After a wreck, most people tell the officer they feel fine. The adrenaline is still pumping, and the worst of the pain has not set in yet.
A few days later you reach for a coffee cup or go to lift your kid, and your shoulder gives out. For a lot of West Texans, that is the first real sign of a torn rotator cuff.
By the time you figure out what is wrong, the other driver’s insurance company is already building its own story. They want to claim your shoulder was worn out and would have torn anyway, and we wrote this page to help you get ahead of that argument before they finish making it.
We are Keith & Lorfing, and we represent working people across Abilene, Lubbock, Midland, and San Angelo. If a crash hurt your shoulder, our Lubbock car accident lawyers and the rest of our West Texas team are ready to help.
The injury that takes a few days to hurt
A torn rotator cuff rarely hurts much at the scene. The ache builds over the next day or two, followed by weakness and stiffness, until one morning you cannot lift your arm to wash your hair.
That slow start is hard on you, and it also hands the insurance company an opening. When there is a long gap between your crash and your first doctor visit, they will argue the wreck had nothing to do with your shoulder.
The best thing you can do is see a doctor while the bruises are still fresh and tell them plainly that a car crash caused this.
One more thing is worth knowing. A torn rotator cuff does not show up on an X-ray, because an X-ray shows bone and this injury is in the soft tendons that hold your shoulder together. You can read a clear explanation in this NIH overview of rotator cuff injuries.
So if you left the ER with nothing but an X-ray and a sling, you are not finished. Ask for an MRI, because that is the scan that proves the tear, shows how large it is, and shows whether the damage runs deeper.
⚠ An MRI taken soon after a crash is hard for an adjuster to wave off. It often makes the difference between a fair settlement and a quick brush-off.
Why no honest lawyer can give you a number on the phone
If a lawyer promises you a dollar figure on the first call, be careful. There is no real way to know what your case is worth before someone reviews your records and the facts of your wreck.
Two torn rotator cuffs can be worth very different amounts, and a few things matter more than the rest. The biggest one is whether you need surgery.
A partial tear that heals with rest and therapy tends to look minor to an insurer, and it pays less because of that. Surgery changes the whole picture, and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons lays out when each path is recommended.
Surgery brings anesthesia, an operating room, a surgeon’s bill, and months of rehab, and those are real costs the insurance company cannot wave away. If your doctor says you need that surgery, having it done and documented before you settle usually works in your favor.
The next thing that matters is what your shoulder does for a living. A torn cuff is an annoyance for someone at a desk, but it can end the career of someone who frames houses, works a rig, or lifts patients.
When you cannot go back to the work that supported your family, that lost income belongs in your claim, and it is often the largest part of it. We have sat with too many oilfield hands and ranchers who were told their bodies were worth nothing more than the medical bills, and that was never true.
A handful of other factors push the value up or down.
your claim
uses to shrink it
What the insurance company is betting on
Every lowball offer is a bet. The adjuster is betting you will take fast money before you understand how bad the injury really is.
A few moves show up in almost every shoulder claim.
- They argue your tear is old and was caused by wear, not by the wreck.
- They drag out approval for your MRI, then blame the gap in your treatment on you.
- They offer a quick check while you are out of work and the bills are piling up.
- They ask for a recorded statement, hoping you describe your pain two different ways.
Texas law gives them one more advantage. You cannot recover anything if a jury decides you were 51% or more at fault under Chapter 33 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, so they will try to put some of the blame on you to bring the value down.
You have a rule on your side too. Under the eggshell plaintiff rule, the driver who hit you takes you as you were, so if the crash turned an old, quiet tear into a serious one, the harm still falls on them.
If an adjuster treats you unfairly, you can also file a complaint with the Texas Department of Insurance. It will not settle your case, but it creates a paper trail and can add pressure.
Once we step in, the recorded-statement calls stop, and the story about your shoulder being “already bad” runs into your before-and-after MRIs. Let us deal with the insurer for you.
What being a West Texas case really means
Out here, the numbers work differently than they do in Dallas or Houston.
