FAQ

Statistics have shown that car accidents are up since ridesharing companies were introduced to Georgia roads. Besides the additional cars on the road, the entire way that the rideshare system operates adds to the danger for other drivers and rideshare passengers.

First, Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare drivers will ride around on local roads between rides in high-congestion areas while they wait for ride requests. This is a process known as “deadheading.” They will tie up traffic while they drift around on the roads. Then, they will speed up and make sudden turns when they receive a ride request.

Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare drivers are all about the app. Drivers have their eyes on this app at all times, at the expense of their attention paid to traffic. If they do not see a ride request when it comes up, they will miss the chance to get a paying fare. This encourages distracted driving. Even if their device is mounted in the car, focusing on the app will keep the driver from watching where they are going, especially when they are responding to a ride request.

Drivers may even be speaking to a customer when they are on the way, trying to coordinate the pickup, resulting in distracted driving. Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare drivers are always on the hunt for the best-paying fare possible when they should focus on the road and safety.

The fleet of Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare drivers often consists of people who have little to no training, having passed a brief course and undergone a driving record check. This does not mean that they will be a safe driver. This is especially true when the driver is going to places where they are unfamiliar, guided only by their mobile device at which they are constantly looking. In addition, many of them drive late at night after they finish their primary job, looking to make extra money. This means that many Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare drivers can be tired and drowsy, making them dangerous drivers.

No matter how much Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare companies talks about their safety and their vetting, the fact is that people can practically come off the street to be a driver. They may drive as they are able, which means that they are inexperienced. A fleet of amateur drivers transporting passengers when they need money is not exactly the recipe for a safe operation.

Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare companies do everything they can to make sure that it cannot be touched when its drivers cause injuries. Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare companies are very legally crafty in ensuring that their drivers are not full employees. Instead, Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare companies classify them as independent contractors. This is a common theme of the gig economy. It means that the drivers are not really employees of Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare.

Instead, they are ordinary people who just happen to use their car to make some extra money (or earn a living) using Uber’s, Lyft’s, and/or other rideshares apps. For their part (providing the app), Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare claims a percent cut plus other fees. Even though Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare brokers the ride and receive payment for it, the company cannot face vicarious liability in a lawsuit.

Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare do this for many reasons. They boost their bottom line because they do not provide their drivers with benefits, and they are exempt from some labor laws. They are also almost untouchable in lawsuits. This does not mean that injured passengers and drivers have zero legal recourse, but it does mean that they do not have the deep pockets of the ridesharing company to go after in a lawsuit.

You can't easily get at Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare companies in a lawsuit. There is the possibility of a negligent hiring lawsuit against the company. Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare companies claim to do background and driving record checks before they allow drivers out on the road using their apps. If the driver had a poor driving record, and Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare companies allowed them to offer rides anyway, then Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare companies may be responsible.

This seems very unfair, especially based on the fact that Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare companies rake in billions of dollars of revenue each year from its app. There are some possible efforts to change this in the future, preventing Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare companies from classifying their drivers as independent contractors. For now, that is the reality, and accident victims can only proceed against the insurance policy unless some very extreme circumstances apply (i.e., sexual assaults).

You have limitations on what you can do at the scene of the accident, especially when you suffered injuries. At the very minimum, you should get the driver’s name and the details of your ride. Then, you should make sure to report the accident to Uber or report the accident to Lyft.

If you have even a remote suspicion that you may have suffered some injury from the accident, you should get medical help. The doctor can give you a full evaluation and diagnose any possible injuries that you have suffered. This actually serves two purposes. The first is that it can be the first step towards getting the medical help that you need to recover from the accident. The second is that it will document your injuries when you make the insurance claim. One of the requirements of the personal injury compensation process is that you suffered an injury.

Then, you should contact an experienced Atlanta Uber accident attorney. You will be dealing with an insurance company to file a claim, and they have their own interests at heart and not yours. You will need an attorney to fight for you to get the most possible compensation for your Uber accident injuries. Your lawyer will help guide you through the legal process and will work to put you in the best position to receive the most compensation. Without an attorney, you will be vulnerable to the games that insurance companies play that almost always result in less compensation than you deserve or even none at all.

Finally, the focus should also be on what you should not do after an Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare accident. You should be very careful about talking to anyone about your accident. Do not post about it on social media, and be very suspicious if you receive a call from someone you do not know. Even a loose statement to the insurance company can later go against you to cut the amount of compensation that you may receive. It is always better to say less and let your lawyer do the talking for you.

Rideshare accident claims can be complicated. There are different coverage rules for regular car accidents. Beyond that, Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare accidents can have many different coverage levels. You may not even know which insurance you need to file a claim against. If this sounds convoluted, this is exactly the way that Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare companies want it. Even though it is not their money on the line directly, the more their insurance company pays out, the higher their rates.

The thing that Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare accidents have in common with other automobile accidents is the fact that an insurance company is involved. Their tactics are the same, no matter the type of accident. They are all designed to save themselves money. They want to avoid paying claims entirely when they can and reduce the amount that they need to pay if they do accept the claim.

This can result in a variety of different tricks that they use, all of them aimed at reducing what you may receive. On your own, you may be vulnerable to this. A lawyer can protect you by handling the communication with the insurance company.

In the end, the amount of compensation that you may receive will be the product of a negotiation with the insurance company. The average person does not have the tools to handle this negotiation on their own. First, they do not know how much their claim is worth, so they are at a disadvantage to the insurance company that does. Second, they may not even know that they can reject a settlement offer that does not pay them what they legally deserve.

An Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare accident attorney has experience in dealing with rideshare insurance companies. They know the special considerations that these accidents involve and how to work within this unique system. Most of all, they know how to say no and put pressure on the insurance company when they are dragging their feet on paying you what you deserve.

The Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare driver may not automatically be the one to blame for the accident that injured you. Uber accident cases may first look at the driver as the cause of the injury, but there can be other responsible parties.

For example, if you suffered injuries as a passenger in a rideshare car, the Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare driver may not be responsible for the accident. The other driver may have done something wrong that caused the crash. Your attorney will investigate the accident to determine the appropriate party from which to seek compensation.

Like every other personal injury case, an Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare accident claim will involve negligence on someone’s part. You are trying to prove that a driver acted unreasonably under the circumstances. Whichever driver did something wrong is the one who will need to pay for your injuries.

If you sustained injuries as a driver in an accident with an Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare vehicle, you can determine responsibility in the same way. The Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare driver is not automatically at fault. Like any car accident, you will need to prove that the Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare driver was negligent.

Here are some negligent things that the driver can do:

• Causing an accident because they are drowsy while driving late at night
• Hitting another car because they were looking at the app instead of the road
• Sideswiping a vehicle as they pull over to pick up a passenger
• Speeding to get in the vicinity of a pickup more quickly

These require proof of what happened, for which an attorney can help you gather evidence. The cause of the accident is not always apparent at the time of the crash, and you may need to establish what happened. The driver may not admit to what they did, and they can be telling a different story because they do not want to be liable. Your attorney will need to demonstrate that your side of the story is the correct one.

If another driver was at fault and they do not have enough insurance to cover your damages, you can file a claim against Uber’s, Lyft’s, and/or other rideshares policies. They have underinsured motorist coverage, so you do not end up paying the price when another driver has a minimal amount of insurance coverage.

Yes. Uber’s insurance coverage rules are complicated. Nonetheless, you can still file a claim against Uber’s insurance policy so long as the driver was in the car with the app engaged. This is what causes Uber’s policy to kick in and cover accidents. The level of coverage is less than if the driver either had a passenger in the car or had accepted a ride request and was on the way to pick up the passenger. Regardless, you can still file a claim. If the driver was negligent, they can be personally responsible for your damages, or you can file an underinsured motorist claim with your own insurance.

You can still receive compensation if the Uber, Lyft, and/or other rideshare driver was in the car but the app was not on or engaged. Then, you will file a claim against the driver’s personal auto insurance policy. In any event, you need a lawyer to help untangle this complicated web and go to bat for you when you are dealing with insurance companies that are trying to save some money at the expense of your legal rights.

Bicycle accidents can lead to very debilitating injuries. This is especially true if the force of the impact causes the bicycle accident victim to fall to the ground or strike another vehicle.

Victims of bicycle accidents could suffer any of the following serious injuries:

• Bone fractures
• Internal injuries (including internal organ damage)
• Soft tissue injuries (including muscular sprains, strains, and contusions)
• Traumatic head and brain injuries (including a concussion or coma)

The first thing that you should do after a bicycle accident is get the treatment you need for your injuries. You should seek follow-up care at a local hospital or emergency room and, if necessary, follow up with a primary care doctor or specialist. You may also need to undergo a procedure—such as a surgical procedure to fix a broken bone—or attend physical therapy sessions.

While you are receiving treatment for your injuries following a bicycle accident, you should have an experienced Atlanta bicycle accident attorney on board in your case. The knowledgeable legal team at Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer can investigate the circumstances of your accident and work to get you the compensation that you deserve for your injuries.

In many instances, bicycle accidents occur because of negligence on the part of another driver. When motor vehicle operators fail to pay attention to the road and violate traffic laws, they increase the chances that they will collide with a bicyclist.

Some of the most common causes of bicycle accidents that occur in and around Atlanta include:

• Distracted Driving - When motor vehicle drivers are texting or making calls on cell phones and other electronic devices, they cannot give proper care and attention to the road. Distracted driving can take on other forms, such as listening to loud music and roughhousing with others in the car. When a driver is not paying attention, he or she might not even see a cyclist—or may not be able to stop in time to avoid colliding with a cyclist.
• Negligent Motor Vehicle Operation - Negligent motor vehicle operation often involves violating traffic laws and other rules of the road, such as speeding, tailgating, and weaving in and out of traffic. All of these activities can cause a car or truck to collide with a bicycle and cause the cyclist to suffer serious injuries.
• Intoxicated Driving - Drivers who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol while they are behind the wheel often suffer from impaired vision. They might also have delayed reaction time, preventing the driver from stopping in time to avoid colliding with a cyclist while on the road.

