The sudden onslaught of medical expenses, enduring pain and discomfort, diminished income, and other losses from a significant injury can devastate your life. If you know or suspect that fault lies elsewhere, you may be considering the avenues available for reclaiming what’s rightfully yours.
Dealing with insurance companies can be frustrating, and costly, and you shouldn’t have to fight an insurance giant alone. Where can you turn for reliable legal guidance in these trying circumstances?
Seek Help From a Rockdale County Personal Injury Attorney Today
Here at the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm, we know how difficult recovering from an injury can be, so our team provides complimentary consultations to explain the legal options available in your case. If there is a way to recover your damages, we’ll find it.
There’s no need to worry about upfront costs because we work on a contingency basis, so you only pay us when we successfully resolve your case, including instances like the BioLab Class Action Lawsuit. Please contact us today to learn more.
Why Do You Need a Lawyer When You Can File an Insurance Claim Yourself?
In some situations, this may be a good option. For example, some minor car accidents with limited property damage and no other losses may not require the assistance of an attorney.
However, if you have suffered injuries or high-value property damage, a lawyer can help ensure you recover the largest settlement possible. The insurance company is likely to employ a number of tactics to reduce your settlement or reject it entirely.
Frequently, there are ways to overcome these hurdles with the knowledge and experience of a seasoned personal injury attorney.
Here are some examples of common insurance claim challenges an attorney may be able to help you with:
- Fault disputes. These happen regularly in personal injury cases. The at-fault party’s insurance adjuster will be eager to argue their client was blameless so they can avoid paying your claim. But even if there is evidence the other party was negligent, their insurance adjuster might still state that you were, too. Under Georgia law, this gives them an opportunity to reduce your settlement if not deny it completely. You may know you weren’t to blame, but an experienced personal injury lawyer can investigate the accident, collect evidence, and build a strong case to prove it.
- Policy issues. Sometimes, regardless of fault, your claim might not be covered due to a policy exclusion or limit. For instance, if the policy limit is $25,000 for bodily injury in a car accident, and you have $75,000 in damages, an attorney can help you explore other options to recover your remaining damages.
- Questions about your damages. In some situations, the insurance adjuster could reject a claim because they believe the covered incident is not the cause of your injuries. Often, this occurs because the injured party waited several days or even weeks before pursuing medical treatment for their injuries. We recommend that you see a healthcare professional right away, even if your injuries seem minor. However, if you have already waited to seek care, we’ll review your medical records and provide the insurance company with evidence that the covered event caused your injuries.
- Undervaluing your damages. An insurance adjuster may miss some of your damages or assign a lower value to others, costing you money. For this reason, your lawyer will carefully catalog all your losses and calculate an accurate value for your total claim. If the insurance company’s offer isn’t close to this number, we’ll negotiate for a more equitable settlement.
What Kinds of Cases Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Handle?
Personal injury lawyers can handle most cases that involve an injury caused by another party’s negligence. Most of our cases fall into one of the broad categories listed below, but if your injury doesn’t fit one of these, we may still be able to help.
The most important factor is whether we can find evidence that another person or entity negligently caused your injuries.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Motor vehicle collisions may include cars, trucks, vans, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, other vehicles used on a highway, and pedestrians. Most motorists will have liability insurance of at least $25,000 per person for bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage (the minimum requirements in the state).
However, there are still several potential difficulties that could affect your car insurance claim:
- About 4 percent of Georgia drivers are uninsured,over 900,000 drivers.
- As discussed earlier, if the at-fault driver has minimal coverage and your injuries are fairly serious, your damages could outweigh the insurance coverage.
- The at-fault driver often claims the accident wasn’t their fault, and if they don’t, their insurance company might.
A recommended way to avoid the first two problems is to invest in as much uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UI) as you can. Georgia law requires liability insurance but allows policyholders to reject UM/UI if they choose.
We understand that people may turn down UM/UI because they need to reduce costs, but you should know that in some cases, UM/UI may be the only way to recover damages or additional damages after hitting a policy limit.
Boating Accidents
Rockdale County contains several rivers and creeks, perfect for a day on the water. Unfortunately, when things go wrong, a boating accident could result in severe injuries.
Aside from following regulations and boating carefully, one effective way to protect yourself is to always wear a life jacket when boating.
Following a boat accident, determining what happened and who was at fault can be complicated. Often, one or more boat operators caused or contributed to the accident, but there are also other potentially liable parties we’ll consider:
- The boat’s owner. This person may or may not be the operator of the boat. Sometimes, the owner is a company that rents out watercraft. If the owner fails to maintain the boat in a safe condition but allows others to use it without warning, they could be negligent. Or, if they allow someone who is unqualified or inebriated to drive the boat, they might also be at fault.
- A passenger. Occasionally, we see cases where one passenger caused another to fall off the boat, leading to injuries or drowning. In a few situations, an intoxicated passenger tries to grab the wheel or otherwise causes a disturbance that results in an injury.
