Austin Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Serving Injured Riders Across Texas

The value of a motorcycle accident claim in Texas depends on how severe and how permanent your injuries are and how clear the fault picture is and how much insurance coverage exists to reach and how well your treatment is documented. No lawyer can quote a real number before reviewing your medical records and the available policies.

Anyone who gives you a figure on a first phone call is guessing. We look at the coverage first because a serious injury against a minimum policy is a different case than the same injury against a commercial policy.

Texas gives most injured riders two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit under Section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Miss that deadline and a court will dismiss the case no matter how strong the evidence is or how badly you were hurt.

Claims against a city or a state agency run on far shorter notice deadlines. Some require written notice within six months.

You can still recover in Texas as long as you were 50 percent or less responsible. Section 33.001 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code applies modified comparative fault and reduces your recovery by your percentage of blame. Cross 51 percent and you recover nothing.

This rule is exactly why insurance carriers push fault onto riders so hard.

Lane splitting is not authorized under Texas law and riding between lanes of traffic can be used against you as evidence of fault. An accusation of lane splitting does not automatically end your claim though. It shifts the fight to what the physical evidence and any available footage actually show.

We have handled files where camera footage flatly contradicted the account of the driver.

Section 661.003 of the Texas Transportation Code allows riders who are 21 or older to ride without a helmet if they complete an approved safety course or carry qualifying health insurance. Riding without a helmet does not bar your recovery and Texas law limits how that fact can be used against you.

Expect the carrier to raise it anyway. Head injury cases draw that argument most often.

Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage steps in when the at fault driver has no policy or cannot be identified after a hit and run. Texas carriers must offer this coverage and many riders carry it without realizing it. Your declarations page will tell us within minutes.

Hit and run files also depend heavily on early camera footage recovery.

Nothing up front. Our law firm handles rider cases on a contingency fee basis which means we advance the case costs and are paid a percentage only if we recover money for you. If there is no recovery you owe no attorney fee and no costs.

Your first case evaluation is free and it does not commit you to anything.

No. You are under no obligation to give a recorded statement to the insurance carrier for the driver who hit you and doing it early almost always hurts. Adjusters ask about speed and lane position and prior injuries in order to build a fault or preexisting condition defense.

Send them to your attorney instead. That is a complete and legal answer.

Most claims our firm handles resolve in six to twelve months and more than 90 percent settle without going to trial. Cases involving surgery or disputed fault or a fatality take longer because the medical picture has to stabilize before anyone can value the claim honestly.

Rushing a settlement before you finish treatment is the most expensive mistake a rider can make.

The most common motorcycle accident injuries we see are road rash and broken bones in the wrist and leg and ankle along with shoulder separations and traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord damage. Riders absorb the full force of a collision because there is no vehicle frame between them and the road and motorcycle injuries run deeper than the same crash would cause in a car.

Internal injuries often show up hours later which is why same day medical care matters.

Road rash treatment costs vary widely with the depth and the surface area of the wound. Surface abrasions may need cleaning and dressing changes while deep or degloving injuries require debridement and skin grafts and infection control and later scar revision surgery. Costs climb quickly once grafting starts.

Keep every bill and photograph the wound as it heals.

Usually yes but only if the release you sign is limited to property damage. Some carriers send a broad general release that closes out the entire injury case in exchange for the value of the motorcycle. Read it or have your lawyer read it before you sign anything.

This trap catches riders every month and it is not reversible.

Under the Texas wrongful death statute the surviving spouse and children and parents may bring a claim for funeral costs and lost financial support and loss of companionship. The estate may also bring a survival action for what the rider went through before death. The two year deadline applies here as well.

We handle these files quietly and directly with the family.

Call one before you sign anything even if the injuries seem minor. Soft tissue and head injuries frequently worsen over the following weeks and a quick settlement closes the door on care you have not received yet. A short conversation costs nothing and tells you where you stand.

If the case truly does not need a lawyer we will tell you that.