Most Common Personal Injury Claims in San Antonio

An accident or injury can happen at any time — a knock on the head during a game of football, a broken bone from machinery at work, or even a scraped knee from a fall. While some accidents result in nothing more than a bruised ego, others are incredibly dangerous and even potentially life-threatening.

Whatever the cause, many people are injured in accidents that weren’t their fault. When this happens, you may be able to claim compensation from the person or party responsible. In this blog, we look at the most common personal injury claim types in San Antonio.

Every accident and injury is unique, though, so if you’re injured in any type of accident that you weren’t responsible — or were only partly responsible — for, you shouldn’t hesitate to contact our San Antonio personal injury lawyer.

Car Accidents

When it comes to the most common personal injury claims in San Antonio, car accidents unsurprisingly top the list. According to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), there are 1,645,704 vehicles registered in Bexar County — more than double the vehicles registered in its neighboring counties combined.

Having more vehicles on the road inevitably leads to more opportunities for an accident — it takes just one driver to get behind the wheel while fatigued or under the influence to cause a devastating multi-vehicle crash.

And the statistics certainly don’t paint a good picture.

In a report by TV network KSAT, a record-breaking number of deadly crashes in San Antonio — many of them preventable — prompted San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) Sgt. Anthony Dimmick to declare the situation “a crisis.”

On top of that, in a separate study by Allstate into America’s best drivers, San Antonio ranked in 138th place out of 200. In this city, you have a 29% chance of being in a car accident.

Car accidents can happen for any number of reasons, from distracted driving (such as eating, talking on the phone, and texting) and speeding to driving while intoxicated or fatigued.

And it’s not just the driver who hit you who can be at fault in this personal injury claim type, either. In a multi-vehicle crash, the driver with the most liability might not directly hit you — or any vehicle.

Take, for example, a driver who runs a red light at an intersection because they’re intoxicated and speeding. The driver of an oncoming car might swerve their vehicle to avoid contact, causing a chain reaction that results in a major crash. The drunk driver is majorly at fault for the accident — even if other drivers were partly at fault for being distracted or tailgating — as the incident wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

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Truck Accidents

Second on our list of personal injury claims are truck accidents. The trucking industry may have gotten off to a slow start in this South Texas city, but today, it’s rare to drive a few miles without seeing a big rig or semi-trailer truck. These vehicles play a vital role in our economy, enabling both local businesses and those further afield to provide goods to consumers, from fresh food to the electronics and gadgets we rely on every day.

But the sheer size and weight of 18-wheeler trucks make them dangerous in a crash. Truck accidents can result in catastrophic injuries, including traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord damage. Tragically, far too many truck accidents are fatal.

Unfortunately, most of these accidents are also preventable. Truck drivers work long hours and are under pressure to meet deadlines, so they might be tired behind the wheel or take drugs to help keep them away. Both affect reaction speed and can result in a collision — especially given that it takes a fully loaded semi-truck 525 feet (almost the length of two football fields) to come to a complete stop.

Alternatively, a truck company might fail to train its employees, leading to inexperienced drivers operating essentially heavy, complex, and dangerous machinery.

Whatever the cause, truck accidents are often the fault of someone else, whether that’s the truck driver, the truck company, a manufacturer, a cargo company, or a combination of them all.

This gives truck accident victims several potential avenues for recovering the compensation they deserve.

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Motorcycle Accidents

Part of the appeal of riding a motorcycle is being out on the open road, but this leaves riders incredibly vulnerable.

Motorcycles offer limited protection — especially compared to cars and trucks — and are also much lighter than other vehicles. All it takes is a relatively small shunt to send a motorcyclist off their vehicle, where they may skid along the road and sustain a painful road rash injury.

Severe collisions often have a more devastating impact, causing life-limiting and life-threatening injuries, such as head trauma, burns, scars, and facial injuries.

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Slip and Fall Accidents

Slips and falls are another common personal injury claim type in San Antonio, as they can happen at any time.

Take the following scenarios:

• You’re out for a meal at your favorite restaurant and slip on a wet floor because a cleaner failed to cordon off the area and set out wet floor signs.
• You catch your foot on a piece of carpet sticking out, causing you to fall and hurt your back.
• You walk across a room and the faulty lighting starts flickering, preventing you from seeing and causing you to trip over a hazard.

In all of these situations, the property owner has breached their duty to maintain safe premises and warn you and other visitors of known hazards. This can make them liable for your injuries, entitling you to compensation.

Many of us have fallen over at some point in our lives and had a sore ankle for a couple of days or perhaps even laughed it off, but slip-and-fall injuries can cause severe injuries leading to months or years off work and sky-high medical bills. These can include broken bones, head injuries, spinal cord injuries, lacerations, and soft tissue injuries (such as bruises, sprains, and lacerations).

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Construction Accidents

Construction accidents often happen to construction workers on the job, but this top accident claim can also affect innocent bystanders and visitors to a site.

Construction sites are inherently dangerous places, complete with heavy machinery, power tools, and hazardous substances. Any of these can cause a devastating accident, from being run over by a crane to losing a limb while using a defective tool.

Then, there are other hazards, including poorly constructed scaffolding that results in a fall from height (the most common scenario in construction personal injury claims), faulty wiring causing electrocution, and loud explosions that can rupture the eardrums.

This is a top accident claim in San Antonio and Texas as a whole. According to reports, the construction industry is responsible for nearly half of all fatal occupational injuries, while non-fatal injuries are also on the rise, totaling 13,700 in 2021.

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Workplace Injury

While construction accidents fall into the work injury category, this type of personal injury claim covers a much broader range of scenarios.

Even an office environment can cause painful long-term injuries, from repetitive strain injuries from performing the same task over and over to a back injury after tripping over an open file drawer or electrical cord.

Work injuries can be one of the more complex personal injury claim types because of the implication of workers’ compensation. This type of insurance isn’t mandatory in Texas, which makes it easier to file a personal injury claim against your employer or a contractor if they have been negligent or reckless. However, many businesses still opt for workers’ compensation. While this allows you to recover your medical expenses and a portion of your lost wages, it does not include additional damages for pain and suffering and mental anguish, which can be significant. There is an exception when a third party is liable for your work injury, potentially allowing you to receive workers’ compensation and file a personal injury claim.

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Wrongful Death

Unfortunately, many accidents are fatal. An individual can bring a wrongful death action when their loved one has died due to the negligent or reckless behavior of another person or party.

This final type in our list of personal injury claims in South Carolina can arise from any number of other accident claims, including car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, and workplace accidents. However, it deserves its own mention, as the damages you can recover slightly differ from a traditional personal injury claim.

Surviving family members must prove their loved one’s fatal injuries were caused by another party — such as a speeding driver or a company that failed to ensure safety. If they do this, they may receive significant compensation to cover funeral expenses, loss of companionship, loss of consortium, and loss of financial support.

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These are the most common personal injury claims in San Antonio. However, there are additional types of claims based on injury rather than the type of accident, including traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, burns, and broken bones. While the legal process is largely the same, you can benefit from an attorney’s expertise in your specific injury.

If you’ve been in an accident that wasn’t your fault — whether it’s here in our list of personal injury claims in San Antonio or not — our personal injury lawyers in San Antonio can help you get the compensation you deserve. To find out if you have a claim, call 855-LAW NINjA or fill in the contact form. You won’t pay any legal fees until we win your case.