Roswell has eight major roadways, the multi-use Big Creek Greenway, and several walking trails for transportation. Heavily trafficked by cars, pedestrians, and bicyclists, the area often sees motor vehicle accidents.
These can be devastating for the injured party, leading to painful injuries, lost time at work, property damage, and more difficulties. Unfortunately, recovering compensation for your injuries may also be challenging, especially if you rely on the insurance company to provide a fair settlement.
Get Help From a Roswell Car Accident Attorney Today
Navigating the aftermath of a car accident on your own isn’t easy. From managing persistent pain and ongoing medical care to bridging the financial gap caused by missed work, the hardships could seem endless.
Meanwhile, the insurance company may demand more documentation of your injuries, refuse to pay for some damages, undervalue your claim, or blame you for the accident.
But you don’t have to struggle with these challenges alone. An experienced car accident attorney can help you cut through the red tape, fighting for your right to adequate compensation after your car crash.
We’ll investigate the collision to provide the insurance company with as much evidence as possible in your case. If the insurance adjuster undervalues your claim or unfairly tries to assign you responsibility, we’ll stand up for your legal rights.
If you have questions or concerns about your car accident, please call the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free consultation. We’ll review your case, answer your questions, and discuss your options for securing compensation.
We never charge any upfront fees, so if you want to move forward with our help, you won’t owe us anything until we win or settle your case.
What if You Can’t Prove the Other Driver Is at Fault?
This is a common concern that many of our clients have. In many cases, we investigate their accident and are able to find additional evidence, build a strong case, and secure a settlement.
You may think you can’t prove fault if the police report was inconclusive or perhaps even incorrect. The reality is that police reports include the officer’s opinion of how the accident happened and who was at fault, but that opinion is based on observations at the scene.
Police officers are busy with many accidents and other emergencies, and due to limited resources, they can’t spend days investigating each car collision. They will make an educated guess based on the available evidence and witness statements, but we can challenge the police report if we find additional evidence.
We also encourage you not to make assumptions about what you can and can’t prove. Please speak with a lawyer if you have concerns about proving your case—we may be able to locate more witnesses, a video of the accident, or electronic data to illustrate what happened.
We recommend contacting an attorney as soon as possible after your car crash so we can have the best chance of recovering more information.
What if Both Drivers Are at Fault?
This happens in many cases. Georgia law uses modified comparative negligence statutes, under which each party is assigned a percentage of fault.
It can be 100/0, but it can also be any other combination that adds up to 100.
If you are assigned some percentage of fault, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t collect damages. Georgia uses the “50 percent bar to recovery” rule, meaning that you can’t recover compensation if you are at least 50 percent at fault.
If you are, for example, 20 percent responsible, you can recover damages, but they will be reduced by 20 percent.
Sometimes, this comes up because a client has received a letter from the insurance company stating they were partly at fault for the accident. They may take issue with losing part of their recovery when they feel they did nothing wrong.
Or the insurance company might state they don’t have to pay anything because the client was at least 50 percent to blame.
In either case, seeking qualified legal advice is the right decision. Your attorney will review the accident details and help you determine if the insurance company’s estimate of fault is fair.
Here are some potential problems we might spot when analyzing your claim:
- The insurance company has erroneously assigned some percentage of fault to you. Sometimes, this is due to the other driver, who may claim you made some driving mistake you know you didn’t make. In other cases, the insurance adjuster sees something in the police report or your own statements that they interpret to mean you made a wrong decision. This is one reason we recommend that you speak with an attorney before giving a statement to the insurance adjuster.
- The insurance adjuster has overestimated your degree of fault. Anyone can make a split-second decision that doesn’t work out well—even careful drivers. However, not every mistake causes or contributes to a car accident. If the insurance adjuster has overestimated your responsibility for the collision, we’ll provide them with further evidence and work to achieve a more equitable estimate.
What Is the Last Clear Chance Doctrine?
Sometimes, clients ask about the Last Clear Chance doctrine because they think it will help their case. Or, the other driver claims the injured party actually had the “last clear chance” to avoid the accident.
The Last Clear Chance doctrine essentially says that even if a plaintiff’s negligence contributed to or caused their own injuries, the defendant could still be liable if they had the opportunity to avoid the accident or injury. For instance, maybe you were looking at your phone and didn’t see another car coming—but the other driver saw you and could have stopped in time to avoid the accident.
While the Last Clear Chance doctrine is one potential defense in a car accident claim, it isn’t a solution in every case. Like any legal argument, we will need proof to back it up, and in many situations, it simply isn’t possible to prove it.
