Covering over 400 miles, Cherokee County includes seven cities, nine mountains, and Lake Allatoona. Its population is over 266,000, but recreational opportunities attract visitors from all over.
In this bustling county, many people suffer serious injuries, and sometimes, another party’s negligence is the cause.
Recovering from an injury can be exhausting, with doctor’s appointments, physical therapy, lost time at work, and a neverending stream of medical bills. You may find yourself seeking restitution from the at-fault party’s insurance company, but sometimes, an insurance claim introduces new problems.
The responsible party might say the injury wasn’t their fault, and the insurance adjuster may also want to blame you. How can you get the help you need to recover your damages?
Contact a Cherokee County Personal Injury Attorney Today
Insurance companies can put a number of obstacles in your path to recovering a fair settlement. Many people want to handle their own insurance claims but have difficulties securing the full amount they deserve.
An experienced personal injury attorney can help you navigate challenges like these common insurance claim issues:
- Someone tries to put the blame on you. It might be the other driver, or it could be their insurance adjuster. Sometimes, even when the other party admits fault, their insurance adjuster will claim you were partially responsible for the accident or injury. Under Georgia law, you can recover damages if you are less than 50 percent at fault, but the insurance company can deduct whatever percentage of fault they estimate is yours. So, if the adjuster thinks you were 10 percent at fault, they can shave 10 percent off your settlement. Your lawyer will work to establish that the other party was all or mostly at fault so you can collect the largest settlement possible.
- The insurance adjuster isn’t convinced of your damages. They might suspect your injuries are fake or unconnected to the accident, especially if you waited to seek medical treatment. We understand that people often put off medical care for many reasons—they think their injuries are minor, they have concerns about cost, or their symptoms aren’t apparent right away. However, the insurance adjuster might see the situation as two events unconnected to each other.
- You run up against a policy limit. This is most common in car accident cases where the injured person has more severe injuries that require prolonged, expensive treatment. Georgia requires $25,000 per person in bodily injury liability, with $50,000 per accident and $25,000 for property damage. That means if the at-fault party has minimum coverage, and you suffer injuries that exceed $25,000 in injury damages, the insurance company only has to pay $25,000. Although this type of situation can be frustrating, a personal injury lawyer may be able to find other options for recovering compensation.
- The insurance company claims an “exclusion” for your accident or injury. Insurance policies often exclude certain types of accidents or may deny coverage based on other factors noted in the fine print of the contract. Some exclusions are valid, but in other cases, the adjuster may be misinterpreting something in the policy language. If the exclusion is fair, you may not be able to collect from that policy, but your attorney will look for other options.
- The insurance adjuster undervalues your damages. Valuing a claim is a complex process, and an insurance adjuster is tasked with saving their company money. Sometimes, they undervalue a claim, ignoring valid damages or underestimating others. For instance, they might overlook future medical costs or assign too low a value for pain and suffering. At the same time, most claimants don’t have the insurance industry know-how to ascertain if the valuation is reasonable, so the insurance company often gets away with this artificially low valuation—unless an attorney fights for the client’s right to fair compensation.
If you or a loved one are struggling with an insurance claim or have not yet filed one, please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free consultation. We’ll review your case, identify the liable parties and relevant insurance policies, and explain your options for pursuing damages.
There is no need to worry about upfront costs because we have a “No win, no fee” guarantee, so you won’t pay anything until we win or settle your claim.
What Should You Do After an Injury?
Experiencing an injury can be frightening, stressful, and distracting. We know it’s difficult to think strategically when you might be in pain or bleeding, but if you can remember these steps, it may help you protect your rights:
Preserve Evidence if Possible
One of the best things you can do is take a minute to capture photos with your phone. Start with the place where you were hurt and move on to the surrounding area if you can.
If you were injured in a building or elsewhere on another party’s property, take pictures of any objects you collided with, as well as the floor/ground and the rest of the room or yard. For car accidents, get pictures of the damage to both vehicles, the highway (especially any tire marks), the areas near the road, and your injuries.
When other people are present, ask for their names and contact info. They may be valuable witnesses in your case.
Seek Medical Attention for Your Injuries
Although we understand the reasons people may wait to see a doctor, we encourage you to get medical attention as soon as possible. If your injuries are too mild to justify an ambulance ride to the emergency room, you can have a friend or relative drive you to an urgent care clinic or doctor’s office.
Some people don’t feel pain or other symptoms immediately after an accident, possibly due to an adrenaline rush or the injury worsening as the area becomes swollen. If this is the case, you should see a doctor as soon as you do experience symptoms and let them know about the car accident.
