And Then It Happens To You… A Car Accident.
An accident victim who was injured in a car accident in Tucson, Arizona describes her experience in this guest post....
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No one ever expects to be involved in a car accident, suffer an injury, or need to begin looking for a Phoenix car accident attorney.
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You should take several steps after a car accident to protect your right to damages. If your injuries are severe or life-threatening, you should skip the following steps, call 911, and get the treatment you need to safeguard your health. That said, if you’ve only suffered a few bruises and cuts, you’ll want to take the following post-accident measures:
Even if you were in a minor car accident, it’s important to call the police and give them a statement regarding what happened. Based on the information they collect, local law enforcement will create an accident report that can serve as valuable evidence for your car accident claim. The report will include details about the accident, such as the location, time, and date, as well as the names of those involved. Your attorney can use this information to build your claim and help you get the compensation you deserve.
Once you’ve spoken to the police, make sure you speak to the driver and take down their insurance information. Remember, when talking to police officers and other drivers involved in the collision, don’t admit fault or say anything that could be used against your claim.
Next, you’ll want to document the scene of the accident by taking photographs with your cell phone. First, take photos of the general area where the accident occurred. Then, take close-up photos of the damage done to all vehicles involved. Make sure to include surrounding objects like rails or signs that were damaged in the crash and any signs of unsafe road conditions. Finally, you’ll want to take pictures of any visible injuries you’ve suffered. A car accident attorney from our team in Tucson can use the images you provide to build a strong personal injury claim or lawsuit.
Once you’ve finished documenting the scene of the accident, it’s important to speak to eyewitnesses. If you find anyone who saw the crash occur, ask for their contact information and if they would be willing to provide a statement about the car accident they witnessed. A Tucson lawyer can use their testimony to strengthen your case and provide valuable evidence in court.
Once you’ve done everything you can at the scene of the crash, you’ll want to get treatment for your injuries and have a doctor examine you for any serious complications that have been masked by the adrenaline and shock of the accident. In addition to protecting your health, seeking medical attention soon after the collision will increase the likelihood of receiving fair compensation for your losses. That’s because relevant parties, like insurance adjusters and jurors, tend to take cases more seriously when accident victims seek medical care promptly. Getting immediate medical care can also establish a paper trail regarding your losses. Ask your provider to share detailed documentation of your injuries so our car accident lawyers in Tucson can calculate how much you’re owed for medical expenses.
In the days and weeks following your car crash, you might feel tempted to notify your friends and family about what happened by posting on social media. We strongly advise abasing doing so, as anything you post online can be used against you in court. For example, if you post a photo of yourself, insurance representatives could use it to claim that your injuries don’t look as severe as you say they are. Instead of posting about the accident on social media, we suggest notifying your loved ones in person or over a phone call.
If you’ve suffered financial losses, physical injuries, and emotional trauma from a collision, you’ll want to do everything you can to recover maximum compensation. In addition to completing the steps listed above, you’ll also want to hire a Tucson car accident attorney ASAP. Joining forces with a lawyer soon will allow them to investigate your accident before evidence is lost or removed. They’ll also be able to interview witnesses while their memories of the incident are still fresh. Getting in touch with a lawyer immediately will also ensure that your civil suit is filed within Arizona’s statute of limitations for car accident lawsuits.
Our personal injury attorneys have recovered tens of millions of dollars for our clients. Our efforts have helped clients suffering from serious injuries get the money they needed to cover medical bills, lost wages, and other damages.
We’ll strive to offer you the same comprehensive services when you come to us after your auto accident. From your initial consultation to the end of your trial, you can count on our team to:
When you work with our team, you benefit from our eighty years of combined experience. Since our firm was founded, our Tucson, AZ, car accident lawyers have secured impressive case results , including settlements of up to $265,000 for clients injured in auto collisions. Our testimonials speak to our ability to serve our clients by addressing insurance claims, stubborn defendants, and even catastrophic losses. If you have questions about what your car accident case may look like, you can schedule a consultation with one of our personal injury lawyers . We can assess your accident, help you estimate the value of your losses, and prepare you for the complexities of a civil car accident trial.
I-19 between Tucson and Nogales regularly makes several of the country’s most dangerous road lists. It ranks 19th overall in the U.S. in terms of fatalities per mile. Because the road doesn’t always have barriers between its lanes of traffic, many drivers end up driving on the wrong side of the road on their way to and from Phoenix. Tucson locals must be aware of potential risks beyond the roads, such as the intersections that the American Automobile Association has identified as the most dangerous in the area. These intersections are:
While the city government is trying to make these intersections safer to navigate, environmental factors only contribute to a portion of the area’s car accidents. If you believe an unsafe intersection contributed to your collision, an attorney can determine if taking action against a government entity is the right choice.
Desert roads present challenges for drivers. While you can’t control other drivers’ behavior behind the wheel, you can keep an eye out for the following:
Arizona is not a no-fault state. This means that you must prove that someone else was responsible for your crash to receive compensation for your injuries. It does not mean that you are completely barred from recovery if you were to blame for the crash so long as the other driver bore some responsibility for the crash. Sometimes, fault may be clear, like if one of the drivers ran a red light. In other cases, it may be more difficult to establish, and a thorough investigation may be required. Once fault is determined , the responsible party may need to pay for damages and injuries you incurred. That said, an insurance company or a court may apportion blame in a car crash. Each one of the drivers can recover for the portion of the crash that was not their fault under Arizona’s contributory negligence policy. For example, if you suffered $100,000 in damages and you were 20 percent responsible for the crash, you could recover $80,000.
