How a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer in San Antonio Handles Your Claim, Step by Step

The first call

The first call is a conversation, not a sales pitch. We ask where and when the crash happened, what the other driver did, which police agency came, how you are hurt and where you were treated, and what insurance you and the other driver carry. If you have photographs, a helmet camera file or the names of witnesses, we will ask for those too.

Then we tell you plainly whether we think you have a claim, what the main problems are, and what we would do first. If you hire us, you sign a written fee agreement that sets out the fee and how case expenses are handled. Nothing is owed for the consultation.

The first weeks: evidence before it disappears

Evidence in a motorcycle crash goes quickly. The other car is repaired or sold, store cameras record over themselves, and the bike sits in a storage yard collecting daily fees. These are the things we do first:

1. Notice to every insurer. The other driver’s carrier and your own are told that we represent you. From then on, adjusters call us, not you.
2. Preservation letters. We ask the other driver, the owner of the vehicle and, where it matters, an employer or a business with cameras near the scene to keep what they have: the vehicle, its stored crash data, video, phone records and dispatch logs.
3. The crash report. We order the officer’s CR-3 report from TxDOT and read the contributing factors, the diagram and the narrative. Where it is wrong, we start building the evidence to show that.
4. The motorcycle. We photograph and document the bike before it is repaired, sold or salvaged. Damage on a motorcycle often shows the angle and speed of the impact better than any witness.
5. The scene. For many crashes we look at the intersection or the stretch of road itself: sight lines, signal timing, lane markings and the place a driver would have had to look to see you.
6. Witnesses. People who stopped are contacted while they still remember what they saw.

While you are treated

Your part of the case is to get the care you need and follow your doctors’ advice. Motorcycle injuries often take months to settle into a clear picture: a fracture may need a second surgery, a head injury may show itself in memory or mood weeks later, and road rash may leave scarring that only shows once it heals.

While that happens, we collect the medical records and bills as they come in, keep a list of every provider, and track every lien. A hospital that admits you within 72 hours of the crash can claim a lien on your claim under Property Code Section 55.002, and a release of the claim is not valid against that lien unless the lien is dealt with under Section 55.007. Health plans and government programs may also have a right to be repaid. We sort all of that out so nothing surprises you at the end.

• Keep going to your appointments. Gaps in treatment are one of the first things an adjuster points to.
• Keep a short daily note. Pain, sleep, the things you could not do. Months later it is the clearest record of how the injury affected your life.
• Keep receipts. Prescriptions, mileage to appointments, braces, help you had to pay for at home.
• Stay off social media about the crash. Insurers look, and a photo of you smiling at a family event will be described as a full recovery.

Building the case on fault

Most motorcycle claims turn on fault before they turn on injuries. Texas bars recovery when the injured person is more than 50 percent responsible under Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 33.001, and reduces the damages by the rider’s share under Section 33.012. So we build the liability case as if it will be tried: the Transportation Code rules the other driver broke, the physical evidence, the witnesses and, where it is needed, a reconstruction of the crash.

The common crashes have clear rules behind them. A driver turning left must yield to oncoming traffic under Section 545.152. A driver changing lanes may move only when it can be done safely under Section 545.060. A driver following another vehicle must keep an assured clear distance under Section 545.062. And Section 545.0605 says a motorcycle is entitled to the full use of a lane. Our page on who is at fault in a motorcycle crash takes each crash type in turn.

The demand and the negotiation

When your injuries are understood, usually once your doctors can say what your recovery and future care look like, we put the claim together. A demand package sets out how the crash happened and why the other driver is responsible, every medical record and bill, your lost income, what your doctors expect in the future, the damage to the bike and gear, and how the injuries have affected your daily life.

Insurers evaluate claims in a set way. Adjusters work within the authority their supervisors give them, and they look for the same weak points in every file: gaps in treatment, earlier injuries, a rider’s share of fault, and anything in your own words that can be turned against you. Our founder worked for several of the largest insurance companies in Texas before he became a lawyer, and several of our attorneys came from insurers too, so we write the demand to answer those points before the adjuster raises them.

Negotiation can take weeks or months. We bring every offer to you with our advice, and the decision to accept or refuse is always yours. If the other driver’s coverage is not enough, the next step is often a claim on your own underinsured motorist coverage, which our page on dealing with the insurance companies explains.

Filing suit in Bexar County

If the insurer will not pay what the claim is worth, we can file a lawsuit. Under Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 15.002, a suit is generally brought in the county where all or a substantial part of the events happened, so a crash in San Antonio usually means the civil district courts of Bexar County. A crash in New Braunfels may belong in Comal County, one in Seguin in Guadalupe County, and one in Boerne in Kendall County.

The suit must be filed within two years of the crash under Section 16.003. After filing, both sides exchange documents and answer written questions, witnesses and the drivers give depositions under oath, and the doctors may be deposed. Many cases settle during this phase, often at a mediation where a neutral mediator works with both sides. If the case does not settle, it is tried to a jury, which decides who was responsible, in what percentages, and the damages.

How the money is paid out

When a claim is resolved, the payment comes to our firm’s trust account, not to us personally and not to you directly. From it, with your written approval of the final figures, come the attorney’s fee set in the fee agreement, the case expenses we advanced, and the liens and medical bills that must be paid. The rest is paid to you. You see every line on a written settlement statement before you sign, and a lien can sometimes be reduced by negotiation before that statement is final.

What it costs

We handle motorcycle cases on a contingency fee. There is no attorney’s fee unless we recover money for you, and we advance the case expenses, such as the crash report, medical records and any reconstruction. If there is no recovery, you owe us neither a fee nor those expenses. The written fee agreement sets out the percentage and how expenses are repaid from a recovery.

How long a motorcycle case takes

Honestly, it depends on three things more than anything else: how long your treatment takes, whether fault is disputed, and whether the insurance is enough to cover the harm. A claim with clear fault and a full recovery can resolve far sooner than one with a disputed left turn and a spinal surgery. We do not rush a claim before the injuries are understood, because a release is final and cannot be reopened when a second surgery comes along.

If you want to know what to do in the first days after a crash, read our page on what to do after a motorcycle wreck. For more about LAWBOSS itself, see lawboss.com.

Questions people ask