Make a Police Report if Applicable
Most car and boat accidents should be reported to the local authorities. If a car accident involves injury, death, or property damage of at least $500 or occurs in a city that requires a police report, you have a legal obligation to report it.
However, you should report even “fender-bender” collisions as well. One reason is that bodywork can be surprisingly expensive, and if you expect the insurance company to pay for it, they will need an accident report.
Another reason is that, as we discussed earlier, injuries don’t always cause symptoms immediately, so you or another involved person might wake up in pain the next day and need medical attention. Again, the insurance company will want to see the accident report before processing your claim.
When speaking with the police, you should answer questions honestly but avoid theorizing about who was at fault—especially if you believe you may be at least partially responsible. Stick to the facts of what happened, not your opinions about fault.
What if you’re injured on someone else’s property? These accidents usually don’t require a police report, but you should tell the property owner immediately.
In a store or other business, ask for the manager and let them know what happened. Again, it’s not necessary to discuss fault; it is only how your injury occurred.
Most businesses have a protocol for on-site injuries that includes filling out an accident report, taking your contact information, etc.
Speak to an Attorney Right Away
It’s helpful to assume the other parties to your accident have already spoken to their insurance company or legal team, who may be investigating the incident already.
For instance, if you’re in a car accident, the other driver might call their insurance company and tell them you caused the crash. The insurance adjuster, eager to avoid paying your claim, will seek evidence to support this idea.
Your attorney will also investigate, searching for photo or video evidence, witnesses, electronic data, and more. In some cases, we can recover video from nearby doorbell cameras or security cameras, but this valuable footage is frequently erased to make room for new recordings, so it’s better to begin our investigation right after the accident.
Once we’ve compiled as much evidence as possible, we’ll analyze what we have and develop a strong strategy for winning your case.
Can You Sue Someone for Intentionally Harming You?
Sometimes, crime victims inquire about pursuing a civil case against the person who injured them. It is possible, and in some situations, you might even be able to win a civil case if the responsible party was acquitted on criminal charges (or the charges were dropped for lack of evidence).
The burden of proof for a civil case is lower than that for a criminal case, so it’s only necessary to prove the other party is most likely at fault by “a preponderance of evidence.” In a criminal trial, a defendant must be found guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
However, suing the perpetrator of a crime is not always practical, even if you have a strong chance of winning your case. The main problem is collecting your damages.
If the defendant has no money or assets, it may not be possible to collect on any judgment you win. In some cases, the defendant has spent all their money or even liquidated assets in an effort to pay for their criminal defense, leaving nothing for a civil judgment.
What about insurance coverage?
Insurance is not meant to cover damage from intentional acts. In fact, this is sometimes a problem in car accident cases if the injured person tells the police something like, “I think that other driver hit me on purpose!”
Suppose the insurance adjuster reads that in the police report; they will immediately have a sound legal reason to reject your claim. This is one reason we caution you not to editorialize when giving a statement.
So, while you can sue someone personally for intentionally harming you, it may not be an effective way to pay for your medical bills, missed income, property damage, or other losses. However, your attorney will consider other options, which might include suing a third party.
In certain situations, suing someone other than the perpetrator is actually a better option. This is frequently the case in negligent security claims, which involve injuries from a criminal action on another party’s property.
Property owners have a responsibility to keep the premises reasonably safe by taking appropriate security measures, which may vary depending on the circumstances. If the owner failed to provide a reasonable level of security, and you were harmed by someone committing a crime, it’s possible the property owner is liable.
For example, if you were shot during a robbery at your local grocery store, we might investigate the store’s current security efforts and history. If we find the store was robbed twice before in the past year, and the owner did nothing to increase security, they could have been negligent.
Another example might be failing to provide adequate security staff when the store expects large crowds, such as at Black Friday sales. If you’re shoved into a display by someone trying to save $30 on an air fryer and you break your arm, the store might be liable if they didn’t have enough security staff for reasonable crowd control.
How Can You Learn More From a Cherokee County Personal Injury Law Firm?
If you or a loved one have suffered an injury and believe another party’s negligence is to blame, please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free consultation. Our experienced legal team is standing by to review your case, answer your questions, and explain your legal rights.
Attorney Ali Awad founded the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm only a few short years ago and quickly turned it into one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. Since then, he and his team have recovered millions of dollars in compensation for injured people and their families.
When he’s not working on a case, you can find Mr. Awad making educational posts about legal topics for over a million followers on social media. Work with him today when you call (470) 323-8779.
