Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Jose Martinez has been charged with intoxication manslaughter in a single vehicle accident on the Sam Houston Parkway that killed Martinez’ passenger Miguel Almaquer. The deadly accident happened around 3:00am in the 6900 block of the East Sam Houston Parkway. Deputies said Martinez was driving northbound on the parkway and when he attempted to exit he veered from the road. At some point thereafter Martinez lost control of the vehicle and struck a concrete retaining wall.

If you or a loved on have been victimized by an automobile accident, motorcycle accident, pedestrian accident, bicycle accident or truck accident caused by a drunk driver, call the experienced Houston personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler for a free consultation. The earlier in your case you call, the better: the insurance company will want you to settle for a small amount as early as possible and have you sign a release. This will limit the insurance company’s liability and prevent them from having to pay more later. Smith & Hassler’s personal injury attorneys have aggressively represented injured people in the Houston area and throughout Texas for more than 20-years, including bereaved family members bringing wrongful death lawsuits.

ABC Channel 13 News is reporting a multi-car chain reaction style accident on the Gulf Freeway near Clear Lake City Boulevard that damaged 5 vehicles and injured 4 people. Apparently the accident started with one fast-moving car rear-ending another, being pushed into the car in front, and so on. The injuries are described in the report as “minor” and the injured included a baby who was traveling in a car seat.

A chain reaction accident in Clear Lake injured 4 and damaged 5 vehicles

Car accidents commonly result in medical bills, lost income from work and a period of time after the accident when the injured person is in pain and is impaired from performing their normal activities. Texas law allows a person injured in a motor vehicle accident by another’s negligence to seek recovery of money damages.  Speaking to an experienced Houston personal injury attorney early in the process can make the difference between a relatively straightforward claim under the other driver’s insurance policy and a real nightmare.  Insurance companies will deny or undervalue claims if they have a reason to.  Smith & Hassler’s trial-tested Houston personal injury attorneys will provide you with a free consultation regarding your motor vehicle accident injury claim: call now or submit your case online.

A child and his father were injured in a hit-and-run accident Saturday and police are looking for the three suspects who fled the accident scene. The accident happened around 8:30am on W. Greens Road near the 12500 block of the North Freeway. According to police sources, the suspect’s vehicle was pulling out of a Kroger parking lot when they pulled in front of another car, hitting it in the side and causing it to flip over. Three men jumped out of the car and ran off. A child and his father were in the overturned car and were transported to an area hospital.

If you have been injured in a hit-and-run accident it is important to have a good understanding of automobile insurance coverage and how it works. If the hit-and-run driver was using the vehicle that hit you without permission of the owner, there probably will NOT be coverage under the policy covering that car. The driver of the vehicle that hit you may have his/her own automobile insurance however, and that coverage may apply. If not, you will probably need to look to your own insurance company to repair your vehicle or cover your medical bills…IF you have the right types of coverage. Call Smith & Hassler’s personal injury attorneys to discuss your options for your hit-and-run injury accident.

Local news outlets are reporting a cement truck accident at a southeast Houston construction site near the Houston medical center that killed a construction worker. A construction crew was doing shoring work along Brays Bayou on North MacGregor Way at Highway 288. The accident happened shortly after 3:00PM: a construction worker was crushed by the cement truck. Two others were taken to Ben Taub Hospital to be treated for their injuries. A heavy duty wrecker was called to lift the cement truck off the workers’ body. Click2Houston.com’s video report of the cement truck accident is here.

A cement truck killed a construction worker in an accident along the Bayou

If you or a family member have been injured at work, such as in a construction site accident, call Houston-based personal injury attorneys Smith & Hassler for a free consultation regarding your legal rights. Smith & Hassler has represented hard-working Texans injured on the job for more than 20-years.

A vehicle crashed into a northeast Houston cell phone store on Thursday at around 10:00AM . The store is located at Tidwell Road and East Houston Dryersdale Road. No injuries were reported and the front windows of the store were smashed.

Car crashes into cell phone store

KHOU is reporting a crash that took place early this morning, Thursday April 21st, 2011 on the Gulf Freeway in Houston. A suspected drunk driver was placed under arrest and the woman he crashed into is described as being in critical condition. According to law enforcement sources, a man in a yellow-colored pickup truck was traveling at a high rate of speed on the Gulf Freeway at Joplin when he smashed into the rear of a Toyota RAV4 compact SUV. The accident happened at around 2:45AM. The pickup truck truly must have been traveling at a very high rate of speed, because the  RAV4 was pushed into a sideways skid, then slammed into the outside concrete retaining wall where it flipped over the wall and onto the feeder road, rolling over multiple times and ejecting the female passenger in the RAV4. The passenger of the RAV4 was immediately transported to hospital to be treated for critical injuries; according to the press report the driver of the RAV4, also a woman, sustained less serious injuries. As always seems to be the case, the suspected drunk driver weathered the accident without any injuries: he failed a field sobriety test at the scene and was taken into custody.

If you or a loved on have been victimized by an automobile accident, motorcycle accident, pedestrian accident, bicycle accident or truck accident caused by a drunk driver, call the experienced Houston personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler for a free consultation. The earlier in your case you call, the better: the insurance company will want you to settle for a small amount as early as possible and have you sign a release. This will limit the insurance company’s liability and prevent them from having to pay more later. Smith & Hassler’s personal injury attorneys have aggressively represented injured people in the Houston area and throughout Texas for more than 20-years, including bereaved family members bringing wrongful death lawsuits.