Plenty of drivers on our roads carry the smallest policy the state allows, which is $30,000 per person according to the Texas Department of Insurance. A single shoulder surgery can run past that figure before you even add a day of lost wages.
When the at-fault policy runs out, the money often has to come from a place people forget they have, which is their own underinsured motorist coverage. Tracking that down is one of the first things we do.
There is also a quieter problem out here. Adjusters from out of town tend to underestimate West Texas juries and West Texas lawyers, and they assume a small check will make a rural claimant go away.
A local attorney makes a real difference against that. Our car accident lawyers in Lubbock know the courthouses out here and the adjusters who keep lowballing local folks.
An example of how this can play out (a hypothetical, not one of our cases): A Midland delivery driver is rear-ended and tears his cuff. The at-fault driver carries only the $30,000 minimum, but the surgery and time off work are worth far more. Most of his recovery ends up coming from his own UIM policy, money he did not know he had until someone looked.
We are not outsiders here. Russell Lorfing prosecuted federal cases in Lubbock, our roots run from the Panhandle to Big Bend, and the insurance companies in this part of Texas already know who we are.
The deadline you might not see coming
Texas gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit under Section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. If you miss it, the severity of your injury no longer matters, because the court will not hear the case.
That deadline can hurt you in both directions. Settling too quickly leaves money on the table, and waiting too long can cost you the claim altogether.
The nonprofit TexasLawHelp breaks down these civil filing deadlines in plain language if you want to read further.
Timing a case well takes some judgment, and it is one of the first things we sort out with you. The order below keeps a claim on solid ground.
of the crash
week or two
following weeks
sign anything
A few Texas rules quietly shape what you actually keep, and most national websites skip right over them.
Why injured West Texans hire us
We are trial lawyers, and that is not just a line on a website.
A lot of firms steer every case toward settlement because a courtroom makes them nervous. Insurers keep track of which lawyers will fight and which ones will fold, and they set their offers accordingly.
Our team has tried more than 500 cases and brings over 75 years of combined experience, including former state and federal prosecutors. That track record is why our demand letters get taken seriously.
What probably matters most to you is simpler than any of that. A real lawyer answers your calls, you always know where your case stands, and we treat you the way we would want our own family treated.
We handle personal injury cases on a contingency basis, which means you owe us nothing unless we win. Set up a free consultation or call (325) 480-8100.
Your shoulder may never feel quite the same after a crash like this. The people who caused it owe you the truth about your injury and the full value of what you lost, and we will fight for both.
Owe You The Truth
Questions injured Texans ask us about shoulder claims
My shoulder was already bad. Is my claim dead?
No. The eggshell plaintiff rule says the driver who hit you takes you exactly as you were.
If the crash turned an old tear into a real injury, that is on them, not you. Your before-and-after imaging is what proves it.
How long is this going to take?
A straightforward case with clear fault and no surgery can settle in a few months. Once you add surgery, a fault dispute, or significant lost wages, it can take a year or longer.
Faster is not always better. Settling before you know your full prognosis is how people end up shortchanged.
Do I really need surgery before I settle?
Usually, yes. Before surgery, you are negotiating over an estimate.
After surgery, your bills, your recovery, and any lasting limits are real numbers on paper. There are exceptions, and we will tell you honestly if your case is one of them.
I think I was partly at fault. Can I still recover?
Yes, as long as your share of the fault is 50% or less. Your payment is reduced by your percentage.
If a jury finds you 20% at fault on a $200,000 case, you still collect $160,000. At 51% or more, you recover nothing, which is why adjusters work so hard to shift blame onto you.
The other driver barely had insurance. Now what?
A $30,000 minimum policy rarely covers a shoulder surgery. Your own underinsured motorist coverage can step in, and commercial coverage may apply if the other driver was on the job in a work vehicle.
We look for every available source of payment at the start of your case, not the end.
Will I have to go to court?
Probably not, since most of these claims settle. But the offers tend to improve once an insurer believes your lawyer is ready to try the case.
We have tried more than 500 of them, so that is not a bluff.
