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A car accident can cause physical pain, emotional trauma, and financial distress, among other damages. A Polk County car accident lawyer from Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC would be happy to assess your case and help you fight for fair compensation.
Why seek compensation? Not only can a lawsuit get you the money you need to afford medical care and other necessities, but it can also hold the liable party accountable for their actions. This way, you can get both justice and fair compensation.
The Aftermath of a Car Wreck Can Be Confusing
If you or a loved one has just been in a car wreck, it is normal to feel confused, angry, scared, or all of the above. Trying to pursue the monetary compensation you need may only compound your frustrations. You may have many questions that need answering, including:
- What types of damages can injured car wreck victims pursue?
- What are economic damages?
- What are non-economic damages?
- Who pays for your damages?
- How can a car accident attorney help you?
- How can you contact a car accident attorney to learn more about your rights?
It is easy to feel overwhelmed after an event as devastating as a car wreck. Our team wants to support you during this challenging time by taking your legal burden off your shoulders. Instead of worrying about your lawsuit, you can focus on spending time with loved ones and recuperating as much as possible.
How Our Team Works for You
While you take care of yourself, our legal team can take care of everything else, including:
- Keeping you updated: We always keep clients apprised of what is happening and what it means for their case’s future. We can even help you make legal decisions, such as how much to ask for and when to settle.
- Investigating your injuries: Our team can visit the scene of the wreck, request documentary evidence, speak with witnesses, and much more. This evidence may persuade the liable party’s insurance company to offer a fair settlement.
- Filing all paperwork: We can take care of clerical tasks, such as filling out forms and responding to calls from the liable party and their representatives.
- Negotiating for compensation: Instead of leaving you to confront the liable party’s insurance company alone, let us meet with them and fight for your interests. We are not intimidated by their lawyers or legal maneuvers.
- Fighting for a jury award: If necessary, we can represent you at trial and seek a jury award by presenting evidence and arguments, questioning witnesses, and more.
With our assistance, you can avoid possible legal pitfalls that could jeopardize your case. These may include:
- Accepting a settlement that is too low and does not meet your needs
- Letting the statute of limitations expire – in other words, missing the legal deadline before which personal injury victims must file a lawsuit
- Saying something to the insurance company that allows them to blame you for your injuries and thereby reduce your compensation
Paying for Legal Representation
Did your injuries require expensive medical treatment? Are you struggling to pay bills because you cannot return to work? If so, it is understandable to want to minimize expenses as much as possible, even to the point of forgoing professional legal representation.
However, representing yourself may cost you more in the long run. Even an innocent mistake, like filling out a form incorrectly, could put your pursuit of damages at risk. A car wreck attorney from our office can do a lot to protect your rights and save you money by:
- Offering a free evaluation: Members of our team are standing by to let you know if you have a valid case and, if so, how we can help you.
- Charging nothing upfront: We get to work for our clients without charging them a cent in attorney’s fees.
- Charging nothing unless we win: Once you receive compensation, we take our attorney’s fees out of that money. If we cannot get compensation for you, you do not have to pay attorney’s fees.
Types of Damages Injured Victims of Car Wrecks Can Pursue
To get compensation, you must first catalog and put a “price tag” on both your financial losses and your physical and psychological injuries. This can be challenging due to the painful nature of your injuries and the many types of compensation potentially available.
A car accident attorney from our firm can investigate your Polk County collision and help you determine what to ask for in a personal injury lawsuit. A few common types of damages are listed below.
What Are Economic Damages?
You could qualify for economic damages if the wreck worsened your financial situation in any way. For example, you could be reimbursed for money lost due to:
- The temporary loss or diminishment of income or benefits
- A permanent reduction in income or ability to work
- The loss of employment opportunities or the ability to work at all
You could also seek compensation for accident-related expenses like:
- Medical expenses, including travel expenses related to seeing a doctor
- The cost of repairing or replacing your car
- The cost of any product or service you only needed because of the wreck, including attorney’s fees associated with pursuing damages
To prove that you deserve economic damages, we can collect pay stubs, receipts, and bills.
What Are Non-economic Damages?
Any physical, mental, or emotional hardship caused by the car wreck could enable you to collect non-economic damages. Examples of compensable physical injuries include:
- Disability, such as brain damage or the loss of a limb
- Disfigurement caused by scar tissue
- Physical pain and distress
- The inability to perform necessary tasks independently
Emotional injuries can be more challenging to quantify, but they are no less important. Examples include:
- Mental illness (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder) or trauma caused by the wreck
- A loss of connection with your spouse
- The emotional toll of the physical pain associated with your injuries
- Grief associated with having to let your old way of life go
Finding proof of non-economic damages may be more challenging than finding proof of economic damages. However, we can seek corroboration from witness statements, expert testimony, and any relevant personal photos or video you took.
Who Pays My Damages?
Motor vehicle operators in North Carolina must carry a certain amount of insurance, as stated in G.S. § 20-279.21. In an accident, the insurer should pay for any damages their client caused.
If the liable driver in your case broke the law by not carrying sufficient insurance, they face paying your compensation out of pocket. This may complicate your case, but we can still work to help you collect damages.
Getting Damages After a Wrongful Death Car Wreck
What happens if someone passes away from their car wreck injuries before they have a chance to seek compensation? In this case, their survivors have the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit on the deceased’s behalf.
Wrongful death cases usually proceed similarly to personal injury cases; you still need to notify the liable party about your case and negotiate with them for an appropriate settlement. However, you may be eligible for different types of damages than personal injury victims, including:
- Loss of the financial support you received from the deceased
- Loss of emotional support, love, and other benefits of your relationship with the deceased
- The cost of burying the deceased, arranging a funeral, settling their estate, and so on
- The grief and bereavement you have suffered due to the deceased’s passing
Common Causes of Car Wrecks in North Carolina
As shown on Page 10 of a study conducted by the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), some of the common causes of injury car wrecks in North Carolina in 2020 were:
- Speeding
- Failure to yield the right of way
- Not paying attention to the road
- Road rage, aggressive driving, and general recklessness
- Driving too fast for the conditions (regardless of whether or not they exceeded the posted speed limit)
Similarly, fatal collisions were often caused by:
- Road rage, aggressive driving, and general recklessness
- Driving in the wrong direction
- Speeding
- Drunk driving
- Not paying attention to the road
- Failure to yield the right of way
These behaviors are easily preventable with caution and attention; no one should ever be injured by such negligence. We want to put your mind at ease and make North Carolina a safer place for all drivers by helping you get justice after a motor vehicle accident.
Are Car Wrecks Always the Other Driver’s Fault?
The statistics above demonstrate that most car wrecks are caused by human error. However, there are some cases where a third party could be held liable, such as:
- A car part manufacturer that failed to recall a faulty product in time
- A contractor who left debris in the road after performing roadway maintenance
- A mechanic who provided subpar service to your vehicle or the other driver’s
With our help, you can find all responsible parties and pursue fair reimbursement from each.
Learn More About Your Legal Options by Contacting a Car Accident Law Firm Today
Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC offers free case evaluations to anyone injured in a car wreck. A car accident attorney from our firm can explain all of the legal options available to you. All you have to do is call us at (828) 286-3866. We are proud to serve clients in Polk County and throughout North Carolina.
