Car Accidents Overview - Attorneys and Law

Car Accidents Overview - Attorneys and Law

Source : http://attorneypages.com

Almost everyone will be involved in a car accident at some point in their lives. While hopefully your auto accident won’t cause serious car accident injuries, car accidents can have potentially serious and even fatal consequences. An auto accident can also give rise to liability – you may be able to sue the driver who caused the accident. As such, it is useful to learn more about motor vehicle accidents, vehicle accident lawsuits and how an accident attorney can help.

How Common Are Car Accidents?
The statistics governing car accidents are somewhat alarming:

•     More than 6 million motor vehicle accidents occur in the U.S. every year.
•     Car accidents kill one person every 12 minutes, and injure someone every 14 seconds in the U.S. – many of these cases give rise to car accident claims either for wrongful death or car accident injuries
•     Motor vehicle accidents kill over 40,000 people every year in U.S., and they are the primary cause of death for people from ages 2 to 34
•     About 2,000 children die as a result of car accidents every year, and over 250,000 are injured in accidents

Types of Car Accident Injuries
There are many different causes for car accidents, each of which are likely to lead to a variety of injuries. Some of the most common car accidents that occur include:

•     Rear Impact: If you hit someone from behind, or are hit from behind, you have been involved in a rear impact accident. Most often this occurs because someone has failed to brake in time, resulting in either a tap or a more significant rear impact accident. Nearly 30 percent of all car accidents in the U.S. are rear-impact collisions. When a rear impact collision occurs, the driver in the back is usually responsible because laws mandate that you drive a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you.
•     Side Impact: If you are hit in the side of your vehicle, you have experienced a side impact crash. Side impact accidents can happen when you “T-bone” another vehicle, meaning the front of your vehicle crashes into the side of another. You can also sideswipe another car by bumping into its side while changing lanes. Nearly 29 percent of all U.S. accidents are side-impact collisions. Proving fault often becomes an issue here- it can be hard to know which driver was in the wrong. A good car accident lawyer can help you collect photographic evidence of the scene or will hire an expert in accident reconstruction to act as your witness and to help you prove the fault of the other party.
•     Head-on Collision: If you hit another car front first, or if you hit a non-moving object with the front of your car, you have been involved in a head-on collision. Head-on collisions happen often when a driver falls asleep and slips into oncoming traffic. Other ways head-on collisions occur are where the driver is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, gets onto a freeway or a one-way street in the wrong direction, or loses control of their vehicle and skids into an oncoming lane. These accidents account for 2 percent of all U.S. collisions. The driver who was going the wrong way or who was drunk or asleep is generally at fault.
•     Rollover: If your car flips over in any way, or lands on its side, you have been involved in a rollover. Taller vehicles, like SUV’s and trucks, are more likely to experience rollovers than smaller cars. Nearly 2 percent of all accidents in the U.S. are rollovers. In some rollover accidents, you may be able to hold the manufacturer of the car responsible for a poor design or defects.
•     Runoff: These accidents usually involve only one car running off the road. This can happen when a driver is not paying attention, or swerves to avoid another vehicle or animal in the road. Runoffs account for 16 percent of all U.S. accidents. If you run off the road, you usually have no one to blame but yourself – unless another vehicle illegally got in your way or there was a problem with the road itself.

How an Auto Accident Attorney Can Help
No matter what the specific cause of your car accident injuries, a car accident attorney can help you prove fault and collect the damages you deserve.

Attorneys can be particularly helpful when injuries like whiplash or injuries involving hospitalization are involved. Car insurance companies will try to pay as little as possible, and an attorney can help you gather evidence and protect your rights by dealing directly with your insurer or by helping you to file a car accident lawsuit.

Auto Accident Insurance Claim

Anatomy of an Auto Accident Insurance Claim

Source : http://accident-law.freeadvice.com

Auto Accident Settlement  How Much Is Your Auto Accident Case Worth?
Can I Sue for Accident?  Do you have a case?
Injury Claims  Free Online Injury Claim Evaluation Nationwide.

An auto accident insurance claim always begins with an accident. If you are involved in a car accident, there are some very important things you should do at the accident site to the extent you can. At the first opportunity, you should report the accident with your insurance carrier and begin the process of filing a claim. After you have submitted your claim, a claims adjuster (someone who works for the insurance company and deals exclusively with claims) will either call, write or email you regarding your claim. He or she will then look at your policy to determine the types of coverage you have, deductibles, and any coverage limits that may affect your claim.

