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When driving your vehicle on I-85 or the local streets of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, you expect to do so safely. However, it only takes one error from a reckless driver sharing the roads with you to cause a catastrophic crash. Such a collision can leave you injured or cause you to lose a loved one.
After suffering injuries or losses because of another driver’s negligence, you should also not have to pay the resulting bills. When you hire Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC, to represent you in a collision case, a Kings Mountain car accident lawyer will fight for your financial recovery from the at-fault driver. We review cases for free.
What You Could Recover in a Kings Mountain Car Accident Claim
For a successful personal injury claim after a car wreck, you need evidence to show that the other driver made an error, leading to the collision. You must also prove that you have experienced financial loss related to the crash, such as medical bills for your treatment.
We help our clients in the Kings Mountain area by working as hard as possible to secure compensation that addresses their expenses and losses. The first step is identifying these damages. For example, depending on the specifics of your case, you could recover compensation for:
- Emergency medical care and transportation to the hospital
- X-rays and other tests to identify injuries
- The hospital stay
- Surgeries and other treatments
- Pain medications and assistive devices, such as a wheelchair
- The income you missed while out of work
- Reduced future income, if the injuries affect your career
- Repairs for your vehicle or its replacement value
Our team collects evidence of these costs and losses for your case file. Then, we can begin calculating the value of your claim. If you suffered a severe brain or spine injury, trust that the best brain and spine injury lawyer will work on your case. Our legal team has extensive experience helping traffic accident victims recover.
Settlement Calculations Can Include Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages refer to losses that do not have a monetary value on their own. Instead, we use one of several industry methods to assign a value to them for our clients. Examples of recoverable non-economic damages as outlined in G.S. § 90-21.19 include:
- Pain and suffering
- Disfigurement and disability
- Loss of life enjoyment
- Emotional distress
- Inconvenience
Since the severity and long-term effects of a car accident can vary for each victim, case value will also vary. For example, someone with a permanent disability will likely have different damages than someone who recovers within a couple of weeks and returns to a normal life. Our team makes sure to account for these differences before we begin negotiations with the insurance company.
How Our North Carolina Car Accident Lawyers Can Help Your Case
At Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC, we aim to minimize your stress after an accident by taking over your legal case. With our firm’s representation, you should feel free to focus on recovering and tending to your family. Our services include:
Proving the Other Driver’s Fault and Liability
To win a personal injury settlement after a car accident, you must show that the other driver made an error that led to the crash. This establishes negligence on the part of the other driver. Four elements must be shown to prove negligence:
- Duty of Care: People expect others to act within specific parameters in every life situation. For vehicle operation, you are expected to act within traffic laws and to operate a vehicle in a responsible manner.
- Breach of Duty: When you have a responsibility to act a certain way and fail to do so, you have breached your duty of care. Operating a motor vehicle recklessly is considered a breach of the duty to drive responsibly.
- Causation: If you operate a vehicle recklessly and your actions cause an accident, the resulting injuries are due to your actions.
- Damages: Once the first three elements of negligence are proven, the last is to show that the injury or damages to the plaintiff were the results of the defendant’s actions.
For example, per the North Carolina Judicial Branch, if the other driver received a traffic ticket from the police after the accident, this is a sign of negligence. The issuance of the ticket generally proves the first three elements by establishing that the defendant had a duty, breached that duty, and caused the accident. Therefore, the issuance of a ticket can support your personal injury case.
Still, even if the police did not issue a traffic ticket, our car accident attorneys in Kings Mountain have other techniques we can use to show negligence. For example, we will interview witnesses who may have seen what the other driver was doing before the crash. Based on the evidence available, our team will work to uncover facts in your favor.
Collecting Evidence to Build a Solid Case
Our Kings Mountain car accident lawyers will begin right after your free case evaluation. To build a solid case, we will work to obtain and organize:
- Police accident reports
- Video and photographs from nearby surveillance equipment, dash cams, or cell phones
- Interview witnesses and other passengers in all vehicles involved in the wreck
- Medical bills and doctor’s statements about your injuries, including your prognosis for recovery in full or in part
- Wage statements to show how much you were earning before the accident and what your projected wages will be if you can return to work
- We may interview medical experts regarding your injuries and may call on them as witnesses if your case goes to trial
- We may contract with accident reconstruction specialists to go over the accident and show a digital representation of the chain of events that caused your injuries
A car accident lawyer in Kings Mountain from our team will work hard to develop your claim, so you receive the compensation you deserve.
Negotiating with the Insurance Company
After a car wreck, the insurance company claims adjuster representing the other driver may contact you with multiple questions. However, it may not be in your best interest to speak with the insurer just yet, if at all. Doing so could allow the insurer to take your words out of context and use them to deny or devalue your claim.
For example, the insurer may use your answers to suggest that you made a mistake that led to the crash, meaning you will lose your right to some or all of the settlement.
When you choose to hire our Kings Mountain car accident team to represent your interests, we will take over all conversations and negotiations with the insurance company.
You do not have to answer questions without our presence. We can minimize any potential risks and assist you in avoiding any misstatements. Our team will make sure the insurer sticks to the facts in the case. We know many of the strategies insurance adjusters use to get you to admit fault and can protect you against their unscrupulous behavior.
Keeping Your Case Moving Forward
We understand that you want your payment as soon as possible, and we will work to help make this happen. Our attorneys will also make sure your case stays within the North Carolina statute of limitations for filing a personal injury lawsuit, which is three years, according to G.S. § 1-52.
Settlement Before Trial
Many auto accident claims can be negotiated and arrive at an equitable settlement long before the need to proceed to court with a lawsuit. By developing a solid claim on your behalf, we have the necessary leverage to demand a higher final settlement. We build your claim using evidence, establishing negligence on the part of the defendant, and documenting the severe nature of your injuries.
Insurance companies will often attempt to start with a low-ball offer for settlement. They are counting on your desperation and need for immediate cash to ease the financial burdens from the accident. Although the final decision is always yours, our team may recommend that you decline extremely low offers. The more solid our case against their client (the defendant), the more bargaining power we have to fight for a higher amount of compensation for you.
Representing You in a Trial
If the insurance company refuses to negotiate fairly or going to court seems to be the best option for your case, we will prepare for trial. This means that our team and the insurance company will present the facts in the case as we see them, and we will let a jury decide what compensation to award.
Understand that even if we recommend going to trial or accepting a settlement offer, the final decision on how we proceed always rests with you. Our team will lay out all of the potential scenarios so that you can make the decision that will best fit your needs.
Types of Car Wrecks in Kings Mountain
You could sustain an injury in several different kinds of wrecks in Kings Mountain. Consider contacting a lawyer if you were involved in a:
Rear-End Wreck
Drivers who don’t pay attention to the road often cause rear-end collisions. They may fail to brake in time when approaching a stop sign or red light. These wrecks also happen in stop-and-go conditions, which are common during rush hour around Kings Mountain.
