The adjuster called before you saw a doctor: what to do after a Dallas car accident

The phone rings before the soreness wears off

The crash itself was fast. What follows is slow and confusing. Your car is at a tow yard. Your back and neck have stiffened overnight. You have a police report number and a stack of paperwork from the scene. And within a day or two, an adjuster from the other driver's insurance company calls, sounding helpful, asking how you are feeling and whether you can give a quick recorded statement so they can "get the claim moving."

I am a founding partner at Garcia, Garcia & Mullen, and personal injury is my practice. The people who call us from Dallas, Irving, Fort Worth and the surrounding counties are almost always at this exact point: hurt, behind on work, worried about bills, and unsure whether talking to the adjuster is helping or hurting. This guide is what I would tell a friend in that position. It is general information, not legal advice about your specific case; for that, you need a licensed attorney who has heard your facts.

The first few weeks matter more than most people realize. What you say, what you sign, when you see a doctor and what you keep shape the claim long before any lawyer is involved.

Why the other driver's insurer is in such a hurry

The adjuster is not your adjuster. Their employer owes money if their driver was at fault, and their job is to resolve the claim for as little as the company can defend. That is not villainy; it is the business. But it explains the early phone call. Before you have seen a doctor, you do not know what is wrong with you. A statement in which you say you feel "okay, a little sore" becomes evidence later when an MRI shows a herniated disc.

Texas law adds a second reason for the speed. The state uses a proportionate responsibility rule: your recovery is reduced by whatever share of fault is assigned to you, and if you are found more than half at fault you recover nothing. Every recorded statement is an opportunity to attribute some of the fault to you, through an innocent-sounding question about your speed, your phone or where you were looking. In my experience, early quick settlements are offered for the same reason: a check cashed before the full injury is known closes the claim permanently.

What to do in the first week, with or without a lawyer

Whether or not you ever hire anyone, these steps protect you. The first is medical: see a doctor promptly, even if you think you are fine, and follow the treatment plan. Gaps in treatment are the most common thing insurers point to when arguing an injury was minor or unrelated. The second is documentation. Photographs of the vehicles, the scene, your injuries as they develop, and every bill and letter you receive are the backbone of a claim.

The third is restraint. You are generally required to cooperate with your own insurance company under your policy, but you are not required to give the other driver's insurer a recorded statement, and you should be very careful about doing so without advice. Do not sign medical authorizations that let them pull your entire history. Do not post about the crash or your recovery online. And keep a simple daily note of pain, limitations and missed work, because memory fades and that record does not.

• Get examined by a doctor as soon as possible and keep every appointment that follows.
• Request the police crash report and keep the officer's information.
• Photograph vehicle damage, the scene, visible injuries and anything that changes over the following weeks.
• Collect names and numbers of witnesses before they are gone.
• Report the crash to your own insurer as your policy requires, factually and briefly.
• Decline a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer until you have talked to a lawyer.
• Keep a folder of every bill, estimate, letter and pay stub showing lost time.

When you probably do not need a lawyer, and when you should call one this week

Not every collision needs an attorney. If no one was hurt, the damage is purely to property and the other driver's insurer has accepted fault, you can usually handle the vehicle claim yourself. Get repair estimates, understand how the insurer values a total loss, and push back politely if the number is low. A lawyer's fee on a property-only claim rarely makes sense, and I will say so when someone calls me with one.

The calculus changes the moment there is an injury that needed treatment, any dispute about who was at fault, a commercial vehicle such as an 18-wheeler or a rideshare car, a driver with no insurance or too little of it, or a death. It also changes when the insurer has already made an offer, because an offer means they have valued the claim and you have no way to check their math. And it changes if you were hurt on someone else's property or by a dog, where liability questions are different from a traffic crash.

One more reason not to wait: deadlines. In Texas, the general time limit for filing most personal injury lawsuits is two years from the date of the injury, with exceptions in both directions, including shorter notice requirements when a government vehicle is involved. The time passes faster than it sounds while you are in treatment. Talk to a licensed attorney early enough to know your actual deadline.

What an injury lawyer actually does once you hire one

At our firm the work starts with a free consultation, in person or by phone, where we hear what happened and tell you honestly whether you have a case and what it is likely to involve. If you retain us, our first act is to notify every insurer that you are represented. From that moment the calls and letters come to us, not to you. For most clients that is the first relief they have felt since the crash.

