.
You need to retain a Hitchcock motorcycle accident lawyer in order to move towards comprehensive civil recovery. Schedule a meeting by calling Schechter, Shaffer & Harris today.
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