{"id":5169,"date":"2016-01-08T14:22:31","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T14:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/does-texas-law-favor-victims-or-insurers\/"},"modified":"2023-10-03T12:15:15","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T12:15:15","slug":"does-texas-law-favor-victims-or-insurers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/personal-injury-lawyer\/articles\/does-texas-law-favor-victims-or-insurers\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Texas law favor injury victims or insurers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You or a loved one gets hurt. In Texas, it might be completely legal for the big insurer to screw you out of your money. But there is help.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Abraham Lincoln said in his famous Gettysburg Address:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom \u2013 and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, our government\u2019s certainly remained intact. So those words have held true.<\/p>\n

But a government of, by, and for the people \u2013 that part certainly isn\u2019t true at all times today.<\/p>\n

States differ in how much protection they give insurers and consumers. In Texas, the scales are tipped in favor of the insurance companies:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. For example, one guard at the Giddings State School won her worker\u2019s compensation claim against the Texas Office of Risk Management<\/a>. It took her 4 years to file and win her claim. But, Texas law currently exempts state agencies from paying attorney\u2019s fees in certain situations. This is one of those situations. So the Texas Office of Risk Management appealed this worker\u2019s decision, knowing this school employee would have a difficult time finding any attorney willing to take her case on.<\/li>\n
  2. In many cases, attorneys don\u2019t take on small worker\u2019s comp injury claims, which still amount to thousands for the victims, because attorneys\u2019 fees would eat up the whole value of the claim.<\/li>\n
  3. Claims adjusters can say they will fairly address your situation, with no real intention of doing so. For example, they might try to settle your claim in just a few days so they don\u2019t have to pay you for future medical conditions.<\/li>\n
  4. Certain damages are capped in Texas including damages in medical malpractice claims<\/a>. The idea is this keeps the costs of medical care down. Medical expense costs continue to rise, however, and consumers like you have been barred from recovering fair damages.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How Did Insurance Companies Get So Much Power to Take Advantage of Texas Consumers?<\/span><\/h2>\n

    It all stems from a number of Texas Supreme Court decisions in the 1990s. Prior to that, Texans had reasonably fair legal rights versus insurance companies.<\/p>\n

    But in the 1990s, the Texas Supreme Court was heavily Republican. So many voting decisions took the side of the insurance companies.<\/p>\n

    For example, 132 insurance cases were decided by the Texas Supreme Court in the 1990s. Of those, insurance companies won a whopping 71%!<\/p>\n

    Nice batting average there, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

    Think the System is Rigged and Unfair? In Texas, You\u2019d Be Right!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    We could bore you with all the legal intricacies and details. But you don\u2019t want to spend your time reading that.<\/p>\n

    Just know that if you\u2019re involved in a disagreement with an insurance company, they have more power than you do and will utilize that power to limit your recovery \u2013 even for immoral reasons. But Texas law may make it completely legal.<\/p>\n

    So whenever you interact with an insurance company, it\u2019s wise to have a skilled injury attorney on your side.<\/p>\n

    Suggested Reading<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    How do wrongful death claims work in Texas?<\/a><\/p>\n

    What is personal injury protection (PIP) insurance and should you have it?<\/a><\/p>\n

    Must you give a recorded statement to insurance company?<\/a><\/p>\n

    What if you are hurt in Texas and the at-fault driver has no insurance?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    You or a loved one gets hurt. In Texas, it might be completely legal for the big insurer to screw you out of your money. But there is help. Abraham Lincoln said in his famous Gettysburg Address: \u201c\u2026that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom \u2013 and that government of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12885,"href":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5169\/revisions\/12885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mullenandmullen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}