Motor vehicle drivers whose negligence results in a bicycle accident can cause victims to suffer serious injuries. If you have suffered serious or permanent injuries in an Atlanta bicycle accident, you might file a claim against the at-fault driver’s motor vehicle insurance company. The knowledgeable legal team at Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer can assist you throughout every aspect of your claim and can help you pursue the monetary compensation and damages that you need for your bicycle accident injuries.

If you suffered serious injuries in a bicycle accident, you could file a claim with the at-fault person’s insurance company. At some point in time after the accident, the at-fault driver’s insurance company might ask you to give a recorded statement. You should never agree to give a recorded statement to the insurance company without having an attorney present with you. This is because the insurance company will do everything possible to find a way to deny your claim—or at least avoid paying you its full value. In short, the at-fault party’s insurance company is never on your side.

When your attorney submits a claim on your behalf, he or she typically does so by submitting a settlement demand package. The demand package will include a demand letter that makes a monetary demand for settlement. In cases where a bicycle accident victim suffered serious and permanent injuries, the initial demand may be for the full limits of the available insurance coverage.

The demand package will also include any police reports that officers prepared following your bicycle accident, along with all of your related medical records and bills. If you lost wages because of injuries you suffered in your bicycle accident, your attorney can include any lost wage documentation submitted by your employer. Finally, your attorney can include a victim impact statement that describes what the accident has done to your life and overall well-being.

Upon receipt of the settlement demand package, the insurance company adjuster assigned to oversee the case will decide whether or not to accept fault (or liability) for the accident. In some bicycle accident cases, the fault is clear-cut, and a driver clearly caused the accident. However, at other times, it can be difficult to determine exactly who or what caused the accident. In Georgia, victims of bicycle accidents can recover monetary compensation for the at-fault person’s percentage of fault in causing the accident.

If the adjuster accepts full or partial liability for the accident, he or she will likely make an introductory offer to settle the case. You should know that initial settlement offers by insurance company adjusters are routinely low and are unlikely to fully compensate a bicycle accident victim for the injuries he or she suffered.

In fact, in many personal injury cases—including those that involve bicycle accidents—it will take several rounds of negotiations between the insurance company adjuster and the accident victim’s lawyer to reach a favorable settlement offer. In some instances, the personal injury attorney may even need to file a lawsuit to light a fire under the insurance company’s feet and get them to take the case seriously.

The knowledgeable legal team at Huggins Accident Injury, Lawyer, can assist you with negotiating a favorable settlement offer in your bicycle accident case. If the insurance company refuses to offer you fair and full monetary compensation for your injuries, our legal team could file a lawsuit and litigate the case on your behalf to try to recover what you deserve.

Whenever any type of auto accident occurs, your first priority should be the health and safety of everyone on the scene. Call 911 right away. Be sure that anyone who needs medical attention gets it as soon as possible. If it is safe to move, get out of the way of oncoming traffic.

Many traffic accidents and injuries result in secondary collisions from drivers who are “rubbernecking” to see the accident scene or who simply aren’t paying attention to the obstructions in the roadway. This is why it is important to pull your vehicle over to the side of the road. If your vehicle is not driveable, you should get out and find a safe place to wait on the side of the road, well out of the way of traffic.

Help others get out of the way as well. If you are not sure whether you can safely move someone, ask the 911 operator. They will give you advice on how best to keep everyone safe.

Once any immediate medical needs are taken care of, the officers who respond to the scene will begin collecting evidence. They will ask each involved driver (or motorcycle rider, bicyclist, or pedestrian) to tell them what happened leading up to the accident. These statements will help the officer prepare an official report of the accident. This is important because the police report is usually a critical piece of evidence that the insurance companies rely on to make decisions about who was at fault for causing the accident.

The police will also facilitate the exchange of insurance information. This, too, is important because the other driver’s insurance policy is usually the primary source of compensation for accident victims. You should also get information about the driver’s employer.

It is important to know what to do after an accident, but it is equally important to know what not to do. You should not discuss what happened with other drivers or parties who were involved in the accident. Ask if anyone needs medical care, and coordinate the exchange of insurance information (if the officers have not already done this), but do not talk about what happened. You must also be very careful not to admit fault. Even simple statements like “I didn’t see you!” can be used against you later. Be very careful about what you say on the scene of a car accident.

You should also not worry about gathering evidence if it is not safe to do so. If your medical condition allows, and you will not be in the path of traffic, feel free to get photos or video footage of the accident scene. Pictures of the damage to the vehicles can be helpful, as can a video of the entire accident scene. But your health and safety is the priority. So, if you need to go to the hospital or if the vehicles are in the way of traffic, do not worry about gathering this type of evidence.

The person who is “at fault” (liable) for causing a truck accident also has a legal obligation to compensate you for your injuries and losses. This is why it is important to determine who was at fault. It is also important to find all potential defendants since, in many cases, liability is split between more than one driver or assigned partly to pedestrians or bicyclists.

A company might also be liable for truck accident injuries, even if they were nowhere near the scene of the accident.

Common examples include:

• The transportation company that owns or operates the truck
• The company that employs the negligent truck driver
• A truck manufacturer that sold a defective vehicle

Liability can quickly become a complicated legal issue. If there are multiple liable parties, their insurance companies will often try to blame the others to get out of paying. The negligent trucker’s insurance company might even try to put the blame on you and claim that you caused your own injuries. That's why you need to work with our experienced truck accident attorneys. Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer has handled many complicated issues of liability. We know how to identify all potential defendants and prove their liability to ensure that you have access to the compensation you deserve.

A negligent driver who is at fault for an accident must compensate for all your losses—including property damage. Once the insurance company accepts liability, they will arrange for repairs to your vehicle. You can also seek compensation for a rental car or the loss of use of your vehicle if you choose not to rent a vehicle.

While this process goes smoothly in many cases, it is not always easy to get the insurance company to accept liability and pay for your damages. This is where an attorney can help you.

If the insurance company is taking too long to accept liability, your attorney can help prove that their client was at fault for the accident. (This must happen to process your Atlanta truck accident claim, as well.) If the insurance company has accepted liability but is not getting back to you about scheduling repairs or getting you a rental car, your attorney can work to avoid further delays.

Insurance companies have a legal obligation to process claims in a timely and reasonable manner. When they know that you have a lawyer who is holding them accountable for following these rules, they are more likely to get things done.

The short answer is as little as possible! Any information you give the insurance company could work against you later. If you say something as simple as “I’m feeling fine,” the insurance company might dispute your medical bills. If you say, “I could see the truck speeding toward me,” the insurance company might try to claim that you were at fault for failing to get out of the way to prevent the accident.

Do not allow them to turn your own words against you. Once the insurance company learns that you have a lawyer, they are no longer allowed to contact you about the accident. All communication must go through your attorney’s office. This protects you from saying anything that could hurt your claim.

Your attorney can open the claim for you. But if you choose to open the claim yourself, be alert that many insurance companies will ask to take a recorded statement about how the accident happened. You do not have to do this. In fact, you should decline to do this and tell the insurance company that you want to speak with your attorney first.

Insurance companies often use these recorded statements to attack liability, your injuries, your property damage, or even your credibility as a witness. Insurers use these statements to help their own cause—not to help you get the compensation you deserve under the law.

You should follow all recommendations from your medical providers. If you do not, the insurance company could claim that you made your own injuries worse by ending your treatment too early. Of course, the insurance company may also try to claim that you spent too long getting treatment—especially if you are receiving physical therapy, chiropractic services, or other treatment that relies on subjective indicators of pain and discomfort.

Your injury lawyer will handle the insurance company. Your job is to work with your providers to get the treatment you need. Work together to create a discharge plan. Once your providers sign off on the end of treatment, you will have documentation that you followed their instructions. This is also important for your health—if you end treatment against medical advice, you could make your own injuries worse and endure unnecessary pain and suffering.

Several broad categories of compensation are available to truck accident injury victims.

Truck accident claims usually include compensation for:

• Property damage (including damage to your vehicle and any personal items)
• Medical bills (including future medical treatment you will require due to the accident)
• Lost wages (including any future lost wages due to your injuries)
• Pain and suffering

Your attorney and legal team will work to get documentation of the time you missed from work and the cost of your medical bills. In many cases, this happens before your attorney negotiates a settlement of your claim, so you know the exact value of these tangible losses. But long-term injuries can result in future losses.

If, for example, you have permanent disabilities, you might only return to part-time work. The defendant is responsible for compensating you for the difference in your full-time wages before the accident and your part-time wages after the accident. You are also entitled to compensation for the projected future medical expenses you will incur throughout your life as a result of these permanent injuries. Your attorney will hire expert witnesses to project and prove the exact value of these future financial losses.

Pain and suffering are often a major component of an Atlanta truck accident award. This means the insurance companies are likely to attack it and try to pay you as little as possible. Unfortunately, pain and suffering is a subjective experience that is very different for every accident victim.

Your medical records will prove how you were physically affected by the accident. It can be far more difficult to prove how you were emotionally affected by a truck accident. Luckily, our Atlanta truck accident lawyers are skilled in doing just that. The experienced truck accident attorneys at Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer know how to prove your subjective pain and suffering to a claims adjuster or jury.

This compensation covers intangible losses such as:

• The physical pain of your injuries
• Missing out on major life events (like a graduation or wedding ceremony)
• The loss of pride in a job you can no longer perform
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Impaired relationships with your family members due to your injuries

There are many, many intangible losses that you could suffer due to a truck driver’s negligence. Our skilled injury lawyers know how to prove these losses in a way that resonates with a jury. For example, you might demonstrate the physical pain of your injuries with evidence that you can’t sleep, play sports, or go to work because you are in too much pain.

Jurors understand the importance of life events like birthdays, graduations, weddings, and other family gatherings. If you testify that you couldn’t attend—especially with images of the event you missed—jurors will understand just how painful these intangible losses have been for you. Our lawyers work hard to prove all your losses and give you the best possible access to compensation for losses to which the law entitles you.

