Commonly, lawsuits that involve the death of a plaintiff are called wrongful death lawsuits.  But in Texas, personal injury death lawsuits can be filed as a wrongful death cause of action or as a survivorship cause of action.  Often, death lawsuits combine both causes of action, but understanding the distinction between wrongful death and survivorship is important.   Who May File the Lawsuit?  A wrongful death claim may be brought ONLY by spouses, children, and parents of the deceased.  In situations where the deceased is not survived by a spouse, a child, or a par ..read more

The internet has a handful of stories of injured individuals who recovered a million dollars or more from a slip and fall case.  But slip-and-fall cases are still looked down upon as lesser lawsuits.  A plaintiff slipping on a banana peel in the supermarket comes to mind, but slip-and-fall cases are usually much more serious and important than they sound.  I am one of the few lawyers who has twice successfully recovered settlements of one million dollars for a client on a “slip-and-fall” case.  This article explains why slip-and-fall cases are important and should not b ..read more

Simply put, these cases are worth more than other types of motor vehicle accident claims.  Truck drivers have larger insurance policies and often do more damage when they crash into much smaller cars.  Most potential jurors have had or know someone who has had a bad experience with a semi-truck.  Insurance companies pay a premium to settle these cases and even a bad lawyer can get a good settlement without working too hard. We handle these cases differently and aggressively.  Getting a good settlement on these cases is not enough.  Trucking companies often need to be t ..read more

I am often asked if the parent company, Uber or Lyft, is liable for an accident or assault caused by their driver.  In Texas, the answer to this question does not matter in most accident cases because the legislature has incentivized Uber and its drivers to carry higher amounts of insurance to cover most claims.  Most rideshare drivers/companies carry one million dollars in insurance to pay accident claims on a for-hire ride.  In exchange for carrying this higher insurance coverage and other requirements, the legislature has made it harder to sue the rideshare company directly ..read more

Many in Texas mistakenly believe that you may not sue over a dog bite if the dog has never bitten before.  While Texas has a law commonly referred to as the “first-bite” defense, there are many ways around this defense.  If the dog has known dangerous propensities the owner can still be held liable even if the dog has never bitten before.  Dangerous propensities could include dogs that have chased or growled at people, attacked other animals, or even barked aggressively.  Additionally, owners can be held responsible for failing to restrain, leash, or fence a dog that does ..read more

Only 32.5% passed the February 2023 California Bar Exam.  Failure to know the law after three years of law school and an extensive bar review course is not a logical reason for a 67.5% failure rate.  Knowing the law is not enough. You must also be able to approach the law and take the test as a practicing lawyer would.  I am a 28-year Texas and now California attorney who passed the February 2023 California Bar Exam on my first attempt.  These are my lawyer tips for passing day one of the California Bar Exam. If you don’t want to fail, you must start by understanding why so ..read more

Attorneys hear it all the time: “You are the 5th attorney I have talked to. No one will take my case. Why?” A good personal injury case, like a bar stool, needs three legs to stand. Those legs are: An injury Liability, and A person or insurance that can pay the damages. Cases that lack injury are common when an incident causes someone to almost get hurt. The doctor almost performed the wrong surgery, or I was almost hit by a drunk driver who later crashed into a tree. While these types of situations can make a prospective client rightfully upset, they lack an injury that makes filing a lawsu ..read more

Defamation is an intentional tort cause of action handled by personal injury lawyers. While most people are aware that a person can be defamed, a business can also bring a case for defamation. The minimum requirements for a defamation claim include: A statement that is false, A statement that tends to hold the business up to contempt or ridicule, A statement that is about the business, The publication of the statement to others, and Damages caused by the statement.      While the elements of a defamation cause of action may appear to be a low bar, many other factors can knock ..read more

The short answer is insurance coverage. Most insurance covers negligence claims but does not cover intentional tort claims. As a result, there is often no insurance money to pay on an intentional tort claim. As a rule, insurance is designed to protect a victim of an accident or mistake. If you are injured because of someone’s intentional act, finding insurance coverage is often difficult. The more common intentional torts include claims such as battery, assault, false imprisonment, trespass, various privacy torts, and defamation. Often these non-insured intentional torts have an insured neglig ..read more

The law on attorney client privilege varies from state to state, but the law is based upon the founding principle enshrined in the U.S. Constitution which guarantees citizens the right to the candid advice of an attorney. Attorney client privilege is more commonly discussed in criminal cases, but the privilege also applies to your personal injury lawyer in a civil case. As a general rule, what you tell your attorney is privileged, but in a personal injury case the privilege is fairly weak, especially after a lawsuit is filed. Most of the things that you would want your personal injury attorney ..read more