Frequently Asked Questions

You may receive compensation for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, property damage (to your vehicle, for instance), physical or mental disability, trauma, anguish, loss of enjoyment, disfigurement, and more. Other out of pocket expenses that you were required to pay due to the injury may be covered as well, such as parking fees, transportation fees, and more.

Not everyone can afford a lawyer when they run into a difficult legal situation, especially if they are also facing high medical bills. Contingency fees allow the injured access to the justice system. Once your case is taken on, you will sign a written agreement with our firm outlining what the contingency percentage will be. The fee may differ based on whether your case is concluded through a settlement or a trial. At the end of the legal process, you will receive a statement showing funds collected, deductions made to it, and your net result. We take our legal fees from your settlement, so there are no upfront costs to you.

Not necessarily. Most personal injury cases are settled out of court. After investigating your case and determining the best path to seek a fair result, our Beaumont personal injury attorney will determine whether litigation is necessary. Litigation has its risks and may take much longer than a settlement, however, Attorney Clay Dugas is Board Certified in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has handled over 250 jury trials in his 40+ years of experience. While there is nothing wrong with settling out of court when it meets your needs and is in your best interests, our firm will stand by your side and protect you through trial.

A legal claim for compensation can be made against the party or parties who were responsible for causing harm due to negligence or wrongdoing. To pursue compensation, it must be proven that a “duty of care” was not fulfilled and it resulted in physical or emotional harm. In these cases, you may be owed monetary damage which the at-fault parties must pay. Responsible parties can include other driver in a car crash, medical personnel who failed to properly care for you or a loved one, trucking companies, manufacturers, insurance agencies, and other corporate entities.

Very often if an accident or injury has been very debilitating it will result in high medical bills and a loss of wages. This will frequently result in a strong financial need becoming present in the plaintiff. While it is unfortunate this too must be considered whenever a settlement is being evaluated. Can you and your family financially risk passing up a sure thing for the possibility of more? What happens if the case continues to drag on? Will you be able to pay your bills and hold out or should you take the settlement and get the money sooner rather than later?

Another huge factor for whether or not to accept a settlement is the timeline involved. A suit might go on for years if appeals and other legal wrangling occurs. As a result this can further increase legal fees, disrupt daily life, and cause a continual emotional reliving of painful experiences. 

In many cases, a plaintiff may decide that it is worth it to just accept the settlement and move on with their lives. On the flip side, however, many people feel more vindicated by getting to tell their story in court and may even find that the slower timeline allows them an extra opportunity to work through their feelings and get closure. Thus it is important to consider your own feelings and situation in regards to the timeline.

Though the legal system strives to be as impartial and fair as possible, that doesn’t alter the fact that different judges and juries have different opinions about how much a case is worth. If you know that juries in your area tend to be conservative and offer low judgments then that should definitely impact your decision about whether or not to accept a settlement. By the same token if you know that juries in your area tend to be very liberal and offer very high, generous judgment then that should also be a factor in your decision.

Very often there is no black and white answer about what happened and who is to blame. It is very common for there to be many potential sources of blame when it comes to an accident or injury. For instance, part of the blame might rest on the injured party themselves. It is also not uncommon for a third or fourth party to also share a small portion of the blame. 

The reason this matters is that if it is decided that a portion of the liability rests with other people or entities, then that can significantly reduce the potential size of a monetary judgment, or even make the court rule against the plaintiff completely. Thus liability and where all it rests must be carefully considered when a settlement presents itself.

This is certainly one of the biggest factors to consider if you have been presented with a settlement offer. Obviously no one wants to reject a generous settlement offer, go to court seeking a larger payment, and then end up losing the case and getting nothing whatsoever. One the other hand no one wants to settle for a tiny fraction of what their case is worth if they know that it is airtight.

It is important to remember that no outcome is ever definite. Even really solid cases lose sometimes, and even really weak ones occasionally work. That is part of what the uncertainty of trial is all about. So much comes down to the particular judge and jury involved. Nevertheless, a plaintiff must carefully weigh the strength of their case, as best they can with the advice of their attorney and others involved, against the settlement offer that they receive.