Estimates maintain that 405,925 personal injury claims are filed in the United States every year. Of those claims, only 4% ever make it to trial. 52% of all personal injury claims that go to court involve car accidents.
If you’ve been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you’ll need to file a personal injury claim. Let’s be real. Nobody wants to deal with the law or insurance companies. Why? Because dealing with them can be a long, stressful, and expensive process.
You shouldn’t be intimidated. If you’re injured because of someone else, you need to receive compensation for your medical bills and suffering. Filing a personal injury claim is the only way to get it. Read on to learn all about it.
File a Police Report
When involved in a car accident of any kind, it is a good idea to call the police. A car accident can be a harrowing experience. The aftermath of an event like this can be chaotic, especially if you’re hurt.
The truth is, your body may be so full of adrenaline you might not even know if you’re hurt. An adrenaline rush can hide the symptoms of whiplash or other injuries for hours or even a day.
Calling the police whenever you’ve been involved in an accident also helps you when you file your claim. A medical evaluation from a paramedic plus a police witness provides the evidence you’ll need in a claim or a trial.
In some states like Pennsylvania, contacting the police to file a report after an accident is a law requirement. Even if your accident and injury occur in a state where contacting the police isn’t required, you need to do it.
Check the Insurance Policy
If you’re involved in a minor car accident where nobody’s injured, what do you do? If the involved parties carry any level of personal duty, you pull off to a safe place and exchange insurance information.
If injured in a car accident due to someone’s negligence the first part of the personal injury claims process is to find out if your injurer’s insurance covers personal injury.
In America, you’re required to carry auto insurance if you own or lease a car. These policies are not all the same. Some drivers only carry a minimum liability policy that might only cover a portion of your medical bills.
Let’s talk more about the two main types of insurance policies before we talk about the next step of personal injury claims.
Liability Coverage
Liability coverage is a driving requirement in most states. Minimum-liability might be cheap, but it often doesn’t cover the total sum of injury or damage.
If the driver who caused your injuries only carries minimum liability, they may have to pay you the remainder of your bills out of pocket. This is where a personal injury claim may get sticky.
The party who injured you will have to pay out of pocket for damage to their car. While insurance companies are a challenge to deal with, getting money from an individual can be much harder.
Collision
While the law only requires a driver to carry liability insurance, many drivers also opt for collision coverage. Collision insurance covers damage to a driver’s automobile no matter who is at fault.
This type of insurance protects a driver from exorbitant repair costs. If the driver who injured you has a collision policy, you benefit from their reduced out of pocket costs for repairs to their vehicle.
Hire an Attorney
It’s best not to deal with an insurance company alone. If you’ve been severely injured or even if you haven’t, dealing with an injury claim is not easy. It’s stressful and confusing.
After you’ve filed your police report and received insurance information from the injuring party, you need to hire a car accident attorney. An expert attorney can take on your claim and do all the legal work for you.
Many of these personal injury attorneys work on a contingency basis. This means you don’t pay them until you receive your settlement. Because of this, you don’t have to worry whether you can afford one.
You don’t hire an attorney for peace of mind only. You hire one to get you the most money possible. Many personal injury attorneys provide their clients with an initial personal injury claims calculator that estimates how much you will net if you win.
Are personal injury claims taxable? No. You do not have to pay taxes on any settlement amount. The only money you’ll pay is your attorney fee.
Prove Fault
This is where the police report and a lawyer come in handy. When preparing your claim, your lawyer will use the police report, your testimony, and the testimony of the defendant to help prove fault.
Fault is the basis of all personal injury claims. Personal injury claims fall under comparative negligence law. Your lawyer will prove that your injuries were at least 51% the fault of the defendant.
They will do so by questioning the defendant’s duty to keep you safe, whether the defendant breached that duty due to carelessness, and whether that carelessness caused your injury.
File the Claim
After you and your lawyer have done this due diligence, it’s time to file the personal injury claim. When you draft the complaint, you and your attorney will review your case and collaborate on a compensation amount.
Once your attorney files the claim, the defendant has the option to settle out of court or take it to trial. In a trial, your attorney will present evidence and testimony attempting to prove fault and win your compensation.
File a Personal Injury Claim
If you’re injured in a car accident, you need to file a personal injury claim. You deserve compensation for your suffering. Make sure you follow the correct steps outlined here and hire a good lawyer. The law is on your side!
Do you need more legal advice? Make sure to check out our other articles.