Car accidents can occur quickly and can cause severe damage. The steps following a car accident could be crucial. Whenever a person is involved in a car collision, the first thing they should do is evaluate their physical well-being, make certain that they are not injured, and contact 911. They need to contact the proper first responders to ensure that everything is safe and that their physical well-being is 100 percent. Next, injured individuals should then reach out to a car accident attorney.
Our skilled car accident attorneys at the A.W. Smith Law Firm have decades of experience helping injured individuals following motor vehicle collisions. They could advise you of the mistakes to avoid following a Columbia, MO car accident. With their help, you may be eligible to recover compensation for damages.
Often, when people are involved in a car accident, they may be in shock or have adrenaline coursing through their body, so they may not feel immediate pain. Due to this, they may refuse medical treatment.
The reason why that may be an error is because once the adrenaline, endorphins, and shock wear off, the person may start to react to the pain. Perhaps it is strained muscles or back pain, such as crushed vertebrae. Following an accident, it is best to go to the hospital and get diagnosed.
In litigation, insurance carriers may argue that the person was not as severely hurt as they are claiming because they were not in much pain at the accident site. If they were in that much pain at the accident site, they would have asked for immediate medical attention. However, it could have been the chemical reactions going through the body, being concerned about other passengers, and wanting to get to someplace safe and familiar.
It is a mistake not to follow doctor’s orders or follow up with medical treatment whenever a person is injured in a motor vehicle collision because the doctor has the expertise, the knowledge, and the education to tell them what they need to do to get better. It is always wise to follow the doctor’s orders just so that their personal and physical well-being could recover and return to 100 percent.
As it pertains to litigation, when making a claim, if one does not follow a doctor’s orders, it shows that one is hesitant in making one’s physical well-being 100 percent. They are failing to mitigate their injuries. They are failing to do everything that they could to make themselves better.
If the person is told to routinely go back to the doctor, and they failed to do so, it shows a disregard for their physical well-being. In this type of situation, it could be used against them by showing that this person does not want to get better. This person is failing to mitigate their injuries, and those types of statements are oftentimes used by insurance carriers and lawyers to try to diminish a recovery or get a jury to lower the verdict amount.
Some of the risks of trying to be polite by apologizing at the scene could be construed as admitting fault. This could mean that the person is admitting that they are partially responsible for causing the collision, and they are wholly responsible for causing the collision when that may not be the case at all. It is a part of human nature when a person is involved in a car accident, even if they are not responsible at all, to apologize for the situation. They may just be trying to convey sympathy to another human being about being involved in a very traumatic experience. It is an error because anything that the person says at the scene could be considered an admission against interest.
For example, if the person says they are sorry for the general condition of what occurred, that could still be considered an admission against interest. It is different than if they are saying because they caused the accident or contributed to causing the collision. In that type of situation, if it comes to a claim a lawsuit or a trial, it could be construed as the person admitting their own culpability and liability in causing or contributing the cause of the collision.
Often, people involved in car collisions do not know what their rights are. They do not know what the possible remedies are. When a person contacts them out of the blue, such as a claims adjuster from the other driver’s insurance company who handles numerous claims a day, they become anxious. They do not know the proper procedures and what their rights and remedies are.
It is best to contact a car accident attorney following a motor vehicle crash because they could advocate for them. Not only does the lawyer have their best interest at heart, but they also could advise them as to what their proper remedies are. Failing to contact an attorney afterward in addition to being inexperienced, anxiousness, and uninformed about what to do on that type of situations, they could be taken advantage of.
Call the A.W. Smith Law Firm today to protect your rights and to learn about the mistakes to avoid following a Columbia car accident.
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