It seems like every year, crash accidents become more and more of a problem on American roads. This actually makes sense, given that more and more Americans continue to invest in cars.
In Georgia, this trend is especially troublesome. As recently as 2021, the state reported a traffic fatality rate of 1.48 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, putting it at just over 8% higher than the national average of 1.37 per 100 million VMT.
A little over 1 death per 100 million VMT might not sound like much to those unfamiliar with traffic safety statistics. However, to put it into perspective, this number translates to 1,797 deaths on Georgian roads in that year alone.
Now, that just speaks for the frequency of fatal accidents. When you consider that only some car accidents are fatal, the odds of being involved in one suddenly seem much greater than most people realize.
Unfortunately for car accident survivors, that means having to face medical bills, time spent in recovery, and other losses. And, while most Georgians have insurance to cover this, actually getting a payout is a struggle in and of itself.
When you find yourself backed into a corner by the challenges brought about by a car accident, call a Marietta car accident lawyer from the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm.
What a Marietta Car Accident Attorney Do for You
Car accidents are some of the most common cases brought to the desks of any decent personal injury lawyer. For our team at the CEO Lawyer, this means we have had a lot of experience dealing with insurance companies and at-fault parties for our clients.
Here are some of the ways our Marietta car accident attorneys have benefitted our clients.
Legal Representation & Guidance
As any lawyer should, your car accident attorney will represent your interests throughout the claims process and – should a settlement fall through – all the way to the court.
Your lawyer will provide you with assistance, beginning with a case evaluation, giving you a clear picture of all your available options and helping you decide how best to proceed. They will work side by side with you to ensure that you receive fair compensation by the end.
A car accident lawyer’s expertise also allows you to make better decisions regarding your case. They can, for example, let you know if your insurer’s first offer really is the best they can do or if they are holding out on you in an attempt to save their company money.
Finally, a lawyer serving as your legal representative means they can take the lead when you are indisposed. For instance, if you can’t be present during negotiations due to medical treatment or a much-needed return to work, your lawyer can be there on your behalf.
Evidence Gathering & Investigation
Because it’s a car accident lawyer’s job to take the weight of a case off of their client’s shoulders, they often include in their services their own investigation to verify the insurance company’s findings. This means gathering evidence – lots of it.
Your lawyer will gather documents and information from every available source to support your claim. This includes the basics, like police reports and medical bills, but also time-limited information you may have missed, such as footage from traffic cams, doorbell cams, and CCTV.
Car accident lawyers also have access to a wider network than most other people do. They have doctors, mechanics, police representatives, and other professionals who can provide answers to questions that might make or break your case.
This massive resource of information means that when the insurance company says, for example, that your medical treatment didn’t have to cost X amount of dollars but that you opted for one so expensive, a doctor who can disprove their argument is only a phone call away.
Determining Liability
Georgia follows a modified comparative negligence system with a 50% bar. You can get compensation for your losses even if you are partially at fault for an accident, but with your claim diminished by your percentage of fault, and only as long as you are less than 50% at fault.
This is largely considered a fairer system than traditional contributory negligence, as it means both parties have to take care to avoid causing accidents. However, it also places emphasis on determining fault in an accident for any payout to be fair.
Thankfully, working with a lawyer means you have a professional on your side who is versed in accurately identifying and assigning liability. When they build your case, they will refer to case law, looking at how fault was assigned to similar cases in the past.
Negotiating With Other Parties
For many people, the most frustrating part of making a car accident claim is coming face-to-face with the insurance adjuster or the at-fault party, as the case may be. This comes as no surprise as most people don’t enjoy confrontation, especially against competent opposition.
And make no mistake: negotiations almost always entail competent opposition. You’re either up against an insurance adjuster, whose job is essentially to argue why you need less money, or an at-fault party’s representative, whose job is to argue why they need to hand out more.
Sitting down with either opponent alone leaves you at a disadvantage. Surveys show that unrepresented claimants are far more likely than those with lawyers to accept initial offers – often up to three times lower than what they could have made.
Common Damages Sustained in Car Accidents
In order to determine what compensation car accident victims are entitled to, they first have to identify what they have lost in the accident. These losses incurred are referred to as damages and are usually classified as either economic or non-economic.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are monetary losses incurred as a result of an accident. In lawsuits and personal injury claims, these damages are intended to compensate the accident victim for financial losses.
Generally speaking, economic damages are intended to restore a person’s financial position to the condition before the accident happened. Economic damages typically include the following:
- Medical Expenses: Hospital bills, medication, doctors’ fees, and any long-term treatment or therapy for any injuries sustained in the car accident fall under this category. If the claim is made before recovery – and, therefore, treatment – is complete, claimants can include an estimate of future medical expenses as part of their compensation.
