Car Accident Attorney in Dallas: What We Do From the First Call to Court

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People often call us with the same question: what does a car accident attorney actually do? The honest answer is that most of the work happens where you cannot see it, in the weeks and months between the wreck and the end of the claim. This page walks through a Dallas car accident claim as we handle it at LAWBOSS – Harris, Nelsen & Uvalle, PLLC, stage by stage, so you know what to expect and where each piece of Texas law comes in.

Stage 1: the first call

The case review is free, and the line to our Dallas office is answered 24 hours a day. We ask what happened, where, who was involved, what insurance they had, how you were hurt and where you have been treated. We tell you plainly what we see in the claim. If we take your case, the terms are set out in a written fee agreement before we start: No Fees or Costs Unless We Win. The firm advances case costs, and you owe no attorney’s fee and no case costs unless money is recovered for you.

From that point the insurers deal with us, not with you. That alone changes many claims. Adjusters are trained to ask questions in a particular way in the first phone calls, and several of our attorneys used to work on the other side of those calls. Michael Uvalle worked for several of the largest insurance companies in Texas before he became a lawyer; Joseph Massey in our Dallas office was a workers’ compensation adjuster and manager.

What to have ready for the first call

• The date, time and place of the wreck, and which road or intersection
• The other driver’s name, insurer and policy number, if you have them
• The police agency that came, and the report or case number
• Your own insurance card or declarations page
• Where you have been treated so far, and any upcoming appointments

Do not worry if you have none of it. We can get the crash report and most of the rest ourselves.

Stage 2: the investigation

Evidence is easiest to gather in the first days and hardest to find later. We move early on the pieces that decide fault and damages.

• The crash report. An officer who investigates a crash with injury, death or apparent damage of $1,000 or more files a Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report, form CR-3, with TxDOT within 10 days (Transportation Code 550.062). We get the report and check it against the other evidence.
• Video and photographs. Business cameras, bus cameras, dashcams and the photos taken at the scene.
• Witnesses. Names and accounts while memories are fresh.
• The vehicles. Their damage tells a story about speed and angle, and that story ends once they are repaired.
• Every party and every policy. The other driver, the vehicle’s owner, an employer if the driver was working, and each insurer involved.

Stage 3: the insurance claims

Most Dallas car accident claims involve more than one policy. We open each claim that applies and keep them from working against each other.

Coverage	Whose policy	What Texas law says
Liability	The at-fault driver’s	At least $30,000 for one person’s injuries, $60,000 for two or more and $25,000 for property damage, per crash (Transportation Code 601.072)
Personal injury protection (PIP)	Usually your own	Included unless rejected in writing; the law does not require more than $2,500 per person; paid without regard to fault, within 30 days of satisfactory proof (Insurance Code 1952.152 to 1952.156)
Uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM)	Your own	Included in every Texas auto policy unless a named insured rejects it in writing (Insurance Code 1952.101)

The minimum liability limits are often lower than the cost of a serious injury, which is where your own UM/UIM coverage can matter. We read your policy as well as theirs. Our page on Dallas auto accident insurance explains each coverage in more detail.

Stage 4: your treatment and your records

Your part of the work is to get better and to follow your doctors’ advice. Our part is to collect the records and bills as they come and to keep track of what the injuries have cost you and what they will cost. Gaps in treatment are one of the first things an adjuster looks for, because they can be used to argue that the wreck did not cause your pain. If you cannot afford care, tell us early; there may be coverage you have not used yet, such as PIP.

Stage 5: the demand and the negotiation

When the extent of your injuries is clear, we put the claim in writing: what happened, why the other driver is responsible, what the injuries are, and what they have cost and will cost. The insurer answers, and negotiation begins. We know the arguments insurers make at this stage because many of us used to hear them from the inside: blame shifted onto you under the 51 percent bar, treatment called unnecessary, injuries blamed on something else. We answer them with the evidence we gathered in stages 2 to 4.

We never promise a result, and nobody honestly can. What we can tell you is that the claim is prepared carefully, that you hear every offer, and that the decision to accept or refuse is yours.

Stage 6: a lawsuit, when it is needed

If the insurer will not resolve the claim fairly, we can file suit. A Dallas County car accident case is usually filed in the civil district courts at the George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Building, 600 Commerce Street, downtown. Some cases belong in federal court, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas. A lawsuit brings formal tools to get evidence, such as written questions, documents and depositions, and many cases are still resolved before trial.

The deadline to file is generally two years from the day of the wreck under Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003. For a child, the two years generally do not start running until 18 (CPRC 16.001). For a crash with a city or county vehicle, written notice is usually due within six months, and a city charter can set a shorter period (CPRC 101.101).

What you can do to help your claim

1. Get medical care and go to every appointment.
2. Keep bills, receipts, records and a short diary of how the injuries affect your days.
3. Do not post about the wreck or your injuries on social media.
4. Send insurers to us, and do not sign anything from an insurer before we have read it.
5. Tell us about any new treatment, new symptoms or missed work.

Why our Dallas office

Our office is at 5001 Spring Valley Road, near the Dallas North Tollway, a few minutes from LBJ Freeway. Three LAWBOSS attorneys practice there: Michael Uvalle, the firm’s founder, licensed in Texas since 2010; Rolando Reyna, Jr., licensed since 2021; and Joseph Massey, licensed since 2024 and a former workers’ compensation adjuster and manager. You can read more about them on our team page.

Questions people ask