San Angelo Personal Injury Attorneys

Recoverable Damages in a Texas Personal Injury Case

No amount of money will erase what happened, but filing a wrongful death or personal injury lawsuit can help you and your family obtain the financial compensation you need to support your family and cover expenses.

In general, there are three types of personal injury damages available:

• Economic Damages: You may receive compensation for financial expenses, including medical and funeral costs.
• Non-Economic Damages: You may also receive compensation for less tangible damages, such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of inheritance, and loss of consortium.
• Punitive Damages: Punitive damages can also be awarded to punish the responsible party for willful or grossly negligent acts. They help ensure what happened to you doesn't happen again.

San Angelo Catastrophic Injury Attorneys

Our San Angelo injury lawyers stand up for those who have been severely hurt. While we know compensation will never take away what happened to you, we do know it can help put your life back on track. Fair compensation can be used to help you pay for medical bills, rehabilitation costs, and more. It can help make life easier if you or your loved one are unable to return to work, and it can provide compensation for the more intangible costs such as pain and suffering.

Our law firm handles a wide range of catastrophic injury cases, including those involving:

San Angelo Wrongful Death Lawyers

The loss of a loved one is painful—especially if their death could have been prevented. Countless people every year lose a loved one due to the negligence or misconduct of another person. Filing a wrongful death claim allows grieving families to hold at-fault companies or people accountable for their loss while fighting for the financial compensation they need to move forward. You can seek compensation for medical care, lost future earnings, and mental anguish. 

While monetary compensation won’t bring back a loved one, it can help you secure your family’s future. Our San Angelo wrongful death attorneys have helped hundreds of families recover the compensation they rightfully deserve for the loss of their loved ones. For over a decade, we have secured some of the largest results in the country against some of the world's biggest legal opponents. We do what it takes to protect our clients and fight for the compensation they deserve.

What Qualifies as a Wrongful Death Claim?

A wrongful death claim can be filed when the negligent actions of another party led to someone's death. Wrongful death claims are civil claims, which means that they are brought directly by the family members of the victim. Even if the person responsible for the death is being criminally prosecuted, you can still file a civil lawsuit. If the fatality was caused by the wrongful doing of a company, the only way to get justice for your loved one is to file a wrongful death claim.

Who Is Eligible to File a Wrongful Death Claim?

Although every state law differs regarding who can file a wrongful death claim, virtually all states allow immediate family members. Children and spouses have the primary right. This means a parent, sibling, or another relative won’t be able to file a claim if a child or spouse is pursuing one. To determine if you’re eligible to file a wrongful death claim, contact us.

In Texas, the eligible beneficiaries of a wrongful death claim include the following:

It is important to know there is a two-year statute of limitations on wrongful death claims in Texas. This means that you only have two years to bring forth a wrongful death claim or the court might dismiss it.

San Angelo Work Accident Attorneys

If you have been injured on the job or if your loved one was killed, our San Angelo work injury lawyers are here to help. We have helped workers in the San Angelo area navigate complex work injury lawsuits to fight for fair compensation. 

Injured in an accident like the following? Our San Angelo accident lawyers can help!

San Angelo Oilfield Accident Lawyers

The oil and gas industry is one of the most dangerous lines of work. 

Due to the serious risk, life-changing accidents are more common than many realize. Oil and gas companies have earned a reputation for putting derrick operators, truck drivers, and roughnecks at constant risk. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Oilfield accidents could be prevented if employers followed the required industry safety procedures.

If you’ve been injured in an oilfield accident, you are entitled to seek compensation for your loss. Our San Angelo oilfield accident lawyers help injured workers recover the compensation they rightfully deserve. We have recovered billions of dollars on behalf of our clients, and we continue to get record-setting verdicts and settlements nationwide. 

How Dangerous Is Defective Equipment?

Oilfield workers understand the risks involved in their jobs and take the necessary precautions to prevent accidents. However, even if they take the maximum precautions, injuries can still occur due to their employer's negligence. There are many cases where employers fail to properly maintain machinery that workers use daily. If machinery is defective, explosions, fires, and catastrophic accidents can occur. Defective machinery can also leak toxic chemicals. Studies show fracking exposes workers to dangerous levels of benzene—a colorless gas that damages the nervous system, kidney, liver, and immune system. Research also discovered that benzene is linked to cancer. These high risks demonstrate the importance of keeping machinery maintained, no matter how much an employer might want to cut costs. 

