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Establishing Liability Following a Texas Car Accident

  • The legal doctrine of negligence generally governs most injury claims. Thus, understanding what a plaintiff must to prove is an important part of any Texas injury case. Negligence means that a party acted or failed to act in a way that an ordinarily prudent person would have acted in those or similar circumstances. This is referred to as the standard of care.

The standard of care required in a given scenario depends on the facts of the case. Some considerations might include the dangerousness of the activity involved and the relationship between the parties. Therefore, a plaintiff must show that the defendant did something a prudent person exercising ordinary care would not have done (or failed to do something an ordinarily prudent person would have done) in those same circumstances.

In Texas, to prove a negligence claim, a plaintiff must prove 1) the defendant owed the plaintiff a legal duty; 2) the defendant breached that duty; and 3) the breach proximately caused the plaintiff damages. That means that in a Texas car accident case, a plaintiff has to prove that another person failed to meet the standard of care, which caused the plaintiff’s injuries. In some cases, the standard of care has been defined. For example, negligence per se is a concept where a certain standard of care has already been established. In that instance, a statute states what a reasonably prudent person would have done, and then the jury is asked whether the defendant violated the statute or regulation.

Four-Vehicle Crash Results in the Deaths of Texans

A four-vehicle accident resulted in two deaths in Ector County, Texas, according to one news source. The crash occurred around 9:49 a.m., about one mile east of Odessa, on I-20. According to the news report, a 68-year-old driver was operating a 2012 Dodge Ram 3500 while towing a trailer west on I-20. Traffic had stalled and he reportedly failed to control his speed, running into a vehicle in front of him, causing a chain reaction accident.

In all, four vehicles were involved in the crash, including a Nissan Sentra, a Ford pickup towing a trailer, and a Ford-F550 truck. The Sentra and the Dodge Ram caught on fire after the crash. The driver and passenger in the Nissan Sentra were pronounced dead at the scene. Those motorists were 42 and 43 years old, and both were from Texas.

Contact a Texas Personal Injury Attorney

If you or a loved one has been injured in a Texas car accident, contact a San Antonio personal injury attorney as soon as possible. At Carabin Shaw, our attorneys aggressively represent individuals across Texas who have suffered catastrophic personal injuries and wrongful deaths. We stand up for victims against insurance companies and we will take a case to trial and beyond if an insurance company wrongfully refuses to honor or resolve your claim. We have over 200 years of combined experience in personal injury law, and we are ready to help clients find solutions to the challenges that arise after being involved in a serious accident. Call us at 1-800-862-1260 or use our online form to set up a free consultation.

Related Posts:

Holding a School District Liable in Texas, Texas Injury Lawyers Blog, February 18, 2018

Actual Knowledge in a Texas Slip and Fall, Texas Injury Lawyers Blog, February 13, 2018

Liability After Texas Freshman Killed on Campus?, Texas Injury Lawyers Blog, February 13, 2018

 

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