An accident caused by someone else’s negligence can significantly change your life. The Atlanta personal injury attorneys at BMW Law Group have the skills and experience you need to go up against powerful insurance companies. Call us today for a free consultation about your personal injury claim.
You and your family may have to pay for expensive medical costs on top of dealing with lost wages. You may also experience substantial physical pain and emotional suffering. If another person’s careless or reckless actions caused your injury, you may be able to receive financial compensation for your family’s losses through a personal injury lawsuit.
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A personal injury claim is a type of civil lawsuit that allows you to seek reimbursement from one or more parties for causing your accident and injury. As a plaintiff in an injury lawsuit, the burden of proof rests with your side of the case. It is you or your lawyer’s burden to prove the defendant’s liability is more likely to be true than not true. This requires clear and convincing evidence of negligence. In personal injury law, negligence is when one person’s careless actions result in another person’s injury. Proving negligence entails evidence of four elements:
The civil justice system holds that you should not have to pay for your own bills and expenses if you did not cause your injury. The person or party at fault is responsible for making you whole again. Legal concepts such as negligence and liability are easier to navigate with assistance from personal injury lawyers.
If the defendant was negligent or reckless and this caused your injury, he or she is financially responsible for your economic losses. In Georgia, the defendant could also be accountable for your noneconomic losses. These are intangible losses you suffered because of the accident and injury, such as physical pain and emotional suffering. Types of financial compensation available during a personal injury claim in Georgia include:
The value of your personal injury claim in Atlanta depends on the injuries and losses you sustained, as well as personal traits such as your age and income. Although an insurance company will want to minimize your financial outcome, a lawyer can help you fight for a fair settlement value.
In a personal injury case, it is your word as the plaintiff against the defendant – and, in most cases – the defendant’s insurance company. Insurance companies are notorious for denying and limiting claims. Insurers have the resources to fight your injury claim and protect their profits. When you hire a lawyer, you even the playing field between yourself and the defendant.
An Atlanta personal injury lawyer can negotiate with an insurer on your behalf for fair and full compensation for your injuries and losses. This is especially important if you or a loved one has serious injuries that will require future medical care, such as rehabilitation or therapy. Our legal team can also answer your questions, connect you to local top doctors, gather evidence of fault, and perform many other key tasks for you while you concentrate on getting well.
Yes. Georgia’s modified comparative negligence law means you can still be eligible for financial compensation even if you were partially at fault for an accident or injury. You will lose all right to recover damages, however, if the courts allocate more than 49 percent of fault for an accident to you. You or your personal injury lawyer must be able to prove that the defendant is at least half responsible for your accident to be eligible to recover damages. If the courts in Georgia do assign a proportion of the fault for your accident to you, this will reduce your recovery award by an equivalent amount.
If you are found to be 15 percent at fault for an auto accident, for example, this would reduce the defendant’s liability for your fall by 15 percent. In this example, a $100,000 settlement award would be reduced by 15 percent to $85,000. The effect that your partial fault could have on your payout is why it is important to contact a personal injury lawyer in Atlanta if you believe you will face the comparative negligence defense during your case. An attorney can help you combat this defense using evidence that the other party is at fault to help maximize your financial recovery.
Act quickly if you believe you have grounds to hold someone legally accountable for your recent injuries. Georgia has a law called a statute of limitations that places a time limit on bringing a legal claim for personal injury. In most cases, this deadline is two years from the date of the accident or of injury discovery (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33). With only a few exceptions, if you miss the two-year deadline, the courts will refuse to hear your case.
This will bar you and your family from financial recovery. You may have less than two years to file in some cases, such as a case brought against the government in Georgia. Contact an attorney right away to make sure you file by your time limit.
At BMW Law Group, our accident lawyers have years of experience representing the best interests of injury victims throughout Georgia. We have experience in many different areas of personal injury law, including:
Our car accident attorneys in Atlanta are well-versed in insurance and injury law. We use a group approach to representation, with a staff certified in a variety of areas, including medical coding, billing, and counseling.
Liability is the legal term for legal and financial accountability for an accident and the related injuries and losses it causes. If you hold someone liable for your injury, it means that person or party must pay for your medical bills and the other losses that you experienced because of the accident. The liable party in your personal injury claim will depend on the cause of the accident. The person or party who is most responsible for causing your injury is liable for damages, in most cases. This could be a:
The person or party you can hold accountable for your losses will depend on the circumstances of your accident and who violated a duty of care. Determining liability is one of the many complicated tasks that an attorney can complete for you. The Atlanta personal injury attorneys at BMW Law Group can thoroughly investigate your recent accident in Atlanta, collect evidence, identify the defendant(s), and help you build a compelling claim against the correct party or parties.
Having a basic understanding of how the fault laws in Georgia work can allow you to better defend your rights and negotiate for fair financial compensation for your losses. First, know that if you have a car accident claim, Georgia is a fault-based car insurance state. This means that the person or party at fault for causing your vehicle collision is liable (financially responsible) for your losses. In a no-fault state, on the other hand, your own auto insurance company would reimburse you, regardless of fault for the crash. In general, a fault-based claim will result in greater compensation than a first-party car insurance claim. The tradeoff, however, is that you must prove the defendant is to blame in a fault state, while you do not have to prove negligence to recover damages in a no-fault state.
Another fault law to know is Georgia’s modified comparative negligence law. This gives injured accident victims the right to recover a financial settlement even if they are partially to blame for an accident. The “modified” part of Georgia’s comparative negligence law means that a plaintiff can only recover if he or she is less than 50 percent responsible for the accident. In a state that has adopted a pure comparative negligence law, a victim can be up to 99 percent responsible and still recover compensation. Contact our law firm if you or a family member has suffered an accident in the Atlanta area, our legal team can help you understand Georgia’s laws and how they apply to your specific case. We offer free initial case consultations.
Many accident victims fail to realize that the things they do – or don’t do – after an accident can affect the ability to recover financial compensation. Insurance companies can change how they handle your claim according to the actions that you took after an accident. If you get injured in an accident in Atlanta, our attorneys strongly recommend that you take the following steps:
It is okay if you don’t manage to take all of these steps after an accident in Atlanta. Our attorneys can take over and help you build the strongest claim possible based on your specific circumstances, whether or not you did everything that you could have as a claimant. We will give you our best advice and guidance to help you through every phase of the recovery process.
Justice starts with a free initial consultation at BMW Law Group. Our personal injury lawyers in Atlanta can answer your legal questions and listen to your story. Then, we can develop a case based on the specific facts involved to fight for the results your family needs. You will not pay unless we secure financial compensation on your behalf. Speak to an experienced attorney from our injury law firm today. Contact us online or call (770) 225-4710 to request a free case evaluation.
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