Introduction
So, you are driving down the road, obeying the mandated laws of the road when a person strikes your vehicle, causing you a severe injury. Maybe you’re not even driving, but instead on a bicycle or walking when someone hits you with their car. These are a couple of the more common kinds of incidences that happen on the roads and highways of our communities each and every day. People get hurt through the negligence or simply through circumstances caused by another individual in their car.
The Results of Car Accidents Are Often Serious
No matter whether it was an accident or through some form of negligence, the reality is that a person can be severely hurt by these kinds of accidents. Depending on the speed involved, the kind of car they are driving, and where you are hit, you can be severely injured and face tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills as well as loss of wages, and much more. These accidents can have a traumatic impact on a person, forcing them to go through a prolonged rehabilitation. Keeping them away from work, and maybe even leading to several surgeries before they are able to reach a level of recovery.
The Costs Can Be Overwhelming
Of course, these kinds of accidents can be extremely costly. Seeing a doctor for a regular check-up can cost you hundreds of dollars, so being treated for emergency care and surgeries related to an accident can be expensive to say the least. They can literally send a person into bankruptcy because they are unable to afford the costs incurred as part of the injury they have suffered. You may be required to go to physical therapy, see specialists, or need prolonged visits to doctors and care facilities to be able to care for your injuries. This can completely destroy any savings you may have and put you at risk for loss of home, job, and any sense of security that you may have had.
You’re the Victim, Why Are You Paying the Bill?
While an incident where you are hurt in a car accident may have been purely accidental, that does not reduce the care you may need. You can still find yourself needing a great deal of personal care, and you should not be held responsible for trying to get the assistance you need. You need to find a personal injury attorney that can assist you in ensuring that the care that you need is provided, and that you are not held responsible for doing so. You are the victim and you deserve to be compensated for the damage that has been caused to you as a result of this accident.
An attorney can assist you in getting what you deserve. By working with your insurance company and the insurance company of the person who caused the accident, you can begin to see compensation and have your medical bills taking care of while you are going through the process of getting your compensation.
Sometimes Insurance Doesn’t Cover All the Costs
In many cases, the amount that can be paid from an accident is limited by the amount of coverage provided by the insurance company. While this may be sufficient enough in a large number of cases, there are those where the amount of insurance coverage is woefully inadequate to cover the cost incurred by the person for their care. In this case, you may have to directly go after the person who has caused the accident to get the remaining compensation you need. You deserve to have the person who directly caused these injuries to pay for the cost that had been incurred.
An attorney can help you file a civil suit and represent you at court to ensure that you get the compensation you deserve. This even goes beyond getting your medical bills and treatment paid. You may have long-term care, or may have suffered in other ways from the accident beyond physical. Maybe the person has been completely negligent in causing the accident, such as drinking and driving, texting while driving, or not adequately paying attention to the road. There could be punitive damages that you can receive as well, and an attorney can assist you with this.
How Long Does it Take to Get a Settlement Check From a Car Accident?
Often the most important question victims have in relation to the legal issues involved in getting care is how long will it take to get some form of a settlement check from a car accident? They are suffering now and have bills to pay now and they want to understand how long it will be until they know they will be covered. It’s a fair question, but the answer is difficult. In an incident where there is a minimal amount of damage and both insurance companies are in agreement upon the compensation that should be paid, or at least in close agreement, this may take no more than a few months.
While most insurance companies are not very easy to work with, they do recognize that there are injuries that can be easily dispensed with by paying 5000 or $10,000. If that is an amount that works perfectly for you and your attorney, you can have your claim resolved in no time at all, likely within 3 to 6 months. Where it gets a lot more complicated is when bigger numbers are involved or when there is a need to at least begin litigation through court.
The threat of litigation may cause the insurance company or the person who caused the accident to seek a settlement, but this could take a year or more before it reaches that point. What the opposing lawyer or insurance company is looking to do is to prolong the litigation for as long as possible, hoping that your desperation to get a settlement will lead to you accepting a lower amount of money as compensation. In other words, they’re hoping you’ll cave.
How JacksonWhite Can Help
Working with a lawyer can help to protect you and make the litigation a lot more expedient to assist you in getting the compensation you need. In addition, an attorney can work with hospitals and treatment providers to keep them satisfied while you are going through the litigation process. What this means is that you may not get your settlement right away, but you can get the care you need in the meantime.
Call our Personal Injury team at (480) 467-4392 to discuss your case today.