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Cracked floors. Low lighting. Poor fencing. These sound like small property issues until you end up hurt because of them. If a dangerously unkempt property led to you sustaining an injury, a Houston property injury lawyer will work to prove the owner’s negligence and maximize your recovery.
In a responsabilidad de las instalaciones case, an experienced attorney proves negligence by demonstrating four clear elements: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
The best local lawyer goes the extra mile, considering modified comparative fault and working within the statute of limitations to secure a settlement that reflects the hardship you’ve experienced.
How a Houston Property Injury Lawyer Proves Negligence
In Texas, an attorney must prove four distinct elements to establish a property owner’s negligence. Think of each part like a chain that links the property owner’s responsibility to your injury and the harm it caused you.
Duty of Care
Property owners assume a legal responsibility to maintain safe conditions for those within their premises. Drivers, neighbors, or businesses all have a reasonable responsibility to keep you safe.
Simply put, when someone owns a property, they can’t ignore hazards that could harm others.
Breach of Duty
Once duty is established, an attorney needs to demonstrate that the property owner failed to uphold it.
A breach of duty occurs when an owner either acts carelessly o fails to act when they should. For example, a store employee might carelessly mop a floor and fail to place a wet floor sign. Or a landlord might choose not to replace faulty lighting.
Causation
Next comes causation, or linking the property owner’s negligence to your injury.
An attorney will demonstrate factual causation through the “but for” test. This awkwardly worded test seeks to answer a straightforward question: If it wasn’t for the owner’s negligence, would you still have gotten hurt? If the answer is “no,” the owner’s negligence caused you injury.
Another factor that a lawyer must show to establish cause is foreseeability. This is the idea that a reasonable person should be able to predict (foresee) that their breach of duty could result in an injury. So when someone knows that a floor is wet, they should be aware that it could cause someone to resbalón y caída.
If the risk was obvious and preventable, the property owner may be liable.
Damages
Finally, your lawyer will have to document the full extent of your damages. In premises liability cases, this may include:
- Salarios perdidos del pasado y del futuro
- Gastos médicos
- Disability or long-term impairment
- Dolor y sufrimiento
Proving damages ensures that the legal system recognizes the real-world impact your injury has had on your life.
When a savvy attorney ties these four elements together, he proves negligence, creating a basis for your claim. But in Texas, other legal factors can influence the outcome of your case. And a skilled attorney, like Ryan Nguyen, ties all of them together to improve your settlement.
Other Factors To Consider
For many personal injury claims, your case succeeds or fails on whether you can prove negligence. But you need an attorney who goes further, considering every angle to maximize your award after a premises injury has affected you. Some other factors to consider are:
Texas’s fault laws: Texas personal injury cases operate under a modified comparative fault system. This means the amount of compensation you could receive will be reduced by the amount you were shown to be at fault. If you are more than 50% at fault, you’ll be barred from receiving any compensation. For a premises liability claim, a property owner could argue that you failed to watch where you were walking or ignored an obvious hazard.
Proof of permanent injury: Once you reach the point of maximum medical improvement (MMI), it becomes clearer how your personal injury permanently affects your life. In certain cases, an attorney will strategically wait until you reach MMI before finalizing your settlement, as doing so could dramatically improve compensation.
Statute of limitations: There is a two-year statute of limitations to file most personal injury cases in Texas. An experienced attorney will position your case to reach MMI while staying within deadlines. They plan carefully to resolve your case before the deadline while gathering as much supporting evidence as possible.
A seasoned attorney isn’t just aware of these factors. They know how to leverage them for optimal success.
With so many moving parts involved in your personal injury case, you don’t want an attorney who will wing it. When you need a legal advocate that flies higher than the rest, call on Ryan Nguyen. He’s known as The Falcon because he’s decisive, quick, and leaves no room for insurance companies to wiggle their way out.
Book a Free Consultation To See if You Have a Case!
There are four key factors to proving negligence: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. Other factors, such as comparative fault, maximum medical improvement, and the statute of limitations, affect how successful your case will be.
It makes sense on paper, but proving negligence in practice takes determination and tact. Some might even say it takes a Falcon’s precision to achieve the best outcome. Ryan Nguyen earned his nickname for his fierce advocacy on behalf of his clients.
Work with the Houston property injury lawyer who rises above the rest. Schedule a consultation with The Falcon for FREE.
