Sarah Edwards is a seasoned legal writer with more than a decade of experience. Edwards has a deep understanding of advanced legal concepts and a knack for conveying complex topics in simple language. She currently resides in Southern California with her husband and two children.
Sarah Edwards
Sarah Edwards is a seasoned legal writer with more than a decade of experience. Edwards has a deep understanding of advanced legal concepts and a knack for conveying complex topics in simple language. She currently resides in Southern California with her husband and two children.
Jeffrey Johnson has written novels and movies in addition to legal analyses of eminent domain and immigration law. His experience in writing engaging fiction makes him uniquely capable of making the most dry and academic legal topics interesting (or as interesting as possible).
Reviewed
Jeffrey Johnson, J.D.
Jeffrey Johnson has written novels and movies in addition to legal analyses of eminent domain and immigration law. His experience in writing engaging fiction makes him uniquely capable of making the most dry and academic legal topics interesting (or as interesting as possible).
Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
Deep in the heart of Texas, who can you turn to when you get hurt due to the negligence of a faceless corporation or the recklessness of a doctor? There are plenty of lawyers vying for your business, but only a select few provide the help you need.
Forbes Advisor researched the available options and crafted a guide to help you find a personal injury lawyer in Corpus Christi, TX, whom you can trust. This guide takes the guesswork out of a decision that could have an enormous effect on your financial future.
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Best Personal Injury Attorneys in Corpus Christi
Compare Top Personal Injury Attorneys
Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Texas
There are two primary ways to get compensation after suffering a personal injury: filing an insurance claim or filing a lawsuit. Unfortunately, insurance companies regularly deny claims even when the claimant has the facts on their side. When that happens, it may be time to turn to a personal injury lawyer and explore further legal options.
This guide helps people find quality personal injury lawyers in Corpus Christi when filing a lawsuit is the only reasonable path.
Texas Statute of Limitations
Texas law puts strict limits on how long victims have to take legal action after suffering harm due to the negligent or reckless actions of another. Personal injury cases must be filed no more than two years after the incident that caused the harm.
This statute of limitations can be extended in rare situations, but typically, a case will be dismissed after this deadline. However, once the lawsuit has been filed, that deadline no longer applies, and some cases may take several more years to conclude.
Texas Personal Injury Laws
Any case worth filing a lawsuit over likely involves complicated intricacies of the law. The following are some aspects of personal injury laws that catch many plaintiffs off guard when they are considering filing a lawsuit in Texas.
Negligence Is Not a Defense
Many people think that they can’t be sued for something they didn’t intend to do. This isn’t true for personal injury law. If the defendant owed a duty of care to the victim, even if it was only an implied duty, they could be found responsible for a negligent act.
Reckless Acts May Increase the Penalties
While negligence isn’t a defense, it is still better for the defendant to be found negligent than reckless. If a jury determines the defendant acted recklessly, it might award punitive damages to the victim in addition to standard damages.
Shared Fault Limits Jury Awards
Juries must determine two things: how much a claim is worth and how much each party is responsible for the harm suffered. When a Texas jury renders its verdict, it must reduce the value of the award by a percentage equal to how responsible the litigant was for the incident.
There Are Limits on Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit
According to Texas law, only the spouse, children or parents of the deceased may file a wrongful death lawsuit within two years of the date of death. A representative of the deceased’s estate may file a wrongful death lawsuit if a family member does not.
Personal Injury Awards May Be Taxable
Some portions of a personal injury award may be considered taxable income. Anyone who recovers money should consult with an attorney or accountant to ensure they comply with tax laws.
How Can an Attorney Help You?
The courts have strict rules that plaintiffs are expected to follow. And judges don’t often give much leeway to plaintiffs who file lawsuits without assistance from an attorney. Violating even one of those rules could delay your lawsuit. It might also result in the judge ruling against you or dismissing your case.
Personal injury attorneys are familiar with court procedures and know how to avoid these consequences. They also have the time and experience needed to properly investigate a claim and look for evidence that will be valuable in a courtroom.
