Denton Personal Injury Lawyers

If you suffer injuries because of someone else's negligence, the consequences can derail your life. Your personal injury claim is your opportunity to seek the just compensation you need to regain your health and well-being. Because your recovery is paramount, you want to work closely with an experienced Denton personal injury lawyer at Stewart J. Guss, Injury Accident Lawyers.

We are a national law firm based in Texas with multiple offices around the country. We also work with affiliate law firms in most states that share our focus and dedication to excellence. No matter where you are located, we may be able to help you, so call or contact us now. We are open, for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 800-898-4877, or you may contact us now by clicking here to submit your case for review.

Personal Injury Guide

The City of Denton

The City of Denton is the county seat of Denton County. It is a bustling area that is rich in history and that experiences consistently heavy traffic—with the traffic accidents to prove it. According to the, 20 people lost their lives in traffic accidents throughout the city last year, which is the highest number in a decade.

Some of these fatal accidents happened on the city’s most traveled roads, and the government is repairing several of them as a result, including:

• University Drive (part of U.S. Highway 380, which is a 673-mile highway that extends throughout Texas)
• Interstate 35, where it intersects with Highway 380 (the northbound lanes near the exit and entrance ramps are considered especially dangerous)
• Highway 380 between South Loop 288 in Denton to U.S. Highway 377 in Cross Roads.

If you suffered an injury due to another motorist's negligence on one of Denton's roads, the dedicated personal injury lawyers at Stewart J. Guss, Injury Accident Lawyers can help. Your claim and recovery are essential, and the Guss legal team has the experience and legal insight to skillfully advocate for its best possible resolution.

Personal Injury Claims Come in Many Different Forms

Personal injury claims address injury-causing accidents that someone else’s negligence caused, and we can generally group them into the following basic categories:

• Traffic accidents, including car, truck, motorcycle, bike, and pedestrian accidents
• Drunk driving accidents
• Premises liability accidents, such as slip and fall accidents

Claims that address accidents on the job—like construction accidents—and wrongful death claims are also negligence-based and very similar to personal injury claims.

Slip and Fall Accidents

When you are out and about running errands or just enjoying your day in Denton, the last thing on your mind is slipping and falling because of a property owner or manager's negligence. Still, these accidents are more common than you may realize. Slip and fall accidents are also closely associated with severe injuries and extensive losses (or legal damages). Property owners and managers are responsible for maintaining their premises at the same level that other reasonable property owners and managers maintain in similar situations.

The Elements of Slip and Fall Accident Claims

The elements of slip and fall accident claims include:

• A risk factor can cause patrons, customers, clients, visitors, or other invited guests to slip and fall.

• The commercial property owner or manager either knew about or reasonably should have known about the risk factor.
• The owner or manager did not promptly address the risk or deploy adequate warnings.
• The risk factor caused a patron to slip and fall.
• The patron suffered losses due to the accident.

Commercial property owners owe their guests a significant duty of care concerning their safety.

Common Causes of Slip and Fall Accident Claims

These factors often cause slip and fall accidents:

• Wet, cold weather that leaves outdoor walkways overly slippery
• Debris-strewn outdoor walkways
• Outdoor debris that people track indoors
• Cracked, buckled, uneven, worn, or otherwise inferior outdoor walkways
• Doorways that pose tripping hazards
• Floor coverings that are ripped or bunched, frayed, overly slippery, uneven, or otherwise dangerous
• Inadequate indoor or outdoor lighting
• Stairways that are poorly lit, or lack handrails, are overly slippery, or their design or construction is dangerous (slip and fall accidents from heights are the most hazardous of all)
• Walkways that are slippery because of spills that no one tended to

Traffic Accidents

Traffic accidents represent another primary form of personal injury claim.

Negligent drivers come in an array of types, and they are all exceptionally dangerous, including:

• Distracted drivers
• Drowsy drivers
• Impaired drivers
• Speeding drivers
• Aggressive drivers

Let’s take a closer look.

Distracted Drivers

Motorists owe their full attention to the task at hand, which is driving safely. When a motorist focuses thoughts on anything other than this primary job, it can prove disastrous. Texting, because it involves the driver's thoughts, hands, and vision, has been dubbed the most alarming distraction of all. Distracted drivers make our roadways far less safe for all of us.

Drowsy Drivers

When you're tired, it's hard to get the job done, and when the job is driving, this impairment can kill people. While nodding off behind the wheel is extremely dangerous, the risk does not end there. Drivers who have too little sleep under their belts tend to make poorer decisions behind the wheel, experience longer reaction times, and pay less attention to the road—adding up to a dangerous driving scenario.

Impaired Drivers

Drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs should not be behind the wheel, but too many such drivers refuse to put their keys away.

The well-established impairments caused by alcohol include:

• Vision impairments
• Physical incoordination
• Decreased ability to maintain safe control of one’s vehicle
• Cognitive impairments that interfere with good judgment and impulse control
• Impaired drivers are dangerous drivers who put all of us at increased risk.