Potential Dangers Faced by Oilfield Workers

Per DOL, over 200 workers sustain fatal injuries in the oil and gas industry every year. The dangers result in serious accidents that are commonly caused by companies failing to do their job and provide workers with the safety required.

Owners and supervisors may be held liable for any of the following injuries:

• Explosions: Hazardous chemicals and combustion can severely harm a worker’s health and results in serious injuries. These types of accidents occur because of poor management, inadequate training, or defective equipment.
• Slips & Falls: Slip and fall accidents are often caused by an employer’s negligence. For example, employers that fail to place guardrails or harnesses for workers at great heights.
• Falling objects: Employees who work at elevated heights may drop a tool or piece of equipment that can fall on another worker. Employers should provide workers with gear and safety features to secure tools properly.

Taking on Cases Against Large Oil & Gas Companies

Our San Angelo oilfield accident attorneys handle cases against companies such as the following:

San Angelo Car Accident Attorneys

Every day, drivers in San Angelo are involved in serious car accidents. These accidents are often caused through no fault of their own; instead, they can often be tied to negligent, careless, and reckless drivers. If you or a loved one have been involved in an accident such as this—and are currently dealing with the consequences—it is important that you reach out to an attorney who you can trust to look out for your best interests. At Arnold & Itkin, we have earned a reputation for being there for our clients and helping level the playing field against massive corporations and insurance companies.

We offer powerful legal help for residents who have been hurt in San Angelo accidents such as:

San Angelo Truck Accident Lawyers

When trucking company policies lead to an accident, carriers and insurers immediately deploy all their resources to protect themselves. Their teams of investigators, adjusters, and attorneys do everything they can to blame the driver or the motorist—whoever can be pressured into settling. Arnold & Itkin believe it's only fair that crash victims get the same resources.  Our San Angelo trucking accident attorneys level the playing field by hiring accident reconstruction experts and investigators to determine the true cause of your 18-wheeler crash. Thanks to our approach, we've won billions.

The Underlying Cause of All Truck Accidents

Few things have eroded highway safety like pay-by-mile arrangements. 

For decades, truck companies protected their profits by cutting into the wages of their drivers. Most truck drivers—particularly the ones who’ve only been driving for a few years—are only paid pennies for every mile they haul freight. 

Pay-by-mile means that truckers aren't paid for necessary work like:

• Route planning
• Driving to new loads
• Waiting for loading and unloading
• Getting a rig inspection
• Safety checks every day

Unfortunately, pay-by-mile encourages drivers to violate federal regulations governing how many hours a day a trucker can safely work. Many new drivers learn to keep two logbooks to appear compliant while driving 18-, 19-, or 20-hour days. As a result, thousands of tired truckers get behind the wheel of their 80,000-pound behemoths every morning.

Sleep researchers believe that our driving is as impaired by moderate tiredness as it is by drinking alcohol.

Tired driving is not just a theoretical danger. Experts estimate that 13% of truck crashes are caused by exhaustion, but the number is likely far higher—most people don't report their tiredness caused a crash. At least 1 in 4 truck crashes happened when a trucker was hauling for 17 hours or longer. Lack of sleep is making the roads more dangerous.

UPS & FedEx Accidents in San Angelo

Among the largest players in the freight-driving industry are UPS and FedEx, which collectively own 50% of the industry's market share. They are two giants in the trucking industry—UPS utilizes 119,000 vehicles in its fleet, and FedEx employs more than 90,000 vehicles. Their brand is synonymous with long-distance delivery. Unfortunately, their brand is also synonymous with frequent crashes. From 2015 to 2017, UPS trucks were involved in over 2,000 crashes that injured 689 people and killed 49. FedEx was involved in nearly as many crashes and fatalities in the same period. However, compared to the same window five years earlier, FedEx has seen its crash and fatality rate more than double.

Recover & Rebuild Your Life. Take the First Step: (888) 493-1629

Following a serious accident, you need someone on your side who is genuinely interested in fighting for the justice that you deserve. If you or someone you care about has been hurt and you need help working toward fair compensation, contact our San Angelo personal injury attorneys as soon as possible. We're here to help you.

We offer completely free and confidential consultations where we can discuss what happened and determine your legal options. Just call (888) 493-1629 or fill out our online form.