Forney Accident Attorney Tag Archives

Published on: December 6, 2018

Kaufman County’s Trusted 18-Wheeler Accident Attorneys

Guest and Gray prides itself in being the largest and highest rated law firm in Kaufman county. We are number one because we care about our clients and their situation. Personal injury cases are just that: personal. They happen to real people and it causes REAL problems in their lives. No accident situation can bring more drama to a family’s life than an 18-wheeler accident. These are simply the most destructive types of accidents that can occur on Kaufman county roads. Every year, Kaufman county residents and passers-through die on our local highways due to negligent truck drivers and as our roads become more congested and traveled as a result of development, the numbers will only go up.

Kaufman county is one of the fastest growing counties in Texas. Growth in cities like Forney, Terrell and Crandall will lead the way over the next few years. All three of those cities are corridors in and through Kaufman county with interstate highways and state highways leading right through them. Forney and Terrell have the highly traveled highway 80 and interstate 20 passing right through them and Crandall, as sort of the gateway to East Texas has highway 175. All three cities are gearing up for exponential growth over the next few years as pastureland is converted to shopping, retail and most of all, homes. Crandall has the Wildcat Ranch Development that plans to bring nearly 3,100 unites, which would effectively more than double the population of Crandall alone. Travel anywhere in Forney and you will see new community development and shopping and retail going in, and Terrell leads the way in commercial development. The result of this population increase will be an economic boom. Increased economic out put means an increase in commercial traffic. Commercial traffic means 18-wheelers and other commercial vehicles traveling on our roadways will only increase to meet demand.

At Guest and Gray, our personal injury lawyers see this as being a potential problem for our local citizenry and those who travel our major highways to get to and from home and work. The greater the number of commercial vehicles means that our current and future citizens will be at a greater risk of being injured due to negligent commercial truck drivers as they come into our area. A semi truck, without the tractor-trailer, weighs around 80 thousand pounds, without a tractor-trailer attached. In comparison, the average passenger vehicle weighs about 5,000 pounds. When the two meet at high speeds, the results can be absolutely devastating.

Published on: September 29, 2017

Guest and Gray: Kaufman and Rockwall County Slip and Fall Attorneys

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

It happens all the time. The typical scenario is where a person enters a store and due to some sort of defect in the premises or a condition on the property, a person slips or trips and falls and becomes injured. In this sort of case, who is at fault? Well, it is not quite as easy as it sounds.

If the store allowed a dangerous condition or defect in the premises to exist, they had actual knowledge of the defect on the premises or a dangerous condition, and failed to correct it, or they had reason to know that a defect or dangerous condition existed and failed to take corrective action, then you will have a viable claim for damages after a slip and fall accident.

So What is a Dangerous Condition or Defect?

Published on: May 21, 2017

The Insurance Company is Not Your Friend

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

The insurance company is not your friend. I feel like I say this to every potential client, and I get the same response “they’ve been really friendly so far.”

Then we get into the claims process and get down to brass tacks and the client quickly realizes that, had they gone into this without an attorney, what would have been considered “fair” by the insurance adjuster’s definition would have been much different and less zeros on it.

Case in point, I was speaking to a friend recently I had not seen in nearly a decade and it came up that he had been involved in an 18-wheeler accident a few years back. He told me how he had tried to go it alone for a while against the insurance company, in part because they seemed to be on his side and they accepted liability right away. He was hurt pretty bad in the accident and required shoulder surgery and weeks of rehabilitation. However, in his initial meeting with the insurance company’s adjuster, they offered him $1,500. He said he couldn’t believe it and as he said it, he seemed to think that I should be surprised too, but I wasn’t.

Published on: March 21, 2017

Commercial Traffic Accidents Increase by 34.5% in Rockwall County, 20% in Kaufman County in Just One Year

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

According to recently released crash data from TXDot, both Rockwall and Kaufman counties are experiencing significant increases in commercial traffic accidents. The data just released is from 2015, so 2016 statistics are not known. However, the number of commercial vehicle accidents increased by 34.5% year-over-year from 2014 to 2015 for Rockwall and Kaufman county increased by 20.3% over the same time period.

We know that Rockwall and Kaufman counties are experiencing extreme growth, with cities like Rockwall, Royse City, McClendon-Chisholm, and Heath as well as parts of Dallas, Garland, and Rowlett located in Rockwall county, it is no wonder that Rockwall county has experienced large year-over-year growth in commercial vehicle accidents. But over 34%? That is a crazy statistic.