- A third party, like a mechanic who worked on the boat. If a mechanic or service worker fixed a boat component and made a mistake, which later caused the crash, the third party could be liable.
- The boat’s manufacturer. If a defective boat component caused the injury, the manufacturer might be at fault.
It’s not always obvious who is at fault when you’ve been injured in a boating accident, but your attorney can help by identifying liable parties and creating a plan to secure compensation for your damages.
Defective Products
Boats and their components aren’t the only products that could be defective. Almost any product can have a potentially dangerous defect, including household goods, furniture, electronics and appliances, cars, drugs and medical devices, and toys or children’s products.
Georgia has strict liability for defective product cases, meaning you don’t have to prove the manufacturer was negligent. They are expected to take responsibility if they create a product that is unreasonably dangerous.
However, the manufacturer isn’t always responsible for a defect. In some cases, a distributor or retailer may have altered or damaged the product, causing the defect.
These parties can also be held strictly liable, but it’s necessary to determine who actually caused the issue. Your lawyer will work to learn where things went wrong with the faulty product and seek to recover your damages.
Premises Liability
If you suffer an injury on someone else’s property, and you believe the property owner’s negligence is the cause, you may have grounds for a premises liability claim. It will be necessary for your lawyer to show evidence that the owner was negligent, which usually means:
- There was a hazardous condition on the property, which could range from a wet spot on the floor to a loose railing or a poorly lit parking lot. (These are only a few examples of hazards.)
- The property owner or manager knew or should have been aware of this hazardous condition.
- The owner or manager did not take reasonable actions to resolve the hazard. Reasonable steps vary depending on the situation, but they usually include either fixing the hazard (mopping up the puddle on the floor) or warning guests about it (placing a “Wet floor” or “Watch your step” sign).
- This hazard caused your injuries, and as a result, you sustained damages.
Premises liability can apply to both public and private property. If you’re injured at an individual’s home or other property, you may be able to make a claim on their homeowner’s liability insurance.
Injuries in a public place like a store or restaurant may be covered by business liability insurance.
Medical Malpractice
Suffering a severe health complication for any reason can be devastating.
In some cases, a patient may be frustrated because they believed their condition was treatable and would improve, yet they grew worse instead. Or, a loved one’s illness worsened, and they passed unexpectedly.
In these situations, it’s not unusual to wonder if medical malpractice occurred.
Could your severe health complications have been prevented? Did your doctor make a mistake?
Should they have diagnosed you earlier? Did something go wrong during your surgery?
It’s challenging to find the answers to these questions on your own; sometimes, a physician can do everything right and provide appropriate treatment, but the patient still develops a life-threatening complication. However, doctors are human, and they can make mistakes like anyone else.
In Georgia, a medical malpractice lawsuit requires evidence that the physician failed to exercise “a reasonable degree of skill and care” when treating the patient. Since a layperson lacks the medical knowledge to make this determination, a malpractice claim must include an affidavit from a medical professional who can confirm at least one instance of negligence by the defendant.
If you suspect medical malpractice, an experienced personal injury attorney can review your situation and, when there’s evidence of negligence, consult a medical professional to assess your case and provide an affidavit if necessary.
Worker’s Compensation
Most workplace injuries are handled through the Worker’s Compensation system, with few exceptions. Despite the “no-fault” nature of the Worker’s Comp system, many injured workers still struggle to access the benefits they deserve.
A Worker’s Comp claim can’t be turned down because the injured person was at fault, but the insurance adjuster can deny it for multiple other reasons, such as:
- The injury in question didn’t happen at work or wasn’t caused by work.
- The injured person faked or exaggerated their injury.
- The treatment is unnecessary.
- The injured worker was intoxicated, horsing around, or intentionally injured themselves.
- The injury wasn’t reported on time (within 30 days).
Frequently, injured workers come to us because the insurance adjuster reached one of the above conclusions erroneously. It can be upsetting to receive a claim rejection, but contacting a personal injury attorney is the right solution.
Please don’t call the insurance company yourself, as this often adds further complications. Instead, gather all the documentation you have of your injuries, medical records, names of witnesses, etc. and speak with a personal injury lawyer right away.
Where Can You Get Help From a Rockdale County Personal Injury Law Firm?
If you or a loved one have questions or concerns about a possible personal injury matter, please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free, confidential consultation. We’ll learn about your situation, answer your questions, and outline the options for recovering your damages.
If we take your case, you won’t owe us anything until we win or settle it.
Attorney Ali Awad is the founder and lead attorney of the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm, one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. He and his team have over twenty years of combined personal injury law experience and have recovered millions of dollars in compensation for injured people and their families.
In his spare time, he delivers down-to-earth legal advice to over a million followers on social media. Work with his professional team today when you call (470) 323-8779.