Then we investigate. We obtain the police report, photographs, witness statements, and medical records, and in commercial vehicle cases we request the carrier's records as well. Our firm's background includes emergency trauma nursing and commercial trucking, and we have an emergency medicine physician who serves as a medical consultant, which changes how we read a medical file and how we evaluate what a truck driver and carrier should have done. When treatment has reached a stable point, we assemble the claim, present it to the insurer and negotiate. If a fair settlement is not offered, we file suit and prepare the case for trial. Settlements happen at every stage; the leverage comes from being ready to try the case.

• Free consultation and a candid evaluation of the case.
• Letters of representation that end direct contact from insurers.
• Investigation: police report, scene and vehicle evidence, witnesses, medical records, and carrier records in trucking cases.
• Coordination with your treatment so the medical picture is complete before anything is valued.
• A demand package documenting liability, injuries, bills, lost income and the effect on your life.
• Negotiation, and a lawsuit if the offer does not reflect the harm.
• Resolution of medical liens and bills from the recovery before funds are disbursed.

What the case costs you, and what decides what it is worth

Our personal injury cases are handled on a contingency fee. You pay nothing up front, and the fee is a pre-agreed percentage of whatever is recovered. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fee. The consultation is free. Ask any lawyer you speak with to put the fee agreement in writing and to explain how case expenses, such as records and expert fees, are handled, because those terms vary from firm to firm.

The value of a claim is not a formula, and anyone who quotes you a number on the first call is guessing. In my experience it is driven by the severity and permanence of the injury, the total medical bills and the treatment still to come, lost wages and lost earning capacity, how clearly fault can be proven, the insurance available from the at-fault party and from your own policy, and how the injury has changed your daily life. A commercial policy on an 18-wheeler changes the picture compared with a minimum-limits private driver. Pre-existing conditions, gaps in treatment and your own share of fault push the other way.

Choosing an injury attorney when every billboard looks the same

Advertising tells you who has a marketing budget, not who will handle your case well. Ask who will actually work on your file and how you will reach them. Ask how many cases like yours the firm has handled, including trucking cases if a commercial vehicle was involved. Ask what happens if the insurer will not settle: does the firm file suit and try cases, or refer them out? A firm that never files is negotiating from a weak position, and insurers know which firms those are.

Ask about the fee agreement and case expenses in plain terms. Ask how often you will hear from the firm and who will call you. And trust your read of the first conversation. If you felt rushed, talked down to or pushed to sign, that is how the next year will feel. You are choosing someone to stand between you and a company that does this every day, and they should be willing to explain everything until you understand it.

• A free consultation with a lawyer, not only an intake person.
• Experience with your type of case: car, truck, motorcycle, rideshare, premises or wrongful death.
• Willingness to file suit and take a case to trial when the offer is unfair.
• A written contingency agreement that explains fees and expenses.
• Medical knowledge in the firm, or access to it, for reading records and valuing injuries.
• A named person who will return your calls.

The mistakes that quietly shrink a claim

The first is giving the other insurer a recorded statement in the first days, before the injuries are understood. The second is delaying or skipping medical care because you hope it will pass or because you are worried about cost; the gap becomes the insurer's main argument. The third is signing a blanket medical authorization, which hands them your whole history to search for anything they can call pre-existing.

The fourth is accepting a quick check. An early offer that arrives before you finish treatment is priced on the assumption that you do not know what the claim is worth yet. The fifth is posting about the crash or your activities on social media, which insurers do review. And the last is waiting to get advice because you are not sure you have a case. The consultation is free, and finding out early costs nothing; finding out late can cost everything.

What happens when you call our office

You will speak with us about what happened, where it happened, who was involved, what injuries you have and what has happened with the insurance company so far. If you have the police report, photos or any letters, have them nearby; if you do not, that is fine. We will tell you whether we think you have a case and what the next steps would be, and we will tell you honestly if we are not the right fit, for instance if the matter is a business dispute rather than an injury.

If you retain us, the insurer calls stop coming to you that week. We handle the investigation, the records and the negotiation, and we keep you informed while you focus on getting better. Our offices are in Irving and Kaufman and we represent clients throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and surrounding communities. Nothing is owed unless we recover for you. The sooner we hear the facts, the more we can protect.

Questions people ask me