If you’ve been injured due to someone else’s fault, you may be wondering: “What should I do next?” Beyond physical pain and injuries, you’re likely facing medical bills, lost income, and emotional stress. Understanding your legal rights can feel overwhelming but you don’t have to do it alone.
When you need to know you have an experienced Carrollton personal injury lawyer on your side, our team is ready. At our personal injury law firm located in Dallas and Carrollton, our lawyers guide clients through every stage of a personal injury claim. Here’s exactly what happens after an injury and how the O’Hare and Koch Law Firm will stand beside you from day one.
Step 1: Get Medical Care Immediately
Your health always comes first. Even if you feel fine, get checked out right away. Some injuries, such as whiplash, sprains, concussions, herniated discs, or internal bleeding, can have a delayed onset and may not appear until days or weeks after an accident. Quick medical care not only protects your recovery, it creates the official record linking your injuries to the accident. In legal terms, linking the injuries to the accident is called “causation.”
Pro tip: Document everything — doctor’s notes, hospital bills, photos of your injuries throughout the healing process, any missed workdays, and the ways the injuries impacted your ability to perform your daily activities and routines. These details tell the story of what you’ve been through and strengthen your claim.
Step 2: Gather and Preserve Supporting Evidence For Proving Fault or Liability
Your attorneys will take charge once retained, but in the early stages it is important for you to get pictures and videos from the scene, location or event where the injuries were sustained. This is true no matter how the injuries occurred, whether they were sustained in a workplace incident, motor vehicle crash, dog bite, slip and fall or any other scenario arising from someone’s negligent acts or omissions. Capturing and preserving the details can be very helpful in developing the claim. Gathering the names and contact information of witnesses is also essential to developing the claim and limiting the insurance companies’ ability to assert baseless defenses.
Step 3: Choose a Carrollton Personal Injury Lawyer Who Knows the Community
Once your immediate medical needs are handled, the next step is hiring legal protection. When comparing personal injury lawyers in Dallas and Carrollton, look for local knowledge and commitment. An attorney with deep roots in North Texas — like ours — doesn’t just know the law; they understand the local court systems or rules, the judges and their routines and preferences, as well as the tendencies of insurance adjusters who operate in the Collin, Dallas and Denton Counties, along with any of the other North Texas counties.
This local insight is crucial to the success of your case. We leverage our knowledge of the local landscape to protect your rights, ensuring you get the best possible representation while you focus on healing. The best part? We work on a contingency fee, meaning you pay nothing upfront, and we only get paid when we win your case. Contingency fee means our payment depends entirely on your case’s success.
This “no win, no fee” approach aligns our goals with yours: to recover the maximum compensation possible for our clients while you focus on healing.
Step 4: Be Aware of Your Deadlines: Texas Statute of Limitations
In Texas, you typically have two years from the date of your injury to settle a personal injury claim or file a lawsuit. That may sound like plenty of time, but evidence disappears and memories fade fast.
By contacting a seasoned, well respected North Texas personal injury lawyer as soon as possible, you give your team the best chance to preserve evidence and records, interview witnesses, and build a strong case before deadlines run out.
Step 5: Negotiation and Settlement — What to Expect
Many clients worry about whether their case will go to trial. Usually, the answer is reassuring: most personal injury cases never reach the courtroom. With our experience and reputation, we are able to settle the vast majority of cases without filing a lawsuit, and 90-95% of lawsuits settle before trial — so you can rest easy knowing that we’re here to make the process as rewarding and smooth as possible.
During this process, your attorney will gather and organize evidence, build your claim, submit a formal demand to the insurer, and handle all communication with adjusters, keeping you out of stressful negotiations and focussed on recovering.
As experienced accident attorneys in North Texas, we are experts at pushing back on insurance adjuster’s delay tactics and unfair attempts to shift blame. When insurance companies try to shift blame, Texas’s Comparative Fault Rules apply. As long as you’re found 50% or less at fault, you can still recover damages, and your attorney will fight to ensure you’re treated fairly.
Step 6: Understanding the Value of Your Claim
Every case is unique, but your compensation generally includes two types of damages:
Economic Damages — past and future medical bills, lost income, reduced earning potential, property damages, the cost of domestic services, and various out-of-pocket expenses.
Non-Economic Damages — physical pain, physical impairments/disabilities, disfigurement, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and in some instances, loss of consortium.
Step 7: What Happens After Your Claim Is Filed
Once your attorney submits your records and evidence, typically in the form of a demand letter, the claim enters the negotiation phase if liability has been accepted. Most personal injury claims settle in this stage reaffirming what we discussed earlier about settlements being the more likely outcome. Most claims resolve before trial, so you likely won’t have to appear in court.
If the insurance company refuses to be fair with the offers or the acceptance of liability, the lawyers at O’Hare and Koch are ready to file a lawsuit and take your case to litigation. Even then, most disputes are still resolved through mediation or negotiation. Should a trial be necessary, we will manage everything: from building the case, to preparing witnesses to presenting your case before a judge and jury, allowing you to stay focused on your recovery.
Step 8: When You Get Paid
Once your claim settles or a court rules in your favor, we will handle distributing your settlement or award. This includes negotiating maximum reductions on any outstanding medical bills or liens, deducting agreed-upon contingency fees and costs, and delivering your portion of the compensation straight to you. Timing can vary depending on the insurer or court, but your lawyer will keep you informed every step of the way. From start to finish, you’ll always know where your case stands — and when to expect your compensation.
The Result: Peace of Mind and a Path Forward
The legal process can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to define your future.
With the right personal injury attorney guiding you, you can move forward with confidence knowing your rights are protected, your case is handled, and your recovery is the top priority.
Ready to Talk to a Top-Rated Carrollton Personal Injury Lawyer?
You didn’t choose to be injured but you can choose how you recover. Acting quickly and getting the right legal guidance makes all the difference between frustration and financial relief.
If you or a loved one were hurt in Carrollton, Dallas, or anywhere in North Texas, don’t wait. Contact the O’Hare and Koch Law Firm today for a free, confidential case review.
Let our experienced team start building your strongest possible claim while you focus on healing.