Many accidents can lead to serious brain injuries.

Some cases our lawyers commonly see involve:

• Auto Accidents
• Construction Accidents
• Medical Malpractice
• Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
• Sports Injuries
• Workplace Accidents

These are not, of course, the only ways that a brain injury can occur. Ask a qualified injury lawyer about your particular case to determine who is legally responsible for causing your injury.

The person or company who is legally responsible for causing your injury (“liable”) also has a legal obligation to compensate you for all losses you suffer due to that injury. You need an experienced brain injury lawyer who can find all potential defendants and prove their liability in court if necessary.

The person who is liable for your injury will depend on the facts of the accident. For example, an auto accident often happens due to a negligent driver. In this case, that negligent driver would have to compensate you for your brain injury.

But a car crash could also happen due to defective brakes or other malfunctions. In this case, the company that manufactured the defective vehicle could also be liable for brain injuries suffered in the auto accident.

In other cases, a brain injury can occur at a medical institution that you expect to protect the patient from injury. This could constitute malpractice if the doctor failed to properly diagnose a blood clot that eventually went to the brain and caused a stroke. In such a case, both the negligent doctor and the hospital that hired him might be held liable for the patient’s injuries.

A brain injury could also occur in transport if the orderlies do not use proper techniques to move the patient or allow a patient to move without assistance when needed. Here, too, the hospital that hires these workers might be liable for their negligence in completing their work.

There are many, many potential defendants in a brain injury case. If you do not have legal advice from an experienced injury lawyer, you could miss out on the compensation you need and deserve. You could also end up filing a claim against the wrong defendant or even missing the statute of limitations against the proper defendant. This is why it is important to have an experienced lawyer handling your case from the start.

To prove a brain injury claim, you and your attorney must establish that:

• The breach caused your injuries and
• The defendant breached that duty of care (i.e., was negligent);
• The defendant owed you a duty of care;
• The value of your tangible and intangible losses (your “damages”).

There are different methods of proving each element. Different cases will also require different strategies to prove all the elements of a claim.

For example, the defendant’s insurance company might accept liability and admit that they should pay for your injuries. But they are likely to dispute the value of your injuries and offer you less than is fair in your particular case. An attorney approaches this type of case very differently from one in which the defense denies liability altogether. A good brain injury lawyer knows how to prove all of the required elements in any accident case.

According to the CDC, symptoms of TBIs generally fall into one of four categories:

• Emotional and moods (irritability, sadness, anxiety)
• Physical (headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, changes in vision, balance problems)
• Sleep (sleeping more or less than usual, difficulty falling asleep)
• Thinking and remembering (difficulty concentrating or remembering new information, feeling slowed down)

Of course, some of these symptoms can indicate a more serious brain injury and should receive treatment right away. The CDC recommends that you see a doctor right away if you experience a headache that gets worse and does not go away, decreased coordination, continued nausea or vomiting, slurred speech, drowsiness, difficulty waking up, mismatched pupil sizes, convulsions, seizures, or any other unusual behavior. Losing consciousness is also a sign that the victim needs immediate medical attention.

It is wise to seek medical treatment after any head trauma.

Children can also experience serious brain injuries. You must monitor children even more carefully after an accident because children might not understand and describe their symptoms the way adults do.

In addition to the symptoms listed above, parents and caregivers should monitor children for changes in behavior. Infants who will not stop crying and are inconsolable might be suffering from a brain injury. Changes in eating patterns, such as refusing to nurse or eat, can also be danger signs.

It is always best to err on the side of caution when evaluating a child with a potential brain injury. Only a qualified medical professional can determine the extent of your child’s injuries after an accident.

If your brain injuries are permanent, you will endure financial and physical losses for the rest of your life. You might never return to work. You will have ongoing medical bills from your primary care doctor, medical specialists, and ongoing rehabilitation treatments (such as speech therapy or occupational therapy). You will also endure pain and suffering for the rest of your life.

But you cannot wait to file a claim until you have actually incurred all of these losses. The statute of limitations on most injury claims is two years in Georgia, and you have to file your claim in court by this time or lose your right to sue forever. Some circumstances can shorten this deadline.

So, how will your injury lawyer ensure that you receive compensation for these future losses? Brain injury lawyers work with expert witnesses to make accurate estimates of the future costs and losses associated with your injuries. An economist can take the wages you earned before the accident to calculate the wages you would have earned after the accident. They can adjust these numbers for inflation to get the total value of the wages you would have earned between the time of the accident and your expected retirement.

The economist will also calculate the value of employment benefits, such as an employer’s contributions to your health insurance premiums or retirement accounts. All of these figures allow the economist to make an educated projection about the value of your future lost wages.

Similarly, a life care planner or medical expert can testify about the projected cost of the medical care you will require for the rest of your life. The defense can counter these estimates with their own experts, but these professionals have experience making defensible estimates that you can prove in court.

Every injury case is different. Some cases are simple and flow smoothly, such as when the defendant’s insurance company accepts liability, the victim finishes medical treatment quickly, and the parties can negotiate the value of the claim with little resistance on either side. These claims can wrap up within a couple of short weeks of finishing your medical treatment.

Unfortunately, not all cases are quite this easy. In some cases, the defendant’s insurance company denies liability altogether. After all, if their client wasn’t at fault for the accident, they have no obligation to pay anyone for their injuries. In this case, your injury lawyer might have to present expert witnesses (such as an accident reconstructionist) to testify about how exactly the accident occurred.

The lawyer might need to present complex legal arguments about what the defendant’s duty of care was—and how he or she violated it. Simply establishing liability can be challenging legal work.

Even if the issue of liability is resolved, the defendant and their insurer will almost always dispute the value of your claim. Some losses are easy to document, such as medical bills, for example, which you can show on detailed and itemized statements. But even this clear evidence can be a target for attacks by the defense. They might say that you got too much treatment or that your providers charged more than is reasonable for the care they rendered.

The defense might even say that you made your own injuries worse by failing to see a doctor right away or by failing to follow through on your provider’s recommended treatment. An experienced injury lawyer will know how to rebut these arguments with evidence from your own doctors.

Lost wages are another financial loss with clear documentation but areas for attack. Your employer can easily provide a statement that shows how many hours you missed from work and what your hourly rate is. (If you receive a salary, they can prorate your salary based on a forty-hour workweek.)

But the defense is likely to claim that you missed more work than was necessary. They might dispute your overtime, bonuses, or commissions. These can be compensable, but they are difficult to prove with certainty because these added wages are discretionary. This means the defense likes to attack these losses.

Pain and suffering are often the largest part of compensation in a Port Richey brain injury settlement or jury award. It is also the most subjective. It covers intangible losses, such as the physical pain of your injuries and your emotional suffering, that are difficult to prove with a dollar value. Because of this, it is one of the most popular areas for a defense attorney or claims adjuster to attack.

When a claimant does not have their own attorney, the claims adjuster will often try to tell them that their claim isn’t worth very much. This is legal advice. Never take legal advice from someone who is actively working for the other side. Only your own lawyer can give you a fair assessment of what your claim is worth by comparing it to similar cases in your area involving similar accidents and injuries.

Unfortunately, all of these areas of dispute mean that some claims take a long time to settle. Your lawyer might have to file a lawsuit to show the insurance company that you are serious about getting fair compensation for your case. Sometimes, this is enough to get a fair settlement offer, and your case can be resolved quickly. Other times, the case must work through the litigation process.

Your attorney will have to exchange evidence with the other attorney in a process called discovery. The lawyers might have to work with a mediator or arbitrator to try to resolve the case. Your claim can be settled at any point in this process. If, however, your case must go to trial, it can take time to get a trial date, present your case, and get a jury’s verdict.

The good news is that the vast majority of Atlanta brain injury cases settle outside of court. The bad news is that some brain injury cases involve very complicated medical issues that result in significant amounts of damage. These factors can make your case more likely to go to trial.

The term “spinal cord injury” (SCI) refers to damage to the spinal cord as a result of trauma, such as a car accident, disease, or degeneration. In most cases, an SCI results in temporary or permanent and complete or incomplete loss of function, sensation, and movement.

The more severe the spinal cord injury, the more significant the loss of function. Typically, a person diagnosed with tetraplegia or quadriplegia will suffer from a greater loss of function or mobility.

Generally, spinal cord injuries come in two types: complete and incomplete. The difference between these two types of SCIs is whether the spinal cord is partially or completely damaged.

• In an incomplete SCI, some—but not all—nerve signals can still communicate along the spinal cord to the brain.
• In a complete SCI, the brain no longer receives nerve signals from the rest of the body, resulting in paralysis below the point of injury.

Whether or not you can fully recover after a spinal cord injury depends on the severity of the injury and your recovery progress in the months following the traumatic event.

As a rule of thumb, if a patient is seeing improvement in the weeks and months after a spinal cord injury, they have a higher chance to fully recover.

In most cases, whether or not you can fully recover from your spinal cord injury depends on the effectiveness of your medical treatment, physical therapy, and rehabilitation, all of which cost quite a lot.

For this reason, it is imperative to obtain compensation for all your medical expenses and losses to be able to afford effective treatment and improve your chances for improvement.

Most spinal cord injuries happen due to a traumatic blow to the spine. There is a wide range of situations in which this type of damage may occur. Statistics show that the most common causes of SCIs in the United States are:

• Motor vehicle accidents, including car accidents—39.3 percent
• Falls—31.8 percent
• Violence—13.5 percent
• Sports—8 percent
• Medical-related—4.3 percent
• Other—3.1 percent

Regardless of what caused your spinal cord injury, you should consult with a skilled attorney to discuss how you can seek compensation for the expenses and damages in your specific case.

