Car accidents often result in severe injuries for drivers and passengers who, through no fault of their own, were involved in a crash. Dangerous drivers do not need to cause an accident on purpose to be held responsible for their negligence, and even mere “accidents” are often grounds for substantial damages for injury victims.
However, getting full compensation for your accident is often more difficult than it might seem. Our lawyers can help you build a strong case and present it to the insurance company or even the courts to get the compensation you need for your accident.
For a free case review, call Howe Law’s car accident lawyers immediately at (844) 876-4357.
Identifying the At-Fault Party in a Newnan, GA Car Accident
The law determines fault in a car accident not by looking at who hit whom but rather who was doing what they were supposed to be doing and who made a mistake or committed a violation. If everyone is driving under the rules of the road and following all traffic laws, crashes are unlikely to happen except in cases of bad weather or dangerous road conditions. This usually means you can track down the at-fault party by watching for traffic violations and other examples of patently unsafe driving.
Most crashes involve speeding or driver inattention. When you drive over the speed limit, you are in fact breaking the law. That means that any accident that happens because of the high speed can put the speeding driver at fault. Inattention is perhaps more obviously bad; drivers who are not paying attention to other cars – or who have taken their eyes off the road to look at their phone – can easily cause a crash.
The courts can also use other violations such as tailgating, running a red light, or drunk driving as grounds for fault in a car accident case. Our car accident lawyers can also present evidence of dangerous driving that is not necessarily an explicit traffic violation, such as eating while driving. These kinds of unreasonable decisions – if they are in fact unreasonable given the circumstances – also constitute fault in a car accident case in Georgia.
Assigning Shared Fault in Car Accidents in Newnan, GA
In many cases, fault is not wholly one-sided. Our attorneys seek to help injured drivers, and that often means wholly innocent drivers. However, many drivers speed or follow just a bit too closely without catastrophic results. If you are accused of also doing something wrong to contribute to the crash, it is not the end of your case.
Our lawyers can first seek to challenge evidence that you did anything wrong. We can poke holes in the defendant’s testimony and show the jury that their fault – not yours – was overwhelmingly the core cause of the crash. We can also point to things the defendant did after your so-called mistakes that might have cut off any liability you could have shared.
Additionally, if the jury does find that you were partly responsible for the crash, you can still get reduced damages. The defendant will still have to pay you a percentage of the damages corresponding to their percentage of fault. If your fault reaches 50%, then you are blocked from suing under Georgia law, but anything less than that can still lead to damages for at least a portion of your overall damages.
What Damages Can You Claim in a Newnan, GA Car Accident Case
Knowing what your case is worth is difficult without examining the facts of the case. However, we can explain what types of damages you can typically claim in a car accident lawsuit or insurance claim:
Medical Expenses
If your accident sent you to the hospital, you should have any bills and expenses related to your medical care paid for by the driver who caused the accident. Our lawyers will fight to get you damages for what could be astoundingly high medical bills, covering everything from hospital visits and emergency surgery to rehabilitation, physical therapy, and mental health counseling to deal with the after-effects of the accident.
Lost Earnings
If your accident and the resulting injuries impacted your ability to work, that can constitute damages as well. Any earnings and wages you missed out on as a consequence of the accident, your recovery, or resulting disabilities should be reimbursed by the at-fault driver. This can include ongoing wages for the rest of your life if your injury keeps you from rejoining the workforce.
Other “Economic Damages”
Medical expenses and lost earnings are the most common “economic damages,” but victims of car accidents can claim other expenses related to their accident as well. For example, if you need to pay for additional childcare during your hospital stay or you need to get damage to your car repaired, all of these costs should be claimed in your lawsuit as well.
“Non-Economic Damages”
While those damages are all based on monetary harm, car accident injuries cause physical, mental, and emotional harm as well. These damages are just as real, even if they do not have clear economic values you can prove. As such, you can also claim compensation for these damages, such as pain and suffering and emotional distress.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are not meant to compensate you in the same way that other damages are. Instead, they are ordered in cases where the defendant’s actions were especially dangerous and where they should have known better. These damages are used solely to punish defendants and might be very high. However, they are usually used only against corporations with dangerous business practices or drivers who committed seriously dangerous acts on the road.
Call Our Newnan, GA Car Accident Injury Attorneys Today
For help with your case, reach out to the car accident attorneys at Howe Law by calling (844) 876-4357.
