Imagine the following scenario.
You’re driving on the road in your car, minding your own business, when suddenly, another vehicle sideswipes you causing your car to skid into the road divider. Clearly, the other driver is at fault here. It’s an auto accident that could’ve been avoided if the other driver had been a bit more careful.
However, because of the accident, you’re now having to deal with injuries. Maybe you broke a leg or got hurt in your head. Whatever happened, you’re now having to seek medical attention, which is undoubtedly costing a lot of money. At the same time, you might even have to seek therapy.
To add to your burden, your injuries are also forcing you to miss work. For that, you’re losing out on your wages.
All this means you’ll have to deal with a lot of financial stress because of the accident where you were not at fault. Thus, it makes sense if you want to sue the driver who caused the accident and aim for a settlement that will pay for your medical bills and lost wages, but how do you manage that?
In this article, we’ll discuss how you can seek legal help for an auto accident settlement that will help you pay your medical bills and make up for your lost wages.
Seek Immediate Medical Attention
Even if you don’t feel any pain or notice any injuries immediately, it’s important to seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Some injuries, like whiplash or internal bleeding, may not show any symptoms right away, but things can get serious later on if you leave them untreated. Seeking medical attention immediately will help you avoid such a situation.
Besides, when you seek medical attention, you’ll have the medical bills at your hand. These bills need to be presented in court by your attorneys when you’re asking the culprit to pay for those costs.
Gather Evidence
To support your compensation claim, you’ll need to gather as much evidence as possible. This can include everything from photos of the accident scene and any damage to your vehicle to statements from witnesses who might have been present during the accident.
You’ll also need to get a police report of the accident, so don’t forget to call 911 right after the accident so that the cops can document it. Without a police report, your attorneys might not be eager to proceed with the case as it loses a bit of its legitimacy due to the absence of the report.
Contact Your Insurance Company
Contact your insurance company to report the accident. It will likely ask for details about the accident and any injuries you sustained. The insurance company will also ask for any evidence you have of the accident.
Your insurance company will also work with the other driver’s insurance company to determine fault and negotiate an initial settlement. However, this settlement might not be something you were expecting, which is why you likely have to go to court.
Consider Hiring an Attorney
A while back, an individual was sideswiped in Texas, resulting in them missing work and losing out on wages for a brief period. Then, with legal help from an accident attorney from the reputed Texas injury and accident law firm Sutliff & Stout, they were able to settle with the other driver for $9.7 million. This is how personal injury lawyers can help accident victims work out a case that can lead to a settlement covering their medical bills and lost wages.
You, too, should team up with a reputed personal injury attorney near you who can help you out with your settlement case. They have the skills and experience necessary to deal with the other driver and get the best settlement deal out of the situation.
Negotiate a Settlement
Once the attorneys are consulted, they will get in touch with the other driver and their lawyer. Expect a back and forth here as both parties of lawyers will want what’s best for their client. In a scenario where the accident was mostly the fault of one of the two involved, the culprit is likely to have a harder time trying to negotiate the settlement in their favor. Therefore, your attorneys are more likely to secure most of their demands regarding the settlement.
The settlement can take some time. Expect this to take at least a few weeks. If the case enters the court, it might even take a month or two before the whole settlement is finalized.
Once all this is done, you’ll have received a decent amount of money as compensation from the driver whose recklessness caused the accident. You can use that to cover your medical bills as well as lost wages.