Yes, a spinal cord injury may affect other body parts and body functions. An SCI may lead to:

• Anxiety
• Bone loss
• Cardiovascular problems
• Depression
• High blood pressure
• Muscle atrophy
• Obesity
• Physical pain
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Pressure sores
• Problems with bladder and bowel movement

An Atlanta spinal cord injury can take a toll on your life, which is why you should sue the person or entity whose negligence, intentional conduct, or other types of wrongdoing caused your injury to hold them liable for the resulting damages and losses.

Because a spinal cord injury is a life-threatening injury, you need to seek medical attention as soon as possible if you suspect that you suffered an SCI.

If a doctor confirms your spinal cord injury diagnosis, you will stay in the hospital for weeks or even months. Medical professionals will monitor your condition and administer the necessary diagnostic tests to identify the most effective type of treatment to help you recover faster.

According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC), the average length of stay in the hospital with an SCI is 11 days.

The cost of treatment depends on the severity of your spinal cord injury. The more severe the injury, the costlier the treatment.

According to the NSCISC, the average yearly expenses in the first year of treatment range from over $550,000 for paraplegia to more than $1.1 million for high tetraplegia. These expenses include living expenses and medical bills.

Estimated lifetime costs for a 25-year-old diagnosed with high tetraplegia exceed $5 million. For people living with paraplegia, estimated lifetime costs reach nearly $2.5 million.

In addition to these costs associated with the treatment of a spinal cord injury, the injured victim may experience:

• Emotional distress
• Diminished earning capacity
• Loss of income
• And many other consequential damages and losses

Because of the tremendous expenses associated with spinal cord injuries, it is critical to be represented by an experienced attorney to help you pursue compensation for all your expenses, loss, and damages.

Yes, spinal cord injuries can be permanent, but not all of them are. Depending on the severity of the injury, you may experience temporary or permanent paralysis and loss of function, movement, and sensation.

However, with proper and timely treatment, therapy, and rehabilitation, you may be able to regain partial or complete control over the affected areas within months of treatment.

If a spinal cord injury goes untreated, it could result in permanent damage.

As mentioned earlier, a spinal cord injury can be life-altering. An SCI could take a toll on all aspects of your life if you suffer partial or complete paralysis. For this reason, you need to take all necessary steps to improve your chances for improvement.

In most cases, a patient will need access to extensive and costly medical treatment, rehabilitation, and therapy to regain their mobility, sensation, and function to be able to return to work and enjoy their life to the fullest.

It is critical to seek compensation from the negligent party to ensure that you have sufficient funds to pay for your ongoing treatment.

Under Georgia personal injury law, you are entitled to compensation for your damages and losses if your injury is the result of someone else’s negligence.

A defendant is negligent when clear and convincing evidence shows that the defendant failed to exercise reasonable care and their negligent conduct caused the plaintiff’s injury and damages.

A common example of negligence is when a driver fails to follow traffic rules, which results in a car accident and the other driver’s spinal cord injury.

If your spinal cord injury was the result of another person or entity’s negligence, you would need to establish the following four elements to sue the negligent party for your losses and damages:

• The defendant owed you a duty of care;
• There was a breach of the duty of care due to a negligent act or omission;
• The defendant’s breach was the primary cause of your spinal cord injury; and
• Your injury caused damages (e.g., medical expenses, lost wages, and others).

Your attorney will conduct a comprehensive investigation to help you prove the cause of action for negligence in your case.

Proving the nature and extent of your spinal cord injury, as well as its impact on your life, is no easy task. For this reason, it is advisable to gather all available evidence to be able to prove your case.

Evidence that may be available to prove your SCI includes:

• Copies of the police and accident reports, if available
• Medical records documenting your spinal cord injury diagnosis and treatment
• Photos from the accident scene
• Security surveillance footage
• Witness statements

Keep track of any evidence that may be relevant to your spinal cord injury case. Your lawyer can help you gather all available evidence to build a strong case and fight for the compensation to which you are entitled.

Because there are many different causes of spinal cord injuries, liability depends on the specific circumstance surrounding the accident that resulted in an SCI. Let’s review two common scenarios:

In motor vehicle accidents, you can hold the other driver responsible for your injury if that driver is at fault for causing the crash.

If you sustain a spinal cord injury in a slip and fall accident, you could sue the owner of the property where the accident occurred if the owner was negligent.

It is vital to discuss your particular situation with a skilled attorney to identify liable parties and hold them responsible for your damages and losses.

If you suffered a spinal cord injury in the course and scope of your employment, you might be able to obtain compensation through your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance. However, workers’ compensation does not cover all of your losses and damages if you suffered injuries at work.

Workers’ compensation provides coverage for medical expenses Under O.C.G.A. Title 34, Ch. 9.

If you receive workers’ compensation benefits, you cannot sue your employer to recover additional damages. However, you may still be able to file a personal injury claim against a third party if that third party contributed to or caused your spinal cord injury at work.

The vast majority of personal injury cases are settled pre-trial. However, some cases do go to court. Whether or not your case will go to court depends on the insurer’s willingness to pay you what you deserve and the skills and experience of your lawyer.

Sometimes, it may be necessary to file a lawsuit to obtain full and fair compensation for your losses. You should consult with a knowledgeable lawyer to determine if you need to take your spinal cord injury case to court in your particular situation.

You can benefit from hiring a knowledgeable lawyer if you have suffered a spinal cord injury because of another person’s negligence. An attorney will help you negotiate a fair and full settlement on your behalf while you focus on your treatment for higher chances of improvement.

If you do not have a lawyer on your side to handle the legal aspects of your claim, your hope of obtaining maximum compensation quickly decreases significantly.

When dealing with an insurance company, the insurer may delay the claims process, argue that you were partially at fault for your injury, or outright deny your claim. Your lawyer will protect your best interests and rights by handling all communications with the insurance company.

Even if you do not think that you need a spinal cord injury, you can take advantage of a free, no-obligation consultation with our attorneys at Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer to discuss your case.

Our reputable and experienced are ready to vigorously advocate for your rights if you sustained a spinal cord injury due to someone else’s negligent act or omission.

Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer have the resources and expertise you need to protect your best interests throughout the claims process. Our goal is to obtain maximum compensation on behalf of our clients.

In Atlanta, pedestrian accidents are likely to occur when lots of people try to cross the road among traffic. Be especially careful in shopping centers - especially around busy seasons. There will be lots of cars and pedestrians trying to navigate their way in the same area, and confusion and frustration can often cause collisions.

Lenox Square, Ponce City Market, Atlantic Station, Edgewood Retail District, Phipps Plaza, Cumberland Mall, Southlake Mall, and Greenbriar Mall can congest with heavy traffic and pedestrians. In these busy areas, make sure to use extra caution when walking.

Pedestrians should also take care of parking lots. Drivers are trying to back up and watch traffic in several different directions. This can make it difficult to see pedestrians in the area. Never assume a driver can see you. Always wait to make eye contact with the driver, and give cars plenty of space while they are in reverse.

Your immediate priority after any traffic accident should be the health and safety of everyone on the scene. Call for an ambulance if anyone suffers injuries. Even if you don't know whether anyone will need to go to the hospital, get medical professionals on the scene to evaluate your injuries. Emergency medical technicians know how to move patients safely without exacerbating their injuries. This is a critical step in ensuring that you have the best possible chance of making the best possible recovery.

You should also move out of the path of oncoming traffic. Find a safe place on the side of the road, away from traffic, where you can wait for the police to arrive. If you don't know whether your injuries will allow you to move safely, ask the 911 dispatcher whether you should wait for the ambulance to arrive.

Once you address your immediate medical needs, the law enforcement officers who respond to the scene will ask for your statement about how the accident occurred. Feel free to share all the information you have with the police, but never apologize or accept liability. Never discuss the accident with the other driver. The police will help facilitate the exchange of insurance information as well.

If you do not leave the accident scene in an ambulance, you should still see a doctor as soon as possible. Find an emergency department or urgent care facility in your local area. You might get an appointment with your primary care provider but do not wait for an appointment.

You could have injuries that you do not know about. Internal bleeding, concussions, and other injuries may not show up right away, but they can quickly create a life-threatening situation if you do not receive timely treatment. Only a qualified medical professional can determine whether you suffered injuries in the accident and what type of medical treatment you need.

There are many types of injuries a person can sustain in a pedestrian accident. Pedestrians do not have seat belts, airbags, or even a helmet to protect them in a collision. Their injuries are often far more serious than those of drivers or passengers—who have protections like the metal frame of the vehicle. Almost any area of the body can sustain serious injuries when a car hits a pedestrian.

Some of the most serious injuries involve the head and brain. Your brain has protection from both the skull and a bath of cerebrospinal fluid, but these protections are often not enough to prevent brain injuries when a car hits you (or causes you to hit the road, trees, or other nearby objects). Serious brain injuries can lead to speech impediments, cognitive defects, and behavioral changes. Even seemingly minor concussions can have serious and lasting effects. Permanent brain injuries can leave a victim unable to walk or speak, and the most serious brain injuries can be fatal.

Other less severe injuries are common in pedestrian accidents. Broken bones and orthopedic injuries can occur due to trauma to your bones in a crash. Soft tissue injuries involving the muscles, tendons, and ligaments can hurt incredibly. Insurance companies like to downplay the value of these injuries because there is no dramatic bleeding or other outward signs of injuries, but injury victims should not accept a lowball settlement offer. Some of these injuries will result in a lifetime of pain and discomfort.

The type of medical treatment you need will depend on the injuries you suffered. Some injuries, like concussions and whiplash, might need diagnostic testing and monitoring. Other injuries require expensive surgeries and lengthy hospital stays. Follow your doctor’s advice and get all the medical treatment that they recommend. Injuries that do not receive proper treatment tend to become worse.

More importantly, the driver’s insurance company can say that you made your own injuries worse by not following your doctor’s recommendations and refuse to compensate you for this added pain and suffering. Following your doctor’s recommendations will give you the best possible chance of recovery and protect your legal rights. If you do not have medical insurance or have concerns about the cost of your medical bills, talk with your injury lawyer about your situation. There are many financial options to get the treatment you need.

