We Recovered $80,000 After Filing Suit for a Driver Struck by a U Turning Minivan in Jersey Village

A Designated U Turn Lane Still Requires the Driver to Yield

On a clear Saturday afternoon in 2023, our client turned left from Jones Road onto the westbound US 290 service road, the Northwest Freeway, in Jersey Village. The one way service road has marked lanes and a posted 45 mph limit. A minivan was coming through the designated U turn lane from the eastbound side. The Jersey Village Police Department officer wrote this narrative.

The officer listed “Failed to Yield ROW, Turning Left” as the minivan driver’s contributing factor and “Driver Inattention” as a factor that may have contributed. A U turn lane tells a driver where to turn. The driver still has to yield to anyone already in those lanes, as our failure to yield guide explains. Our client’s injury was coded “C,” possible injury, and the Jersey Village Fire Department checked her at the scene. She was not transported. Photos show dents to her car’s driver side rear door and rear quarter panel, and no airbags deployed. The firm’s left turn crash index shows how common that first factor is. Across the five years 2021 to 2025, officers listed “failed to yield right of way while turning left” in 133,292 of the state’s left turn crashes, 64.5% of them, with driver inattention in 12.5%.

An Older Back and Neck Condition Did Not End Her Claim

Before the crash she had an older back and neck condition. The at fault driver takes an injured person as found, and whatever the crash added on top of that condition is part of what can be recovered, as our pre existing condition guide explains.

That framed her case from the start. We did not ask anyone to call the condition new. The claim was about the difference between how she was before and how she was after, and an insurer can argue that an older condition explains everything. The answer to that argument is the care record.

Six Days Later, Her Symptoms Were Worse and Different

Six days after the crash she saw a pain doctor. Her neck and back pain had worsened, and she now had numbness and tingling down her right arm and leg. An MRI of her neck showed disc protrusions at three levels.

She had chiropractic care and, early in 2024, two cervical epidural steroid injections in her neck. By the spring of 2024 her pain was mild and the numbness down her right arm and hand had cleared. From the first visit through the injections, the record showed what got worse and how it was treated.

How Laura Rivas Handled the Lawsuit From Day One to Settlement

Laura Rivas handled this case from the first letters through the settlement.

Lead attorneyLaura Rivas, Senior Associate Attorney

A Texas lawyer since 2017, Laura has spent nine plus years on the side of people hurt in crashes, after law school at St. Mary’s in San Antonio, where she graduated with honors. Her clients hear from her directly throughout a case, along with her staff. Read Laura’s profile

Day one

The letters went out on her first day as our client. Intake answers calls around the clock, and every client is assigned one case manager who sends an update every 14 days.

The record of what got worse

Her file started with the crash report and photos, then her care records, beginning with the visit six days after the crash. They showed the new numbness and tingling, the MRI findings, the chiropractic care, and the two injections.

Filing suit

We filed a lawsuit, and Laura handled it from there, so the attorney running the case was the one answering for it.

Negotiating in litigation

Filing suit did not end the talks. Laura kept negotiating, and the lawsuit ended in an $80,000 settlement, without a trial.

$80,000 for a Jersey Village U Turn Crash Settled in Litigation, Without a Trial

Attorney fees and case costs were subtracted from the $80,000 before she received her share. Her outcome belongs to her accident and her proof, and it sets no expectation for anyone else’s case.

What This Case Taught Us About U Turns and Older Injuries

• A U turn from a designated lane still has to yield, and the officer wrote that down. A report that lists failure to yield gives the claim its starting point.
• An older condition changes the question from whether she hurt before to what the crash made worse. Care records that begin six days after the crash answer it.
• Filing suit moved the case forward without closing the door on settlement. For anyone hurt in a Houston area crash, our Houston car accident lawyers can review the record the same way.

Attorney Review

Case handled by: Laura Rivas, Senior Associate Attorney

Licensed in Texas since 2017

Reviewed by: Josh Alexander, Founder and Managing Attorney

Published and reviewed on October 15, 2026

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