If your claim is simple (i.e., fault is not at issue, the damage was minimal, and little or no medical treatment was necessary), the adjuster may have you get an estimate for repairs and then send you a check. You will have to fill out some paperwork, but you may not have to meet with the adjuster in person. If your claim is more complicated (for example, liability is unclear, you do not have enough coverage in your policy, or you do not agree with your adjuster’s settlement offer), then the negotiation process will take longer.

Investigating Your Automobile Accident Claim
In relatively complicated injury accident claims, adjusters typically must do some investigation in order to adequately assess the insurance company’s liability. The adjuster will comb through your policy and possibly contact witnesses to the accident, the other party to the accident, look at the police report if there is one, take photographs of the damages and scene of the accident and generally investigate your medical expenses by sending out requests to your medical providers for information regarding your treatment. If you are seeking to have medical bills covered, the adjuster will send you a medical authorization form for the release of your medical records.

The Settlement Offer
Once the adjuster has investigated your claim and looked at your policy, he or she will typically send you a settlement offer.

The settlement offer will tell you what the insurance company is willing to pay on your claim. It could be all, it could be part, it could be none. This opening offer is typically on the low side. After all, the adjuster’s job is to save his or her employer money.

But the adjuster also wants to close a case and thus is typically allowed a settlement range that offers room for negotiation.

See When the Adjuster’s Settlement Offer is Too Low.

The Demand Letter
If you are confident about how much you think your claim is worth, you can preempt the adjuster’s settlement offer with your own settlement proposal (demand letter). Your demand letter would outline fault (if an issue), damages and ask for a certain amount to settle your claim.

Should you make a demand first, or wait for the offer? See Making a Demand or Waiting for a Car Insurance Offer and

Settling Your Car Insurance Claim: How to Write a Demand Letter.

Negotiating with the Claims Adjuster
If you’ve already received an opening offer from the adjuster, keep in mind that opening offers for settlement are almost always on the low side. Whether or not you think the offer is reasonable, read When the Adjuster’s Settlement Offer is Too

Low for more information on how to evaluate that opening offer. Then, unless you’re willing to go with that opening offer (knowing that it’s too low) without an argument, you will ultimately need to negotiate with the adjuster for a higher settlement.
See Negotiating Your Car Insurance Settlement.

If Your Auto Accident Claim is Denied
If your claim is denied in whole or in part, there could be many legitimate and reasonable reasons. Most have to do with limits in your coverage. You can check the denial letter against your policy to see if the denial seems legitimate or not. If you still think your claim was unfairly denied, read 

When Your Car Insurance Claim is Denied for more on what you can do next. But whatever you decide to do, don’t wait too long to do it. If you sit on your claim for too long, you may lose the right to sue in court to get your recovery. Each state has a statute of limitations (a time limit for filing a lawsuit in court). In most states, the statute of limitations for personal injury claims is 2 or 3 years, but could be shorter or longer. An attorney will be able to advise you.

Construction Accidents Lawyer

Source : http://www.oc-personalinjurylawyer.com

Orange County Personal Injury Attorney
Falling beams, collapsing scaffolding, welding accidents and a myriad of other dangerous scenarios make a construction site an incredibly dangerous place.  As you go about your job, you are depending on your co-workers to act responsibly and ensure that all areas of the site are as safe as possible, and that they conduct their tasks properly.  Regrettably, accidents often happen due to someone failing to properly prep their work area, or because someone was conducting their task in an improper manner.

When this occurs, people get hurt.  If you have been injured in a construction accident, contact an Orange County personal injury lawyer in order to discuss the circumstances of your case and learn about how to proceed with legal action.  We are committed to helping those who have suffered physical injuries due to another person's negligence and will fight day and night to secure the financial compensation you deserve.  With over 25 years combined experience, we have helped hundreds of people injured in construction accidents obtain justice for the pain they've suffered.

Personal Injury Lawyer in Orange County
When you're hurt on the job, not only do you have to pay your immediate medical bills, you also have to cover the ongoing pain medications plus physical therapy sessions and future medical procedures your injuries may require.  There is also the  issue of the wages you lose due to not being able to work while you recover from your wounds.

If you have been injured in a construction accident, it's crucial that you retain legal counsel as soon as possible.   

 

The legal procedures relating to those hurt on the job can be extraordinarily long and complex, and attempting to navigate the process on your own leaves you vulnerable to making critical mistakes that can end up preventing you from receiving the compensation you're entitled to.