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Getting injured in a traffic collision is not only terrifying and likely to result in serious bodily injury, but it will cost an excessive amount of money out of your pocket. If you do not have insurance, medical bills may cause you to foreclose on your home or declare bankruptcy, and if you were debilitated for months or longer, you would likely lose your job. In addition, the emotional toll that a serious collision takes on an injured victim may necessitate years of therapy, cause you to miss out on important milestones in your life and your loved one’s lives, and generally cause prolonged depression, sleepless nights, and anxiety for the rest of your life.
Everyone reacts differently to serious auto collisions. Some seem fine afterward, only for a traumatic brain injury to never heal property, or for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to rear its head a year or more after the incident. Because you do not know what the true cost of the damages will eventually be, you must work with a highly qualified Atlanta law firm to maximize your financial compensation for a car accident settlement. Do not even talk to the other party’s insurance company or the other party about settling before discussing your options with a lawyer.
Determining the Negligent Party
The first thing that law enforcement does after you are taken away to the hospital is to start collecting evidence at the crash scene. Investigators will develop their version of what happened and assign liability accordingly. However, what is stated in the official police accident report is not always what is used in determining fault in a personal injury liability claim. Insurance companies can twist an accident report around to place blame on you. Or, the police may get something wrong. In either case, you need an attorney to tell your side of the tale – the truth. Law firms employ their investigators and crash scene re-constructionists when necessary to ensure that the proper party is held fully responsible. Otherwise, your compensation for car accident settlement may be limited.
What Were Your Damages?
If the other party is held fully liable, there is a direct correlation between your damages and the amount of compensation for the car accident settlement to which you are entitled. Damages include the following:
- Medical bills;
- Ongoing and/or future medical costs and procedures;
- Pain and suffering;
- Lost wages;
- Lost earning ability;
- Time getting to and from doctor’s appointments;
- Property damage; and
- Loss of joy of life.
If the victim was killed in the collision:
- Medical bills;
- Pain and suffering;
- Lost wages;
- Loss of a financial provider;
- Loss of consortium;
- Funeral and burial costs; and
- Property damage.
Compensation Depends on Insurance Policies
Regardless of your injuries, pain, and suffering, lost wages, and other considerable damages, the compensation for car accident settlement that you receive heavily depends on what insurance policies are at hand. In Georgia, the minimum bodily injury liability coverage that a driver can have and legally drive is $25,000 per person and a total of $50,000 per collision. The minimum property damage liability is $25,000 per person as well, according to DMV.org. What this means is that, even if your hospital bill alone was $150,000, you might be limited to $25,000 in bodily injury damage and $25,000 in property damage if the driver that caused the crash was covered only under Georgia’s minimum liability policy.
Even worse, 12% of Georgia drivers are uninsured, according to the Insurance Information Institute. If the driver was uninsured or underinsured, you might be able to go after their personal property and assets to cover your losses. Still, drivers who do not have adequate insurance usually do not have any significant personal property. An attorney will discover if other parties had a hand in causing the collision and whether additional insurance policies may be available to pursue. In addition, a traffic collision attorney can determine what assets the negligent party has and if those assets should be pursued in a lawsuit.
What if the Policy is Large?
On the other hand, if the negligent driver has a large insurance policy, such as a $1 million umbrella policy, for example, your chances of receiving a large sum of compensation for car accident settlement are greatly improved. However, as the compensation grows in size, so too does the opposition. Insurance companies are nothing if not stingy and will pull out all the stops to see that your compensation is limited. It is not beyond the conscience of an insurance adjuster to claim that the person suffering was not as bad as you say, to argue that policy limits must be adhered to even if the damages were greater than the limits, or to close off the communication line with your attorney for long periods of time. These strategies are all in hopes that you will buckle under the stress and take their low offer instead of fighting it out and willingly taking the case to court in a lawsuit. Most personal injury cases are settled out of court, with one of the main reasons being that the insurance companies know that the injured victim, as medical bills pile up, can not wait multiple years for compensation to come through. Insurance companies know the great deal of emotional stress a long, drawn-out settlement negotiation or trial has on the victim. An experienced Atlanta attorney will fight for your best interests, communicate with you throughout the entire ordeal, and never stop searching for ways to maximize your compensation.
Call the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm
It is difficult to put a direct number on the average collision settlement or lawsuit. According to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Institute, the average car accident settlement claim was just over $15,000 in 2013. However, if you were seriously injured, you could very well end up with anywhere between $100,000 to $1 million—more if the crash was caused by a trucking company. Whether you suffered minor injuries or were placed in the Intensive Care Unit on life support, you deserve compensation. Only an experienced Atlanta personal injury and accident attorney can help you receive fair treatment. Call an Atlanta car accident attorney from the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm today for more information at 833-254-2923.