If you have been involved in a car accident on a Georgia roadway, there are a number of crucial questions you should know the answer to – especially about the personal injury process used to claim compensation for any harm and injuries sustained. This article has gathered a number of these key questions into one place, including:
- What can you do when injured by an uninsured or underinsured driver in a Georgia car wreck?
- How can you afford medical treatment while waiting for the personal injury claim?
- When and why should you hire a personal injury attorney after a car accident in Georgia?
Starting with the simplest possible case: what happens when it is obvious who is at fault – and it is not you?
Do I Still Need A Personal Injury Attorney If The Other Driver Was Clearly At Fault For The Accident?
When you have been injured in an unambiguous accident, with zero dispute over who is at fault, you might think you don’t need an attorney’s help to obtain fair and full compensation. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Your main adversary in a personal injury claim is not the other driver. It is their insurance company, and they have plenty of other reasons to deny, delay, or diminish your claim. Without an attorney on your side, it is almost impossible to know when they are manipulating or taking advantage of you.
Additionally, personal injury lawyers can help with a lot more besides just the fight for compensation. They have connections with the doctors and specialists you need to get the best possible care and have every incentive to help you obtain the best settlement or court verdict possible.
Best of all, most personal injury attorneys will charge nothing until you win, and even then, only take a percentage of what they help you obtain. And you will certainly need one if you are partially at fault for the accident.
Can I Still File A Personal Injury Claim In Georgia If I Was At Fault For The Car Accident?
Unfortunately, situations are rarely so clear-cut, and outside the ideal scenario, it might not be obvious who bears the blame for an accident. Fortunately, even if you are somewhat to blame, you can still file a personal injury claim.
However, there are limits to this. Georgia is a partial liability state, which means you can recover some of the same compensation proportional to your fault. If you are 20% to blame, your injuries will only be covered up to 80%.
Can I Still File A Personal Injury Claim If I Was Rear-Ended By An Uninsured Or Underinsured Driver In Georgia?
Another more complicated situation arises when your accident is with an uninsured driver, or with a driver whose personal insurance policy limit is far lower than the amount of harm you have endured.
If you are fortunate (and planned ahead), you should already have uninsured motorist coverage on your own insurance. This coverage allows you to request additional or total claim compensation from your own insurance provider.
While the claim process is somewhat different and may require the assistance of an experienced personal injury attorney, it is no more complicated or difficult to obtain the compensation you need when the other driver has no insurance or insufficient insurance.
Who Pays For The Damages To My Car In An Accident Caused By The Other Driver?
While personal injury claims are ideal for recovering the costs associated with injuries and suffering, the damages to your vehicle are another matter. There are two different ways of handling it.
The difficult way of doing this is trying to get the responsible driver’s insurance to pay for the repairs or replacements needed. This is their responsibility, but they will drag their feet and undervalue your claim.
A better option is to turn to your own car insurance company, demand they pay for the needed repairs, and let them worry about getting reimbursed in turn by the other party’s insurance company.
Either way, it will not, and should never, be paid by you. This is even more important when it comes to the really expensive costs associated with car accidents, the cost of your injuries, and medical treatment.
How Can I Pay For My Medical Bills While My Car Accident Claim Is Pending?
If you have been badly hurt in a car accident in Georgia, the costs associated with treating your injuries can be staggering. They might even make you wary about getting treatment before getting a payout, but that should be avoided at all costs. If you fail to get the treatment you need, it could adversely affect your ability to claim the very damages you need to pay for it!
Fortunately, doctors understand your situation, and many are ready to work with you regardless. Most will work on something called a lien. A lien is a legal term that means they do not get paid until the end of the case. They are putting their trust in your personal injury attorney, who they are used to working with, that the injured client’s insurance will end up paying. This is one more reason to work with an experienced attorney.
However, if you go to a hospital or have to take an ambulance, which you should if you need it, those providers are outside the influence of your attorney and might send you bills and harass you for payment. If you are working with a personal injury attorney, they can call these providers and ask them to wait, but they’re not super patient.
You can also use your own health insurance to pay for your hospital and ambulance bills. This does not make your case any weaker. Just because you had the foresight to buy health insurance for yourself does not mean the negligent driver who hit you is not responsible for your injuries.
Many clients who paid for their healthcare emergency costs through their personal health insurance receive that money back. This is good because these expenses are part of a very long list of factors that go into the personal injury damages you can claim.
How Are Personal Injury Damages Calculated In Georgia Car Wreck Injury Cases?
Your “damages” are the total amount of harm and cost associated with your accident that you are claiming through the personal injury process.
Typically, the damages are the amount of money that your medical care and treatment cost. For example, if you have been injured in a car accident, all the costs of ambulances, hospitals, surgeons, and specialists add up. You could easily run up $20,000 worth of medical bills, or more.
Then, there might also be continuing care that you are going to have for life. But there are also other factors, such as time lost from work or pain and suffering endured, which a skilled personal injury attorney will add.
Thus, even if your basic costs were $20,000 in medical bills, the check you end up receiving from the insurance company is likely to be two or three times that amount when working with an experienced attorney.
How Will Hiring A Georgia Car Accident Attorney Help My Personal Injury Case?
No insurance company, even your own, genuinely cares about your health. They are interested in their bottom line, costs, and profits alone. But a personal injury attorney, especially a compassionate one like those at Cobb Personal Injury, puts you first.
Our goal is for you to be back in the same state of health that you were in prior to this accident. We will also help you get all the money that you are entitled to so that you can pay for the treatment that you received, as well as any future healthcare treatments resulting from this accident.
Insurance companies will let you down and have destroyed lives just as badly as the car accidents that sent people to them. Do not make the mistake of trusting your future health and financial situation to them; hire a personal injury attorney instead. For more information on Auto Accident Injury Claims In Georgia, an initial consultation is your next best step.
