Motorcycle riders have every right to be on the roads and highways, but some negligent drivers disagree. If another driver hits you while on your motorcycle, an attorney can help you get justice and fair compensation.
You should talk to an attorney about suing for damages after a motorcycle accident for several important reasons. First, injuries in motorcycle accidents may be severe. Second, negligent drivers often disregard the safety of motorcycle riders, and they deserve to be held accountable. Injuries might range from relatively minor to catastrophic, and recovery might be long and expensive. To hold the defendant liable, we must prove that they were negligent. To prove that the defendant was negligent, we need to work on collecting strong evidence to support your claims. You should hire an attorney because handling a lawsuit alone is hard enough. It is even harder for motorcycle riders who face unfair prejudices and stereotypes.
Call (844) 876-4357 to schedule a case evaluation at no cost with our motorcycle accident lawyers at Howe Law.
Why You Should File a Lawsuit for a Motorcycle Accident in Huntsville, AL
Motorcycle accidents can be incredibly dangerous and very expensive. Damages tend to be high, and plaintiffs often cannot afford to cover these costs on their own. Negligent drivers are usually not keen on stepping up and paying for the harm they caused, but a lawsuit might make them legally obligated to do so.
You should also file a lawsuit to get justice. People often disregard motorcycle riders and do not give them the same courtesy they would give to other drivers in cars or trucks. As a result, motorcycle riders tend to experience higher risks on the road. On top of that, motorcycle riders live with an unfair and undeserved reputation for being reckless. People often assume the motorcycle rider caused the accident despite what the evidence might say.
A lawsuit might not only net you much-needed financial compensation but also give you the closure and vindication you need to move on with your life. The legalities of a lawsuit are difficult to navigate alone, and an attorney can help you.
Possible Injuries and Damages from Motorcycle Accidents in Huntsville, AL
The primary goal of a lawsuit is to recover monetary damages to make up for the plaintiff’s costs, losses, and injuries. These damages are tied to multiple factors surrounding your case, and it can be easy to overlook a few. Discuss all your injuries with your attorney to determine the full extent of your damages and your case’s worth.
Your damages are divided into two broad categories. First, there are your economic losses and injuries that cost you money. Second, you have injuries unrelated to money but may still be compensated.
Your economic losses are primarily made up of medical expenses. After a motorcycle accident, your injuries might have been severe, and the medical care you received was extensive. As such, it is expected that your medical bills will be significant. You should also determine how much money you lost because you could not return to work after the accident. This lost income should also be added to your overall damages.
Other injuries that did not technically cost money might include physical pain, emotional suffering or trauma, humiliation, damage to your reputation, and other bad personal experiences. These experiences may disrupt your life, and the defendant should pay for it. The jury usually decides how much these damages are worth, but they can be considerable.
How to Hold the Other Driver Responsible After a Huntsville, AL Motorcycle Accident
Convincing a jury to hold the defendant liable and award you compensation is rarely easy. To succeed, we must prove how the defendant’s negligence caused your motorcycle crash. To prove negligence, we need evidence of the crash and your injuries.
Proving Negligence
Before the defendant is held liable, we have to establish their negligence. Negligence is made up of four critical elements, each of which must be sufficiently established to prove negligence. These elements include duty, breach, causation, and damages.
The duty element is the legal obligation owed to you from the defendant. Without a legal obligation connecting the parties, there can be no negligence. Generally, in auto accidents, the defendant’s duty is to drive with reasonable safety under the circumstances and obey the traffic code.
The element of breach consists of whatever the defendant did to violate their legal duty. Since the duty is about driving safely, the breach is often akin to reckless driving, traffic violations, or dangerous driving.
The causation element is how the defendant’s breach of duty is connected with the accident. The breach must be the direct and proximate cause of the accident for the defendant to be held liable. Defendants sometimes argue that other factors outside their control, like road conditions or the plaintiff’s contributory negligence, caused the accident. Our team can help you combat these arguments and prove the defendant’s negligence.
Finally, we need to prove your damages. Damages must be actual injuries and losses, not just near misses or hypothetical injuries.
Evidence to Prove Negligence
Our evidence must satisfy the elements of negligence for your case to be successful. While much valuable evidence will come from the accident scene, other evidence might be found in unexpected places.
In many cases, evidence of the defendant’s duty is often inferred from the fact that they were operating a vehicle on public roads. The duty to drive safely applies to all drivers equally.
Evidence of the breach is where things get tricky. If the defendant committed a traffic violation and was ticketed by the police when they responded to the accident, we can use the ticket as evidence of their breach. We can also interview witnesses and use security or dashboard camera footage if any exists.
Finding evidence of causation is also somewhat complicated. In some cases, the fact that the defendant’s behavior directly caused the accident is obvious and little evidence is needed. In others, the cause of the accident might be more ambiguous, and more evidence is required. Again, witnesses, photos, and videos from the accident can greatly help.
Evidence of your damages might include medical records to establish your injuries. The photos from the accident might show the damage your vehicle suffered, which we can use in court.
Call Our Motorcycle Accident Lawyers in Huntsville, AL Today
Call (844) 876-4357 to schedule a case assessment for no charge with our motorcycle accident attorneys here at Howe Law.
