If you have been injured in a car accident, the first thing to do is get whatever medical help you need. As soon as possible afterward, however, you should contact a Sugar Land car accident lawyer so they can get started on a claim to recover all the damages you are owed for what you’ve had to go through.
What Should I Do If I’m Injured in a Car Accident?
1. Get Medical Help Right Away
If you are badly injured, it’s likely that you will be taken to the hospital by ambulance from the scene. But if you weren’t that badly injured, you might be tempted to skip getting medical help until things become intolerable. Lots of people make this mistake: they don’t go to a doctor, and they think they’re fine. Two days later, they can barely move because of the injuries to their neck from whiplash. In a worst-case scenario, they could even find themselves in a serious medical emergency because of internal bleeding that did not manifest for some hours after the original accident.
If you’ve not been hurt obviously badly, you can take time to wait for the police, gather some evidence at the scene of the accident, and call your insurance company and Sugar Land car accident lawyer. But as soon as you leave the scene of the accident, you really should go straight to the doctor.
Why It’s Important
If you bring any claim for damages, you will need to prove certain important elements: that the at-fault driver had a duty of care towards you, that they breached this duty of care, that this breach caused your injuries, and then specifically what those injuries are. Each of these elements must be proven with evidence, and that last one is key. You need to be able to show precisely what happened to you and how it is linked to the accident. The longer you wait after an accident to get medical help, the easier it becomes for the other side to argue that you were not injured as badly as you claim or that your injuries actually had nothing to do with the accident.
Bear in mind that you cannot usually bring any claim just for “pain and suffering” or, as they are legally known, non-economic damages. Your non-economic damages have to be tied to specific economic losses. In other words, you have to be able to show that you suffered something that caused you a monetary loss in order to get compensation for mental anguish and suffering. You will need your medical records and bills.
2. Follow Through on All Medical Treatment
The next important thing to do is follow through on everything your doctor tells you. If your doctor says you should not take part in a particular activity for three weeks, for example, absolutely do not take part in that activity for those three weeks. If you are asked to attend follow-up appointments, take a certain medication, or get physical therapy, you really need to do all of this.
Why It’s Important
If you don’t follow up on all the recommended medical treatment, the other side and their insurance company are likely to argue that you have not done everything possible to mitigate your injuries and the expenses that come along with them. In fact, they may argue that you have made them worse. They will then use that to deny payment for some of your medical bills, if they can.
3. Contact a Sugar Land Car Accident Lawyer Quickly
As soon as possible, contact a car accident lawyer. Choose someone who has experience in the local area and knows car accidents in particular, because you need a lawyer who knows how to investigate a car accident. Someone with experience can protect you and knows how to negotiate with insurance companies in these situations.
Why It’s Important
If you’ve been badly injured, a lawyer will be able to initiate an investigation into the accident on your behalf before the evidence is all lost or degraded. If you’re laid up in the hospital, this will be critical. But even if you haven’t been laid up, and you did manage to gather some evidence of your own, your lawyer will still be able to dig into that that evidence and perhaps subpoena certain evidence that you would not be able to get hold of on your own, such as video footage from nearby cameras.
Once you have a lawyer, you can also refer your correspondence with the insurance company to your legal representative, which takes a load off you and also encourages the insurance company to play fair. A lawyer will also work to properly calculate all your damages and losses and ensure that you haven’t missed anything. And, of course, if you have to take the case into the courtroom, your lawyer will represent you there and build a strong case on your behalf.
4. Don’t Talk With Insurance Adjusters (And Be Careful Talking to Anyone)
You will need to report the accident pretty quickly to your insurer, and they will usually begin discussions with the insurance company of the at-fault driver. But once you have reported the accident, if an insurance adjuster calls you, refer them to your lawyer. Give the facts only when you make your original report, and don’t speculate about fault or give any details that you don’t need to.
By the same token, you need to be careful about anything you post on social media or anything you say about your case or your injuries to anyone, even a friend or family member.
Why It’s Important
Insurance companies are not on your side. They are businesses that need to make money, and they don’t make money by making payouts. One of the jobs of an insurance adjuster is to do everything possible to minimize the losses of the company, and that means they know how to ask questions that can get you to say things they can use against you. Even the most innocent sounding question could be designed to elicit an answer that can be used against you.
By the same token, anything that you put up on social media could also be used against you. The insurance company might be actively looking for such posts. You might post an encouraging message just to keep your followers from worrying about you, and the insurance company might use this against you to claim that you aren’t badly injured at all.
Texas has a modified comparative fault rule when it comes to personal injury cases like this. If you are 51% responsible or more for an accident, you cannot collect damages. If you are 50% or less responsible, you can collect damages, but only after those damages have been reduced by the same percentage as your fault. Blaming you for more of the accident may allow the insurance company to pay less. If they can get you to 51%, they don’t have to pay you anything at all. Your lawyer will protect you from being saddled with extra fault.
