Who Pays for a Three-Car Accident?

Car accidents ruin your day. The worst car accidents can ruin your life. In one recent year, over 30,000 car accidents took place in Orlando alone, resulting in more than 20,000 injuries. Some of these injuries were minor, but others were so severe that they changed victims’ lives forever.

No matter how severe your injuries, if you suffer pain and hardship after an accident, then you deserve compensation. Working with a skilled and experienced Orlando car accident lawyer can give you a leg up to help you get back on your feet more quickly.

In a complicated situation like an accident involving three or more cars, the need for a lawyer increases dramatically. In Florida, while your own PIP insurance will cover minor injuries, more serious injuries will require you to seek compensation from other parties. In a two-car crash, you can usually identify at least one negligent party pretty easily. In a three-car accident, liability can grow far harder to prove, and it’s even more difficult to prove how much fault each party should bear you.

If you or a loved one has sustained injuries in a car accident, then you deserve to hold the at-fault drivers liable for your injuries. Doing this will also make him or her liable for your medical bills. Even if your injuries are minor, you may still face time out of work and extensive medical expenses. Do not avoid a personal injury claim just because you think it’s not worth your time. You should not have to pay anything out of your own pocket for your medical bills. A car accident lawyer can discuss how to avoid paying your medical bills yourself.

Types of Car Accidents

Car accidents come in many shapes and sizes. Some accidents cause life-altering injuries, where not only the victim suffers but so do family members who must care for the injured individual. No matter what type of accident caused your injuries, you deserve compensation, so you can focus on your physical recovery rather than succumb to financial stress.

Rear-End

Rear-end car accidents are some of the most common. They occur when the car behind you slams into your back bumper. Many times, these result from other drivers not paying attention to the road. While these accidents are often slow-speed accidents, that does not mean that the resulting injuries are always less severe. Whiplash and other soft tissue neck injuries are common.

Side-Impact

These accidents are more commonly called T-bone or broadside accidents, and they occur when one side of your vehicle is struck by another vehicle. These accidents commonly cause severe injuries, especially if someone strikes your car on the driver’s side. When this happens, there is very little protection from the force of the impact.

Sideswipe

Sideswipe accidents usually occur on highways and happen when one driver attempts to change lanes, but your vehicle is right next to them. If the other driver notices you are there, he or she can quickly adjust and cause only cosmetic damage. If the other driver continues to strike your vehicle, it can cause serious injuries from rollovers or being force you off the road.

Rollover

Rollovers happen at high speeds. SUVs are more likely to roll over than smaller cars because SUVs have a higher center of gravity. Your car might roll over because some other vehicle strikes you, causing an imbalance in your vehicle. Higher rates of speed, like when you are driving on a highway, increase the risk of a rollover accident.

Head-On

These are some of the most dangerous car accidents. Head-on collisions are often fatal because cars are running into each other at combined higher rates of speed.

Pile-Ups

Pile-ups involve many vehicles in one accident and usually happen on highways. These are also some of the deadliest types of accidents because they stop cars on a road where the speed limit is high. Many times, people will get out of their vehicles, which is even more dangerous because you give up the protection your vehicle provides.

Common Injuries

Over 30,000 people die in car accidents every year. Not every car accident will cause death, but this shows how tragic and serious car accidents are to victims. Common injuries include:

• Burns
• Cuts
• Broken bones
• Concussions
• Spinal cord injuries
• Neck injuries
• Paralysis
• Amputation

Even if the car accident in which you were injured was minor, your injuries may still be serious. Do not refuse medical attention at the accident scene. You may have injuries you are not aware of because your adrenaline is pumping. Some injuries will not show symptoms for days or weeks after your accident.

After your accident, you should also go see your doctor so that he or she can evaluate you for additional injuries. Depending on the severity of your injuries, you might have to stay in the hospital and undergo multiple medical procedures or surgeries to help you recover. These medical procedures are expensive, but you should not bear any responsibility for these bills, as you played no part in causing the accident in which you suffered injuries.

Once you are certain that your health and well-being is looked after, you need the services of an experienced personal injury lawyer. Your medical costs may get out of control. Even if you suffered only minor injuries, you will have medical expenses, but you should not have to pay them out of your own pocket. Let us help you hold the at-fault driver liable for your accident and your medical bills.

Need for Compensation

Nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcies in the United States result from medical bills This underscores the importance of working with a trusted car accident injury lawyer in Florida. You do not want to suffer the financial ruin that so many others have experienced. When you bring a personal injury claim for your car accident injuries, you only have a limited time after your accident to do so. That’s why you need to speak with a trusted attorney as soon as possible after your accident to help you seek compensation for the full cost of your injuries.

