What Does A Car Crash Attorney Do?

When you sustain injuries in a car crash caused by someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing, your life can turn upside down in a matter of minutes. What had been a normal drive to the office or a quick trip to the grocery store now becomes a completely chaotic series of questions, such as:

• How long will I have to stay in the hospital?
• How am I ever going to pay my medical and other bills?
• Will I be able to go back to work and competently perform my job?
• What do I do for income in the meantime?
• Should I accept the settlement amount offered by the other driver’s insurance company or should I sue the other driver?
• Can anyone help me sort through all these issues?

The answer to this last question is yes. Help is available in the form of an experienced local car crash attorney. The sooner you hire one, the sooner he or she can get to work on your case and relieve you of your financial worries so you can focus on recovering from your injuries to the greatest extent possible. In fact, the choice you make regarding which car crash lawyer will represent you after your accident may well be one of the most important choices you will ever make.

But what exactly does a car crash lawyer do? Let’s take a deep dive into some of the most important ways in which one can help you.

Estimate the Value of Your Injuries

A car crash lawyer handles these types of personal injury claims on a daily basis. They know the laws applicable to your state, the types of injuries associated with car crashes, and the usual amounts insurance companies pay for each type of injury. Consequently, your car crash lawyer can, in all likelihood, give you a ballpark estimate of the amount of damages you can reasonably claim should you decide to sue the other driver.

Conduct a Thorough Accident Investigation

A car crash lawyer has the knowledge, experience and resources to thoroughly investigate your accident. He or she likely will want to visit the accident scene as soon as possible to look for such things as:

• Skid marks and other evidence of speeding or erratic driving
• Nearby traffic signs or signals
• Any road construction signals, signs or barriers
• Any cameras on nearby buildings that might have caught the accident
• Road conditions, including road surface, narrow lanes, inadequate shoulders, and lighting conditions if your accident occurred in the evening, at night, or in the early morning

In addition, your car crash lawyer will undoubtedly do the following as part of his or her investigation:

• Review the accident report filed by whichever law enforcement agency responded to your accident and interview the officer or officers who made it
• Find and interview potential witnesses to the accident
• If necessary, hire an accident reconstruction specialist to more fully determine how the accident occurred

Compile Compelling Medical Records

Needless to say, your medical records are the most important evidence you have regarding the extent of your injuries and how long it will take you to recover to the greatest extent possible. Based on his or her prior experience, your car crash lawyer undoubtedly will know how to organize these records so as to make the most compelling case for the amount of damages you will seek to recover in your lawsuit.

For instance, your doctor’s reports may not adequately explain the seriousness of your injuries, the amount of rehabilitation you likely will require after your hospital discharge, or the extent to which you may be disabled and unable to work. In such situations, your lawyer can work with your doctor to more fully describe the exact nature of your injuries and your short- and long-term prognosis.

Run Interference With the Insurance Company

One of the most distressing aspects of being injured in a car crash is that representatives of the other driver’s insurance company will no doubt quickly call you, perhaps even while you’re still in the hospital. These people are not your friends, however much they may pretend to be. As insurance company employees, their job is to try to talk you into accepting a quick settlement that is invariably far below that which you could probably recover if you sue their policyholder.

Your car crash lawyer likely has plenty of experience dealing and negotiating with insurance companies and knows the tactics they use. He or she can therefore stop them from harassing you with incessant phone calls. In addition, he or she can begin what can become a lengthy negotiation process that usually results in a much larger settlement than the one initially offered.

Considering that nearly 95% of personal injury cases settle out of court, your car crash attorney’s negotiation skills can drastically increase the amount of compensation you ultimately receive.

Determine Fault

Another important service that your car crash lawyer can provide you is determining who was at fault in your accident. This finding determines not only who you should sue, but also the types and amount of damages you can reasonably expect to recover.

Who to Sue

While the other driver likely is the first person to come to mind when deciding who to sue, you may have additional options, such as one or more of the following:

• The owner of the other driver’s vehicle if he or she was driving a rental or someone else actually owned it
• The other driver’s employer if the accident occurred while he or she was driving a company vehicle or even his or her own vehicle while on company business
• The entity or company responsible for keeping the road in safe condition
• The manufacturer or seller of the vehicle

Comparative Negligence

Even if a jury determines that you were partially responsible for your accident, you usually can recover at least partial damages. For example, if your accident occurred in Texas or Utah, both states follow the modified comparative negligence rule.

Under this rule, if the jury decides that your percentage of fault did not exceed 50%, it will reduce the amount of damages it would have awarded you had you been completely blameless by your percentage of fault. Thus, if the jury determines that you were 25% at fault, it will reduce the amount of your overall damages by 25%. On the other hand, if it determines that you were 51% at fault, you recover nothing.

Statute of Limitations

Another very important way in which your car crash lawyer can help you is by making sure that you file your lawsuit within the time prescribed by the laws of your state. Each state has its own statute of limitations that limits the amount of time you have to file a lawsuit after your accident. In Texas, this amount of time is two years. In Utah, it’s four years.

Finding the Right Lawyer

Now that you know how a car crash lawyer can help you after your accident, the question becomes how to find the right lawyer for you. This one is easy. Simply contact Fielding Law. As one of the premier personal injury law firms in Texas and Utah, we have been helping car crash injury victims for decades. To date, we have won over 2,500 personal injury cases and obtained more than $60 for our injured clients. We offer you a free initial consultation and never charge you an attorney’s fee unless and until we get you the compensation you deserve.