Most car crash victims can expect two things: a long medical recovery period and a legal settlement.
The average injury-related medical bill exceeds $40,000. Emergency care, which is super costly, is just the beginning. Subsequent costs, such as extended follow-up care and physical therapy costs, sometimes eclipse the initial hospitalization costs.
About 95 percent of car crash claims settle out of court. As outlined below, settlement is a process, not a result, at least in most cases.
A Marietta personal injury lawyer plays an important role in both phases of the aftermath of a car accident. Usually, lawyers connect victims with doctors who focus on car crash-related injuries. In most cases, these doctors charge nothing upfront for their professional services. Then, when the case goes to court, a lawyer guides a case through the system and obtains maximum compensation for your serious injuries.
Medical Care
The main reason that medical bills are so high in car crash cases is that vehicle collision injuries are often difficult to diagnose and treat. The two most common examples are:
- Head Injuries: Athletes who sustain concussions often tell their coaches they “feel fine” and can therefore go right back into the game. That’s why the NFL and most other major sports now have concussion protocols. Unfortunately, there’s no vehicle collision concussion protocol. Doctors who don’t focus on these matters often take victims at their word when they say they feel fine. Therefore, their concussions or other head injuries get much worse.
- Internal Injuries: Serious plumbing issues are relatively easy to address (unless you’re Curly), but slow leaks are hard to find and fix. Similarly, almost any doctor can suture a ruptured artery, but a slow-leaking internal organ is much more difficult to see and treat. The motion of a car crash often causes such injuries. When internal organs jostle against each other, the small abrasions leak profusely, because internal organs don’t have protective skin layers.
Emotional vehicle collision injuries, mostly Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, are similarly difficult to diagnose and treat.
Quick PTSD diagnosis is almost impossible. NSR, or normal stress response, is a (you guessed it) normal condition that usually goes away on its own. Only an experienced physician can distinguish between NSR and PTSD.
A diagnosis is only half the battle. Treating PTSD is a long and expensive process. Most available medications simply ease the symptoms. Furthermore, therapy is usually a trial and error process, because not everyone responds to the same kinds of therapy in the same way.
The Legal Process
Occasionally, car accident claims settle almost immediately after medical treatment is at least substantially complete. At that point, a Marietta personal injury lawyer can accurately determine the claim’s settlement value, and some insurance companies fold faster than Superman on laundry day. Usually, however, the claim goes through some or all of the lawsuit process.
Filing Legal Paperwork
If a Marietta personal injury lawyer must file court documents, these documents must cite the correct legal foundation for the case, which is usually ordinary negligence or negligence per se.
Ordinary negligence is basically a lack of care. Most drivers have a duty of reasonable care which requires them to avoid accidents if possible. Aggressive driving, like speeding, and operator impairment, like fatigue, breaches the duty of care.
If the breach substantially caused injury, a Marietta personal injury lawyer can obtain compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
Negligence per se is the violation of a safety statute. If emergency responders cited the tortfeasor (negligent driver) for a safety law violation, such as DUI, and that violation substantially caused injury, the victim could be entitled to the aforementioned damages as a matter of law.
The paperwork must also include the proper parties. For example, in a DUI collision, the commercial provider who sold alcohol to the tortfeasor could be vicariously liable for damages.
Procedural Motions
Summary judgement and motions to dismiss are the two most frequent procedural motions in car accident claims. If a judge grants either kind of motion, the judge could throw the case out of court.
Usually, a motion for summary judgment asserts there’s insufficient evidence to prove a key element of negligence.
Assume Tim Tortfeasor was pulling out of a Chili’s parking lot when he hit Velma Victim. The mere fact that Tim was in the parking lot may be insufficient to prove that he went inside Chili’s, let alone got drunk there. Usually, a Marietta personal injury lawyer must produce a credit card or other transaction report that proves Tim bought something.
The burden of proof in a civil case is a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not). If Tim spent $25 at Chili’s, it’s more likely than not that he had three happy hour margaritas.
Students who do their homework assignments usually do well on tests. Likewise, if a Marietta personal injury lawyer diligently collects evidence, summary judgement motions almost always fail.
A motion to dismiss often cites a procedural mistake, like filing the case in the wrong county. Once again, the homework and test analogy applies.
Discovery
During this court-supervised evidence exchange process, both sides must place all their cards face up on the table. This requirement means that insurance companies can no longer hide smoking guns, such as a critical eyewitness statement.
So, the best evidence, and maximum compensation, usually isn’t available until discovery. In other words, if a case settles too early, the victim might be settling for less.
Mediation
During informal negotiations, which usually began before a lawyer filed court documents, insurance companies can make low-ball and “take it or leave it” offers.
But during mediation, both sides have a legal duty to negotiate in good faith. Their offers must be invitations to negotiate and compromise, not unreasonable demands.
Mostly because of the duty to negotiate in good faith, and also because both sides are usually anxious to avoid rolling the dice at trial, the mediation success rate is about 90 percent.
The medical and legal process following a car accident is often long and frustrating. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Marietta , contact The Phillips Law Firm, LLC. We do not charge upfront legal fees in these matters.
