You’re not alone if you’ve been hurt in an auto accident in Brookhaven, GA. Car accidents are one of the leading causes of injuries, and even minor injuries can become painful, long-term conditions. In addition, they can often leave you with high medical bills and increasing debt.
But you don’t have to take on the financial burden of your accident if it was someone else’s fault. Talk to a Brookhaven, GA, car accident lawyer. At John Foy & Associates, we’ve been helping accident victims for more than two decades.
How Can a Brookhaven Car Accident Attorney Protect You From the Insurance Company?
Many accident victims mistakenly believe that the insurance company has their best interests at heart and will handle everything. Sadly, that’s not always true. Insurance companies want to make a profit and know they can boost their bottom line by paying as little as possible in claims. So they use several tactics like:
- Calling you, sounding friendly and concerned, asking if you feel better. They use whatever you say against you.
- Offering you money right away. But assessing your injuries’ full extent and cost can take weeks or months. If you take the quick cash, you will give up your right to ask for more if your injuries are worse than you thought.
- Delaying for months while your medical bills pile up. They hope you’ll feel enough financial stress to accept the first offer you get.
- Trying to blame you so they can deny your claim or argue that your injuries aren’t as bad as your doctors say.
Our car crash attorneys can defend you against the insurance company’s tactics, present relevant evidence that the crash was someone else’s fault, and negotiate a fair settlement.
We’ll ensure we protect your rights as our client and advocate for you to receive all the damages you qualify for. You should never provide a recorded statement to the insurance company, meet with them, or contact them without one of our personal injury lawyers present.
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What Kinds of Damages Can You Recover After Your Car Accident?
You can most likely recover if you have a financial loss because of your accident. Our car accident lawyers in Brookhaven, GA, commonly recover the following damages:
- Medical expenses
- The cost of a prescribed medicine
- Emotional distress
- The cost of repairing a car or replacing a totaled one
- Lost wages to make up for the time you missed from work because of the crash
- Physical therapy to recover from physical injuries
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Property damage
If you had a more serious crash, you might recover substantially more money for such things as disability, severe pain, or losing a close family member. Of course, we know that money can never restore your life before the accident. But we have found that it offers accident victims and their families relief from financial stress and a path to building a new life.
How Can You Tell if Your Brookhaven Car Accident Claim Is Valid?
The only way to know if your car accident claim is valid is to get an objective and professional opinion from a car accident attorney in Brookhaven, GA. Victims often blame themselves or view a collision as “just an accident” that was nobody’s fault. But someone is usually legally responsible for the crash and its results.
If someone, such as a driver, had obeyed traffic laws, been more attentive, or hadn’t created a dangerous condition, the accident wouldn’t have happened. Therefore, legally, that person is “negligent,” and they (or their insurance company) must pay for your losses.
We have successfully recovered money for accident victims in just about every type of accident you can think of, including:
- Head on crashes
- Rear end collisions
- T-bone collisions
- Crashes caused by ice, rain, fog, and other dangerous driving conditions
- Accidents where a driver was texting or otherwise distracted
- Collisions involving DUI
- Accidents due to defective tires
- Crashes where the victims suffered whiplash
Our personal injury attorneys have even helped people recover money from hit-and-run accidents and collisions where the driver at fault didn’t have insurance.
The Importance of Medical Care After a Crash
An important part of ensuring your personal injury claim is valid is seeking medical care as soon as possible. By doing so, a doctor can diagnose injuries that may not show symptoms but could evolve into dangerous health conditions.
Also, medical attention helps show you have good intentions in your claim and are not purposely waiting to go to the doctor so you can recover more compensation for your injuries.
After you go to the doctor, you’ll also receive your medical records, which can be strong evidence of your injuries. Then, when you meet with the insurance adjuster, you can present this evidence as a part of your case.
Is It Common To Sue Someone in a Car Crash Case?
It’s possible but unlikely. We have occasional cases where the insurance company refuses to negotiate, and our clients decide to take their cases to the local courts. Our top-notch litigation team can fully pursue a case to trial.
If your case is eligible to go to court, we will explain the procedure and give you our honest opinion of your chances of winning. Then it’s up to you to decide what to do. In most of our cases, we never get to that point. Instead, we do everything possible to present a strong case to convince the insurance company to pay.
Our first step in any new case is to investigate the cause of the collision and get you a thorough medical evaluation, so we know what your injuries will cost long-term. We then put together a case using expert medical opinions, police reports, and witness accounts.
Insurance companies often substantially increase their financial compensation offers when they see this.
How Much Does a Brookhaven Car Accident Lawyer Cost?
We don’t think you should have to pay anything upfront. Our car accident attorneys in Brookhaven, GA, have set up a simple payment system on a contingency fee basis, so:
- Your consultation with us is free, with no obligation.
- You pay nothing out of pocket for our services.
- We won’t ask you to pay anything unless we earn money for you.
If we get you a financial recovery, we’ll take our fee as a percentage of your recovery, and the rest is yours. Typically the standard contingency fee is 33.3% to 40%, roughly one-third, but we’ll discuss this and agree to a number before we start working together. So we put in the work and take the risk, so you can get the legal help you need.
Georgia Crash Statistics Show Increasing Fatalities
According to TRIP, a National Transportation Research Nonprofit, the frequency of fatal accidents in Georgia increased by 21% from 2019 to 2021. In the most recent data available for 2021, the press release shows 1,086 fatal crashes. Out of the 129 billion miles Georgia residents traveled in 2021, there were 1.4 fatalities per mile.
Unfortunately, these statistics are unsurprising as Georgia ranked fourth in the United States for fatalities on rural non-interstate roads in a rural road condition report. The primary reason for the high rate of fatalities among Georgia drivers is a result of the high traffic and narrow roads. Another reason for Georgia’s high fatality rate is the poor structure of the roads.
Is There a Deadline for Car Accident Cases in Brookhaven?
Yes. State and federal laws set strict time limits for filing car accident claims in Brookhaven. The deadline, known as a statute of limitations, depends on the exact circumstances of your case. In Georgia:
- Many accident victims have up to two years to file a claim.
- Some victims have short deadlines for making a claim, only a matter of weeks.
The only way to be sure of the deadline that applies to you is to consult with a personal injury lawyer. If you wait too long to file your claim, you will probably lose any chance of getting a financial recovery.
Talk to a Brookhaven Car Accident Lawyer for Free Today
At John Foy & Associates, we believe that no one should have to pay for a car accident that wasn’t their fault. We have a 20-year track record of helping victims get the money they need, and we’d like to give you a free consultation to show how we can help you.
We began as a small, local law firm but have grown into one of the state’s largest and most well-regarded personal injury firms. We work exclusively for the victims of truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, and other severe accidents. Our mission is simple: to get you the compensation you need to recover as completely as possible.
Call us or fill out the contact form on our website to schedule a free case evaluation with a car accident lawyer in Brookhaven, GA.
404-400-4000 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form