If you’ve been in a car accident, it’s important to know what your rights are and whether or not you have a case.
Determine The At-Fault Driver
How to know whether or not someone has a personal injury case is a question we get asked pretty frequently. The first thing I look at is who’s the at-fault driver? For example, in an accident report, if you’re the one that caused it then you wouldn’t be able to prove fault on someone else and thus not have a case.
Let’s say you’re driving down the road and a speeding car crashes into your vehicle. In most cases, it will be clear who is at fault – usually one of these two parties. But if there isn’t enough evidence to determine whose mistake caused the crash, we must look further for clues about what happened in order to make an informed decision about whether or not you have a case against them due to negligence. We need more information from both drivers before making our discovery so that we can assess damages accordingly including medical costs and lost wages from being out sick from work while recovering after such an accident/collision.
If it appears from the accident report, and from what you’re telling us, that you were the one that was injured because it was someone else’s fault, then we’ve checked that box off.
Is the At-Fault Driver Covered by Insurance?
Next, I investigate whether there is insurance coverage. To do this, I look at the accident report and see if it lists what types of auto insurance each driver possesses on page 1 of the document.
Have You Received Medical Treatment?
In addition to having a personal injury claim for your injuries you must have received medical treatment in order to make your case stronger with evidence for how badly injured you were during an accident.
When we look at the report, it’s not enough to say that someone is injured. It has to be more than just a statement of pain from their neck or back. We have to make sure they’re actually hurt (and have received medical treatment) and then figure out if there are funds available for them through insurance coverage.
Conclusion
The criteria for a personal injury case is not always well-known. In truth, you need to be able to prove that the other party was at fault and has insurance coverage, as well as having received medical treatment for your injuries in order to have a valid claim. If this sounds like something you might want help with or would like more information about, we can provide it! Our law firm specializes in handling these kinds of cases. Contact us today if you’d like an appointment set up with one of our team members who will walk through everything from start to finish so that you know all of your options before making any decisions on how to proceed.
