In order to get a good settlement or win a verdict in an auto accident case, you must first have a case. What that means is that the law recognizes that you have been injured and requires another person or insurance company to compensate you for your injuries.
You have a case when three legal requirements are met.
First, another person or company must have done something that was wrong and is therefore at fault. The law defines fault differently in different types of cases. For example, in automobile accident cases the other driver is said to be negligent if the other driver speeds, runs a stop sign or follows to close. In other words, the other driver doesn’t follow the rules of the road.
The second element needed for a personal injury case is damages. You, the injured party, must have been injured in some way. Usually that means a physical injury accompanied by pain and suffering. Examples of physical injuries are: broken bones, soft tissues injuries, back injuries, whiplash, bruising, scarring and disability. Once you meet the legal requirement for suffering an injury, you are entitled to recover not only for your physical injury but also for lost income, medical bills, chiropractic bills, therapist bills and even loss of enjoyment of life.
The third element needed for a personal injury case is causation. What that means is that the party who is at fault caused your injuries. This seems rather obvious at first. For example, imagine that you are driving your vehicle and suddenly a careless driver runs a red light and nearly hits your car. This scares you but you are luckily unscathed. As you drive off, your brakes fail, your car crashes into a guardrail and you injury your neck. You do not have a case against the driver of the car who ran the red light. His negligence did not cause your injuries.
This may all sound very complicated. We analyze cases under these criteria every day. As a result, our experience allows us to quickly determine whether you have a case. Quite often we can tell you over the phone whether you have a case. Sometimes, we may need to do some research to determine whether you have a case. Whether we can tell you over the phone or whether we need to do some research, we will never charge you a fee for this service. We only charge fees in auto accident cases when we accept the case and obtain a settlement or verdict for you.