Car accidents can destroy people’s health and finances in an instant. If you suffered property damage, severe injuries, and other losses related to a car accident in The Triangle stemming from another person’s negligence, you have the legal right to pursue compensation for your economic and noneconomic losses.
Learn more about your legal rights by visiting with the legal team at Ben Crump Law, PLLC. Call (844) 730-0233 today for a free case review and discover how a Raleigh personal injury lawyer can work with you regarding your car accident case.
Types of Car Accidents
According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), Raleigh had more than 80,000 car accidents over a three-year stretch, with more than 14,000 resulting in injuries and 86 fatalities. The Raleigh personal injury lawyers at Ben Crump Law, PLLC, can handle all types of car accident cases, including:
- Head-on collisions
- Rear-end accidents
- Sideswiping accidents
- Multiple-car accidents
- T-bone accidents
- Distracted driving accidents
- Drowsy driving accidents
- Accidents involving drivers under the influence of drugs and alcohol
- Car accidents involving large commercial trucks, motorcycles, bicyclists, or pedestrians
For a free legal consultation with a car accidents lawyer serving Raleigh, call (844) 730-0233
Understanding a Victim’s Right to Compensation
No matter what kind of car accident occurs, a victim may have the right to compensation if their injuries resulted from someone else’s negligence. While every car accident will have its own set of facts and circumstances, here are some types of compensation a victim could recover after a car crash.
Medical Costs
Victims of car accidents may have the right to receive compensation for:
- Ambulance transportation
- Emergency room services
- Hospitalization
- Surgery
- Medical treatments and procedures
- Diagnostic tests
- Doctor’s visits
- Mental health treatment
- Physical therapy and rehabilitation
- Prescription and over-the-counter medicine
- Medical devices
Depending on the facts and circumstances of the case, you might need expert testimony to establish the other driver’s liability or show that your medical conditions resulted from the crash and are as severe as you claim.
Loss of Income
In many cases, the injuries suffered from a car accident result in a victim’s inability to return to work. They would qualify to receive compensation for lost income, such as:
- Salary or wages
- Used vacation or sick leave
- Employee benefit contributions
- Pension contributions
- Possible promotion opportunities
- Expected bonuses
If a victim has serious or permanent injuries that prevent them from returning to work in any substantial capacity, they may also have the legal right to pursue awards for loss of future income or earnings.
Damage to Property
If a victim suffers property damage to their vehicle or its contents because of a car accident, they can pursue compensation for any repair or replacement costs for their broken property.
Pain and Suffering
Car accidents often leave victims with substantial pain and suffering, both physically and emotionally. While victims can receive compensation for their pain and suffering, the calculations often prove challenging and complex. Victims often fail to receive the full amount of their pain and suffering compensation resulting from their lack of knowledge regarding these calculations.
Punitive Damages
In cases where the negligent party acted with egregious or seriously reckless behavior endangering people’s lives, a court might also award punitive damages. These types of damages are rare in car accident cases; however, if the negligent party’s actions prove particularly horrific, the court might award punitive damages to punish the liable party and dissuade others from the same type of egregious behavior.
Raleigh Car Accident Lawyer Near Me (844) 730-0233
Receiving Settlements from an Insurance Company
After most car crashes, the victim will receive a settlement from an insurance company rather than having to file a lawsuit. As a result, the negotiations with insurance adjusters prove critical to obtaining a fair and just settlement that completely covers a victim’s injuries and losses. While every victim has the legal right to negotiate on their behalf with an insurance company, you might want to remember that insurance companies often use manipulative and deceptive tactics to avoid paying the amount of compensation a victim truly deserves.
Steps in the Insurance Negotiation Process
After a car accident, a victim should always contact their insurance company. Often, the negligent driver’s insurance company will contact the victim at some point to discuss the car accident and reach a resolution regarding the total amount of a compensation package.
After assigning a claims adjuster, the insurance company will have the victim fill out paperwork relevant to the case, then often provides a victim with a settlement offer. This first settlement offer is typically relatively low but serves as a way to convince a victim simply to accept money as quickly as possible and close their case.
If the victim refuses to settle for a compensation amount that does not fully compensate for their losses, they can continue negotiations until agreeing upon an amount that satisfies both parties.
Tactics Used by Insurance Companies
Again, a victim has the legal right to represent themselves with an insurance company. Still, they should take note of the following manipulative tactics that adjusters often use when negotiating with car accident victims:
- Attempting to record conversations.
- Requesting full medical records to dig through them, looking for any pre-existing conditions they could blame for the current injuries instead of the car accident.
- Attempting to get the victim to assume blame or admit guilt for the car accident. North Carolina is a pure contributory negligence state, meaning if you share any fault for the crash, you cannot recover damages in a lawsuit.
- Attempting to discuss the injuries with the victim to see if the victim minimizes any of their pain, suffering, or injuries.
- Attempting to visit with a victim while they are still in the hospital and have not had the chance to calculate the full extent of their losses.
- Sending a check hoping that the victim will cash it, ending their right to continue pursuing additional compensation for their injuries and losses.
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Consider How a Raleigh Car Accident Lawyer Can Help You
In most cases, victims of a car accident only have three years from the accident date to file a legal claim if their negotiations with insurance companies do not produce a reasonable settlement offer, according to North Carolina General Statutes §1-52. You might want to consider calling the legal team at Ben Crump Law, PLLC, today at (844) 730-0233. During your free evaluation, we can explain how a Raleigh car accident lawyer can work with you regarding your car accident case.
Call or text (844) 730-0233 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
