Yes. Texas personal injury lawyers work on contingency, so you pay nothing up front and nothing by the hour. The fee comes out of the recovery, and if there is no recovery you owe no attorney’s fee. Many injured people also treat under a letter of protection, which defers medical bills until the case resolves.
Being Out of Money Is the Reason Contingency Fees Exist
The order of events is backwards, and everyone in this business knows it. You get hurt, you stop earning, the bills start arriving, and only then do you need a lawyer. If legal help required money at the front end, almost nobody with a serious injury could hire one.
So, Texas injury lawyers do not charge that way. There is no retainer, no hourly rate, and no monthly invoice. The fee is a percentage of what the case recovers, agreed in writing before any work starts. If the case recovers nothing, there is no attorney’s fee to pay.
That structure is not a favor. It is how the fee gets aligned with the result: the firm is paid out of money it helps bring in, and only if it brings some in.
How You Get Medical Care With No Paycheck and No Insurance
Treatment is the part people postpone, and postponing it damages a claim more than almost anything else you can do. An adjuster reading your file cannot see pain. They can only see the medical records. A gap in treatment gets argued as a gap in injury, or minimal injury, or no injury.
There are usually more ways to pay for care than people realize, and several of them can be used together.
Source
How it works
When it applies
Your health insurance
You treat on your plan; the plan may later assert a right to be repaid out of the settlement
You have coverage through work, the marketplace, Medicare or Medicaid
MedPay or PIP on your own auto policy
Pays medical bills without regard to who caused the crash, up to the limit you bought
You carry the coverage on your own policy
Letter of protection
A medical provider agrees in writing to treat now and be paid from the settlement later
You are uninsured, or the provider is willing to wait
Workers’ compensation
Medical benefits and partial wage replacement
The injury happened at work and your employer carries coverage
Hospital or provider lien
The medical provider treats and asserts a claim against your eventual recovery
Emergency and hospital care in particular
General options in a Texas injury claim. Which apply depends on your policies and providers.
What a letter of protection actually is
It is a written agreement, signed by your lawyer and accepted by the medical provider that says: treat this patient now, do not send them to collections, and get paid from the settlement when the claim or case resolves. It is not free care, and it is not a loan to you. It is a deferral.
Two honest caveats: No medical provider is required to accept one. And balances treated under a letter of protection come out of the settlement at the end, which reduces what reaches your pocket, although those balances are frequently negotiated down before the file closes.
Your Lost Income Is Part of the Claim, Not a Separate Problem
Time off work is not something you absorb personally while the lawyers argue about the injury. It is a category of damages, and it has two parts.
- Lost earnings are the wages, salary, tips, commissions or contract income you have already missed because of the injury.
- Lost earning capacity is the reduction in what you are able to earn going forward, if the injury permanently changes the work you can do.
What proves it
Documents, not statements. Pay stubs from before and after, a wage-and-hours letter from your employer, tax returns, invoices, and 1099s if you are self-employed and the doctor’s off-work or restricted-duty notes tying the absence to the injury. Ask for the off-work note at the visit; reconstructing it months later is harder than getting it that day.
Immigration status does not bar recovery of lost earning capacity in Texas. In Grocers Supply v. Cabello, a Texas appellate court held that federal immigration law does not preempt a Texas tort claim for lost earning capacity. Status is also treated as presumptively collateral and highly prejudicial, and is routinely excluded, though that is a judge’s discretionary balancing rather than an absolute bar.
What the Firm Pays For While You Wait
Cases cost money to build: medical records and billing affidavits, crash reports, photographs, expert analysis where it matters, deposition transcripts, filing and service fees. The firm advances those expenses. You are not asked to fund them as they arise.
In Tarrant County the court costs are concrete numbers, including those for filing a new civil suit, issuanc of citation, constable service, and a jury fee.
At the end, a settlement statement puts every dollar in one place: gross recovery, attorney’s fee, advanced expenses, medical balances and liens, and then, your net. Ask to see a blank sample of that statement at the consultation, before you sign anything.
Money Pressure and the Timing of Offers
Early offers arrive at the moment they are hardest to refuse. That is not an accident of scheduling. The useful question is not whether the money would help right now; it is whether the number accounts for treatment you have not finished.
You generally have two years from the date of injury to file suit in Texas under Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003. That is real breathing room compared with the pressure of a phone call. It is not unlimited, and some claims carry much shorter notice deadlines, but a decision this week is almost never actually required.
If cash flow is the real problem, say so plainly at the consultation. The solutions are usually procedural: treatment on a letter of protection, using health insurance now and handling repayment later, or moving quickly on the property damage and rental portion of the claim, which often resolves long before the injury claim does.
Talk It Through Before the Bills Decide for You
A consultation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Jim Ross Law Group has represented injured people across the DFW Metroplex from its Arlington office since 2009.
Call 817-275-4100 for a free consultation, in person or by phone, Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm or Saturday by appointment. There is no fee unless we win.
Frequently Asked Questions
I have been out of work for two months. Can I still afford to hire a lawyer?
Yes. You pay nothing at signing and nothing while the case is pending. The fee is a percentage of the recovery, set in writing before the work begins, and it is collected from the settlement or verdict at the end. If there is no recovery, there is no attorney’s fee. Being out of work does not change the terms.
Who pays my medical bills while the case is going on?
Usually, some combination of your health insurance, MedPay or PIP on your own auto policy, and providers treating under a letter of protection. The at-fault driver’s insurer does not pay your bills as they come in. It pays once, at the end, in a single sum that has to cover everything.
Can my lawyer lend me money for rent while I wait?
No. A Texas lawyer may advance the expenses of building your case, but not your personal living expenses. Companies offering pre-settlement advances do exist but, they are very expensive, sometimes severely so. Before signing for one, ask your lawyer what the advance would cost you measured against the realistic timeline of your case.
I get paid in cash. Can I still claim lost wages?
Often yes, but the proof has to come from somewhere other than a pay stub. Tax returns, bank deposits, client invoices, work schedules and a written statement from whoever hired you all help. Cash income is harder to document, not impossible, and past tax filings that understate income can complicate the claim.
I have no health insurance. Will a doctor even see me?
Many clinics and specialists across the DFW area treat injured patients under a letter of protection, and emergency departments cannot turn you away for inability to pay. What matters most is being evaluated and documented early. Say at the consultation that you are uninsured so care can be arranged from the start.
Will hiring a lawyer leave me with less than settling on my own?
On a small property damage claim it might, and an honest firm will say so. Where there are real injuries, liens to negotiate, disputed fault, or an adjuster working from an incomplete file, the comparison that matters is not the gross offer but the net to you after every bill and lien is paid.
How long before I actually receive money?
Longer than anyone wants. A claim generally cannot be valued until treatment is complete or a doctor says you have reached maximum improvement, because until then, nobody knows the full medical picture. Property damage and rental issues usually resolve much faster and are handled separately from the injury claim.
Does it cost anything to just ask whether I have a case?
No. Consultations at Jim Ross Law Group are free, by phone or in person, and you are not obligated to hire anyone afterward. Bring the crash report if you have it, any medical paperwork, your own auto policy declarations page, and anything the insurance company has sent you in writing.
This page is for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different and past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Jim Ross Law Group, P.C., 2201 E Lamar Blvd #110, Arlington, TX 76006.