The majority of car accidents leave victims with vehicle damage only. However, many car accident victims in Tennessee are left with substantial injuries that affect their day-to-day lives and require medical expenses, lost time at work, and other expenses. For help collecting damages in these types of injury cases, do not trust the insurance companies to have your best interests at heart; call a lawyer today.
A Tennessee car accident lawyer can represent you and negotiate with insurance companies to help maximize your damages. Our lawyers can also work to file your case in court and get you the compensation you deserve from a neutral judge and jury if the insurance companies refuse to pay you.
For a free case review, call our Tennessee car accident lawyers at Howe Law today. Our phone number is (844) 876-4357.
Compensation Available in Tennessee Car Accident Injury Cases
When you file for compensation through a car insurance claim or a lawsuit, you should be entitled to certain expenses and costs related to your accident. In addition, you should be able to claim compensation for unexpected costs like lost wages and intangible harms like pain and suffering. The following are all common areas of expenses that car accident victims can claim compensation for in Tennessee:
Medical Bills
The cost of medical treatment can be quite high, even for minor or moderate injuries. Even something like a broken arm can require multiple doctor’s visits, emergency medical care, imaging/X-ray costs, and potential surgery. More serious injuries can lead to even more expensive medical bills when it comes to things like hospital stays, rehabilitation, physical and occupational therapy, and more. These damages can all be claimed in a car accident injury case.
Lost Wages
Your Tennessee car accident lawyers can help you claim compensation for the work you had to miss because of your injuries. Even if your accident had nothing to do with your work, your injuries could prevent you from being able to work and get income to support yourself and your family. This makes all other damages harder to handle and can be the root of most financial strain after an injury. Talk to an attorney about what these lost wage damages could be worth and whether they can include future lost earnings as well.
Pain and Suffering
Along with other “noneconomic” damages, pain and suffering is not something that is easy to put a price tag on, like bills and wages. However, you can still claim compensation for the physical pain, mental suffering, emotional distress, lost enjoyment of life, and other harms brought about by the injury.
Proving a Car Accident Claim in Tennessee
To get compensation for a car accident in Tennessee, you generally have to prove that the other driver was at fault. Evidence such as an admission of fault (e.g., “I’m so sorry, that was my bad”) can go a long way toward proving fault. In other cases, you may need to point to what the other driver did and what signs and signals were present to prove who caused the crash.
A traffic violation is usually the core cause of any car accident. If the other driver was speeding, driving under the influence, or violating some other traffic law when the accident happened, you can usually point to that as proof that they were at fault for the crash.
Alternatively, other unsafe decisions behind the wheel can also supply proof of fault in a car accident case. Even if they did not explicitly violate a traffic law, another driver can still be held liable if they did something unsafe. An example of this could be accelerating to get through a gap in traffic while the rest of traffic was slowing down.
Often, the best proof of what happened and why the other driver is at fault will be your own testimony. However, it is better for your case if there is other evidence that helps corroborate your claims. Other eyewitness testimony can be extremely helpful, as can video of the accident.
Photos of the accident scene can also be helpful for recreating the accident and determining where the cars were before the accident occurred. Getting photos of the relative locations of the cars, the damage to each vehicle, and any skid marks or other marks on the ground can help show how the cars crashed, what approximate speed each vehicle was traveling at, and whether either driver attempted to brake.
Types of Car Accidents You Can Sue for in Tennessee
Many different types of car accidents can be the basis of a car accident insurance claim or car accident lawsuit in Tennessee. Our Tennessee car accident injury attorneys help with all of the following types of car accident cases and more:
T-Bone Accidents
When one car crashes into the side of another car, it is often somewhat simple to tell who was at fault. Generally speaking, cars only crash into the side of another car at an intersection, and only when one car is in the intersection illegally. Whichever driver was not supposed to be in the intersection is usually at fault in a T-bone crash.
Rear-End Accident
When one car crashes into another from behind, it is usually the rear driver’s fault. These accidents most often occur when a driver is following the victim too closely. However, if the driver in front was actually driving in reverse at the time or decided to “brake check” the driver behind them by unnecessarily slamming on the brakes, they could be at fault instead.
Head-On Collisions
Usually, two cars cannot crash into each other head on unless one car is driving the wrong way. If the other driver crossed a double yellow line, entered a highway going the wrong way, or went the wrong direction down a one-way street, you can usually hold them responsible for the crash. These crashes are also usually more serious because the speed and momentum of the vehicles are compounded when cars crash head-on.
Call Our Tennessee Car Accident Lawyers Today
If you were hit by a negligent driver in Tennessee, call our Tennessee car accident lawyers today for help with your injury case. Call Howe Law today at (844) 876-4357 for a free case review.
