• If the police report shows that the defendant is clearly at fault and you are not, the defendant's insurer normally will pay your cost of repairs and provide you with a rental car while your vehicle is being repaired. If your car is totaled the insurer will pay the cash market value and take title to the salvage. You should be able to obtain the rental car and property damage settlement without a lawyer, or without attorney's fees if you do have a lawyer. It is important to keep photos of the damage to your vehicle to show that the impact was hard enough to be the cause of your injury.

• Automobile insurance (both the defendant's liability insurance and your own UM/UIM and PIP policy) covers the insured vehicle, its owner, its driver (if using with permission) and all occupants of the vehicle.  Also covered are family members of the named insured owner who reside in the same household. Minimum bodily injury liability limits in Texas are $20,000 per person or $40,000 per accident.  Corporations and wealthier individuals usually carry higher limits or excess coverage. If the defendant driver was an employee on duty the employer's insurance coverage will apply. The defendant's insurer will refuse to tell you what the policy limits are, but you can get the information after you file suit. Coverages from separate applicable policies can be stacked. Some exclusions in the Texas standard auto policy have been held invalid, so you might have coverage even if the policy seems to say otherwise. Policies cancelled for non-payment of premium might still be valid if the cancellation was not done properly.

PIP Coverage

• Look at the declarations sheet of your own auto insurance policy to see if you paid a premium for PIP (Personal Injury Protection) coverage. PIP promptly reimburses you for 100% of medical costs and 80% of lost wages, up to your PIP limits of $2,500, $5,000 or $10,000, regardless of fault. PIP will enable you to collect two dollars for each one dollar of medical expense you have, (up to your PIP limits) assuming you also collect from the defendant's liability insurer. The double recovery is legal and ethical because you paid the extra premium for your PIP coverage. If you're an occupant of someone else's car, that person's PIP will cover you. PIP coverages under separate applicable policies can be stacked. You do not need a lawyer to collect the PIP benefits. Most lawyers assist in collecting the PIP claim without charging a fee.

UM/UIM Coverage

• Your own uninsured motorist/underinsured motorist coverage will be important if the defendant had no liability coverage or insufficient coverage to fully compensate you for your injuries. UM/UIM insurance pays you the same damages that you could have recovered from the defendant's insurer if the defendant had carried enough insurance. Your UM/UIM limits are shown on the declarations sheet of your auto policy. The claim depends on proving fault on the part underinsured driver. Your claim includes damages for pain and suffering and other noneconomic losses. Most people use a lawyer to handle the UM/UIM claim if significant injuries are involved. Do not sign a release for the defendant driver without the written consent of your UM/UIM carrier. If you do so your UM/UIM claim may be barred.
• Hit and run claims are also covered under the UM/UIM provisions in your own automobile policy. The hit and run accident must involve physical contact with the other vehicle and must have been reported to the police within 24 hours.
  

Comparative Fault

• Even if you were partly at fault you can still recover part of your damages so long as you were not more at fault than the defendant. For example, assume that the jury determines that the defendant driver was 70% at fault, that you were 30% at fault, and that your medical expenses, lost earnings, pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical impairment and other damages total $100,000. The court will award you judgment of $70,000. But if you are found to be 51% at fault and the defendant only 49%, you recover nothing. The police accident report is important but not conclusive. Sometimes the report is wrong. Sometimes the jury disagrees with the conclusions of the investigating officer. If your injury is severe you should discuss the evidence thoroughly with an experienced trial lawyer, even if the accident report is unfavorable. In 2003 the Texas Legislature passed a tort reform package of laws. One of the laws that may adversely affect your case is a provision that a defendant can attempt to shift blame to a "Responsible Third Party," even if that person is uninsured, insolvent, unidentified or absent from the court's jurisdiction.
  

Passengers

• A passenger may claim damages from the insurance company for the other driver, or from the insurance company for his or her own driver (even if a spouse or family member), or both, depending on which driver was at fault. In most cases a passenger's claim against the negligent driver of the other vehicle is not reduced by the comparative negligence of the passenger's own driver.
• Suppose both the passenger and driver claim damages against the driver of another vehicle.  Suppose also there is evidence that the passenger's own driver was partly at fault. In such a case the passenger and driver should not use the same attorney.  The attorney would have a conflict of interests.   Saying the same thing also this way, the passenger's lawyer could not assert a claim against his own client, driver.
  

Recorded Statement

• In cases involving serious injury the defendant's insurer will ask that you give a tape recorded statement. You are not legally obligated to do so. It's better to avoid giving a statement without your lawyer present. The defendant's friendly claim representative is trained to discredit you and your injury and to defeat your claim if there is any way it can be defeated. If your injury is major it is better not to go on record with your testimony before the defendant driver does the same. The claim can be harmed by an inadvertent remark, for example: "I never saw the other car before it hit me." Such a remark can be used against you as evidence that you failed to keep a proper lookout. If you do give a statement request a copy for yourself. Avoid being pinned down to precise measurements of distance and time. Study the police report, witness statements, photos, medical records and physical evidence. Be prepared to tell about previous injuries and claims. Never tell any "little white lies." Your credibility as a witness will be the single most important factor in determining the settlement value of your claim or the outcome of your trial.
  

Medical Authorization

• The defendant's insurer will ask you to sign an authorization to allow release of your medical records. Try to avoid doing so. It is not to your advantage for your opponent to review your medical records before you and your own attorney see them. You have the right to restrict the authorization to records relevant to the injury in question, rather than give a blanket authorization that releases everything back to the day you were born. Never authorize disclosure of records of psychiatrists, psychologists or family counselors. Mental health records are privileged and need not be released to anyone (unless you claim that the collision caused an injury to your mental health). Disclosure of mental health records has the potential to “open a can of worms” that will distract the attention of the jury from the legitimate issues to be decided in your case.
  

To view selected cases of Blakeley & Ramey involving car accidents click the links below.

Rear End Collisions