Can you prove the other driver saw you and had time to stop and avoid the accident? It depends on the circumstances, but in many situations, this could be challenging to prove.
However, there may be other ways to address your accident. We might be able to show that the other driver’s actions were more negligent than yours—perhaps they were speeding, ran a stop sign, or ignored other traffic laws.
If we can demonstrate they were more than 50 percent at fault, we may be able to recover some of your damages without proving they had the “last clear chance” to avoid the collision. Your attorney will always work to develop the best strategy for your particular situation.
What if You Are More at Faul Than the Other Driver?
No one wants to think that they caused an accident, but the reality is that someone’s human error causes most car collisions. You might drive carefully and take precautions, but it’s still possible to miss something or make an error.
When this happens, it’s helpful to know that you have other options for recovering your damages.
You can’t recover from the other driver when you’re at least 50 percent at fault (but you should check with a lawyer to ensure that the percentage is correct). However, with the right insurance coverage, you might be able to recover from your own policy.
What Car Insurance Is Required in Georgia?
Georgia requires at least $25,000 per person in bodily injury liability insurance ($50,000 per accident) and $25,000 in property damage liability. The idea of liability insurance is twofold: It protects injured people in situations where the responsible party can’t pay their damages, and it protects the responsible party from having to pay the injured party’s damages.
So, if you cause a car accident and another party is injured, they will likely ask your insurance company to pay for their damages—medical bills, lost income, car repairs, etc.
But what about your own injuries or property damage? Do you have to pay for those?
People sometimes ask if their liability insurance will cover their own expenses, and the answer is no. Liability insurance is only for your responsibility to others; however, you can add optional policies to your car insurance that will protect you in a broader range of situations:
- Medical Payments or MedPay coverage. This optional policy will pay for your injuries in an accident, no matter who is at fault. That means you can use MedPay if you caused an accident if you feel the other driver caused the accident but we can’t locate any evidence to prove it, or if you have a single-vehicle accident due to circumstances beyond your control (road debris, weather, animals in the road).
- Collision coverage. This policy covers property damage to your vehicle if you were at fault or were unable to prove the other driver was at fault. There is typically a deductible, usually in the range of a few hundred dollars, and after you meet that deductible, your repairs will be covered. If the damage is severe, the insurance company may “total” your car, meaning that the repairs either cost more than the car is worth or more than a certain percentage of the car’s worth. In this case, they can either pay you the “cash equivalent” of your car’s value (minus the deductible) or pay for a replacement vehicle of a similar make, model, mileage, etc.
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UI). This policy is not helpful if you are at fault, but it can be used if the at-fault driver is uninsured or underinsured. For instance, if the other driver has the bare minimum of liability insurance, and you have severe injuries resulting in $100,000 in medical bills, their policy would only have to pay $25,000. Worse, if other people were injured in the accident, you could receive even less than that because the total policy would only be worth $50,000, which would be divided among all the injured parties. However, you could use your UM/UI policy to recover additional damages.
Do You Need More Than the Minimum Liability Insurance?
Most people don’t plan on causing an accident—that’s what makes it an accident! But the fact remains that accidents happen, and if you’re at fault, the other driver can sue you personally for any damages your liability insurance doesn’t cover.
If you have no significant financial assets, the injured person’s attorney will probably advise against a lawsuit because it isn’t worth the time and stress if there is no clear path to recovery. But if you do have assets, a lawsuit is more likely—and in some cases, your property could be seized or subject to a lien.
For this reason, we encourage you to buy a more extensive liability policy if possible.
If you’re wondering whether you really need UM/UI insurance when you can simply sue the at-fault driver, the answer is yes. As noted above, you might be unable to recover on a judgment if the other driver has no substantial money or assets.
A UM/UI policy provides reliable coverage in these situations.
How Can You Learn More From a Roswell Car Accident Law Firm?
The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm is always available to assist with your questions and concerns about a car accident or other personal injury case. If there’s a way to recover your damages, we’ll find it, and we won’t charge you anything until we win or settle the case.
Attorney Ali Awad founded the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm, and in only a few short years, he turned it into one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. He and his team have over twenty years of combined experience in personal injury law and have recovered millions of dollars in compensation for injured people and their families.
When he’s not fighting for his clients in the courtroom or the boardroom, Mr. Awad offers no-nonsense legal advice to more than a million followers on social media. Work with Attorney Awad’s expert team when you call (470) 323-8779.