Speeding Drivers

There is a good reason for the phrase, speed kills, and that is because it is the truth. Excess speed is a headliner in far too many fatal driving statistics, and drivers who make speeding their practice are often responsible for deadly traffic accidents.

When motorists exceed the speed limit or drive too fast for the road’s condition:

• The driver has less time to react safely to whatever happens on the road.
• The driver is more likely to cause a life-threatening car accident.

In other words, motorists who speed excessively are about as dangerous as it gets.

Aggressive Drivers

Aggressive drivers engage in even more dangerous forms of negligence—that often extend into reckless driving practices. It doesn't help that the hallmark of aggressive driving is immense speed.

When you add these aggressive practices into the mix, it’s not difficult to assess the dangers aggressive drivers present:

• Driving far too close to other vehicles (called tailgating)
• Bothering other drivers by gesturing at them, taunting them verbally, honking at them, flashing their lights at them, or even bumping into them
• Zipping in and out of lanes
• Blatantly ignoring the rules of the road.
• Passing with wild abandon
• Driving as if they own the road and are the only motorists on it

Aggressive drivers are easily identifiable, and when you spot one, allowing them as much space on the road as possible is the best practice. Alerting the authorities may also be in order (when it is safe to do so).

Common Types of Car Accidents

Even relatively minor car accidents are often hazardous, and all too often, car accidents are anything but minor.

We can classify car accidents into the following categories:

• T-bone accidents in which the other driver barrels directly into your vehicle (forming the shape of a T)
• Sideswipe accidents, where the other driver swipes the side of your vehicle (often drifting out of their lane to do so)
• Rear-end accidents in which another driver fails to respond to the circumstances ahead (some of the most-common severe car accidents)
• Head-on accidents that are just as dangerous as they are terrifying and often result due to impairment, exhaustion, or extreme speed
• Rollover accidents are some of the deadliest accidents out there (often caused when a motorist must suddenly respond to another driver’s negligent move)

Each category of a car accident can prove deadly.

The Losses You Face

The losses you face from an injury caused by someone else’s negligence can prove nearly insurmountable, including:

• The property damage to your car (if the accident is a traffic accident)
• Your medical bills, which may be ongoing and may address secondary healthcare concerns
• Your lost income can decrease your ability to earn and derail your career goals.
• Your physical and emotional pain and suffering can be far more challenging to assess but can lead to profoundly negative consequences.

Ensuring that your personal injury claim incorporates your covered losses in their entirety is critical to your ability to reach your most complete recovery.

Seeking Just Compensation

You will turn to the at-fault party's insurance provider to compensate you for the losses you experience, but you can expect this profit-based company to do what it can to keep your settlement as low as possible. This is exactly why you need professional legal counsel in your corner.

Some of the most common practices to be on the lookout for include:

• A claim denial which they hope to help weed out vulnerable claimants who simply give up
• An early settlement offer, which you can depend on being too low to fairly address all of your losses
• An attempt to impose blame away from the policyholder and toward you
• A denial of the seriousness of your losses
• An artificially lengthy or overly complicated claims process

The insurance company, in other words, is not above taking advantage of your vulnerability for its own profit.

Insurance Company Tactics

Insurance companies provide coverage for car accidents, so you might expect these companies to be willing to pay claims for injured victims. However, they are also businesses that prioritize profits, which means limiting settlement payments. Insurance adjusters will use many tricks and tactics to get you to accept less than you deserve.

Insurance companies might:

• Get you to say something against your interests
• Challenge liability for your accident
• Challenge the severity of your injuries and losses
• Make quick offers that are far too low

When you have a claim, you want a lawyer handling all of your insurance communications. Companies will not use the same tactics on experienced legal professionals.

Your Personal Injury Lawyer’s Role

Protecting your legal rights in pursuit of your rightful compensation is the crux of your personal injury claim, and having professional legal guidance on your side is the best way to achieve this.

Your trusted personal injury lawyer will skillfully:

• Help you understand the personal injury process and help you make well-informed decisions throughout
• Communicate with the insurance company in your place
• Gather all the available evidence in support of your claim, including eyewitness testimony
• Create accident reconstruction models
• Hire expert witnesses whose knowledge and experience bolster your claim
• Negotiate a fair settlement with the insurance company
• Prepare for court if the insurance company does not make a reasonable settlement offer

Discuss Your Claim With an Experienced Denton Personal Injury Lawyer Today

Insurance companies are for-profit companies and are often quite large. They usually have deep pockets and vast resources to use against you. The commercials they air on television may paint them as a friendly resource you can count on, but they will do everything they can to not pay you.

The practiced Denton personal injury lawyers at Stewart J. Guss, Injury Accident Lawyers have decades of experience. They are well prepared to help guide your claim toward its most favorable resolution—in pursuit of just compensation that addresses your complete physical, financial, and emotional damages.

In fact, the legal team of Stewart J. Guss, Injury Accident Lawyers, is nationally recognized for protecting the rights of injured victims for more than 20 years. If an accident injured you in Denton, call our office right now for a free consultation! Because we take all of our personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis, you will not owe us a dime unless we win your case. We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so call us today at 800-898-4877 or contact us now by clicking here.