When an accident victim meets an insurance adjuster without an attorney, the insurance adjuster doesn’t show that person any respect. In addition to that, these adjusters have the full support of their supervisors, and they delay the proceedings as often as they can in order to force you to give up and take a smaller settlement.
You have to file a lawsuit by a particular date, or you could lose your ability to take the at-fault driver to court forever. Insurance adjusters know when these dates are, and they purposely take up as much time as possible so that these important dates can pass. That’s when you lose your ability to file a lawsuit. At the same time, you have medical bills and automobile repair bills to contend with, and you cannot handle all of these things by yourself.
When You Have an Attorney You Can Focus On Treating Your Pain
The one thing that changes the scenario described above is an Atlanta car accident lawyer. Lawyers terrify insurance adjusters, and they stand on the front lines for you to ensure that you are treated fairly. Generally civil procedure allows you a set amount of time to file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver in a car accident, and that time is 2 years.
Attorneys follow the “Tort Claims Act” when a lawsuit is being filed against a government body. This act also gives victims 2 years to file any lawsuits that they need to file with the court, and the time begins the date that the accident occurs. In the event that the plaintiff is a federal agency or the employee of a federal agency, you will not be able to sue these people right away because they have sovereign immunity.
Can I File a Wrongful Death Claim Without Involving Insurance Adjusters?
If there is a wrongful death claim, further exceptions apply. The death may be considered to be a “negligent killing,” so the statute of limitations may be extended. In a car accident example, the victim of a crash is in a coma. While the court case is ongoing, the victim passes away. The case was filed for the victim’s injuries, so it will need to be terminated. Another lawsuit will be initiated with the statute of limitations beginning the day that the victim died.
This situation has been very serious in the past. Some accident victims have been abused by the insurance adjusters for so long that they have died while they were waiting for their cases to come to an end. In other instances, car accident victims have simply given up. They thought that they were going to negotiate with the insurance companies and the insurance adjusters for fair settlements, but their inexperience made this impossible. These people may have even believed that they would get a bigger settlement than a lawyer could get them!
It is not worth it to allow the scenarios cited above to happen to you because you wanted to avoid paying an attorney his or her fee. Studies have been performed on this subject, and they have shown that car accident victims receive larger settlements when they hire an attorney to represent them.
You don’t have to feel ashamed of not being able to handle this problem on your own. Our attorneys trained specifically for these moments, and they have the experience and the knowledge that it takes to negotiate with insurance adjusters. Our job is to make sure that you can return to the life you lived before your accident. As it is now, you are in a highly vulnerable position, but with our attorneys by your side, you will have the upper hand. Contact us today to discuss your case.
You Must Call the Police!
The reasons for contacting the police need to be reiterated here because it is so important. The police will help you document the evidence, but they will also investigate the car accident, and they are highly efficient at protecting evidence. One very helpful thing that they can do is separate the opposing parties. This ensures that the scene remains civil. Having a police report will also help give you a record that you can provide to the insurance adjusters.
The police also protect everyone from experiencing another accident. After a car accident, the injured parties often remain in a daze. This can cause accident victims to walk into oncoming traffic. The drivers may not see these distracted pedestrians and may hit and injure them even further. It may also be dark if one of the vehicles ran into a utility pole. In the event that the power lines have come down, this adds even more danger to the scene. Sometimes, the car crash occurs on a blind corner, and this can cause additional vehicles to get caught up in the accident. The police can lessen all of these dangers if you call them right after the accident occurs.
When the police arrive, they will secure the area around the damaged vehicles so that oncoming traffic will not run into them. They are also trained in administering first aid. To ensure that the accident scene is as safe and secure as it can be, the police are needed.
Go to the Emergency Room
You must not neglect to go to the hospital in an ambulance. Sometimes, people do not believe that they are badly hurt, and they opt to go to the hospital in a friend’s vehicle. Even worse, some will refuse to go to the hospital the day of the crash. When they finally do visit a doctor, several days have passed, and the insurance adjuster can deny that the accident is the cause of the victim’s injuries. Most importantly, if you go to the hospital right away, you will receive immediate medical attention for any injuries that you have.
When you arrive at the emergency room, this is the second place where evidence will be gathered. Once a physician begins to work on your case, an official record of your accident has begun. The doctor writes down your diagnosis, and at the end of the visit, he or she will write down your prognosis. The details written in this report will demonstrate to the court the causes of your injuries.
Even if you weren’t badly hurt, you still need to have a physical examination. The adrenaline rush and feelings of fear that accompany car accidents can prevent you from feeling any pain. In addition to that, a brain injury or a spinal cord injury can also keep you from feeling pain, so it is imperative that you go to the emergency room the day or night of the accident. If you wait, you may become paralyzed.
It doesn’t matter if the accident didn’t appear to be very serious. You must get in the ambulance, and visit the emergency room.
While you are at the scene of the accident, the best time to begin collecting evidence is right after it occurs if you are in the right condition to do so.
We Can Help You Find A Car Accident Attorney