Some Common Mistakes Committed By Clients In Motorcycle Accidents

Interviewer: What are some things that people unintentionally do that end up hurting their motorcycle case? What are some things that they may say or do?

Stephen Boutros: Well, I would say that again, people who have been in accidents, and have an adjuster call them within hours of the accident will understand the answer to this question. That is those insurance adjusters are a lot of times they’re just trying to feed information to you. They try to affect your view of what happened, and then try to get you to regurgitate what they fed to you. Just like the example I used earlier. They can try to say, “Oh this was a sudden thing,” as in that’s a defense to the case, or they’ll start saying, “Man, looking back on it you sure should of had a helmet on.” You might say, “Yeah, I guess I should have.” Or, “You should of had a leather jacket on,” well you know what, in Texas you have no duty to anticipate negligent conduct.

Other Than Your Lawyer and Your Doctor, You Should Not be talking to Anyone Following a Motorcycle Accident

You have no duty to mitigate damages until they’ve occurred. So, you start making admissions to things that could be legally detrimental to your case when you really shouldn’t be talking to anyone at that point other than your lawyer and your doctors.

Interviewer: Yeah, so what about hospital bills and medical bills, how do those get taken care of?

Stephen Boutros: Hospitals in Texas get to put a statutory lean on cases. If you go to the hospital after an accident the hospital will have a right to put a lean on your case. It’s important that you have a lawyer who can negotiate a fair settlement on the amount of that hospital bill, because a lot of times the hospital bills can be high, and you need a lawyer that has experience to know what that bill can be negotiated down to and settled.

It is Necessary to Obtain Under-Insured or Uninsured Motorist Coverage on Your Own Insurance Policy

Interviewer: What happens when the other driver doesn’t have insurance, or is under insured?

Stephen Boutros: If the other driver doesn’t have insurance then hopefully you obtained under insured or uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy, and then the same claim you could have made, except for punitive damages, the same claim you could have made against the negligent driver now you make against your own insurance. Under insured motorist coverage works the same way. This claim if the driver that hurt you doesn’t have sufficient insurance to pay for the damages then you can make an under insured motorist claim as well. Those coverage’s, especially the under insured and uninsured are critical in Texas.

25 Percent of All Drivers in the State of Texas Are Uninsured

Twenty-five percent of drivers in Texas are uninsured, so you have a one in four chance of getting hit by someone that doesn’t have any insurance. The good thing about those coverage’s is that they’re no fault coverage’s, I’m sorry they’re contract claims. They’re not based on your own liability, and it’s critical to have that type of coverage.