There are many ways, large and small, that a pedestrian accident injury can affect your life. Many victims suffer from pain for the rest of their lives. Even if this pain is only minor or intermittent, you still have the legal right to receive compensation for it.

Some people can’t participate in hobbies, such as sports, that are a big part of their lives. This is a significant decrease in the enjoyment of your life. This, too, is a compensable loss.

Further, imagine if you can’t return to work for an extended time. Not only are you missing out on wages and employment benefits, but you are also missing the sense of pride and accomplishment that comes with a job well done. If you are out of work for a long time, you will likely worry about your family’s future.

All of these losses are very real - even if they might be difficult to value. Injury victims often deserve a pain and suffering award that fairly compensates them for all of these intangible losses. In many cases, pain and suffering is the largest component of an Atlanta pedestrian accident award. This is only one reason why you need to work with an experienced injury lawyer who knows how to prove the value of intangible losses.

Sadly, not all pedestrians make a full recovery from their injuries. Some accidents can leave a victim with injuries that will last a lifetime. If you suffer permanent injuries, you will have permanent losses. Your medical bills and lost wages can accrue for the rest of your life. You will likely endure physical pain and emotional suffering for the rest of your life, as well, and these are also losses that are compensable in an Atlanta pedestrian accident lawsuit. But how can you prove the value of your losses that have not yet accrued?

Our Atlanta pedestrian accident lawyers can work with expert witnesses to project the future costs of your injuries. A life care planner can testify about the estimated cost of the medical treatment you will need for the rest of your life. An economic expert can make calculations to project the value of your lost wages and employment benefits and adjust these figures for inflation.

Claims adjusters and juries use these estimates to project the future value of your claim. Juries can also determine awards for your future pain and suffering. Your exact costs may turn out a little differently than the projections, but these experts have experience in making estimates that are as accurate as possible.

Serious injuries can sometimes prevent a victim from going back to work for an extended time. Some victims return to work, but only for limited hours or with restricted work duties due to their physical limitations. In the most serious cases, an injury victim might never return to any gainful employment.

In all of these cases, the victim loses wages as a result of their injuries. Negligent defendants must compensate injury victims for the difference in their income before and after the accident. This includes bonuses, overtime, commissions, and other forms of employee compensation. It also includes the value of any lost employment benefits (such as health insurance sponsored by your employer or retirement contributions from your employer).

Defense lawyers will often challenge the value of lost wages - especially if the victim’s doctors say that he or she never returns to work again. In these cases, it is common for the defense to hire a vocational expert to assess the victim’s ability to perform some type of work. The defense might also ask for an Independent Medical Examination (IME) and/or a Compulsory Medical Examination (CME) by their own doctor. The IME and/or CME is a second medical opinion about the victim’s injuries.

Though it can feel inconvenient and invasive to undergo an assessment by defense experts, they do have a right to have their experts assess your injuries and losses. You want to make sure your own attorney is ready to stand up for the damages you deserve.

The person who is legally at fault (liable) for causing an accident also has a legal obligation to compensate victims of that accident for the injuries and losses they suffer. In a pedestrian accident, this is often the driver who struck you.

But there are many other potential defendants. If, for example, the driver’s brakes failed, you might have a product liability claim against the auto manufacturer. If a construction truck driven by a negligent employee strikes you, the construction company can also cause your injuries.

There are many potential defendants in a pedestrian accident case, and you need a lawyer who can find all of them so that you do not miss out on any of the compensation you deserve. Only an experienced pedestrian accident lawyer can fully assess who was at fault and whether any other individuals or companies might also bear liability.

Following an injury, never wait to have an experienced attorney at Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer evaluate your rights and possible liability for your pedestrian accident.

Every driver on the roads has a legal obligation to operate their vehicle with due care. Drivers who fail to do so are negligent and have a legal obligation to compensate injury victims for all the losses that are caused by this negligence.

So what care is due? Drivers must abide by the standard of the “reasonably prudent driver.” If a driver fails to yield, speeds or is not watching for motorcycles on the roadway, this can constitute negligence. Motorcycles are often more difficult to see on the road because they are smaller than passenger vehicles. Because of this, drivers have a duty to watch more carefully for motorcycles in the roadway. A driver who fails to yield to a motorcycle or simply isn’t paying enough attention can be found at fault (“liable”) for causing a motorcycle accident.

A negligent driver is liable for both your personal injuries and your property damage. You should receive compensation for any losses due to negligence and not just for physical injuries. The insurance company must make a timely decision about liability to prevent unnecessary delays in handling your claim. You should rent a vehicle for as long as it takes to repair your motorcycle.

If the cost of repairs exceeds the value of your motorcycle, the insurance company might declare your bike a total loss. In this case, you should receive coverage for a rental vehicle (or compensation for the loss of use of your vehicle) from the time of the accident until you receive the full value of your motorcycle.

Get medical treatment as soon as possible after an accident. Early intervention gives you the best possible chance of making the best possible recovery. It also prevents the insurance company from claiming that you made your own injuries worse by delaying treatment.

But of course, there is the very real concern of figuring out how to pay for these medical bills. If you have health insurance, your carrier is responsible for paying for medical bills as they accrue. If you eventually get an Atlanta motorcycle accident settlement that also provides compensation for these bills, your health insurance provider might seek reimbursement for any bills they paid related to the accident, but your injury lawyer will sort this out.

If you do not have health insurance, you can still get emergency treatment at county facilities and clinics. If you need ongoing pain management or chiropractic services, your injury lawyer can help you find providers who will work on a lien. This means that the medical provider takes no upfront payment and, instead, files a lien against your settlement, which ensures that they receive payment for their services before you get your settlement proceeds. Your accident lawyer will help you handle liens, as well.

In either event, it is important not to delay or forego medical treatment, even if you do not have insurance. An experienced motorcycle accident lawyer can help you figure out a way to get the medical treatment you need.

If you miss any time from work due to the accident, you have the right to compensation for the wages you lost. This is another loss that directly stems from the actions of the negligent driver. In simple cases, you can provide documentation from your employer that simply states the number of hours of work that you missed and your hourly rate. Multiplying these numbers produces the total amount of your lost wages.

But many cases are more complicated than this. If you lost out on any overtime, bonuses, or commissions, these, too, are part of your lost wages. It can be difficult to prove that you definitely would have received these types of compensation for the accident. Your motorcycle injury lawyer will know how best to establish these losses. If you have more serious injuries that will permanently affect your ability to make a living, then you deserve compensation for the decrease in your future earning potential.

If you do have permanent injuries, you will suffer financial losses long after your case settles. So, how do you get compensation for your future losses? Your attorney will work with expert witnesses to project the value of these future losses.

If, for example, you never return to work, your attorney will work with an economist to project the wages you should expect to earn between the time of the accident and the time of your expected retirement. This will also include inflation adjustments and employment benefits (such as health insurance and retirement contributions). If you are limited to part-time work, the economist will calculate the difference in wages you earned before the accident and after the accident. The negligent driver is responsible for compensating you for this difference.

Permanent injuries can also result in lifelong medical expenses. Your attorney can prove these costs by hiring an expert witness (such as a life care planner) to project these costs over your lifetime. These, too, should be adjusted for inflation.

Pain and suffering is a major loss for many motorcycle accident victims. However, unlike medical bills and lost income, pain and suffering are intangible losses, which makes it more complicated to calculate and prove. Your lawyer will consider many different issues when deciding how much you should demand pain and suffering, such as:

• Did you experience sleep disturbances and other issues due to the severity of your pain?
• Did you have to miss important events?
• Did you have to refrain from participating in activities you enjoy?
• Did you have to rely on heavy painkillers to function?
• Did you need assistance with basic care and daily tasks?
• Did you need treatment for depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to your injuries?

Your lawyer might request that you keep a pain journal that details the seriousness of your pain each day. You can also present statements from your spouse or others close to you regarding your pain levels and struggles. Medical professionals can testify to the amount of pain that might come with your specific types of injuries.

While pain and suffering might be more complex to prove than economic losses, it is often a significant portion of recovery after severe motorcycle accidents and injuries. You want a lawyer who will not discount or overlook your pain and suffering.

A settlement offer should be fair for your particular case. This depends on your injuries, your pain and suffering, how the accident occurred, where the accident occurred, and how egregious the driver’s conduct was. All of these factors affect the amount of compensation that a jury would be likely to award you at trial. This, in turn, determines what a fair settlement offer is because the insurance company’s incentive to settle your case is to avoid a lawsuit.

If the settlement offer is close to what a jury might award you at trial, then it is likely a fair offer. But if the settlement offer is significantly lower than what you could expect to receive at trial, then it is likely worth the time, expense, and risk of taking your case to a jury. You should never take advice from the insurance company about whether to accept a settlement offer. Only an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer who is on your side can give you a fair estimate of what your case is actually worth—and whether you should accept a settlement offer or take your case to trial.

Each motorcycle accident is unique, and so are the claims that arise from accidents. The more complicated your case might be, the longer you might have to wait for your payment. It is worth it to wait it out and ensure that you receive a full settlement instead of rushing to get the case finished and receiving inadequate financial recovery.

Insurance companies know that injured accident victims are eager to receive payment, so they will often offer a low settlement right out of the gate. They are hoping that you accept a lowball offer to have a check in your hands faster. However, rushing through your claim can leave a significant amount of losses uncovered.

Your lawyer should review any settlement offers, and if they are insufficient, negotiate for a higher amount. This might involve providing additional evidence to support your claim. Negotiations can go back and forth until the insurer makes a fair offer.

Some insurance companies might not admit liability or make a reasonable offer. This can lead your attorney to file a lawsuit in civil court for your personal injuries. This can extend the legal process but can give you another chance to receive a full financial recovery.

