Fort Worth Injury Attorney Blog

Another Fort Worth police officer was arrested early Tuesday in Hurst on accusations of driving while intoxicated -- the second time in five days one has been arrested on suspicion of DWI.

Corporal Bobby Brown, 43, was driving his personal vehicle at 1:00 a.m. Tuesday in the 100 block of State Highway 121 when he slammed into a concrete median divider.

In the last year, two other officers have been accused of DWI, including Officer Domingo N. Martinez and Jared D. Cockerham. And three officers were arrested for DWIs in 2009, including Ex-Officer Jesus Cisneros, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for causing a collision that killed Sonia Baker.

While the vast majority of Fort Worth's finest are obviously hard working and law abiding, one officer disbeying our laws is one too many. This has got to stop, and I call on Chief Halstead to crack down on his force immediately.

Driving drunk is an inexcusable offense. More than 1,400 people die in Texas each year due to DWIs. I call on our police -- who are hopefully not drunk -- to crack down on drunk drivers before they crash into you and me. Many of my clients have been hurt by drunk drivers and it infuriates me.

Thankfully, the Texas Highway Patrol is stepping up its efforts this holiday season. Assistant director David Baker said "the holidays are no time to spend in jail, but we will arrest any driver who is impaired."

If you have been hurt by a drunk driver, please call me. I will fight hard to recover your damages and punish the offending driver.

Happy Holidays! I hope that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Here are a few of my favorite ways to get into the holiday spirit:

1. I close the office and give my hard working staff time to be with their families.

2. I relax, enjoy being with my wife and daughter, look at Christmas lights, and watch movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" and "White Christmas," since our fathers served during the Second World War. But we also watch movies like "Toy Story" and "Twilight." And I sneak in some sports when I can.

3. We bring neighbors home-baked cookies and sweets.

4. I donate to the Angel Tree Fund and other holiday appeals and toys, clothes, and money to help those in need.

5. I continue exercising and eating well and try not to gain too much weight, especially since I have another marathon to run in three weeks.

6. I work hard at the office moving litigation matters and wrapping up files so I can get money to my clients faster.

5. I appreciate everything God has given me.

The best way to make sure you get the maximum recovery when you are injured in a wreck is to hire an experienced lawyer to represent you. I've been practicing injury law for over 30 years and I know how to get you the most money possible.

There are several things you can do to help increase your recovery even further.
One suggestion is to always file your bills on health insurance.

Filing your accident related bills on your health insurance will help you make more money. A lot of my clients are afraid to file bills on health insurance because they think it will affect their rates or risk their coverage. This is not true. Insurance is designed to pay for your medical treatment when you are injured, and after a wreck is a perfect time to use it. 45 million people in the U.S. do not have insurance coverage. I always tell my clients that if you are lucky enough to have it, use it.

If your health insurance pays your bills, you will get to keep more of your settlement.

Many people think that the auto-insurance company for the at-fault driver in a wreck will just pay off all of the victim's medical bills directly. This is NOT the case. When the case is settled, the auto insurance company will issue a single check which covers the entire settlement. From that money, the outstanding medical bills need to be paid.

Obviously, the lower your outstanding medical bills are, the less that will need to be paid out of the settlement and the more you will get to keep.

Another suggestion, is to carry UM/UIM (Uninsured/Under Insured) on your own auto insurance policy which can be used to help pay medical bills and lost wages if it is discovered that the negligent party does not have insurance or if their insurance is not enough properly compensate you for your injuries. So, for example, if your injuries exceed the amount of the defendant's insurance policy limits, at that point your Underinsured Motorist Coverage would then kick in.

The UM/UIM statute requires that a signed rejection of the coverage be provided, or UM/UIM has to be paid. I immediately write a letter to my client's carrier when I am hired, and always force the insurance carrier to provide a signed rejection for my clients, even when they try to evade my request. There have been at least 10 cases when I made companies pay my clients UM/UIM benefits - including one last week -- even though my clients had never even purchased UM/UIM! Needless to say, they were ecstatic to receive this money.

If you are involved in an accident please contact my office immediately so that I can fight to get you everything you deserve.

I just returned from court where a large company agreed to pay a substantial sum as trial was beginning. My client's car had been crashed into by the company's tractor trailer on I-35 last year, but the company denied that it was at fault, and later, when I proved that it was, still denied payment to my client.

My client, Karlisha _____, was very pleased with her recovery of money and the reduction of her medical bills, and told me that if she ever needed a lawyer, or knew of any one looking for a lawyer, she would immediately call me.

If you've been involved in a wreck with an 18-wheeler, you need an attorney who will fight to make you the most money possible. I file lawsuits and make companies pay. Call me today at 817-885-8000 for a free case evaluation and find out what I can do to help you.

Liability insurance on personal vehicles is often not enough to cover damages sustained by my clients. Medical bills alone can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Fortunately, a bill passed in 2007 will raise the minimum liability policy limits to $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident, starting January 1, 2011. The current minimum limits are $25,000/$50,000.

As a member of the Americans Association for Justice's Interstate Trucking Litigation Group as well as the board of directors and committees in the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, I have fought to show that the current insurance policy limits are nowhere high enough to compensate people like you who unfortunately might be seriously injured in a crash. Thankfully, the legislature has taken a step in the right direction with this increase.
I have been successful fighting insurance companies over the last 30 plus years.

If you are involved in an accident please contact my office immediately so that I can fight to get you everything you deserve.

Eric Heebner, 47, unfortunately died early this morning after his car collided with a shuttle bus at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

Mr. Heebner's car collided with a shuttle bus carrying airport employees at 4:37 a.m. The wreck happened where the north and southbound ramps to Terminal E intersect. It is not clear at this time who was at fault. Fortunately, no injuries were reported by the passengers on the shuttle bus.

Over the years, I have handled various crash cases that occurred at D/FW. Last year, for example, a reserve on the Dallas Cowboys was driving his Cadillac Escalade too quickly down a ramp during one of our ice storms and collided into my client on International Parkway, who in turn crashed into another vehicle. I was able to obtain a sizeable financial recovery for my client.

If you or a family member has been hurt or because of another driver's negligence, please call my office today at 817-885-8000.