San Antonio Injury Attorney Blog

A Texas personal injury attorney will be able to assist you if you do your homework following an auto accident. There are certain checklists about the details of an accident that you should bear in mind when you bring your case to a qualified motor vehicle accident lawyer in San Antonio.

For example, note where the accident happened; the physical and mental condition of the other driver; time of day (darkness, sunset, dawn); position of the vehicles; observations before impact; point of impact; force of impact; and factors affecting visibility. An auto accident in Texas , especially San Antonio, can be affected by the angle of the sun, rain, curves or hills, and even a dirty windshield.

After your serious or minor auto accident, you should compile information regarding each vehicle owned including the name of the owner and also whether the vehicle involved was empty or loaded (affects force of impact). You will be asked about the specifics of the collision including positions and speeds of other cars. In Texas law, the personal injury liability will fall on certain facts affecting the driver's negligence including intoxication and speed.

If you are a pedestrian injured by an automobile, you may be asked questions about distance, corrective lenses, color of clothing, and obstructions. Personal injury damages in Texas are also an issue. Were there prior claims or lawsuits? Who were the treating physicians and what did they treat the accident victim for? Were you rendered unconscious? Where were you taken after the auto accident and what types of tests did you undergo? X-rays? MRI?

A qualified motor vehicle attorney will focus on your present pain and suffering after the auto accident, your medical expenses, loss of earnings, and property damage.

It is up to the Texas attorney to aggressively pursue the defendant's insurance carrier and determine the adjuster's willingness to handle legal disputes. The lawyers will also focus on witnesses such as eyewitnesses and statements made by the defendant to witnesses or the injured person. In the end, if you are injured in an auto accident, stay alert and write down everything. Take pictures if you can of personal injuries and property damage at the scene. You will have done you and your personal injury lawyer representing you a great favor!

Recently ABC News reached an agreement with its writers not to compensate them for using their employer-issued Blackberrys and PDAs to check their e-mails after office hours. The decision posts an interesting question for Texas employment law : Does the routine check of e-mail after hours require overtime pay?

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Department of Labor (DOL) provide certain rules for dealing with off-duty, non-exempt hourly employees who must be on call or carry pagers or beepers while off-duty.

If an employer is going to require frequent, although short in duration, daily episodes of business activity, such as requiring an employee to regularly check more than one or two e-mails outside work hours, then an argument can be made that this is overtime work under Texas employment laws.

A Texas employment attorney can check the facts and determine whether in fact such activity is "deminimus" or insubstantial. Factors include the difficulty of recording the additional time, the amount of compensation for the time, and regularity with which the employees perform the additional work.

There are additional factors under both federal and Texas employment laws to determine overtime work. For example, many courts have held that working time increments of ten minutes per day or less are deminimus. Going back to ABC News, the writers were part of a union, but the Union did not have the right to waive the employees' right to file an overtime claim. In today's world, Texas employers must be held accountable for both salaried and hourly employees who conduct much of their work during off-hours using company issued equipment. Overtime pay may very well be required under Texas law.