Tragically, not all motorcycle accident victims survive their injuries. The Georgia Wrongful Death Act allows surviving members to sue a negligent driver for causing fatal motorcycle accident injuries. These claims seek compensation for tangible losses, such as the lost wages the victim would have earned between the time of the accident and the estimated time of his or her retirement.

Surviving spouses can also claim damages for “loss of consortium.” This is compensation for the loss of the victim’s company, aid, affection, and sexual relations. This is a very subjective standard, but it is also very powerful. Jurors understand that losing a spouse is a horrific experience that can be invaluable.

You might want to file wrongful death lawsuits against negligent drivers if you lose a close family member in a crash. If you don't hold negligent drivers accountable for their dangerous driving, these hazards are likely to continue and injure other innocent road users. When negligence is serious enough to cause a victim’s death, it is more important than ever to hold the driver accountable.

Whether you believe you have an Atlanta motorcycle accident claim for your injuries or a wrongful death claim for the loss of a loved one, you should seek the right legal representation from an Atlanta motorcycle accident attorney.

Drunk driving accidents are likely to occur around drinking establishments. Be careful when driving in the vicinity of bars and restaurants in the Atlanta area, especially along the popular shopping destinations in Atlantic Station and Buckhead Village District. Drunk drivers are also likely to be found on the most used thoroughfares of a town.

In Atlanta, this means drivers should use caution when driving along Peachtree Street. It would be best if you also were careful along the major surface streets that serve Atlanta. Auburn Avenue, Piedmont Avenue, Euclid Avenue, Krog Street, Decatur Street, and Baker Street all provide access to different parts of town and thus get heavy traffic. Use extra caution when driving along these routes.

Alcohol is not, of course, the only substance that can impair a driver. Street drugs have long been a problem in the United States. In recent years, the opioid epidemic has shed light on the problem of prescription drug abuse. Some people even get high with substances found around the house, such as by snorting bath salts or huffing paint fumes. The law allows charges against a driver for driving while impaired by any of these individual substances or a combination of them.

Even if the driver receives no criminal charge, you can still prove that they were negligent in a civil lawsuit. We all must hold impaired drivers accountable for the losses they cause. This accountability is the only way to reduce the number of impaired drivers on the road and discourage other drivers from engaging in this destructive behavior.

After an accident, call 911 right away, especially following an accident involving drunk driving. You will need evidence of impairment, and a sworn law enforcement officer is legally authorized to get this evidence. They might perform field sobriety tests or ask the suspected drunk driver to take a Breathalyzer.

If the driver refuses, the officer can get a warrant to obtain a sample of the driver’s blood, breath, or urine to test it for the presence of alcohol. All of this evidence will be critical to proving that the driver was impaired (and therefore negligent).

Once you have addressed your immediate medical needs and recovered from the shock of the accident, hire your own injury lawyer as soon as possible. Your legal rights are placed in jeopardy as soon as an accident occurs. Anything you say on the scene (even something as simple as “I didn’t see you!”) can be used against you by a drunk driver’s insurance company.

When you hire a lawyer, all communications must go through your attorney’s office, protecting you from accidentally saying something that could hurt your case. Your lawyer will also advise you on other important steps to take to protect your legal rights.

There are important reasons to hire a lawyer. The first is to protect you from saying or doing anything that could hurt your claim. This preventative protection includes posting on social media platforms, which insurance companies are known to stalk through their investigators.

The second reason is that you may not know what your claim is really worth. Comparable claims in your local area determine the fair value of a claim. Examining the settlement values or jury awards in these cases helps your lawyer determine what the fair value of your claim really is. Injury lawyers handle many of these cases, so they are familiar with comparable cases and what factors could affect the outcome of your case if it were to go to trial.

For these reasons, studies have consistently found that injury victims who hire a lawyer receive higher settlements than those who choose to settle their claims on their own.

The vast majority of Atlanta drunk driving accident claims are settled outside of court. In these cases, no one files a lawsuit, and the victim never has to go to court. Even if your attorney has to file a lawsuit on your behalf, this does not mean that you must go to court. In many cases, the mere act of filing a lawsuit is enough to elicit a fair settlement offer from the insurance company.

Even if your attorney has to proceed through the discovery and disclosure process, you still might not have to go to court. A case can be settled at any point during the litigation process. On the unlikely chance that your case proceeds all the way to trial, your injury lawyer will prepare you for what to expect before you must appear in court. You won’t be alone in the process.

A criminal case against a drunk driver is separate from a civil case for personal injuries. In a criminal case, a prosecutor files a case against the drunk driver on behalf of the state for committing a crime. In your civil case, you are filing a case against the drunk driver for causing your financial losses, meaning that your Atlanta drunk driving accident case can proceed regardless of what happens in the criminal case.

A court may not convict the driver at trial. They could settle the criminal charges through a plea agreement. The prosecutor might decline to file charges at all due to evidentiary issues. If, for example, the officers failed to get a warrant before obtaining blood, this evidence would not be admissible and potentially leave the prosecutor with a weak and unwinnable case. None of these actions impairs your ability to win your civil case.

Your attorney does not have to meet the high criminal standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Instead, they need only prove that it is more likely than not that the driver was negligent. Your attorney does not even need proof of impairment, only evidence of dangerous driving behaviors. So, do not worry about the driver’s criminal conviction. Regardless of what happens in the criminal court, your injury lawyer can prove your case separately in the civil court.

The nature and severity of your injuries determine the fair value of your Atlanta drunk driving accident claim. It is a combination of compensation for your tangible losses and your intangible losses.

Here are some examples of the tangible losses that Atlanta drunk driving accident victims may suffer:

• Future medical costs
• Lost deposits (for example, if you can’t make a previously planned flight due to your injuries)
• Lost wages
• Medical bills
• Property damage
• Rehabilitative services (physical therapy, chiropractic care, etc.)

The law refers to your intangible losses as “pain and suffering.” These cover such losses as:

• Loss of enjoyment of life (for example, if you can no longer participate in a hobby)
• Missing out on important events (graduations, weddings, holiday gatherings)
• The emotional suffering associated with the stress of being in an accident
• The physical pain of your injuries

If you have permanent injuries that prevent you from returning to work at all, you could also have additional losses, such as:

• An accessible vehicle
• Any modifications that are necessary to your home (such as a wheelchair ramp)
• Loss of future earning potential (the wages you would have earned between the time of the accident and your expected retirement)
• Ongoing rehabilitation (including speech therapy, occupational therapy, etc.)
• Projected medical expenses for the rest of your life

The specific facts of your unique circumstances determine the fair value of your case, making it very important to consult with an Atlanta drunk driving accident lawyer about the fair value of your specific case.

Unfortunately, not all accident victims survive their injuries. Thousands of Americans die every year at the hands of drunk drivers. When this happens, surviving family members have the right to file a wrongful death claim against the drunk driver. Georgia’s Wrongful Death Act is part of Section 51-4-1 through 51-4-6 of the Georgia Statutes. These statutes set forth who may sue, what losses are recoverable, and other requirements of wrongful death claims filed in the state courts of Georgia.

So, what losses are recoverable? Some of these are tangible and easy to calculate. For example, the funeral, burial, or medical expenses paid on behalf of the victim are recoverable from the defendant. The estate can also claim lost wages from the time of death to the time of the victim’s expected retirement. This damage usually requires expert testimony from an economist who can calculate (and adjust for inflation) the victims’ expected wages and lost employment benefits (such as employers’ contributions to health insurance premiums and retirement accounts).

Georgia law also allows surviving spouses, parents, and children to sue for mental pain and suffering, including such intangible losses as a parent’s guidance or a spouse’s lost companionship. Not all states allow surviving family members to recover these damages. Many states restrict this to only surviving spouses, so surviving children and parents in Georgia should be sure to consult with a Georgia wrongful death lawyer about their legal rights to compensation.

Georgia law requires Drivers to carry bodily injury of at least $25,000.00 per person and $50,000.00 per accident on their auto insurance policy; State law requires this minimum amount of coverage to be purchased by all vehicle owners. It is a crime to drive without proof of financial responsibility on the public roads of Georgia.

Of course, drunk drivers can also make the bad choice of driving without insurance coverage. When this happens, there are different options an injury victim can pursue. They can see if any other potential defendants (such as the manufacturer of a defective vehicle) are also legally responsible for causing their injuries. They can also seek restitution through the criminal courts via the Victims Compensation Program.

You might also have uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy. A lawyer can help you pursue many options to get compensation for injuries caused by a drunk driver.

There are many different ways that legal and medical professionals define a “catastrophic injury.” Often, these injuries result in one of the following conditions:

• A permanent and severe functional disability
• A short period of suffering followed by death or a terminal condition
• An incapacitation
• An injury that has a serious impact on at least one of the body’s major systems
• Damage to the head, neck, or spinal cord that is not accompanied by permanent disability
• The inability to perform any gainful work
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Of course, there are many different ways to define an injury that is catastrophic to you. Regardless of the severity of injuries, victims have the right to compensation when they suffer harm in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence. This is why it is so important to consult with an injury lawyer after any type of accident - regardless of the severity of your injuries.

There are many ways that a person could suffer a catastrophic injury. Here are some of the most common cases our injury lawyers come across in our practice:

• Auto accidents
• Workplace accidents
• Construction accidents
• Medical malpractice
• Nursing home abuse and neglect
• Product liability (for example, a truck with defective brakes)

Many accidents can leave a victim with catastrophic injuries. The key is whether your injuries happened due to negligence. If an individual or company negligently caused the accident that injured you, you are entitled to compensation for your injuries and losses, regardless of the type of accident that occurred.

After an accident, make your immediate priority the safety of everyone on the scene. Call 911 right away to get medical help for anyone who needs it. If you sustained injuries in an auto accident, get out of the way of traffic so you are not struck again by oncoming traffic. (Many auto accidents cause secondary crashes by drivers who are not paying attention.) If your vehicle is not driveable, leave it and find a place on the side of the road to wait safely away from the path of oncoming traffic.

