Odessa Personal Injury Lawyer

Danger Lurks in Many Forms in Odessa and Across Texas

Every year, a significant number of residents are injured in different types of accidents caused by the negligence of someone else. In many instances, these accidents result in serious and even permanent injuries. An alarming number of Odessa accidents result in fatal injuries, tragic and even horrific occurrences that take the lives of people who truly are innocent victims. Our Odessa personal injury attorneys reviewed some common causes of harm across the state and found the following.

The most commonplace types of injury causing accidents in Odessa, and throughout the Lone Star State, include:

Slip and fall accidents
Automobile accidents
Construction site accidents
Explosions and industrial accidents

Odessa Slip and Fall Accidents

Slip and fall accidents represent some of the most commonplace types of accidents in Odessa, across Texas, and throughout the United States. In the U.S., well over 1 million suffer serious injuries in slip and fall cases caused by the negligence of someone else. These injuries include broken bones, including hip fractures. Falls account for the largest number of traumatic brain injuries in Odessa, in Texas, and elsewhere in the United States.

Automobile Accidents

Automobile accident injuries are a major issue every year. Indeed, automobile accidents caused by the negligence of someone else represents a major source of injuries in Texas annually. In 2018, the last year a full set of data is available, 15,000 serious automobile accident injuries occurred in Texas, most as the result of a negligence or careless driver, as reported by the Texas Department of Transportation. In addition, over 3,600 lost their lives in fatal Texas car accidents.

Common causes of car accidents include:

Inattentive driver
Impaired of intoxicated driver
Speeding
Failure to obey traffic signals and signs

Common types of non-fatal Odessa car accident injuries include:

Broken bones
Cuts, puncture wounds, and other skin damage
Traumatic brake injury
Internal injuries
Emotional distress and mental anguish
Permanent disability
Permanent disfigurement

Construction Site Accidents

Construction site accidents represent another type of commonplace injury-causing occurrences in Odessa and across the state of Texas. The most frequently occurring construction site accidents in the Odessa area include:

Falls
Burns (fire, chemical, explosion)
Crushing
Falling objects

Falls consistently are ranked as the most frequently occurring types of construction site accidents year after year. Construction site accidents associated with falls include:

Scaffolding failures
Roof accidents
Ladder failures
Crane incidents
Holes in flooring
Tools and equipment improperly stowed
Elevator shafts

As is the case with other types of falls, the most frequent type of resulting injury from a construction site fall is traumatic brain injury.

Explosions and Industrial Accidents

Explosions come in many forms in the Odessa area, including at industrial sites but also in the very heart of the community, in otherwise peaceful neighborhoods. For example, in recent months, a gas pipeline crossing through a Odessa residential neighborhood suffered a major failure, resulting in a major explosion that caused multiple injuries, including area residents that were admitted to hospital burn units. The reality is that gas pipelines crisscross the city of Odessa and the county to a greater extent than is found nearly anywhere.

In addition, every year people in the area are injured in explosions and other accidents at industrial sites. These include devastating incidents at chemical and petroleum processing facilities.

Industrial accidents

Industrial accidents are best defined as any accident that 1) involves and employee, contractor, or supervisor of a commercial business that 2) occurs on-the-job or close to a work site. In the Odessa area, most people will associate industrial accidents with operations such as oil and gas production or commercial trucking. However, “industry” also includes retail sales operations such as grocery and department stores, service industries, and even state and local government. Perhaps the best definition of an industrial accident is: “If the injured party is eligible to receive Worker’s Compensation benefits, it’s an industrial accident.”

Non-industrial accidents

Most accidental injuries in the Odessa area occur away from places of employment and are usually unrelated to the victim’s job.

Examples of non-industrial accidents include:

