Category: Car Accidents

If you were involved in a car accident that wasn’t your fault, you may have the right to compensation for your medical expenses, lost wages, car repairs, and pain and suffering. Because Oregon is an at-fault accident for car accidents, the party found at fault for the accident is responsible for paying for the accident victim’s damages. 

To get this compensation, it may be necessary to file a personal injury claim. This process may involve the following steps:

Reporting the Accident 

Any time you are involved in a car accident, you should immediately report it. A police officer can respond to the scene of the crash, take your statement and the other driver’s statement, and investigate the crash. They record this information on a report, which the insurance company will likely request when you make your claim.

Oregon law requires you to report any crash to the DMV if you are involved in an accident resulting in property damage of $2,500 or more, injury, or death, even if law enforcement completed a report. You must complete a written report within 72 hours of any such accident. 

Seeking Medical Attention 

If you notice injuries at the time of the accident, you should request an ambulance. But even if you don’t immediately notice injuries, you may have still been injured but your symptoms may be delayed. Seek medical attention promptly after an accident. Keep all of your medical records and bills to link the accident and your injuries. 

Notifying the Insurance Company

You will need to notify the at-fault party’s liability insurance provider to get the claims process started. It is important to tread lightly with this process because insurance companies want to minimize their own liability. They may try to ask you to give a recorded statement, sign medical release forms, or take other actions that could harm your case. Refuse to do so.

You may also be required by the terms of your insurance contract to notify your own insurance company after an accident. 

Negotiating for Compensation 

You may have suffered considerable losses in the accident for which you deserve compensation, such as:

• Emergency medical treatment, including ambulance rides, emergency room treatment, hospital stays, and diagnostic testing
• Ongoing medical expenses and future anticipated medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Reduced earning capacity
• Costs to repair or replace your vehicle
• Out-of-pocket expenses
• Disabilities and impairments
• Pain and suffering  

You inform the insurance company of the extent of their damages and demand that they fairly pay you for them. 

Filing a Lawsuit 

If the insurance company denies your claim or refuses to make a fair settlement offer, you can file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver. You will need to file the paperwork, including a complaint and summons, pay the filing fee, and submit it to the clerk. You will be responsible for ensuring the defendant is properly served with the paperwork.

After the defendant is served with the papers, they will have 30 days to respond with an answer. 

Discovery

The plaintiff and defendant have the right to make requests of the other party through the discovery process. This allows them to narrow the contested issues involved in the case, obtain evidence to use in the case, and prepare defenses to the other side’s arguments.

Trial 

If the case has not settled or been dismissed, it proceeds to trial. Each party presents evidence and witnesses. A judge or jury issues a verdict at the end of the trial. 

Contacting a Car Accident Lawyer for a Free Consultation 

If you were injured in a car accident caused by someone else’s negligence, one of the first steps to take is to get a free consultation with an attorney. If you choose to hire them, they can handle your case from start to finish while you focus on your health.

A car accident can be difficult to handle, even if the crash was not your fault. If the accident turns out to have been your fault, however, you might end up with legal problems in addition to financial and medical problems. Under these circumstances, you need to observe certain guidelines to protect yourself. 

If you are involved in this situation, you can always reach out to an experienced car accident attorney to handle your case and assist you with your claim in order to minimize your liability. Keep reading to learn more about what you can do to protect yourself.

Context: Negligence Law

Negligence is a legal term that means something like ‘carelessness.’ It is the most common basis for a personal injury claim. You will probably face a negligence claim if you are at fault for a car accident. To win a negligence claim against you, your opponent must prove:

• You owed them a duty of reasonable care (such as the duty to drive safely),
• You breached your duty of care (by breaking a traffic safety law, for example),
• Your opponent suffered physical harm (in a car accident), and
• It was your bad driving that caused the harm your opponent suffered.

Car accidents don’t always work this way, of course. You might have caused the accident by running into the street as a pedestrian, causing one car to swerve into another to avoid you.

Context: Texas Contributory Fault

Contributory fault is Texas’s way of distributing compensation when more than one party is at fault. Under the Texas system, you lose entitlement to compensation in exact proportion to your percentage of fault for the accident. You will lose 20% of your compensation, for example, if you were 20% at fault. 

Texas, however, applies a cutoff at 50%. If you were more than 50% at fault, your compensation will be zero. Even if the accident was mostly your fault, however, the lower your percentage of fault, the less compensation you will have to pay. 