Once you have dealt with law enforcement, emergency medical technicians, and other first responders on the scene, you should consider your immediate medical needs. Catastrophic injuries usually result from a dramatic accident scene in which the victim has no choice but to be transported in an ambulance.

But even if this is not the case, it is important to see a doctor as soon as possible. Look for an emergency department or urgent care center in your area. It is not always possible to tell how serious your injuries are right after an accident occurs. Some injuries - like internal bleeding - become worse over time, and you might not notice the symptoms until it is too late.

By seeing a doctor right away, you are ensuring that you get all the immediate medical treatment you need and do not have any further serious injuries. You are also protecting your legal right to compensation. In some cases, an insurance company can claim that you made your own injuries worse by failing to seek medical attention right away. Do not allow the insurance company to deny any part of your claim for medical expenses. Protect both your health and your legal rights by getting medical attention right away.

Catastrophic injuries lead to a lifetime of medical and care expenses - not to mention significant pain and suffering. You are entitled to compensation for all of these losses. But the statute of limitations on most injury cases is two years, which means you will continue accruing these losses long after your case is resolved. So, how do catastrophic injury victims get compensated for a lifetime of medical bills and emotional suffering?

Injury lawyers work with expert witnesses to protect the value of your losses over a lifetime. A life care planner, for example, is an expert who has certification in the area of projecting medical costs. This person can prepare a written report of the expected costs of all the medical care you will require due to your injury and adjust these values for inflation.

The report can also include other expenses such as in-home care workers, modifications to your home to accommodate your disability, and other costs that are related to your injury. You can submit the written report to the defendant’s insurance company to support your claim for future medical expenses. The insurance company can either accept these costs or hire their own life care planner to contest the report.

If the parties can’t agree on the value of your future medical expenses, the case may have to go to trial, where the jury will hear evidence from both experts and decide who is more credible. These cases are known as a “battle of the experts.” Other witnesses, such as an economist who projects the value of your future lost wages, can also be challenged in this manner.

Medical and care expenses are not the only areas of compensation in an Atlanta catastrophic injury claim. Victims who suffer catastrophic injuries and suffer permanent disabilities are also entitled to compensation for their intangible losses. These include the physical pain of the injuries, the loss of enjoyment of life from activities the victim can no longer participate in; the impact injuries have on family relationships, and the lost sense of pride that comes with gainful employment.

These intangible losses fall under the category of “pain and suffering.” They are very real losses, but they are difficult to value with an exact dollar amount. This is why insurance companies fight so hard to reduce the value of pain and suffering awards. Pain and suffering are often the largest areas of compensation in an Atlanta catastrophic injury award. This is why it is so important to work with an experienced injury lawyer who knows how to make a compelling case for the value of your pain and suffering to the insurance company or jury. In catastrophic injury cases, pain and suffering are often substantial.

Most injury lawyers do not require their clients to pay a fee upfront. Instead, they work on a contingency basis. This means that the client agrees to pay them an agreed percentage of whatever the lawyer can recover in a settlement or litigation. If the attorney must file a lawsuit on your behalf, the amount of work your attorney must do on your case increases dramatically. This is why most Atlanta catastrophic injury lawyers require a higher percentage if they end up filing a lawsuit in your case.

It is also important to understand how court costs will get paid (such as filing fees and expert witness fees). A written fee agreement should clearly set out all of these details. If you have any questions about the fee arrangements, be sure to ask your lawyer before signing any type of representation agreement.

Some injury victims have concerns about the cost of hiring an attorney. The fact is that injury victims who have the right legal representation consistently get larger settlements than those who do not. Even more concerning is that you could accidentally say or do something to hurt your own case if you speak directly to the insurance company instead of making them go through your lawyer’s office.

In a catastrophic injury case, your damages are significant, and the stakes are high. You do not want to miss out on the compensation that you deserve because you didn’t have a lawyer. If nothing else, meet with a lawyer for a free consultation to get an idea of what they can do to protect your legal rights and financial interests.

Identifying liable parties in your catastrophic injury claim might be relatively straightforward, as a single driver or another individual might be the liable party. However, in other situations, liability can get significantly more complicated, as there might be multiple parties responsible for your injuries and losses.

There are different instances in which parties might share liability:

• An employer who negligently hired or retained a bad employee, and the employee caused the accident
• Someone was negligent while they were on the job, which means their employer can be strictly liable, as well
• Two different drivers were negligent in causing a multiple-vehicle pileup

These are only some examples of when more than one party should compensate you for your losses, and it is important to have a lawyer who can identify all liable parties and seek compensation from all possible sources.

The vast majority of Atlanta catastrophic injury cases reach settlements out of court.

To settle, the parties must agree:

• That the defendant breached this duty and was negligent;
• That the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care;
• That this breach caused the plaintiff’s damages; and
• The value of those damages.

Many parties agree on these points in cases that involve straightforward accidents, simple injuries, or small amounts of damages. Unfortunately, catastrophic injury cases are more complicated on almost every point. Victim’s injuries can be complicated and permanent, and their damages can continue over a lifetime. All of these factors can make it more difficult to settle a catastrophic injury case than a case involving mild injuries.

If you do need to go to court for whatever reason, your injury lawyer will prepare you for what to expect and be there to assist you every step of the way. You will not have to face the court or the defense attorney on your own as long as you hire your own injury lawyer.

Because catastrophic injury cases are more complicated than cases involving mild injuries, they often take longer to resolve. Your doctors will need time to assess the full extent of your injuries and make an accurate prognosis for your recovery. Your lawyer will need time to hire expert witnesses who can project the value of your future losses.

Very few catastrophic injury cases are resolved in weeks - or even months. If your case has to go to trial, it could take a few years to file the lawsuit, proceed through the pretrial process, get a trial date, and ultimately get a jury verdict. But all of this varies greatly depending on the facts of this case. To get a better idea of how long your case will take, you will need to meet with an injury lawyer about the facts and circumstances of your particular accident and injuries.

Do not wait to contact Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer for the legal assistance you need.

In general, auto accidents are more likely to occur when there is more traffic. This means that some areas of Atlanta are more likely to have auto accidents. This includes Peachtree Street, which has long been Atlanta’s most famous roadway. Midtown Mile is a new stretch of road that began in 1997 and is one of the major thoroughfares of central Atlanta in terms of retail and rapid residential development.

Bars, restaurants, and shopping areas also attract more traffic, so use caution in these areas, as well. Finally, beware in surrounding towns as well. Marietta and Gwinnett is a popular area with shopping, dining, historical monuments, and many other attractions. This results in heavy traffic and confusing patterns of pedestrian walkways. Use caution in heavily trafficked areas such as this.

Your first priority after an accident should always be your immediate health and safety. This means that you want to get medical attention if you suffer injuries. Even if you are not sure if you need an ambulance, it is still important to let emergency medical technicians come to the scene and evaluate your injuries.

It is not possible to know all of your injuries right after an accident without medical equipment. You might also need transportation with backboards, headblocks, and other equipment that emergency medical workers know how to use properly to avoid making car accident injuries any worse. Even if you do not end up needing to go to the emergency room in an ambulance, it is still important to let trained medical workers evaluate your injuries on the scene.

Your medical needs are the priority at any accident scene. But there are also important things you need to do to address your legal needs. You should not discuss the accident with other drivers or passengers involved. You can ask about injuries and whether anyone called 911, but do not talk about what happened or how the accident occurred. If it is safe to do so, you might also try to take photos and videos at the accident scene as possible evidence in a future claim.

There are many options for medical treatment. If you need transportation by ambulance, the medical workers will take you to the nearest available hospital. If you decide to leave the scene on your own, there are many options for emergency departments and urgent care facilities in and around Atlanta.

Even if you do not feel hurt at the accident scene, it is still important to get an evaluation by a qualified medical professional. Only a doctor, physician’s assistant, or nurse practitioner can determine whether you suffered injuries in the auto accident.

You might have internal injuries that are not obvious to the naked eye. You could also have latent injuries that do not show up right away. In any event, it is important to let a qualified medical professional determine whether you have injuries. This will protect both your health and your legal right to receive compensation for any medical bills that you accrue due to your injuries.

Georgia is an at-fault insurance state. This means that you can recover compensation for damages or injuries if the person was mostly at fault. Georgia’s minimum policy coverage is $25,000.00.

You want to make certain that you prepare your claim properly, accurately calculate all of your damages, and file supporting documentation with your claim. This can seem overwhelming, but the good news is that your Atlanta car accident lawyer can handle this task for you.

In fact, your attorney should initiate the claim for you so that you do not accidentally say something that could hurt your claim. Even though you are seeking help from your own insurance company, getting the full compensation you deserve can be tricky. Once your insurance company learns that you have counsel, they may no longer contact you about the accident. All communications must go through your attorney’s office.

If your injuries are severe, you can file a claim against the at-fault driver’s insurance policy for your losses. You also might file an Atlanta car accident lawsuit against the at-fault driver.

The other driver might be liable for your losses if you suffered serious and permanent injuries, such as:

• Amputation
• Crush injuries or shattered bones
• Disfigurement or permanent scarring
• Internal injuries
• Spinal cord injury and paralysis
• Traumatic brain injuries

You want your attorney to explore all of your options for compensation to ensure that you recover financially from all of your losses.

You can be sure that insurance companies—whether your own or another driver’s—will try to minimize your payout.

They do this in many different ways, including:

• Challenging the severity of your injuries
• Questioning the need for certain medical treatment
• Challenging the cause of your injuries
• Denying liability for the crash (for the at-fault driver)

Insurance companies can also make settlement offers that are far lower than you deserve. They are hoping that you will accept a low offer to resolve your claim and receive payment as soon as possible. In this situation, however, it is always best to hold off until you have a lawyer review the settlement offer. If you accept an offer that does not cover your losses, you will be responsible for any remaining costs.