In Kaufman county, what is really the most surprising is that it had more commercial vehicle accidents that Rockwall county in 2014 (113 in Kaufman county and 107 in Rockwall county). What may be surprising to hear is that Kaufman county has a larger population that Rockwall county, thanks to large growth in cities like Forney, Terrell, and Kaufman. That may partly explain the higher number of accidents, but Rockwall county is smaller in geographic size and is more densely populated, so the statistic is still a little surprising. Forney’s population alone grew by over 25% from the 2010 census to the last released data in July 2015, and Kaufman county’s growth over that same period is at exactly 11.0%.

Published on: February 3, 2017

Maximizing Personal Injury Settlements: The Stowers Doctrine

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

Sounds cool, doesn’t it? Stower’s Doctrine. Its got moxy. The Stowers Doctrine is as Texan as they come. From the Stowers Doctrine flows the Stowers Demand, a powerful settlement tool in personal injury practice.

But what is a Stowers Demand, exactly? Where does it come from? What does it do? Well, ask any attorney who deals with insurance companies on a regular basis and they will tell you it is a lifeblood of a personal injury practice. In our practice here in the Forney, Rockwall and Dallas area, once damages have been reasonably calculated, we always send a Stowers Demand to the insurance company. It is quite possibly the single most powerful pre-trial tool a personal injury attorney has to maximize settlement dollars for their client.

What is a Stowers Demand?

Published on: December 15, 2016

Got Hit By a Delivery Driver?

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

This time of year seeing a UPS or Fed Ex truck on the road is a common occurrence. Driver’s delivering packages this time of year are often under a lot of pressure. In my house, those delivery men and women are called “Santa’s little helpers” because they’re the real heroes of the Christmas package delivery game, not those elves. UPS expects to deliver more than 700 million packages this holiday season, with 13 of 21 holiday shipping day to exceed 30 million packages a day. https://pressroom.ups.com/pressroom/ContentDetailsViewer.page?ConceptType=PressReleases&id=1477506556294-677. Fedex does not expect to be quite as busy as UPS, although they still predict record deliveries of around around 325 million packages this holiday season. http://www.businessinsider.com/ups-fedex-holiday-shipping-plan-new-technology-2016-11. All told, that is around 1 billion packages traveling around the country in large semi-trucks and delivery trucks. That is a lot of packages and a lot of driving.

This time of year it seems like every where you go, you see a Fedex or UPS vehicle delivering package. Those drivers are everywhere. You see them traveling in and around our local highways all day and into the night, often working very long hours and driving in upwards of 50-100 miles per day to drop off their hundreds of shipments. It is a tough job with long hours, lots of driving, and a lot of stress. With such a vast number of drivers on the roads this time of year, that leads to one absolute certainty: accidents.

Accidents with delivery drivers happen for a variety of reasons. It could be human error, or it could be some outside factor. Here is a list of some common causes of accidents with delivery truck during the holiday season:

Published on: May 18, 2016

Compiling Medical Damages in Personal Injury Cases

by Guest and Gray Law Firm

In a typical personal injury case, there are a variety of “damages” that you may have incurred as a result of the accident. If you received injuries from the accident, then it is very important get copies of medical information, and the amount of money you or your insurance company have paid out as a result of your injuries.

When you first meet with a personal injury attorney, one of the first things they will want to know is the extent of your injuries, and whether those injuries will affect your ability to work/live in the future. It is helpful to bring copies of medical statements and information so that the attorney will be able to get an idea of the scope of your injuries, but at the initial consultation it is not 100% necessary. But if I were you, I would.

Once you have signed a representation agreement with an attorney, they will request that you immediately get them all of your current medical billing and information from the accident. They may request your office visit notes from each visit. They will also request what are called “Explanations of Benefits” or “EOBs” from your health insurance provider. EOBs are an explanation of the amount of benefits you have used during the current year/month, etc.. It is a helpful tool to determine how much your injuries have cost your insurance company. The attorney will also want to know exactly how much you have paid out of pocket. Providing receipts for things that you have paid for, and even providing a mileage accounting for travel to rehab and doctor’s visits as a part of your ongoing recovery will be requested.