Dallas car accidents happen every day. This article describes the basic overview of what to expect after a Dallas car accident (from the perspective of the accident victim who has sustained an injury).

 

 

The process is generally made up of the following phases:

 

1. Car Accident and the Scene of the Accident

3. Claim

 

 

 

 

The accident itself usually only takes a matter of seconds, but the specific details that occur in these moments will largely determine what you can expect in the coming weeks or months. Rather than list what you should have done, I will instead list some of the common mistakes and hopefully you can use this information to avoid those pitfalls.

 

-You should always get a copy of the police report. If you do not get a copy of the police report you may create a scenario where it is your word against theirs. A potential client recently contacted our firm and relayed a story where that was exactly what happened. This gentleman's car was hit by a pickup truck that spun out of control as it was driving too fast in the rain. The victim did not contact the police and a report was not filed. The victim filed a claim and the insurance company conducted an "investigation". When the insurance company spoke to their insured he simply lied and said that another car hit his truck which caused it to spin out of control and hit the other car. It was a complete lie, but the insurance company used that lie as the grounds for denying the victim's claim citing that the imaginary 3rd car is to blame and that the victim should track down their insurance company. Let's get real here. The other driver's insurance company did not actually believe that some mysterious third car was to blame. They where simply in a position to deny coverage for the victim based on a technicality and they did just that. 

-Do not trust the other driver. Often, the other driver will try to convince you to accept payment out of pocket rather than deal with their insurance company. DO NOT FALL FOR THIS! While the other driver may not have malevolent intentions, it is very likely that they do not have the resources to pay for your property damage and injuries out of pocket. Few people have that kind of money lying around, and the one's that do are usually smart enough to have insurance to protect their assets. Even if you only have minor injuries your medical expenses can still approach several thousands of dollars rather quickly, and few people have the assets to properly compensate you for this. Also, they may give you an excuse as to why they have to leave the scene, but they promise to meet with you later to exchange information. You should not allow this to happen for obvious reasons.

 

-If you are hurt go immediately to the hospital. Failure to seek timely medical care will diminish the validity of your claims of pain and suffering and effectively give the insurance company another argument to make against paying you a reasonable amount of money. Consider the situation from the perspective of the insurance company. As far as they see it, if you did not even bother to go to the hospital then you must not have been hurt that bad.  (This is an argument an experienced attorney can help you overcome. Nevertheless this is an argument that you need to be aware of)

 

 

 

 

As the name implies, the second phase of the process involves getting the treatment for your injuries. Getting your health back on track is the most important task following a car accident, for obvious reasons, but the way that you handle the treatment phase will also have a dramatic impact on the financial outcome of your case.

 

As a Dallas car accident lawyer, I hear many examples from my clients where a relative has given them some pseudo-legal advice. The vast majority of it is patently wrong, but probably the worst example I have ever heard is where a client's relative advised her not to take an ambulance to the hospital after her accident (in which she was injured significantly) because the ambulance bill would be taken out of her settlement and she would get less money. That is a very skewed perception. Any and all medical bills serve as the basis for any civil action taken against the responsible party. In short, the more legitimate medical expenses that you have, the greater the value of your case. Conversely, if you have small medical expenses the insurance company will have a strong argument that your damages are too small to justify any type of decent settlement. The rationale is that if you are not injured badly enough to see a doctor then you are not hurt badly enough to justify a settlement. If you are legitimately injured and you have already let time pass between your accident and treatment, or you have not received enough treatment to validate your legitimate claim, our attorneys still may be able to help you save your case. We tried a case recently where a woman was rear-ended and she suffered a back injury. Because she did not get the proper treatment, her severe injury had gone mostly undiagnosed. The insurance company offered her $900 for her pain and suffering. Luckily, the client knew a bad deal when she heard one, and she hired our firm to represent her. By getting her the treatment that she needed, which resulted in substantive medical expenses that we could base her law suit on, we were able to turn her $900 offer into a six figure settlement.

 

 

 

 

The third step in the process is the claim phase, whereby the accident victim or their attorney will file a claim with the other driver's insurance company. Technically, the claim will be ongoing at the same time as the treatment phase. For most people, the claim process begins shortly after the accident. The vast majority of our Dallas car accident clients made a good faith attempt to resolve the issue with the other driver's insurance company and turn to us when they discover that they are not being treated fairly. Once an attorney becomes involved, the accident victim no longer has to deal with the insurance company themselves. The attorney "runs interference", so to speak, for the client. This benefits the client greatly in that it makes it keeps the adjuster from pulling any common deceptions on the client. (click here to learn more about the tricks insurance adjuster pull)

 

The claim is divided into two sections: The personal injury claim, and the property damage claim. They are often handled by two different adjusters, the more aggressive and experienced adjuster will handle your personal injury claim. There is little "gray area" in the property damage claim. A car will have some value and some amount of damage. If the cost of repairing the damage is reasonably proportionate to the value of the car, they will fix it. If the cost of repair will cost almost as much as the value of the car, they will simply declare the car a total loss and cut you a check for the approximate value. While the price they give you is not always fair, the process of determining value is, for the most part, regulated, and this affords the adjuster few opportunities to play games.

 

On the contrary, the personal injury portion of the claim is vastly different. The rules are largely open to interpretation and the insurance companies make common practice of treating injured victims unfairly. The main reason for this lies in the fact that the amount of money that the insurance company will potentially have to pay. Just like any other business, insurance companies want to pay out as little as possible, and there are many techniques that they employ to keep you from getting all that you are entitled to. In their defense, the insurance companies do have their work cut out for them in the sense that they have to deal with the abundance of scammers out there, that try to lie about their injuries and commit insurance fraud. While that is a daunting task, it most certainly does not excuse the insurance adjuster from the continued practice of shorting honest people with real injuries.

 

 

 

 

Once liability has been established, the other driver's insurance company will compensate you for the damage to, or loss of, your vehicle. This phase is usually completed long before the personal injury phase of the process is resolved. Property damage is what it is and there is usually little negotiating in this front. Matters related to property damage are more closely regulated by The State, so the insurance companies usually don't play as many games the same way they do with the injury portion of the claim. As an added benefit to our clients, our attorneys will handle the property damage negotiations as well, since many people just want to avoid having to deal with the process altogether. We do NOT charge attorney fees for helping with this part of the process.

 

 

 

 

Once the client has completed treating our attorneys will calculate all of the client's damages. Damages are effectively any and all money that a client deserves as a result of the accident. Some damages are more obvious such as compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, and lost wages. Other forms of damages are more obscure. For example, if your accident has caused you great mental distress, you can be compensated for that. If the injury has kept the you from being intimate with your spouse or partner, you can be compensated for that. There are many types of damages, and our attorneys work to make sure that you are compensated for all that you are entitled to. 

 

Once all of the damages has been assessed, a "demand packet" is sent to the other driver's insurance company (or their attorneys if necessary). Once the demand packet has been accepted the negotiations begin and our attorneys fight to reach a fair resolution for our clients (click here to find out how our attorneys gain leverage in these negotiations) . If both sides can reach an equitable agreement the case is "settled", whereby the defendant pays an agreed upon amount to our client. If such an agreement can not be reached, then the case will likely go to trial and a jury will decide the outcome.

 

 

If you have any further questions related to how car accident cases work, feel free to contact us at 888-436-0288. Our lawyers are happy to answer any questions you may have about a car or automobile accident.

 

 

-Written by Dallas, Texas Automobile Accident Attorney E. Michael Grossman