Do not risk losing out on the compensation you deserve and need for your expenses. Instead, contact our Atlanta car accident attorneys right away for help.

Of course, drivers and passengers are not the only road users who can suffer injuries in an auto accident. You can sustain serious injuries on the road while riding a bicycle or electric scooter or simply walking in a designated crosswalk.

The fact is that bicyclists and pedestrians are often injured more seriously than vehicle occupants. This is because they do not have the benefit of the many safety features that undergo safety testing before being sold in consumer vehicles. Airbags, seatbelts, and even the metal frame of the vehicle itself all work together to greatly reduce the risk and severity of auto accident injuries to vehicle occupants.

Bicycle riders and pedestrians have no such protection. Often, a bicyclist only has protection from a helmet. Pedestrians do not even have this protection. They are vulnerable to the full brute force of a collision with a heavy vehicle. This is why pedestrian accidents are often fatal.

So, what can injured bicyclists and pedestrians do to protect their legal rights? Like vehicle occupants, you must start by getting medical attention as soon as possible. Even if you choose not to leave the scene of the accident in an ambulance, you should still undergo an examination at an emergency department or urgent care facility as soon as possible. Remember, you are more likely to suffer injuries in an accident, so it is important to get medical care as soon as possible.

Get legal advice as soon as possible. The experienced Atlanta accident lawyers at Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer know how to handle the specific issues that arise from injuries to bicycle riders or pedestrians hit by cars. Be sure to consult with our lawyers about your legal right to compensation. Remember, the other driver’s insurance company is not on your side, and your own insurer might try to deny you compensation. You should never take legal advice from a company that is actively working to reduce the amount of your compensation.

Rideshare companies (such as Uber and Lyft) have become wildly popular throughout the country. But as always, more traffic leads to more accidents, so the number of accidents will inevitably increase as rideshare use continues to increase.

Uber and Lyft both require their drivers to carry their own personal insurance policies. However, these large companies also supplement their drivers’ personal insurance policies with large corporate policies. Victims who suffer injuries due to an on-duty driver can seek compensation through the driver’s personal insurance policy. If this coverage is not sufficient to pay the full value of their injuries and losses, the victim can then file a claim with the large corporate insurance policy. These policies have high limits, and victims can access up to a million dollars of supplemental insurance coverage to pay for their injuries and losses.

Because Uber and Lyft are newer industries, there are still many unresolved legal questions about accidents involving their drivers. It is important to work with an auto accident lawyer who understands these issues. Your injury attorney must also coordinate injury claims with the driver’s personal coverage, the company’s supplemental coverage, and any other insurance policies that apply (such as a workers’ compensation policy).

No matter what the circumstances of your car accident are, Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer can assess your rights and determine what the best course of action is for your case. Our experienced legal team helps people who have suffered injuries in a wide range of crashes, and we can help you. Call us now for your free consultation.

Though an accident can happen anywhere, there are some places in and around Atlanta where accidents are more likely to occur. Auto accidents will occur where traffic is heavy. Always take care when traveling in congested downtown areas, such as Moreland Avenue from S. River Industrial Blvd. to Wylie Street, Georgia Highway 85 from I-75 to Springdale Drive, I-285 from the Bouldercrest Road exit to the I-20 interchange, I-285 between the Camp Creek Parkway interchange and the Riverdale Road exit, and I-20 from Panola Road to Candler Road. Pedestrians are also common in these areas, and those on foot need to be aware of their surroundings.

Unfortunately, recreational areas can also be sites of accidents. You might be injured in a boating or jet ski accident or have a slip and fall while hiking on a mountain trail.

Popular recreational areas in Atlanta include:

• Atlanta Botanical Garden
• Centennial Olympic Park
• Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
• Freedom Park
• Grant Park
• Historic Fourth Ward Park
• Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park
• Sweetwater Creek State Park
• Piedmont Park
• Oakland Cemetery

These popular recreational spots can provide enjoyment and fun for your family and loved ones. However, if you sustain an injury from an accident, be sure to consult with a personal injury lawyer right away.

Negligent drivers are legally responsible for compensating victims who are injured by their negligence. Like other states, the law requires drivers to carry auto insurance with a minimum amount of $25,000.00 liability coverage in Georgia.

Here are just some of the many things a driver could do to be found negligent:

• Driving faster than is safe for current conditions (especially when the road is wet or visibility is low)
• Driving while distracted by pets or children in the vehicle
• Driving while under the influence of drugs, alcohol, or prescription medication
• Driving while using a mobile device, navigation system, or built-in entertainment system
• Eating or drinking while driving
• Failing to control speed to avoid a collision
• Failing to yield the right of way to a pedestrian or bicyclist
• Improper left turns in a busy intersection
• Improper right turns on a red light
• Running a red light or stop sign
• Unsafe lane changes

The driver who is legally responsible for causing an accident (known as being liable) also has to compensate the victims of that accident for their injuries. Insurance companies start by investigating to determine which driver was at fault for the accident. There are many ways your personal injury lawyer can prove liability.

A traffic citation issued by a police officer at the scene of the accident is strong evidence that the driver was violating traffic laws and was, therefore, negligent. Even when the at-fault driver receives no citation for a traffic or criminal violation, your lawyer can still prove that the driver was not driving with reasonable caution.

After a workplace injury, the first thing you should do is seek medical attention for any injury you have sustained. If your injuries are severe enough, you may need the assistance of an ambulance. Regardless of whether or not you need transportation, you should still be seen by a doctor at an urgent care facility or an emergency room as soon as possible.

Even if you do not think you are badly hurt, you could have latent injuries that can only be diagnosed by a doctor. Some of these conditions, such as internal bleeding, can quickly become life-threatening if they don’t receive treatment right away. It is also important to document your injuries and treatment as evidence for the legal claims you will file later.

Hiring a personal injury attorney following a workplace accident that left you injured is crucial. Your employer might tell you that the company will handle the claim, but allowing the company to take the lead is not in your best interest. Remember that the company is the insured party and has a financial stake in your claim. You should never take legal advice from the opposing party (in this case, your employer).

A personal injury or workers’ compensation attorney will help you fill out the appropriate claims forms. The attorney will also protect your legal right to compensation by taking over communications with the insurance company, allowing you to focus on your recovery.

Some accident victims choose to handle their personal injury claims without an attorney. You have the right to do this, but doing so would most likely work against your interest. Injury victims without an attorney consistently receive lower settlements than those who have a lawyer.

An injury victim with no experience in personal injury claims might not know how to prove the value of their pain, suffering, and other intangible losses, whereas a seasoned personal injury lawyer has experience in presenting these losses persuasively to claims adjusters and jurors. An attorney will also know how your case compares to comparable injury cases, a useful reference when determining the fairness of a settlement offer from the insurance company.

Insurance companies will take steps to pay as little money as possible for a claim. Suppose the company suspects that you are exaggerating your injuries. In that case, they may hire a private investigator to follow you to your workplace and home, hoping to gather evidence proving you are not as injured as you claim to be. The investigator may focus on getting photos or videos of you engaging in a physical activity that your injuries should have prevented.

For example, if you claim that you can’t play sports due to a painful arm injury, the investigator might try to get footage of you lifting groceries out of your car to prove that you can, in fact, use your arm. Personal injury lawyers have experience with insurance company tactics.

An attorney can prevent you from saying something to the insurance company that could hurt your claim. Once the insurance company discovers that you have secured representation, all communication about the claim must go through your attorney’s office. Injury victims who do not hire a lawyer must speak with the insurance company frequently.

The company may request the victim provide a recorded statement about how the accident happened. They will be asked about their injuries and invited to say all sorts of things that could be misrepresented by the insurance company to reduce the value of the claim. Avoid this scenario by hiring a personal injury lawyer so that the lawyer can be present for any deposition you give.

These are just a few of the many things a personal injury lawyer can do to protect your claim. An injury victim will not know all the tactics that an insurance company will use to reduce the value of their claims, which further emphasizes why it is so important to work with an experienced lawyer who knows exactly how to protect your legal right to compensation.

After a serious, accident-causing injury, you’re right to feel concerned about how much it will cost to retain an attorney to represent you. Fortunately, at Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer, we work with our clients on a contingency fee basis, which means that you do not have to pay anything up-front for legal representation and that we will never collect legal fees unless we successfully recover compensation on your behalf.

Call Us Today for a Free Consultation With Our Atlanta Personal Injury Attorneys

Injury victims have legal rights that must be protected, and the insurance company will not protect these rights. Work with an experienced attorney who can skillfully defend your right to compensation.

The Atlanta personal injury lawyers at Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer have helped many Georgia injury victims get the compensation they deserve. Call us for your Free Consultation. We fight hard to protect your legal rights so that you can focus on recovering from your injuries.

Additional Resources

Atlanta Emergency Rooms

Several emergency rooms and urgent care centers serve Fulton County and the Atlanta area. A few include:

• AllCare Primary & Immediate Care
• Atlanta Urgent Care at Druid Hills
• Atlanta Urgent Care at Peachtree
• Buckhead Primary and Urgent Care Clinic
• Concentra Urgent Care
• Emory University Hospital
• Emory University Hospital at Wesley Woods
• Emory University Hospital Midtown
• Grady Memorial Hospital
• Highland Urgent Care & Family Medicine
• MEDICI Urgent Care and Wellness Center
• Northside Hospital Atlanta
• Peachtree Immediate Care – Brookhaven
• Peachtree Immediate Care - Edgewood
• Peachtree Immediate Care - Midtown
• Piedmont Atlanta
• Piedmont Urgent Care
• Physician’s Express Care at Morningside
• Urgent Care 24/7 Atlanta

If you suffered serious harm due to someone else’s negligence or wrongful actions in Atlanta, seek immediate medical attention and contact Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer as soon as you are able.

*Disclaimer – Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer does not endorse these medical providers, nor do we profit from having them listed on our website.

Atlanta Courthouses

• Fulton County Courthouse: 136 Pryor Street, Suite C155, Atlanta, GA 30303