Auto Accident

After your accident, it’s important that you find an experienced attorney who listens to you and has trial experience. During your search, look for firms who have handled cases similar to yours, have trial experience with auto accidents, and offer free case evaluations. Note how their legal team interacts with you during the case evaluation, do you feel comfortable with this team? Are they listening to your concerns? Be sure to also look at their memberships, awards, and past case results. 

Lastly, when searching, also be sure to read reviews and seek referrals from friends and family.

If you hope to recover fair compensation, the answer is yes. When you hire a lawyer, they can educate you on what you need to do immediately following the collision to help your case. They can also inform you of common mistakes to avoid. 
 
Additionally, your lawyer can help with the investigation process. The strength of your case relies heavily on the evidence you provide, such as photographs, eyewitness accounts, video surveillance from nearby cameras, debris, police reports, and vehicle damages. Without an attorney to advise you, you may unwittingly destroy evidence or fail to gather what you need.
 
Finally, a lawyer can assist you with every aspect of the claims process, from the initial filing to the acceptance of a settlement. The right attorney will prepare from day one to go to trial so that, if it comes to this, they can present your case in the best possible light in court.

Most personal injury law firms — including Giroux Pappas Trial Attorneys — work on a contingency fee basis. What this means is that you do not have to pay anything upfront. In fact, you do not have to pay any fee unless we’re successful.

If you then choose to hire this attorney, you’ll have to sign various forms allowing them to obtain information relevant to your case, such as your medical records. They will then contact the other party in your case, your insurance company, and your medical providers, and individuals and organizations with evidence for your case, such as the local police department.
 
From there, your attorney will guide you through every step of the case, acting as your voice and your advocate. They will meet you wherever you need them, whether that’s at home, in the hospital, or anywhere else that’s convenient for you. They will also make sure that you always understand what’s going on with your case so that you can decide how to proceed.

Every case is different, so it is impossible to know just how much your claim is worth until a member of our team has reviewed all the evidence. That said, certain factors affect the amount of potential compensation including: the severity of your pain and suffering, whether you sustained psychological injuries, whether you sustained scars or permanent disfigurement, whether your injuries resulted in a disability or affected your ability to work during and after recovery, and the amount of fault assigned to you.

Your health insurance company covers your medical expenses if you don’t have auto insurance.

Michigan is a no-fault state. In no-fault states, you must look to your own insurance company for no-fault benefits, regardless of who is at fault for the accident. No-fault benefits include wage loss, payment of medical bills, and replacement services. Your insurance company may subrogate the claim by filing a claim against the other driver to recover the money paid out to you.

If you believe the accident was your fault, you should still consult an attorney, as there can be many causes for an accident. You should not admit fault for an accident until a full investigation has been conducted. Generally, your health insurance company will cover the cost of treatment for injuries sustained in the accident. Sometimes, you can then seek reimbursement from your auto insurance company as part of the settlement.

If you are involved in an accident with an individual who doesn’t have insurance, you will likely have to collect from your own insurance company. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may also help to supplement damages caused by a driver with no or low insurance coverage.

When you interact with the other party involved in the accident, you should acquire all of the following information:

● Name
● Address
● Email
● Phone number
● Driver’s license
● Insurance information
● Registration information
● Make, model, and identifying details of the other car
 
Do not simply write down the other car’s license plate number–insurance companies cannot look up the other car on this information alone. 
 
Whether you’re talking to the police or to the other part, it’s important to not admit fault under any circumstances. Keep in mind that even innocuous statements may later be construed as an admission of fault, including apologies. While you may want to apologize if only out of shock, an apology could be used against you. Instead, keep your interactions brief but polite. Ask if the other needs assistance, collect their information, and communicate details of the accident to responding officers.

Yes.

Every auto accident policy requires policyholders to immediately report accidents, regardless of how minor they may seem. Many policyholders do not report minor accidents because they do not want their insurance rates to go up.

However, failing to report an accident can have serious penalties in the future. From an attorney’s perspective, failing to report an accident only to later file a personal injury lawsuit significantly weakens your case, since the other side can easily argue that you did not think the accident was important enough to report. Worse, your refusal to immediately report the accident makes you look untrustworthy.

Every car accident is different, which means every case is different. Generally, an auto accident attorney will look at two factors to determine if you have a case:
 
1. Liability
2. Damages
 
Legal liability refers to a person or entity’s legal responsibilities under the law. In personal injury law, liability is the concept of fault. Essentially, when someone is held liable for an accident, they are deemed to be at fault for the accident. Liability also usually hinges on the concept of negligence. 
 
Establishing negligence in personal injury has four components:
 
1. Legal standard of care between the two parties
2. Breach of that duty of care due to negligence, careless action, or inaction
3. Damages (physical and emotional injuries, property damage, lost income, etc.)
4. A causal link between negligence and damages
 

There are two types of damages:

1. Economic, which are damages you can put a numeric price on, such as medical expenses
2. Non-economic, which are damages not associated with a quantifiable numeric amount, such as pain, suffering and loss of quality of life.
 
The extent of your damages determines whether you have a case and how much it might be worth.