Click2Houston.com is reporting a dog attack on a man in Porter, Montgomery County on Tuesday April 19, 2011. The attack happened around 5:00PM at Needham Road and Ford Road. According to investigators the man was attacked by two dogs while walking along the road; he was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital in The Woodlands. A witness named Travis Huffman said he saw the man being attacked by two dogs and that the man had been forced down into a ditch. A neighbor named Marcus Pillow said the man’s arm was broken in two places during the attack and the victim’s stomach and neck were also injured. No information was released on the identity of the dog’s owners or what criminal charges may be filed, if any.

If you or a family member have been injured due to a dog bite or other animal attack, call Smith & Hassler and one of our experienced Houston personal injury attorneys will be glad to give a free consultation.

KHOU is reporting a two vehicle collision that sent Frans Gillebaard (71) to the hospital. Mr. Gillebaard is a Kemah waterfront developer who sold his restaurants to Landry’s Corp. in 1997. The crash happened around 11:12 AM at FM 517 and state Highway 146 when, according to the report, a 46-year old man traveling in a 1987 Chevy Suburban allegedly ran a red light and collided with Mr. Gillebaard’s Ferrari.  Apparently the crash temporarily trapped Mr. Gillebaard in the wrecked Ferrari and he was freed by San Leon Volunteer Fire Department and transported to UTMB by ground ambulance.

A car accident is a very disruptive event for most people.  A damaged vehicle may mean you cannot get to work, grocery shop, take your kids to school or sporting events, and so on.  Injuries may mean you are unable to work, hence unable to support yourself or your family due to lost wages.  And not only are you missing income because you are unable to work, but you now have unexpected debts for medical treatment, sometimes in the tens of thousands of dollars.  Dealing with all of these challenges at once can feel overwhelming, particularly if you have never been involved in an accident before.  If the at-fault driver had insurance, you are probably dealing with requests for information from the insurance company too.  Smith & Hassler firmly believes that the earlier in the process you get sound advice from an experienced personal injury attorney who is willing to listen to you, answer your questions and provide you guidance, the better.  The insurance company will press you early on to give a recorded statement about the accident, your injuries, your medical history and more: don’t do it, the statement is for their benefit, not yours.  You can call or email Smith & Hassler any time for a free consultation on your car accident injury claim.

You can find a consumer review web site on the Internet for almost any service profession these days and personal injury attorneys are no exception. Accidents don’t happen very often so personal injury attorneys are not the type of professional the same person uses regularly, like a barber, babysitter or a yard service, so there’s a good chance if you are looking for a personal injury attorney you’re doing so for the first time.

A recommendation from a friend or family member can definitely help you narrow your search. If someone whose opinion you value has had a good experience with a personal injury lawyer, you may have the same good experience. Internet reviews can help too, and are valuable in that they typically span several years and people who write reviews usually do it anonymously so they feel comfortable being up front about how they feel.

Here is the latest review of Smith & Hassler posted to Google on April 19, 2011 posted by a client we represented in a lawsuit against her own insurance company related to an underinsured motorist claim:

I would highly recommend Smith and Hassler!!! The attorney handling my case was Daragh Carter. He was excellent, I couldn’t have asked for a more professional and caring attorney. I was run down by a Ford F-150 and I’m only 4″10″ back on 2/14/2007. The insurance of the driver paid me no problem. Now, my insurance company, Safeco, wouldn’t give me squat!! I had gone through 2 other law firms, when I had just given up. My husband called Smith andHassler and Mr. Carter was on the case. It’s really a shame that you pay your payment to your own insurance company every month and when it comes to them paying, they don’t want to…so you have to take your own insurance company to court. I missed over 4 months from work, had all kinds of xrays, and an mri. I had several weeks of physical therapy, saw several doctors and specialists. I had to take a medical retirement from my job because of the accident and I’m only 35 years old. Even after all this, I still couldn’t get my insurance company to budge. Four years later and after a lawsuit, the case was settled out of court. I would highly recommend Mr. Carter to everyone and already have….thanks Daragh, you rock!!!

Channel 11 News has reported a four vehicle pileup on Sunday April 17, 2011 that sent five people to the hospital. Police said a vehicle driving on the southwest freeway near Bissonnet rear-ended another vehicle around 2:15AM. A pickup truck then smashed into the rear of another vehicle that had slowed down for the original collision. Apparently a man jumped out of one of the vehicle and ran away, and apparently not realizing he was on an overpass hopped the wall and fell to the concrete below. The man who ran and four others were transported to the hospital.

A four car pileup on Houston's Southwest Freeway sent five injured people to the hospital

If you, a friend or a family member have been injured in a car accident, Smith & Hassler’s experienced personal injury attorneys are available to give you a free consultation either in-person or by phone.  Sometimes people injured in car accident wait before consulting an attorney. They have good intentions: not wanting to seem “sue happy,” waiting to see if their injuries will get better or because an insurance adjuster is discouraging them from seeking legal advice (that happens).  It is better to know your rights early in the process and have an experienced Houston personal injury attorney explain the steps involved in car accident injury claim and what you can do NOW to increase the chances of a good outcome.