After a car accident, always remember:
When to Hire a Car Accident Lawyer
Why Do You Need To Hire A Lawyer After A Car Accident?
In short, it’s important to have a lawyer if your car accident is in any way complex. These are the types of complex accidents where you should hire a lawyer: The other driver was drunk, on drugs, or distracted by texting/phone use. Injuries involve broken bones or fractures. Your medical bills are more than $5,000.
To prove another driver is to blame for a motor vehicle accident, the plaintiff must prove to the satisfaction of a court that:
If there are no injuries or they are minor, you may think you don’t need a lawyer in a no-fault accident case. It’s a common misconception that all you have to do is file a claim with your auto insurance company. Then under Michigan’s no-fault insurance laws, medical bills and attendant allowance are paid out.
If there was some damage to the other driver’s car, they may pursue the at-fault driver through Michigan mini-tort. This is a fairly inexpensive way of settling small disputes. MCL 500.3135 (3) (c) (e) provides that damages to motor vehicles may be recovered up to a limit of $3,000.
Under the no-fault insurance law, the accident victim gives up their right to sue the at-fault-driver in return for insurance benefits decided upon by the state. However, the accident victim may be able to sue you for non-economic damages if they have suffered serious injuries in certain circumstances.
In certain circumstances, the other driver may sue the at-fault driver for excess economic loss compensation. This compensation would cover past, present, and future expenses not covered by PIP benefits through the no-fault insurance law.
Michigan’s law surrounding car accidents is complex and has many factual and procedural traps for the unwary. You should seek legal advice as soon after the accident as possible so that a lawyer well-versed in this practice area can help protect your rights.
First, you will want to contact the insurance company you had when the accident occurred. That insurance company is still responsible for providing you the protection afforded by your policy at the time of the crash.
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Plaintiffs Want Payment Quickly. The plaintiff in a car accident suit wants to get their payment as quickly as possible. After all, money now is worth more than money later. Additionally, plaintiffs probably have expenses. These include medical bills and lost wages.
They will give your insurance company all the evidence they have that their client sustained an injury and that your negligence and recklessness caused it. From there, your insurance company and the plaintiff’s attorneys will begin negotiations. If your insurance company believes the evidence is compelling, they will probably want to settle early.
It is always better to settle because when an insurance company agrees to an amount, they will pay it out quickly. If you receive a judgment in court, there is no guarantee of collection.
Your insurance company and the plaintiff’s attorneys will present their evidence. Once the judge makes a decision, you can’t negotiate it or belatedly accept an earlier offer. So when you’re being sued in a car accident, settling is usually better all around.
This applies most to an insurance company, but the plaintiff’s attorney will probably want to avoid a trial as well . Anything can happen in a trial. To avoid an unexpected result and to reduce their own risks, both plaintiffs and defendants will look to settle a lawsuit.
When you are being sued in a car accident, you probably won’t have to pay up . It will be your insurance company. And it’s in the insurance company’s best interest to settle a case quickly. They want to do this for a few reasons, which we’ll talk about farther down.
Even if neither party gets exactly what they want, there’s a degree of certainty with a settlement. The plaintiff can avoid getting nothing, and the defendant can avoid a massive verdict for the plaintiff. Both of these things can happen in trials, and there is no mitigating it or negotiating it.
It is their obligation to represent your best interests and to help protect you from any personal liability. Of course, this answer presumes that you maintained the mandatory liability limits. If you did not, then she can definitely bring suit against you to hold you liable for her damages. If you are unable to pay, then there are several options that she has to attempt to get the money that she was awarded.
If you have auto insurance, you should immediately call your insurance company and report the accident to them. They will take care of everything. If you don't have auto insurance, she can certainly sue you for money; but more likely, she'll go after her own insurance company (under her Uninsured Motorist coverage).
If you do not have insurance then the person who was injured would have to sue you to get a judgment against you and they attempt to execute the judgment by garnishing your wages or tax returns. It is unlikely they would do so, but possible.
Eugene Ray Critchett (Unclaimed Profile) Generally, if a person is at-fault for a collision and had insurance at the time of the collision, the person can submit the claim to their insurance carrier to defend them. This will help avoid a judgment against you, avoid attorney fees and possibly avoid judgment against you.
Under the laws of the State of Oklahoma you must carry automobile insurance in order to get or keep a driver's license to drive a car. The insurance is required at least in part, to insure that financially strapped people provide some coverage for others in the event of a car wreck.
However, she will have to prove her damages. She can't recover money unless there was property damage, or she was hurt. If you have auto insurance, it will hire an attorney to defend the case, and pay the damages up to the policy limits. If you don't , she might get a judgment against you, but if you own nothing, there is no way for her to collect.
If she does, and yes she can win since the accident was your fault, you need to show up in court and make her prove her damages. The worst thing you can do is ignore her suit, thus allowing her to take a default judgment against you for basically any amount she wants, since you did not contest any of her claims.
Look around for "insurance defense" or "civil litigation - defense" lawyers. If a lawyer is listed as an insurance defense lawyer, they handle your type of case although usually on contract with an insurance company. Warning: it will probably not be cheap to resolve. You might want to see what they...
Civil attorney who is licensed in Kentucky. Also, "trying to sue" me is cryptic. You need to confirm if you have actually been sued.
Generally, you want to hire a civil defense attorney who routinely defends personal injury cases. I hope you have now secured automobile liability insurance for your vehicle. You will soon learn that paying an insurance premium is a bargain compared to paying for a...
I agree with the other attorneys who have responded to your question. You will need an attorney that is well versed in defending personal injury cases specific to motor vehicle accidents.
You need someone with experience defending personal injury law suits. Generally this would be taken care of by your insurance; however, since you did not have insurance the burden will be on you to find and retain an attorney. You can look on Avvo for attorneys who practice in your area...
Report the accident to your insurance company as soon as possible after your car accident or after someone has an accident on your property. Make sure you get a claim number and write it down.
If you have a personal injury lawyer, have your lawyer look at it first. Otherwise, you can sign an affidavit that you do not have any other insurance. Make sure that the affidavit doesn’t say you are admitting having caused the accident.
A bad faith letter is a letter from the personal injury lawyer advising that the plaintiff is demanding payment of your entire insurance policy to settle the case and advises that if the entire insurance policy is not paid the lawyer will go after your income and personal assets.
Yes. When your insurance company settles the claim against you, you will no longer have any personal liability for the injuries caused by your negligence.
Yes. Hopefully, you have a liability insurance coverage limit that is more than the amount that you could be held responsible for. One of the advantages of having insurance is that your insurance company will provide you with a free lawyer to defend you. Unfortunately, insurance companies frequently don’t do a good job.
When your insurance company refuses to settle and you’re concerned about personal liability, you may want to consider hiring a lawyer to review the file to determine if a settlement is warranted. Your lawyer can put pressure on your insurance company to settle and obtain a release to release you from further liability.
Just because someone filed a lawsuit against you, that doesn’t mean you were at fault or 100% at fault for causing the accident. In many car accidents, both drivers are partially at fault for causing the accident.