Kennesaw Car Accident Lawyer

Car accidents are a leading cause of preventable injury and death in the US, and Georgia ranks fourth in the nation for traffic fatalities, with 1,664 in 2020 alone. While Atlanta and its suburbs see a high number of accidents due to the large population, serious accidents can also happen in more rural areas of the state.

If you or a loved one have been hurt in a car accident, you may struggle with medical bills, lost income, physical or emotional pain, and other damages. You need help dealing with these damages, but the insurance company may not come through.

Should you contact a car accident lawyer?

Do You Need a Kennesaw Car Accident Attorney After an Accident?

Many people ask this question, while others assume the answer is no. You might think it would be easier and maybe cheaper to simply file a claim with the insurance carrier yourself.

Unfortunately, people who file their own claims often receive smaller settlements than those who have the help of an attorney. Claim denials are also common and are extremely hard to fight successfully without an attorney.

Here are some of the key reasons why you need the assistance of an experienced car accident attorney after your car accident:

The Insurance Company Doesn’t Want to Pay Your Claim

It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about your insurance company or the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Insurance companies employ insurance adjusters, and officially, their job is to examine each claim and decide if and how much to pay for it.

In reality, their job is to save the company money by paying as little as possible for each claim and denying some claims outright.

A few things can happen if you file your own claim:

• The adjuster decides your claim is valid and estimates your damages. In most cases where we review an insurance company’s first offer, we find that the adjuster has underestimated some damages or completely ignored other damages. The problem with handling your own claim is that unless you are an expert on insurance or the law, it’s extremely hard to know how much your damages are worth. In fact, many of our clients underestimate their own damages, or they fail to consider valid damages like future medical bills or pain and suffering.
• The adjuster denies your claim. There are a number of reasons they might give, but when we’re dealing with the at-fault driver’s insurance company, the most common reason is that they blame the other driver for the accident. Often, the at-fault driver denies fault, and sometimes, the police report is inconclusive or incorrect. (The responding officer may have limited time and evidence with which to assign fault after an accident.) The insurance adjuster will, of course, take the at-fault driver’s side because they don’t want to pay your claim.
• The adjuster doesn’t deny your claim outright but offers you less money than you asked for due to shared fault. This may happen when it’s obvious the at-fault driver had some responsibility for the accident, but the insurance company claims you did, too. Under Georgia law, both drivers can share responsibility for an accident, and the party who is more than 50 percent at fault is liable. However, the driver with less responsibility will lose their share of fault from the final award. So the insurance company might offer you what you asked for in your claim, minus 20 percent, because they believe you were 20 percent at fault.

Dealing with any of these situations by yourself can be problematic. If the insurance company adjuster suggests you were all or even partially at fault, your first impulse may be to call them up and set them straight.

This is what many people do when they handle their own claims, and it’s almost always a mistake. The insurance company will probably record the call so they can pick apart everything you say, looking for something that can be used against you.

We’ve had more than one client who was surprised to learn that an offhand comment was used to indicate they were at fault.

How Can a Car Accident Attorney Help?

Your attorney is experienced in negotiating with insurance adjusters and knowledgeable about Georgia laws regarding car accidents and insurance. We will study the details of your case, investigate further if needed, and gather as much evidence to show you weren’t at fault as possible.

Additionally, we will review your injuries and losses from the accident and accurately calculate all your damages. Once we’ve done that, we’ll contact the insurance company on your behalf and pursue total damages for the accident.

If the adjuster has omitted any damages or undervalued them, we’ll fight to show that your damages are valid and you deserve the full amount requested. If they suggest that you were all or mostly at fault, we’ll explain the evidence we’ve compiled showing that the other driver was all or primarily responsible.

What if You Were at Fault?

If you suspect that you were at fault, it’s essential that you speak to a lawyer right away for several reasons:

• You might be mistaken. We have a lot of clients who start by telling us they are at fault. Then, we examine the evidence in their case and find that the other driver was at least primarily to blame for the accident.
• You might only have a small percentage of fault. Here’s another situation we see frequently: The client made a small mistake around the time of the accident and assumes they were entirely at fault for the collision. The reality is that everyone makes mistakes from time to time, and a mistake doesn’t automatically mean you are at fault. Sometimes, the client’s error had nothing to do with the accident. Sometimes, it contributed to the accident in a small way, but the other party was still mostly at fault. Unfortunately, the other driver’s insurance company will take full advantage of the situation, claiming the client had a higher percentage of responsibility than they actually did.
• Even if you were entirely at fault, we may be able to find insurance coverage for your injuries. If you have the right type of car insurance, you may have coverage for your injuries (MedPay) and property damage (Collision). Unfortunately, your own insurance carrier may also undervalue your damages or claim that your accident isn’t covered for some reason. We’ll fight to get you the benefits you pay for from your insurance company.

What Happens if an Uninsured Motorist Hits You?

Hopefully, you have uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UI), which is your best chance of recovering damages in most uninsured motorist accidents. If you don’t, we suggest you add this coverage to your car insurance in case of any future collisions with uninsured drivers.

However, if you don’t currently have UM/UI coverage, you should still consult an attorney to explore if there are any other options for recovering damages, such as:

• Suing the at-fault driver. If they don’t have insurance, they can be held personally liable for your damages. The problem is that it’s sometimes hard or even impossible to collect your damages if the at-fault driver has few or no assets we can seize. We generally don’t advise clients to pursue a lawsuit if it’s not possible to collect on a potential award, but we will look for other solutions.
• A third-party lawsuit. In a few cases, we find that a third party may also have contributed to the accident, even if they were not driving a car. For instance, if your airbag or seatbelt failed to work correctly, you may have suffered more severe injuries than you would have otherwise. In this case, we might be able to pursue damages from the manufacturer. Another example would be if an uninsured drunk driver caused your accident. In certain circumstances, you could pursue a claim against an establishment that overserved the intoxicated driver under Georgia’s dram shop laws.

We will also consider these options if the other driver is insured but your damages exceed the limits of their policy. For instance, if they only have $25,000 in bodily injury liability coverage, but you suffered severe injuries and have $70,000 in damages, your UM/UI coverage may kick in (depending on the specific type of coverage you have).

If not, we will consider if a lawsuit against the driver or a third party would be a good option.

How Can You Get Help From a Kennesaw Car Accident Law Firm?

Please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free consultation about your accident. We’ll review your case, answer your questions, and explain the possibilities for pursuing compensation.

If there’s a way to recover your damages, we’ll find it.

The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm was founded by attorney Ali Awad, who quickly turned it into one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. Mr. Awad and his team are dedicated to protecting the rights of injured people and have recovered millions of dollars in damages for their clients.

When he’s not negotiating with insurance companies or fighting for clients in the courtroom, you can find Mr. Awad dispensing no-nonsense legal advice to more than a million followers on social media. Call the CEO Lawyer today at 833-254-2923.