- Lost Wages and Earning Potential: Lost wages compensate accident victims for any money they would have earned if they had not been injured. Both are typically calculated based on the claimant’s wages but can also account for any income opportunities they may have lost as a result of their injury (for example, a business deal they weren’t able to close due to medical treatment).
- Property Damage: This type of damage includes any personal property lost, physical or otherwise (such as data on a laptop or phone), as a result of the accident. Property damage accounts for your vehicle, if indeed you were driving it at the time of the accident, and any possessions you had within.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages typically compensate for any harm suffered that does not have objective documentation. The idea behind non-economic damages is that victims would not have experienced discomfort, disadvantage, or pain had the accident not occurred.
Here are some items often counted as non-economic damage.
- Pain and Suffering: This is the physical pain experienced as a consequence of the car accident. It includes, as a whole, everything from the pain of the injury itself to the aches experienced during recovery from medical treatment.
- Emotional Distress: While sometimes considered a form of pain and suffering, A diagnosis of anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can allow clients to get separate compensation for emotional distress. This is, of course, assuming such issues can be proven to have stemmed from the accident.
- Loss of Consortium: This typically compensates for the loss of a marital relationship resulting from death. However, it can also cover severe injury – such as total paralysis – that prevents an accident victim from fulfilling their role as a spouse.
- Diminished Quality of Life: This serves a similar function to loss of consortium. However, where the former compensates the spouse or the children of the plaintiff, diminished quality of life is awarded to the plaintiff themselves to cover any long-term negative changes that result from the injury (e.g., inability to pursue interests or career tracks).
Because non-economic damages are subjective by nature, it becomes difficult to determine their worth. Typically, claimants will want to account for both the magnitude and duration of suffering, setting a rate or factor with which to calculate a final amount.
Unfortunately, this subjective nature means it is often your perspective of worth against that of other parties. Coming to a fair amount for both sides involves thorough negotiation for all involved – something that your lawyer should excel at.
How Long Do I Have to Make a Car Accident Claim?
Car accident claims are civil claims and, as such, are bound by limits called the statutes of limitations. These are time limits intended to ensure claims can only be filed while evidence remains relevant and also protect against frivolous and fraudulent claims.
The specific time limits depend on the type of claim made. For personal injury cases, the most relevant statutes are two years for injury to the person and four years for damage to property.
With the exception of rare instances, statutes of limitations mean accident victims cannot file a claim or a lawsuit after the specified time period has passed. And while two or three years might seem like a long time, you have to look at things through the lens of a car accident victim.
Depending on the severity of an accident, victims can spend anywhere between a few weeks to a few months getting medical treatment. The stress of filing an insurance claim or a lawsuit on top of that can be a burden too much for some people to handle.
All the while, bills continue to pile up, and the odds are any income stream they had before the accident threw a wrench into their lives will be diminished if not cut outright.
Furthermore, there is always the possibility of a claim being declined. This means victims will have to figure out why they were denied compensation and, if possible, address the issues and appeal for reconsideration, once again consuming even more time.
All that combined and several years can feel like they go by in a heartbeat, at least as far as the claims process is concerned.
Working with an expert lawyer means having someone to ensure the process goes smoothly and that all deadlines are met with minimum load on your part. You get to focus on other things that matter, knowing that your case is making progress behind the scenes.
Your attorney will also see to it that you are updated with any progress or hiccups that require your attention, so you are never in the dark. They will have open communication channels to ensure your peace of mind while they handle your case.
Work With a Marietta Car Accident Law Firm Today
Car accidents can be debilitating for not only the victims but also those around them – family and close friends alike. Whether you’re after the resources you need for compensation or perhaps a sense of justice in holding the at-fault party liable, we’re here to help.
The CEO Lawyer is a proudly Georgian law firm with an above 99% success rate in recovering damages for our clients. Our firm recovered over a million dollars in our first year alone, and we continue to provide our services to those who need them in Marietta and across the state.
Lead Attorney Ali Awad has led us to become one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. When he is not representing clients’ interests in court or at the negotiating table, he builds connections with the community through social media platforms.
Work with the CEO Lawyer’s expert team of car accident attorneys, and we’ll get you started with a free case evaluation. You have no obligation to work together, and if we do, you won’t owe us anything until we have won your case or settled your claim.
In other words, working with us has zero risk to you. Contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm today at (470) 323-8779.
