Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

A crash between a Precinct 3 Constable‘s bus and a motorcycle on Clay Road at Durban has left the motorcycle rider in critical condition.  According to a brief report from Channel 13, the law enforcement bus was at a stop sign at the intersection of Durban and Clay Road when the bus driver pulled forward to turn left, getting in the way of the motorcyclist traveling on Clay. The motorbike crashed into the side of the bus, severely injuring the rider who was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital in critical condition. Police said the driver of the bus will get a traffic citation. The citation will probably be for failure to yield the right-of-way when turning left.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motorcycle accident, call the experienced personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler for a free consultation on your injury claim. Of all the motorized transportation types on public roads,motorcycle accidents have the highest potential to cause serious injury or death: having a Smith & Hassler personal injury attorney working on your motorbike accident injury claim puts knowledge and experience on your side. Check out this review submitted through Google in reference to a motorcycle injury claim handled by Smith & Hassler:

“Josh A – My father was in a motorcycle accident on 5/31/2010. Seeing how the accident wasn’t his fault and there was more than one insurance company involved, my father and I realized we needed to seek legal advice on how to proceed. Like most in need, we looked here on Google and found Smith and Hassler. I contacted them and spoke briefly with the receptionist who then forwarded my call to Daragh Carter. Daragh and I spoke for 20 minutes as I filled him in on the details involving my father’s accident and he asked that I come in and meet with him as soon as possible. My father and I went into their offices and were invited to sit in a conference room. We waited there a few moments until Melissa came in and started taking our case information. After we spoke with her for about 15 minutes Daragh came in and again we went over the accident and all information we had. Daragh said they would represent us and we didn’t need any further contact with the involved insurance companies. Smith and Hassler even helped my father locate a good physical therapist that would work within his health plan. It took Daragh some time but he was able to get the full insurance amount from both involved insurance companies and a nice settlement for my father. Both my father and I are very thankful to Daragh, Melissa and everyone else at Smith and Hassler who worked on my father’s case. Daragh and Melissa’s hard work and dedication helped my father through a very difficult time. I hope I never need their services again, but if I do I am confident that Daragh, Melissa and Smith and Hassler will be there for me and my loved ones.“

A dramatic crash involving a Houston METRO bus happened this morning near the Texas Medical Center according to a Click2Houston report. The crash happened around 8:45am and occurred in the southbound lanes of state highway 288 near MacGregor Way. The METRO bus was an articulated bus, the kind designed to bend in the middle. According to a witness the bus driver appeared to lose control of the vehicle while changing lanes, and the bus crashed into a concrete support pillar beneath a railway bridge. The bus driver apparently was returning the bus at the end of his shift and fortunately no passengers were on board at the time.  Investigators are working to determine the cause of the accident.

ABC Channel 13 Eyewitness News is reporting that the driver of the METRO bus was killed in the collision, and states that before the collision the METRO bus came into contact with a dump truck.

Disaster struck last night when one woman was killed and 21 other people were injured in a bus wreck on US 77 just outside Victoria, Texas. The bus was traveling from Houston to the Rio Grande. Ms. Juana Lopez Perez, aged 53, was killed in the two vehicle collision which happened near Fleming Prairie Road about 9:00pm on Wednesday May 11, 2011. According to police, the 21 people on the bus were transported to area hospital where the majority of them were treated and released. The bus, which was operated by Valley Transit Company, was heading southbound on US 77 when the driver when the driver of a Chevy S-10 pickup truck pulled into the highway from a side road and hit the bus. DPS Trooper Gerald Bryant said that Juana Lopez Perez was sitting in a passenger seat toward the front of the bus and near the door. Ms. Perez, who was from Matamoros, boarded the bus in Houston, was going to Corpus Christi and from there on the McAllen. She was traveling alone at the time. The pickup truck driver was issued a citation for failing to yield the right-of-way to the bus while exiting the side road.

If you have been injured in a bus accident, you can call Smith & Hassler at 1-800-WIN-WIN1 or 713-739-1250 and ask to speak to one of the firm’s personal injury attorneys for a free consultation.

