5 Ways Attorneys Can Help After a Car Accident
December 7, 2024
Car accidents are all too common, unfortunately. Someone looking down at their phone for a split-second, pressing down on the gas pedal just a little too much, or getting behind the wheel after having a drink can spell disaster for them and others on the road. If you have been in a collision and suffered injuries that required medical care, you’re probably worried about how you’ll manage all of these expenses. For most people, the answer is to hire legal representation to file a personal injury claim. Why do you need a lawyer? Because there are at least 5 ways attorneys can help after a car accident.
The team at Wapner Newman can guide you through every step of the personal injury claim process. We have decades of experience helping people throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, offering comprehensive legal services that you can depend on.
Call our team at (215) 569-0900 to schedule a free consultation.
The Basics of Car Accident Claims
Understanding the Process
In both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, car accidents follow no-fault laws. This means that no matter who was at fault for the collision, your insurance will cover medical expenses and lost wages. One problem that our car accident lawyers want you to know about, however, is that your personal injury protection insurance can cover only a certain amount of losses, and it won’t cover non-economic damages, like pain and suffering, at all. What do you do if your losses are greater than your insurance covers? Can you sue the other party?
The answer comes down to the seriousness of the injuries you sustained as well as the type of insurance you have. If you have limited tort insurance, you can step outside of no-fault laws only if you sustained a severe injury. These include disfigurement and serious impairment of a bodily function. If a loved one dies in the accident, you can also file a lawsuit. Those who have full tort insurance, however, can begin legal action against the other party regardless of what type of injury they sustained.
No matter what insurance you have, if you choose to pursue a lawsuit, it’s essential that you hire an attorney. They can help you after a car accident in a number of ways.
How Lawyers Can Help After a Car Accident
Often, people assume that they can handle the legal aftermath of a car accident on their own, but hiring a lawyer can help you obtain better results than you would get by yourself. Lawyers offer some very important services.
1. Car Accident Attorneys Investigate the Crash
A car accident attorney will put significant effort into understanding how the accident occurred. If you are stepping outside of no-fault laws and suing the other party, you can expect them to have lawyers who will try to pin the blame for the accident on you. If you don’t have legal representation, you could end up not being able to recover any losses.
Your attorney will rely on numerous types of evidence to prove that you deserve compensation. The team at Wapner Newman will look at the police report to get a clear idea of what law enforcement thought, but we won’t stop at that.
We’ll canvas the area of the accident to see if there are any traffic or security cameras that might have recorded the collision. If there were witnesses to the accident, we’ll track them down and get their testimonies, too.
Another vital source of evidence is expert witnesses. We rely on these to reconstruct accidents and advise us on car mechanics, if necessary, so we can prepare the most robust case possible. We’ll also organize your medical bills and other expenses so that they paint a clear picture of just how much you have suffered because of the other party.
2. Car Accident Attorneys Calculate Your Damages
It’s not always simple to calculate what your losses are in a serious collision. You may have medical records that show how much medical care you’ve received and the exact costs of all treatment, but what if you need to receive future medical care? With a team of lawyers helping you, it can be easier to understand what future expenses you may have. That also applies if you won’t be able to return to work in the same capacity. These are all losses that require a careful understanding of the law as well as experience dealing with similar claims.
Perhaps the most difficult losses to address, however, are non-economic damages. These include pain and suffering and a loss of quality of life. None of these losses have price tags on them. Your lawyer will work diligently to land on a number that fairly represents what you’ve lived through because of someone else’s negligence.
3. Car Accident Attorneys Negotiate With Insurance Companies
One of the most important ways in which lawyers can help you after a car crash is by dealing with insurance companies. Keep in mind that insurers don’t want to help you. Not even your insurer does. They always search for ways of avoiding paying you what you deserve, and if they can get away with it, they may try to deny your claim altogether. If you try to go through the lawsuit process on your own, you may be pushed to accept a settlement that doesn’t fully cover what you need.
When you hire a lawyer, you can expect them to aggressively defend your rights. At Wapner Newman, our team will work tirelessly to get insurance companies to the negotiation table so that you’re able to receive a fair settlement.
4. Car Accident Attorneys Ensure You Don’t Miss Deadlines
Another important way that car accident lawyers help you after a collision is by ensuring you don’t miss the statute of limitations. You generally have two years from the date of the accident to file a claim in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, but most people don’t realize just how complex all of the paperwork can be — especially if they’ve never filed a claim before. If you miss those deadlines, you’re barred from recovering losses, so it’s in your best interests to have people with experience at the helm.
Insurers may even try to delay claims for this same reason. Your lawyer will pressure them to speed up the process and follow up on all procedural steps to prevent issues that could harm your chances of getting compensation.
5. Car Accident Attorneys Represent You in Court
There are instances when not even the most experienced lawyers can get insurance companies to budge. Insurers may put an offer on the table that is significantly less than you need, or they may refuse to entertain paying you at all. It’s not uncommon for them to try to claim that it’s not clear who was liable for the collision. In those instances, it’s more important than ever to have lawyers with litigation experience.
Your lawyer can take your case to court, which gives you the chance to get fairer treatment. It’s never a good idea to begin any kind of court process on your own, because there are very strict protocols that must be followed. At Wapner Newman, we have decades of experience litigating cases, so we never back away from a fight if it’s in your best interests that we pursue the claim.
In a jury trial, we were able to obtain $2.3 million for the family of a woman killed in a three-car accident.
Offering Experience You Can Rely On
Choose Wapner Newman for a Car Accident Case
After suffering losses in a car accident, the last thing you want is a complicated claims process. Often, people assume that hiring a lawyer will slow down the process and delay your receiving compensation. The opposite is true.
With a lawyer helping you, claims are resolved more rapidly and usually with better results for the plaintiff. If you have a lawyer doing the legal footwork for you, you don’t have to worry about the legalities of filing these claims and can instead focus on getting medical care and healing.
At Wapner Newman, we have helped people throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey receive compensation for injuries, lost wages, and emotional trauma. We have taken many cases to trial and have won substantial jury awards for our clients. Don’t delay your chance to get help.
Contact our team at Wapner Newman by calling us at (215) 569-0900.