McKinney Car Accident Lawyer

If you were hurt in a car accident in McKinney, Texas law gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a claim, and you owe zero attorney fees unless you recover money. A McKinney car accident lawyer at Tate Law Offices handles your case on a contingency fee basis, so our fee comes out of the settlement, never out of your pocket up front. Call (903) 892-4440 any time, day or night, for a free consultation.

Here is what most people miss in the days after a wreck on US-75 or the Sam Rayburn Tollway: the insurance company is already building its file. An adjuster may call within 48 hours, sound friendly, and ask for a recorded statement. 

That call is not for your benefit. It exists to lock you into a dollar figure before you know how badly you are hurt, because a concussion or a herniated disc can take weeks to declare itself. Once you accept a check, the case is closed, even if you need surgery six months later. You do not have to face that alone.

Why Choose Tate Law Offices for a McKinney Car Accident Lawyer

You get a real attorney on your case, not a case number in a volume shop. Tate Law Offices is a family firm run by the Tate and Rehmet families, and we keep our caseload deliberate so the people who hire us get direct access and straight answers.

We know Collin County. McKinney is the county seat, so a filed case moves through the Collin County District Courts right here in town.

We know the roads where these crashes happen, from the US-75 and SH-121 interchange to the surface-street collisions along Eldorado Parkway, Custer Road, and Virginia Parkway, and we know the emergency departments at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center McKinney and Medical City McKinney.

Three things define how we work:

• No fee unless you recover. We front the costs of the investigation, the experts, and the litigation. No win, no fee.
• 24/7 availability. Crashes do not keep business hours. When you call (903) 892-4440, a person answers.
• Direct counsel. We tell you what your case is worth and what it is not. We do not sell fear, and we do not make promises we cannot keep.

What Should You Do in the Days and Weeks After a McKinney Car Accident?

Keep treating, keep records, and say nothing to the other driver’s insurer while your claim takes shape.

The choices you make during recovery shape the value of your case as much as anything that happened at the scene.

• Follow through on every medical appointment. Concussions, disc injuries, and soft-tissue damage often surface days later, and any gap in treatment is the first thing an insurer uses to argue you were not really hurt.
• Get a copy of your crash report. Once the responding officer files the Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report, request it so your file holds the official record of fault and road conditions.
• Notify your own insurer, but say little to theirs. Report the crash as your policy requires, and decline any recorded statement to the at-fault driver’s insurer until you have talked to a lawyer.
• Document your losses week by week. Save medical bills, track missed work and lost wages, and keep a short journal of your pain and the limits it puts on daily life.
• Turn down the first offer. Early settlement offers almost always arrive before your injuries are fully known, and accepting one closes the case for good.
• Call a lawyer before evidence fades. Witness memories dim and nearby video footage is overwritten within weeks, so the sooner the investigation starts, the stronger your claim.

What Texas Law Applies to Your Claim?

Texas is an at-fault state, so the driver who caused the crash, through that driver’s insurance, pays your damages.

Because fault drives the money, the whole case becomes an argument about who is responsible and by how much, governed by the proportionate responsibility rules in Chapter 33 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.

How Long Do You Have to File a Car Accident Claim in Texas?

Two years from the date of the crash, under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003.

Miss that deadline and the court will almost certainly throw out your case, no matter how strong it was, which is why waiting to call a lawyer can quietly destroy a winnable claim. 

You can read the statute on Texas Legislature Online. Narrow exceptions exist, such as claims involving a minor, but assume two years and build the case well before it runs.

What If You Were Partly at Fault?

You can still recover, as long as you were 50 percent or less responsible. Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule under Section 33.001, so your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault and barred completely only if your share tops 50 percent. If your damages total 100,000 dollars and a jury finds you 20 percent at fault, you recover 80,000 dollars. 

This is exactly why insurers work so hard to pin blame on you, and why a lawyer who can push that percentage down protects your recovery.

How Damages Work in a Texas Car Accident Case

Your compensation splits into two buckets, economic and non-economic, and both belong to you. Economic damages cover measurable financial losses. Non-economic damages cover the human cost no receipt captures.

In catastrophic cases, such as a spinal cord or traumatic brain injury, future care and lost earning capacity often dwarf the immediate bills. Valuing those correctly takes medical experts and sometimes an economist, the kind of investment a contingency firm makes on your behalf. When a crash proves fatal, the family may also have a wrongful death claim under Texas law.

The Legal Process After a McKinney Crash

Most claims settle without a trial, but the ones that settle well are built as though they were headed to court from day one. First, we investigate and let you treat: we gather the crash report, records, wage documentation, and any video while you focus on getting well, because settling before your recovery is clear leaves money on the table. 

Next, we send a documented demand to the at-fault insurer and negotiate. If the insurer will not deal fairly, we file suit in the Collin County District Courts, open discovery, and prepare your case for a Collin County jury. You can review official crash data and safety resources through the Texas Department of Transportation.

Crashes involving an Uber or Lyft driver add an extra layer of insurance questions that we sort out as part of the investigation.