An HPD sergeant on his way to work was injured in a collision with a private school bus, Click2Houston.com is reporting. The collision happened in East Houston around 2:00PM today in the 7900 block of Harrisburg Boulevard. The sergeant was injured when his pickup truck hit a private school bus that ran a stop sign. The injured police officer was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital where fortunately his injuries were reported as being non life threatening.

HPD sergeant driving his pickup truck to work was hurt in a collision with a private school bus that ran a stop sign

A quick review of the Smith & Hassler blog archive will show all too many instances where a police officer has been injured in a car accident.  Over the years Smith & Hassler has represented men and women from the law enforcement community injured due to the negligence or gross negligence of other drivers. Insurance adjusters know that police officers typically are good witnesses on their own behalf and do well before Harris County juries, so many times insurance companies try to settle police officers’ injury claims cheap and early.  Law enforcement is a physically demanding career and officers need to be able to work free of injury.  If you or a friend are in law enforcement and have been injured in a car accident, motorcycle accident, pedestrian accident or truck accident, call the personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler for a free consultation.

Monday March 28, 2011: Click2Houston.com is reporting a METRO bus crash at La Branch and Franklin in Houston at around 10:10AM. The bus collided with another vehicle that investigators said made a wrong turn. One passenger on the bus was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital with a leg injury.

This crash between a Houston METRO bus and another vehicle caused a leg injury to a bus passenger

If you have been injured in a bus accident, you can call Smith & Hassler at 1-800-WIN-WIN1 or 713-739-1250 and ask to speak to one of the firm’s personal injury attorneys for a free consultation.

KHOU Channel 11 News is reporting a collision between a prison bus and a school bus that sent 8 schoolchildren to the hospital. The collision reportedly happened around 7:37AM at 51st Street and Broadway: 16 students were on board the school bus which was headed to the Alamo school campus.  The prison bus was operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The eight injured students were reported to be complaining of head, neck and back pain and were taken to UTMB Galveston for treatment. 14 inmates riding on the prison bus were removed from the bus and placed in a prison van under the watch of prison guards, Galveston I.S.D. police officers and four Galveston police officers. Apparently the crash happened when both buses were turning at the intersection, but further details of the wreck were not included in Channel 11’s story.

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.

February 28, 2011: three school buses crashed on Monday afternoon sending ten students to the hospital to be checked out and treated for injuries. The collision happened on Bellaire Boulevard at Synott around 4:30PM in southwest Houston. This was a chain reaction style collision: Alief Independent School District said one of its buses stopped suddenly, the second bus ran into it and the second bus was then rear-ended by the third bus. The students taken to the hospital attend Killough Middle School; fortunately none of the injuries to the students were described as serious.

Every automobile accident injury claim (or lawsuit) has two components: liability (who was at fault for the accident) and damages (what losses does the injured person have, e.g. medical bills, lost wages, physical pain). People sometimes think that there is a law in the State of Texas that says that in a rear-end collision, the car behind is always at fault. That’s not true, which makes sense because there are occasions when the car in front is at fault, e.g. in the case of a sudden lane change where the front car unexpectedly switches lanes and slams on its brakes, cutting off the rear car and causing an accident.

Generally speaking though, rear-end collisions are more straightforward when it comes to liability, and insurance companies are more likely to fault their insured in a rear-end collision. The Texas Transportation Code includes a statute saying all drivers have a duty to maintain an assured following distance from the vehicle in front, such that the rear vehicle can safely stop in an emergency. If a police officer investigates a rear-end collision and issues a citation, the driver of the rear car is usually cited for “failure to control speed.”  This does not necessarily mean the driver of the rear car is driving over the speed limit, what it means is the collision occurred because the driver of the rear car was not able to reduce their speed in time to safely come to a stop.

If you have been injured in a rear end car accident, call the experienced Houston personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler for a free consultation and advice on your insurance claim. Even if your accident does involve clear liability, that doesn’t guarantee the other driver’s insurance company is going to offer you a fair settlement!

10 students were injured in a 3 school bus crash on Bellaire in Houston