When you work with the right personal injury lawyer, he or she will try to get you compensation for:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Medical bills
• Rehabilitation costs
• Lost wages
• Lost earning potential
• Loss of companionship
• Loss of life enjoyment

Depending on the severity of your injuries, your financial recovery might need to be high to pay all of your medical expenses. As we all know, medical bills can quickly reach exceptionally high amounts. If your injuries are serious enough, you may need multiple surgeries, rehabilitation, and possibly even in-home care after your doctor releases you from the hospital.

You may also miss work for extended periods of time following your accident. This may leave you wondering how you will pay your bills. That’s where a car accident lawyer can help. The goal is to maximize your financial recovery so that you can put all of your focus, effort, and energy where it belongs—on your physical recovery. When you focus on your physical recovery, you give yourself the best chance of making a complete recovery and getting back to the life you love.

Determine Liability

In Florida, every driver owes a duty of care to other drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. This duty provides that each driver will act reasonably and in a way that does not put any others in danger of injury. However, not all drivers follow this duty.

When you file a personal injury claim against another driver, to prove negligence you must establish the following:

1. The other driver owed you a duty of care. This is the duty to drive in a reasonable manner so as not to injure anyone else.
2. The other driver breached this duty. When a driver breaches this duty of care, you must prove that he or she acted negligently, such as by driving hastily and in an unreasonable manner. This may include speeding, weaving in and out of lanes, driving too fast for the road conditions, not obeying traffic signals, or any other negligent behavior.
3. The other driver’s actions caused the accident. When you can show that the other driver acted negligently, carelessly, or recklessly, you can show that he or she caused the accident that resulted in your injuries.
4. You suffered injuries. To recover financial damages, you must finally show that you suffered injuries resulting in a financial burden.

These steps may seem simple, but they can actually prove quite complex. Filing a personal injury claim and proving that the other driver was at fault is a complex legal process. There are strict filing deadlines, and there are specific documents that must accompany your claim. Without these timely-filed documents, an insurance company may deny your claim, which would bar you from recovering anything. You do not want to suffer this way, adding insult to injury.

View Initial Settlements With Skepticism

After your car accident injury, all you want is to get back to your regular life. You want to put all this behind you and move on. We get it. However, when you receive a quick settlement offer from the insurance company of the at-fault driver, we urge caution.

The insurance company wants to put this claim behind it, just like you. The difference is that the insurance company does not want to pay the full value of your claim. Accepting an initial settlement may leave you having to pay out-of-pocket for your medical bills. Unfortunately, you may not realize this until it’s too late.

When the insurance company offers you a quick settlement, it’s usually a low-ball offer. The company hopes you don’t consult an attorney and just take the offer. When you do, you will waive your right to bring any future claims for this car accident. When you realize months or years down the road that the settlement funds were not enough to cover all of your medical bills, it will be too late.

The best way to avoid a scenario that results in your financial hardship is to speak with a seasoned car accident injury lawyer who can help you create an accurate estimate of your future needs. You can easily determine the total amount of the medical bills sitting on your kitchen table. What’s more challenging, however, is calculating the costs of your future medical needs.

Your lawyer can help you create that estimate by analyzing the severity and type of your injuries, your prognosis, and what it will take for you to make a full recovery. Doing this helps gives us a place to start with insurance company negotiations. Your car accident lawyer does not want to see you settle for less than your claim is worth and have to pay out-of-pocket for your medical expenses. You did not cause the accident, so you should not bear any responsibility for the costs associated with your recovery.

You want to put this experience behind you quickly, so a car accident lawyer will work aggressively to settle your claim for an amount that works for you. However, sometimes insurance companies refuse to negotiate reasonably, so you have to go to court to maximize your financial recovery. When you work with a law firm, you want confidence that they have the resources to take your case to trial, if necessary.

The right firm will have the resources to take depositions, work with expert witnesses, negotiate with insurance companies, meet filing deadlines, and keep you informed of any progress. This requires substantial resources, as most personal injury lawyers don’t require any payment unless they win your case. Your car accident lawyer will work to settle your case quickly and will only take your personal injury claim to trial if that’s what he or she must do to hold the at-fault driver liable for your injuries and ensure the insurance company pays its fair share.

Not every law firm has the resources required to take a personal injury case all the way to trial. When you’re searching for attorneys, make sure you ask questions about their trial experience, so you can be confident that they can actually help you.

Work With a Trusted Attorney

Trusting your lawyer is important. The right lawyer can positively influence your recovery. When you trust that your lawyer has your best interests at heart and aggressively works to protect your rights, you can release your worry and stress. This allows you to focus completely on your physical recovery.

Moreover, a car accident lawyer with experience investigating complex car accidents involving multiple vehicles can make sure that you pursue appropriate compensation from all of the negligent parties that contributed to your injury—whether the crash involved two cars or three.