“Slip, trip, and fall” accidents. These are probably the most common types of injuries leading to a personal injury lawsuit. If it can be demonstrated that the accident was caused by the negligence of the property owner at the site of the accident, a personal injury lawsuit may be filed by the accident victim.
Personal (non-commercial) transportation accidents. Having a reliable source of personal transportation is essential to full participation in modern society. As the number of personal (and commercial) vehicles on our streets and highways increases, so does the possibility of an accident. Regardless of the types of vehicles involved, and the circumstances of the accident itself, any personal transportation accident resulting in an injury should be discussed with a personal injury lawyer before a settlement offer is even considered.
Participation in organized sports. To appreciate the importance of amateur athletics to the West Texas social scene, try to find someone who isn’t planning on attending a high school football game on any given Friday night each Fall. Although attending a football game, and to a lesser extent basketball and baseball, is considered a social duty in some locations, unnecessary injuries frequently complicate such contests. If it can be shown that excessive force was a component of an injury, or that a piece of protective gear was defective, these factors may be grounds for a personal injury lawsuit. Also, it is common for all participants in organized or sponsored athletics be required to sign a “waiver” or “release” before they are allowed to participate in such activities. While such documents do offer the sponsoring organization some protection against liability in the even a participant is injured, waivers are rarely “ironclad” and should never be accepted as prohibiting a personal injury lawsuit.
Unforeseeable changes in weather conditions. West Texas weather is, to put it politely, “unpredictable.” This is particularly true during the summer and fall moths that are the peak of the outdoor recreation seasons. Although weather conditions cannot be predicted, much less controlled, changes in weather are often one of the main contributors to an accident and should be routinely addressed in all accident investigations.

Deadline for Protecting Your Rights

You need to take a proactive stance when it comes to retaining the professional services of an experienced Odessa injury attorney. In the state of Texas, there is a law called the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations establishes a specific deadline by which you must file a personal injury lawsuit. In Texas, a personal injury lawsuit must be filed within two years of the date of the accident.

If you fail to meet this deadline, you likely will be precluded permanently from seeking justice in your case. This underscores the need to be proactive in retaining legal representation after you’ve suffered injuries because of the negligence of someone else.

Justice and Compensation for Your Injuries

Possible compensation in your case depends upon the facts and circumstances that surround the accident itself. In addition, the nature and extent of injuries, damages, and losses dictate the extent of compensation that may be available in your case. No matter the specifics, an Odessa injury attorney from our firm will fight tenaciously and tirelessly for justice in your case.

Examples of the types of injuries, damages, and losses for which our firm seeks compensation include:

medical bills and expenses
lost income
pain and suffering
mental anguish and emotional distress
property damage

Our firm fights not only for compensation for your existing losses, but also for those you reasonably can be expected to face into the future. For example, following an accident, you may require ongoing medical care and treatment into the future. Physical therapy is an example. You may endure chronic pain indefinitely. You may not be able to return to work any time soon. All of these situations represent the types of ongoing losses for which we fight for compensation for you.

In some cases, you may be entitled to what are known as punitive or exemplary damages. Punitive damages represent additional compensation awarded in some personal injury lawsuits when the conduct of the party that caused the accident is considered particularly reckless or egregious. A Doan Law Firm personal injury attorney can explain all aspects of possible compensation to you during an initial appointment.

Texas Personal Injury Lawsuits are Complex Matters

Many Odessa residents live with the unfounded belief that filing a personal injury lawsuit in Texas involves nothing more than signing a few pages of paperwork and then sitting back to wait for the settlement offer. This cannot be further from the truth, but it is exactly what the big insurance companies and their big business policyholders want you to believe! As long as you have this simplistic view, it will be all that they will need to maneuver you into a position that will reduce the amount of money that they will eventually have to pay in order to settle your injury claim!

Regardless of the type or the extent of an injury, a properly-prepared personal injury lawsuit should always involve:

a complete review of all documentation produced by the initial accident investigation, including any documents produced by the potential defendant’s insurance carrier
a basic accident reconstruction to confirm the circumstances of the accident or, if the reconstruction does not confirm the initial impressions, a complete accident reconstruction
interviews with, and sworn statements from, witnesses
negotiations with other insurance carriers

Speak to a Odessa Accident Injury Lawyer Today

If you’ve been harmed as a result of the negligence of someone else, the best course to protect your vital legal interests and to obtain justice in your case is to retain the services of a tireless, experienced injury lawyer in Houston or Odessa, like a member of the legal at The Doan Law Firm.

We’ve established an injury hotline (432) 653-0000 for people involved in accidents of different types. We staff the hotline 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, including on all major holidays.

We can schedule an initial consultation and case evaluation with a lawyer any time convenient for you. Our offices are located conveniently at:

4500 West Illinois

Suite 203

Midland, Texas 79703

(432) 653-0000

We can schedule an appointment at your home, at the hospital, or even online as your needs require. There is no charge for an initial consultation. In addition, we make a promise to you. We never charge an attorney feel unless we win for you.