In most civil car accident cases, you need to prove that another party’s negligence contributed to your losses. However, a misdemeanor conviction after a car accident can serve as proof of negligence. These charges tend to indicate that a driver engaged in some manner of unreasonable behavior, such as:
This is why it is so important to get a police report after the accident. An attorney can use evidence of a ticket to argue that negligence contributed to your losses.
When you come away from a car accident, you’re left with questions regarding your health and your upcoming bills. Instead of asking how much the average car accident settlement yields, consider how much you’re owed for the unique losses and challenges you’re facing due to the collision. For example, your car accident could have been much more serious than the average crash. This means you could have suffered more losses. In turn, the settlement you’re owed is going to be more substantial than the one someone in a fender bender might request. To determine the value of a possible car accident settlement, schedule a consultation with a Tucson car accident lawyer. They can calculate your non-economic and economic losses and then present you with the ideal amount of compensation to shoot for.
When an attorney determines how much your car accident claim is worth, they’ll aim to come up with a number that is likely to return your finances, physical health, and emotional well-being to the levels they were at before your collision. If you suffered major monetary losses and catastrophic injuries, our team will have no problem requesting a high-value settlement from insurers or a large verdict from the court. No matter how much your car accident claim is worth, we’ll strive to secure the damages you’re owed. While we can’t give you a precise settlement estimate right now, we can encourage you to schedule a consultation with a knowledgeable attorney. A lawyer can review your accident-related bills and discuss the non-economic losses you’ve suffered due to the crash to determine how much you’re owed.
When you work with our firm, you won’t have to worry about communicating or negotiating with the insurance company. Our attorneys can deal with insurers, so you have more time to focus on recovering from your injuries. In fact, we strongly recommend that you avoid speaking to insurance adjusters. Since insurers are always looking for ways to pay honest claimants less than what they’re worth, an adjuster might try to get you to say something that they can use to devalue your claim. When you hand your claim over to an experienced lawyer from our team, you can rest assured that they’ll do everything they can to protect your right to compensation and negotiate a fair settlement offer.
If the settlement offer you receive is worth far less than you were expecting based on your own estimated compensation, the offer can feel like a slap in the face. Fortunately, our team reviews any settlement offers you receive with you. You, like many other victims before you, are likely to reject your first settlement offer. Afterward, we can work with you to draft a demand letter to the insurance company elaborating on the evidence you have asserting your right to additional support. This entire car accident claim process can be lengthy, even if your case never goes to trial. We’ll stand with you every step of the way and prevent an insurance company from trying to trick you out of your right to both compensation and legal action.
It is impossible to know how long your car accident case will take to resolve. Most of the process is out of your control. Your attorney would need to investigate and gather the evidence needed to support your claim before they file it. Then, the insurance company has its internal process, which could take months. While the average case settles in just under a year, your case may be far from average. Complicating factors could add to the standard unreasonableness of the insurance company. When you work with our team, though, we’ll keep you updated regarding developments in your case and ensure you have access to the information you need to proceed comfortably.
Although the majority of personal injury cases are resolved during insurance negotiations, there’s a chance that your attorney may have to take legal action to get the damages you’re owed. If you have to file a personal injury lawsuit, an attorney from our team can file an initial complaint and handle the discovery process. As they do so, they’ll also arrange meetings with the defense and discuss settling outside of court. If the defense refuses to agree to a settlement, your car accident lawyer will represent you in court, present evidence to the jury, and demand that you be awarded a fair verdict.
Filing a car accident lawsuit does not guarantee a trial. Once your suit is submitted, there’s a good chance that the defense will agree to offer a settlement to avoid a costly legal battle. If the defense agrees to a pre-trial settlement, you’ll get the compensation you need to deal with your medical bills, income losses, and other accident-related challenges without having to go to trial.
You might assume that, in light of the bills related to your car accident, you can’t afford to pursue legal action against a negligent party. This is not the case. Our car accident attorneys in Tucson operate on a contingency fee basis. This means that you will never need to write our firm a check. Instead, when you first meet with our team, you can sign a contingency fee agreement. This agreement states that our firm will receive a percentage of your proceeds should you receive compensation for your accident. If we don’t win your case, we won’t charge you any out-of-pocket fees! You can learn more about our contingency fee agreements during an initial case consultation.
Doug Zanes began practicing in 1997 because he wanted to help other people. Today, Zanes Law upholds that original goal and fights for maximum compensation on behalf of injured drivers throughout Arizona. Over the past twenty-years our car accident attorneys have successfully helped thousands of injured clients recover over $500,000,000 in compensation from hit and run accidents, pickup truck accidents, semi-truck accidents, ATV accidents, motorcycle accidents, and all other types of motor vehicle collisions. If you’d like more information about what a Tucson car accident lawyer from our legal team can do for you, contact us and schedule a free, no-obligation consultation. During your consultation, an experienced attorney will ask you about your collision and let you know if you’re eligible to file a claim or lawsuit.
An accident victim who was injured in a car accident in Tucson, Arizona describes her experience in this guest post....
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