Auto accident attorney in Houston: hiring us, and what happens if the claim becomes a lawsuit

Hiring an auto accident attorney in Houston is a decision you should make with clear facts: when to call, what the first meeting costs, what the fee agreement says, and what happens if the insurer will not settle and the claim goes to court. This page covers each of those in the order you will meet them.

You are reading a page from LAWBOSS – Harris, Nelsen & Uvalle, PLLC, the law firm that runs Automobile Accident Lawyers Houston. Our Houston attorneys work at 5300 Memorial Dr Ste 810, Houston, TX 77007. Responsibility for this site rests with Jonathan Harris, Board Certified, Personal Injury Trial Law – Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

When should you call an attorney after an auto accident?

Get medical care first. Once that is under way, the sooner you talk to a lawyer the more of the evidence is still available. Cars get repaired or sold for salvage, stores and buildings record over their camera footage, and witnesses change numbers. Meanwhile the other driver’s insurer usually opens its file within days.

A small dent with no injury may never need a lawyer at all. These are the situations where a call to an auto accident attorney in Houston tends to matter most:

• You were hurt and your treatment is still going on.
• The other driver, or their insurer, says the crash was your fault or partly your fault.
• An adjuster has asked you for a recorded statement or sent you a release to sign.
• The other vehicle was a bus, a city vehicle, a delivery van, a work truck or an 18-wheeler.
• The other driver had no insurance, or only the minimum coverage Texas requires.
• Someone in the crash died, or a child was injured.

What happens in the free consultation

The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. You can call our Houston office at any hour, or meet with us at the office on Memorial Drive. We ask what happened, where, who was in each vehicle, which insurers have contacted you and what treatment you have had so far. Bring or send the crash report number if you have it, photographs, your own insurance card and any letters from an insurer.

Then we tell you plainly what we see: who is likely responsible under Texas law, which policies may apply, which deadline governs your claim, and what we would do in the first weeks. If we think you do not need a lawyer, we say so.

How our fee agreement works

Our terms are No Fees or Costs Unless We Win. In practice, the firm pays the costs of investigating and pursuing your claim as they arise, and if no money is recovered for you, you owe no attorney’s fee and you do not pay back those costs.

Everything about the fee is written into the agreement you sign, and we go over it with you line by line before you sign anything. Ask every question you have. Nothing is charged up front, and there is no bill for the consultation.

Questions worth asking before you sign with any lawyer

Whoever you hire, you should know who will actually handle your file. These are fair questions for any auto accident attorney in Houston, and we expect you to ask them of us:

• Which attorney will be responsible for my case, and who do I call with a question?
• Who pays the case costs, and what do I owe if nothing is recovered?
• Will the same lawyers stay on my case if it becomes a lawsuit?
• How often will I hear from you, and how?
• What deadline applies to my claim, and when would you file suit?

Clear answers to those questions tell you more about a firm than any advertisement, this one included.

What changes the day you hire us

Once you sign with a Houston auto accident attorney, the biggest change is who the insurers talk to. We send a letter of representation to each insurer involved, and from then on the adjusters call our office, not your phone. That alone takes a lot of pressure off people who are trying to heal and get back to work.

• Preservation letters go out to the other driver, their insurer and any business whose cameras or vehicles may hold evidence.
• The crash report is ordered and checked against the photographs and the damage.
• Every policy that may apply is identified, including your own PIP and UM coverage.
• Medical records and bills are requested from each provider as treatment goes on.
• Lost income is documented with pay records and a letter from your employer.

You keep the decisions that are yours. We report what is happening, and no offer is accepted or rejected without your say.

How long do you have? The two-year deadline

Texas gives an injured person two years. A personal injury suit must be brought not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues (Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003). When the crash causes a death, the two years run from the day of the death (section 16.003(b)).

Two exceptions matter often. For a child, the time of the disability is not counted, so a minor’s two years generally start at 18 (section 16.001). For a claim against a government unit, such as a city vehicle, written notice describing the injury, the time, the place and the incident is due within six months, and a city charter may set a shorter period (section 101.101). Two years is the outer limit for filing, not a target: claims are built in the months before it.

Why a claim becomes a lawsuit

Most auto claims are resolved without a trial. A lawsuit becomes the right step when the insurer denies that its driver was at fault, when its offer ignores what the medical records show, when the two-year deadline is getting close, or when the other side starts pointing at someone else to shrink its share. Filing suit does not end the talks; it changes who is setting the schedule.

Filing in the Harris County civil district courts

For a suit filed in Harris County, the civil district courts sit at the Harris County Civil Courthouse, 201 Caroline, in downtown Houston, and civil filings are taken in by the District Clerk (civil intake, Suite 110). Your auto accident attorney in Houston handles the filing and the court appearances; you attend when your testimony or presence is needed. Our firm has no connection to the courts; they are public courts like any other.

What a lawsuit involves, stage by stage

1. The petition. We file a petition that names the defendants and states the claims, and each defendant is formally served.
2. The answer. The defendants respond, usually through lawyers hired by their insurer.
3. Discovery. Each side exchanges written questions and documents, and witnesses, the drivers and sometimes doctors give sworn testimony in depositions.
4. Settlement talks. Negotiation continues throughout, and a case can settle at any stage, including after the depositions.
5. Trial. If the case does not settle, a judge or jury decides fault and damages, and the Texas fault rules apply to the verdict.

You are part of every stage. We prepare you for your deposition, keep you up to date on every motion and offer, and talk through each choice with you before it is made.

Responsible third parties and shared blame

Once a case is filed, a defendant may move to designate a responsible third party, generally at least 60 days before trial (Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 33.004). That can be another driver, a company or anyone the defense says shares the blame. The goal is to move percentage points of responsibility off the defendant.

It matters because Texas reduces your recovery by your own share and bars it if your share is greater than 50 percent (section 33.001). It also matters because a defendant found more than 50 percent responsible is jointly and severally liable (section 33.013). We answer a designation with evidence, and when another party truly shares the fault, we look at whether that party and its policy belong in the case.

Who handles your case in court

Jonathan Harris is a partner and the firm’s managing attorney of litigation. He earned his law degree at the University of Houston and has been licensed in Texas since November 1998. Before joining the firm in 2017, he spent more than a decade as a senior trial attorney for a major automobile insurance company, defending the kind of cases he now brings for injured people.

He works with litigation attorney Howard Hill, who has practiced since 1998 and spent over 20 years with two of the nation’s largest auto and commercial insurance carriers, and with partner Ian Nelsen, a former adjuster and insurance defense attorney. The team that builds your claim is the same team that carries it into the courthouse if it goes that far.

If you are still at the claim stage, our page on working with an auto accident lawyer in Houston explains how an insurer scores a file before any suit is filed, and the page on our automobile accident law firm in Houston covers the office, the hours and what to bring to a first meeting.