Personal Injury & Accident Lawyers in Houston: Over $100 Million Recovered!

No lawyer can honestly answer that about themselves, and Texas advertising rules restrict superiority claims — so treat any firm that calls itself “the best” with caution. What you can check objectively takes about ten minutes: the State Bar of Texas record shows the licence date, standing and any public discipline; board certification in Personal Injury Trial Law is granted by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and appears on that same record; and the courts an attorney is admitted to are listed there too. At this firm, Bernard G. Johnson III is board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and admitted before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit; Sam A. Maida, Jr. has been licensed since 1993. Both bar numbers are published on this site so you can look them up yourself.

Five things, all verifiable. One: the bar number and standing on the State Bar of Texas directory. Two: whether anyone at the firm holds board certification in Personal Injury Trial Law. Three: which federal courts they are admitted to, which matters if your claim belongs in federal court — maritime and Jones Act work in particular. Four: whether the fee agreement is contingency, and whether case expenses are explained in writing and separately from the fee. Five: who will actually handle the file day to day, and whether you can reach that person. A firm that will not answer the fifth question in plain terms is telling you something.

The recurring advice on Reddit and similar forums is sound and worth repeating: be wary of anyone who contacts you first after a crash, because unsolicited approaches to accident victims are restricted in Texas; ask who will actually work the file rather than who signs you up; and get the fee and expense terms in writing before you sign anything. Where crowd opinion falls short is verification — a thread cannot tell you whether an attorney is in good standing or board certified. The State Bar record can, in under a minute, and it is the part of your research that is actually authoritative.

More than file a lawsuit. The work starts with preserving evidence before it disappears — camera footage is often overwritten within days, and a trucking company’s logs and electronic driving records sit with the carrier, not with you. From there it is dealing with the adjusters so you are not giving recorded statements that get used on fault, valuing the claim against the full medical picture rather than the bills received so far, and filing suit before the two-year deadline if the offer does not reflect the loss. This firm also helps arrange access to medical treatment for the injuries our clients sustained, even when they do not have health insurance or other means to pay for that treatment — which for many people is the difference between getting care after a crash and going without it.

This is one of the most common reasons people delay care after a crash, and delaying is exactly what damages both your health and your claim — a gap between the crash and your first medical visit is the first thing an adjuster points to. Maida Law Firm helps arrange access to treatment for clients who have no health insurance or other means to pay, so that care can begin while the claim is still being worked. Separately, the case itself costs you nothing up front: injury matters here are handled on contingency, meaning the fee is a share of the recovery and there is no fee if there is no recovery.

Often not. A property-damage-only claim settles separately from any injury claim and is usually handled directly with the insurer — you do not need representation to get a car repaired or replaced. Two cautions, though. Injuries from a crash can surface days later, particularly soft-tissue and head injuries that adrenaline masks at the scene, so “no injury” on day one is not always the final answer. And accepting a repair cheque does not settle an injury claim, but signing a broad release can — read what you are signing, and if it releases more than property damage, get advice first.

Texas is the one state where workers’ compensation is genuinely optional for private employers, and that single fact decides how your claim works. If your employer carries comp, the comp system generally replaces a suit against them, though a third party — a contractor, a driver, an equipment manufacturer — may still be liable. If your employer is a non-subscriber, you can sue them directly, and Texas law strips three of their best defences: it is not a defence that you were contributorily negligent, that you assumed the risk, or that a co-worker caused the injury. Which category your employer falls into is the first thing to establish.