If you are ever injured in a car accident, you may be entitled to receive a substantial settlement or jury award. However, some mistakes could put your potential settlement at risk.
What Not to Do After a Car Accident
Avoid doing any of these if you want to have the best chance of getting all the compensation you deserve:
Do not leave the accident without gathering evidence. If you are feeling up to it, taking pictures and videos of the accident scene will help you prove how the accident happened. Snap pictures that show the vehicles’ positions and the road’s conditions. If possible, get contact information from any witnesses.
Do not put off getting medical attention. Getting medical attention soon after the accident is most important because your health is the priority; prompt medical evaluation will also be helpful to your case or claim. First, it will document your injuries. If you do not see a doctor soon after the accident, this will give the insurance company an opening to argue that you weren’t seriously injured. Second, some symptoms of injuries sometimes may not appear right away. A doctor may detect the injury before you do. The sooner you get a diagnosis, the quicker you can start getting treated, and the better your chances of recovery. Insurance companies often base a claim’s value on the amount of necessary medical treatment received.
Not following doctor’s orders. Following your doctor’s treatment plan will benefit you in two ways. First, following your doctor’s plan is good for your health and recovery – and that is good for your case. Juries want to see that you worked hard and did your best to get better. Second, you will deny the other party’s insurance company the chance to claim that you must not have been badly hurt because you weren’t serious about your self-care or that you made your injury worse. Both juries and insurance companies are more likely to believe you were injured if you put in the hard work it sometimes takes to get better.
Telling people the accident was your fault. If you think you may have been partly at fault for the accident, keep it to yourself. Don’t tell the other driver, don’t tell the insurance company, and don’t talk about the accident at all on social media. It’s okay to be human, of course. You can try to find ways to express compassion and concern at the scene of the accident without outwardly admitting you did wrong.
Maine has a comparative negligence system. If you and the other driver were both partly at fault for the accident, your compensation will be reduced. You can’t recover damages if the fault was at least half yours. The negligent party’s insurance company will seize your admission and try to use it to reduce or deny your compensation. The only person you should talk to about this is your lawyer, who will be able to evaluate the facts. Just because you think you were at fault doesn’t necessarily mean you were.
Settling the case too quickly. The other party’s insurance company would like you to accept their first offer. Resist the temptation to take it just to get the process over with. You should not receive a settlement offer without first talking to an attorney. The offer is likely to be unfairly low. Also, you may need time to find out the full extent of your injuries and the need for treatment.
Waiting too long to file a case. Maine has deadlines for filing a personal injury case. If you miss them, you may lose your right to receive compensation. It’s best to get a lawyer and get started well before the deadlines so there will be enough time to gather evidence and build a strong case.
Contact the Experienced Personal Injury Attorneys at Garmey Law
The nationally acclaimed personal injury lawyers at Garmey Law are dedicated to fighting for the rights of people who were injured because of other people’s negligence. If you choose to work with us, we will guide you through the legal process, steer you around obstacles, and help you do everything right to get the maximum compensation available. Contact us through our website for a free consultation about your car accident injury. Read our other post to learn what you should do if you have been in a car accident.