Hit Me With Your Best Shot – The 8 Things You Should Know About Car Accidents
You have just gotten in a car accident and you are probably thinking “what do I do?’ Some of it depends on how serious the damage is, both physically and medically . Here are 8 tips to help you during that stressful time.
1. Assess Medical Injuries.
In serious accidents where the police are on the scene, you will probably be asked whether you want to take an ambulance to the hospital. Consider carefully that question about whether you want to go in an ambulance to the emergency room. If you have any feeling at all that you may have been hurt, consider letting the hospital check you out. In any impact, it is recommended to be more guarded in your language about your injuries. In minor accidents, some have the tendency to say they are fine. The reality is that you may not know if you’re fine. Even if you do not go in an ambulance to the emergency room, you may have issues later on. If you do not get checked out, it could come back to haunt you. The insurance company could say your injuries are minor since you refused the ambulance when offered.
2. Take Pictures.
Photographs are a helpful way to keep a record of what happened. Take pictures of your car, the other car and photos of the position of the cars on the street. This could be some of your best evidence in documenting your case.
3. Be Careful With Your Words.
Statements may come back to haunt you. It is fine if you do not want to make an argument about who was at fault. Phrases like “don’t worry about it” or “I’m fine” should be avoided. Bear in mind, it is possible those statements may be used against you.
4. Call the Police.
Generally, if there is no injury or there’s not severe property damage, sometimes the police will not come to the scene but rather ask the parties to make a report online, trade insurance information and move the cars out of the road, particularly if there’s a weather event. You may not have the police, unless you say you’re injured, in which case they will come and send an ambulance. However, if the police do come, they will usually do an accident report. Make sure you get a copy of the accident report so that you, so that you have that from the beginning.
5. Interview Witnesses.
You want to make sure that you’ve gotten the names and phone numbers of anyone who might have witnessed the accident. Sometimes they are not listed in the accident report.
6. Seek Counsel.
Look for an attorney experienced in automobile accidents and who will represent them on a contingent basis. In order for an attorney to be able to take a case like that, they have to be able to evaluate and be honest with you regarding the chances you have. One good thing about contingent fee cases is that if an attorney is not willing to do a case on a contingent fee, it probably means they don’t believe in it. Therefore, you should think twice about whether you can bring that claim. If the attorney is asking to charge you hourly for an accident case, they should be avoided. In one sense, the contingent fee agreement puts the attorney and the client together in the community of interest, but there’s a limit to that. This sort of harkens back to all of the advertisements you see on TV for attorneys who say they can resolve your accident case. Typically, those firms rely on a business model where they are bringing in as many claims as possible and settling them very quickly. That is where the interest of the attorney starts to depart from the interest of the client. The attorney has an interest in bringing in numerous, numerous claims and settling them very quickly with very little time expended at a very low amount. The attorney can actually make a lot of money doing it that way. You should have an attorney who’s going to take each case and try to maximize the value of each case. The longer you have the claim, the insurance companies will not pay for a claim that has not been filed as much as they will pay for a claim that has been filed.
7. Understand Insurance Company Strategy.
The insurance company will generally not pay early in the case as much as they would later in the case. In my experience, they are hoping to latch on to the interest of that attorney to settle. So technically, if the police officer, for example, said, “you know, I can’t tell who’s at fault here, both of them said they had the green light, so therefore I’m not going to write a ticket,” that makes the case more difficult to settle. Some insurance companies will tell you that if it is an issue of disputed liability, they won’t settle it. The reality is they will settle it later, particularly if you have better evidence.
They know the attorney has an interest in settling. They are going to try to get the attorney to tell the client, “I wouldsettle this case.” It is extremely important that you find an attorney who will hold onto that case and will continue to prosecute as long as necessary to get a fair sum. Sometimes it’s just sort of formulaic where insurance companies may offer to pay the medical bills plus 50%. Sometimes they start off not even being willing to pay the medical bills, but the medical bills are very important to a car accident case. Whether or not someone was cited is still relevant just in terms of who might end up being at fault and whether the insurance company is willing to settle the case.
8. Assess Other Damages.
Property damage is very often settled separately. They will pay for your car, or maybe your insurance company will pay for the car, and you will not have a claim for property damage. But sometimes you do, especially if they deny liability. Property damage definitely goes into the amount of the claim because it can be a significant number if it’s a valuable car. Obviously, a big issue for us in determining whether to take a case is who is at fault. Under Colorado law, whether a traffic citation has been issued or who it was issued is not admissible in evidence. Another issue is lost wages. If you did not have to take time off work because of the accident, it probably shows that there was not a large amount of pain and suffering, and it definitely shows that you do not have numbers for lost wages. However, if you do have lost wages, those can pile up pretty quick, and it’s an element of the claim that can be brought.
In Summary.
There are many issues to deal with automobile accidents. Damages including medical, property damages and lost wages need to be documented. It is important to understand that the insurance company has a different interest than you. When hiring counsel, it’s best to go to somebody who is going to value your case. You will want an attorney who your case is important to so that your interests are more closely aligned with that attorney.
Sam Ventola has over 30 years’ experience in estate planning, probate and probate litigation. When he is not working for his clients, he enjoys spending time with his family, especially his grandson.
Ventola Law serves the Denver Metro area including Arvada, Aurora, Boulder, Brighton, Commerce City, Castle Rock, Golden, Lakewood, Littleton and Arapahoe, Adams, Douglas and Jefferson Counties.