5 Steps To Take if You’re Responsible for a Car Accident

Even in the (often overwhelming) aftermath of an accident, you must remember to take the following 5 actions:

• Exchange contact and insurance information with the other driver. Texas law requires you to do this in most cases. If the accident was your fault, the other driver will insist upon it. 
• Gather information at the scene of the accident (unless the seriousness of your injuries prevents this). For example, photograph everything that might be relevant, such as the position of the cars after the accident, skid marks on the road, and even the sky (if weather was a factor). 
• Cooperate with the police. The police will probably send an officer to investigate and file an accident report. Although you normally can’t use a police report in court, either side can use it in settlement negotiations. Be polite, and tell the truth even if the accident was your fault. Stick to the facts, however, and avoid any conclusions like, “The accident was my fault.” 
• Seek prompt medical attention. You might have suffered an injury in the accident without realizing it. That’s reason enough to seek prompt medical treatment. If the accident turns out to be partly the other driver’s fault, you might need your medical treatment records to support a counterclaim against the other driver.
• Report the accident to your own insurance company. Under the terms of your policy, you probably have to report the accident to your own insurance company, even if they will not be paying the claim. 

Taking these steps can protect you against some of the worst legal consequences of a car accident.

What Not To Do After a Car Accident That Was Your Fault

Following are some examples of actions you should not take:

• Do not leave the scene of an accident. Most of the time, leaving the scene of an accident is a crime in Texas. 
• Do not admit fault, even to be polite, and do not apologize for the accident.
• Don’t yell and scream at anyone, particularly the police. Do not try to fight anyone, no matter how angry you are. “Road rage” could subject you to punitive damages.
• Don’t talk about your accident on social media. The other side can use your social media posts as evidence against you.

At some point, you might need to negotiate your liability. Avoiding these no-nos can help you protect your bargaining position. 

A Car Accident Lawyer Can Help  

A car accident lawyer can help you minimize your liability for a collision, even if it was mostly your fault. In a best-case scenario, your lawyer might even be able to prove that the accident was the other driver’s fault after all. The best way to explore your options is to seek an initial consultation with an attorney.

If you are injured in a car accident, you can file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver seeking damages – at least in most states. However, the chance that your case will go to trial is minimal.

In 2021, there were over 6.1 million police-reported car accidents in the United States. That same year, there were 109,741 traffic accidents reported in Missouri, to name just one state as an example. Even though thousands of car accident lawsuits are filed each year, only a small percentage goes to court.

In a study in the early 1990s, researchers found only 3% of the personal injury cases filed when to court. Statistics are difficult to find, but it’s safe to say that most personal injury cases don’t go to trial. Therefore, your accident case is far more likely to settle than to go all the way to a jury trial.

Why Do Car Accident Cases Go to Trial?

You go to trial to settle a dispute. Insurance companies and at-fault parties dispute liability for a car accident claim to avoid paying the victim for damages. There could be complex legal questions about liability, including allegations of contributory negligence. There could also be issues related to the value of damages, including the severity of a person’s injuries or their failure to mitigate damages. 

At the heart of the dispute is money. Insurance companies and at-fault drivers try to limit the amount of money they must pay to settle the claim. Therefore, a common reason car accident cases go to court is that the insurance company for the at-fault driver refuses to negotiate a reasonable settlement amount. 

When you file a car accident lawsuit, your case could take more than a year to go to trial. During that time, your case goes through several phases, including:

• Filing a complaint and serving the defendants
• Waiting for responses, answers, and counterclaims to the complaint
• Filing responses to counterclaims or third-party claims
• Engaging in discovery (i.e., the exchange of information and documents with the other party and gathering evidence from third parties)
• Settlement negotiations, which could include mediation
• Pre-trial motions and hearings
• Trial and jury verdict
• Appeals

The insurance company may believe it has a better chance of taking the case to court instead of paying a settlement. However, as you can see from the statistics, insurance companies are not thrilled about going to court.

The Advantages of Settling Car Accident Cases Without Going to Court

For the most part, injured victims and insurance companies are motivated to settle car accident cases through negotiations or mediation. The advantages of a personal injury settlement include:

• Settlements are often quicker than taking a case to trial
• Filing a lawsuit, preparing for trial, and arguing a case in court is more expensive
• Personal injury lawsuits are more time-consuming than settlements
• Trials can last for days or weeks and be very stressful for the parties involved
• Jurors are unpredictable and could return a verdict for the other party even though your evidence is strong
• A jury verdict does not guarantee payment
• The other party could appeal the jury verdict dragging the case on for years

Personal injury settlements are private. Trials are a matter of public record. Some parties prefer to keep the dispute and the personal injury settlement confidential. Additionally, when a party agrees to settle a car accident lawsuit, they do not need to admit fault or negligence. 

How Do I Know Whether To Accept a Car Accident Settlement or Go to Trial?

Hiring an experienced car accident lawyer is the first step in protecting your fights and increasing your chance of receiving fair compensation for damages. Personal injury lawyers understand how insurance companies handle claims. They know the laws that apply in your case and how those laws could impact the outcome at trial.

Your attorney will diligently try to settle your case through negotiations because that is generally the most efficient way to get you money for your claim. However, there could be legal reasons to file a lawsuit and go to trial. 

Your attorney will explain the risks and benefits of accepting a settlement versus going to trial. With your lawyer’s help, you can decide which option is in your best interest based on the specific facts and circumstances of your case.