Even after attorney fees are tallied, people who are represented by a lawyer tend to get significantly greater awards from a lawsuit than those who aren’t.
How to Find the Best Personal Injury Lawyer in Corpus Christi, TX
You might be tempted to simply choose a name from this list to represent you in your personal injury case. However, that’s no guarantee that the attorney will be right for you.
Lawyers focus on specific fields of law and have unique styles. You will likely have a better experience if you know what traits to look for in an attorney:
- General experience. Most personal injury lawyers have handled car accident cases, but few have ever dealt with a maritime accident. The rarer the circumstances of your case, the more general experience you want your attorney to have.
- Specific experience. Sometimes, however, a newer attorney will have previously handled several cases almost exactly like yours. When that is the case, this specific experience trumps general experience.
- Bar admissions. Does your case involve issues in New Mexico or other states? In these situations, you want to choose a lawyer who is admitted to the bar in the state or states that are involved in your case.
- Approach to cases. Some attorneys will do nearly anything to settle before a verdict, while others like to take cases to trial. Choose an attorney who approaches cases the way you want your case approached.
- Personal involvement. Do you feel more comfortable with an attorney who gets personally involved with your case, or would you prefer a more professional relationship with your lawyer? When choosing a lawyer, consider their communication style because it affects your comfort level with the person representing you.
Methodology
To determine this list of the Best Personal Injury Lawyers in Corpus Christi of 2024, Forbes Advisor considered many factors. Forbes Advisor’s mathematical module considers and weighs the information collected to calculate a specific rating and reviews these results to find the best attorneys in a given practice area.
Within the model, we consider factors that legal professionals and consumers value in an attorney’s qualifications. After assigning weighted scores to hundreds of data points, we narrowed the field down to our top choices based on:
- Legal experience
- Special licenses & certifications
- Ethics and bar disciplinary measures
- Legal thought leadership
- Education and employment background
- Scholarly lectures & writings
- Awards and honors
Forbes Advisory collects public data from a variety of sources, including state bar associations, court records and other published sources on the internet. This information should not be considered comprehensive, however. It might not include additional relevant information on an attorney’s legal skills and experience.
Each lawyer listed here has their own merits. Remember that our list relates to these lawyers’ legal backgrounds but does not evaluate their personalities or knowledge of the law. One attorney may be more suitable than another for your specific legal situation.
One thing that can’t be quantified, though, is the rapport you establish with your attorney. Personality goes a long way when teaming up with an attorney, especially when going through a potentially tricky legal situation. These rankings should serve as a reference and potential starting point in your search for the right lawyer for you and your legal concerns.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What happens if a person leaves Texas before a lawsuit is filed?
When someone leaves the state, it may be difficult to serve them with a lawsuit. Thankfully, state law takes this possibility into account. Any time that a person spends outside the state won’t count toward the statute of limitations. And as soon as the defendant returns, your attorney can file a lawsuit against them.
When do settlements occur during a lawsuit?
Lawyers in a personal injury lawsuit can potentially negotiate a settlement at any point before a verdict is rendered. Typically, these negotiations start during the pretrial portion of the case, after both sides have submitted evidence to the court. If a settlement is negotiated at any point before the end of the trial, it immediately ends the case.
Experienced lawyers can often look at the evidence and determine the likely outcome of the case without taking the case to trial. However, there is no way to predict the decisions of a jury. And in most cases, both sides prefer to avoid the risks that come from that uncertainty.
Negotiated settlements allow both parties to avoid those risks. They ensure that the victim recovers some compensation, and they save the insurance company money on attorney costs.
What is the definition of plaintiff and defendant?
The person or entity who files a lawsuit is known as the plaintiff. The plaintiff must file the suit against another person or entity, who is called the defendant.
In civil lawsuits, including personal injury lawsuits, the plaintiff alleges that the defendant’s actions resulted in the plaintiff being harmed. Criminal cases are slightly different. In these cases, the defendant is the person accused of a crime, and the plaintiff is the government.
