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The Intake Process for Car Accident Litigation
A lawyer who specializes in car accident litigation can help you determine the strength of your case is and how the settlement might be worth. This is only possible when all the information you need is available.
Discovery is the first stage of a car accident case. During this stage, attorneys and their teams exchange documents and discuss their respective cases under oath.
Documentation
Documentation is an integral part of the work in a car accident. This could include evidence such as photographs, medical records, or witness statements. The more evidence you have the more convincing your case will become.
The first document you need is a law enforcement report. The police officer who arrives at the scene of the accident will usually prepare a report. This will provide valuable information about the accident and the person responsible for it.
Your lawyer may also utilize a law enforcement report to seek additional evidence if required. If the accident occurred in the business environment for instance an employee could have recorded video footage. If this is the case, you must ask for a copy of the footage from the business.
You should also record any expenses you incurred due to the accident. These could include medical bills and records of your treatment, receipts from medication rental car expenses and in-home care or assistance, transportation costs and more. Additionally, you must record any income loss due to your injury. You can use tax returns and pay stubs.
You should also try to get the names of witnesses. These people can serve as valuable sources of information for your case, especially when they can be a witness in a trial. It's important to remember that witnesses can alter their narratives and forget specifics about the incident as time passes.
Intake and Investigation
If you've filed a claim with an insurance company or are starting an action against an at-fault driver, the initial intake process is essential to obtaining an adequate and fair settlement for the accident injuries. Your lawyer will begin by reviewing your medical records, as well as obtaining copies of auto accident law firms reports as well as other evidence. They will also visit and document the scene of the accident.
This information will enable them to assess the severity of the injuries you've suffered as well as the current and projected costs for your emotional or physical suffering. They will then analyze your financial losses to estimate the total value of your case. Your damages may include not just future and present medical expenses, but also loss of income and property damage.
Your lawyer will also conduct an investigation, including interviewing any witnesses and analyzing all the available evidence. They will also collect the driver who was at fault and their driving phone records to determine what they were doing with their vehicle at the time of the accident. This is especially important if the collision involved an Uber or Lyft vehicle or any other sign that the driver was at work, as this could affect their ability to pay for your damages.
As part of the discovery procedure as part of the discovery process, your lawyer will inquire about the defendant's traffic and criminal offence records. These details are generally not admissible but could be used to undermine the credibility of the defendant in cross-examination.
The process of negotiating a settlement
Once you have the medical records, you can start settlement negotiations. Initially the insurance company will offer an offer that is often considerably lower than what you have requested in the letter. This is an opportunity to determine the strength of your case. In the counteroffer, it's important to highlight the strongest arguments in your favor, for instance, that the insured was at the fault, and that you suffered serious injuries that resulted in significant medical expenses. Then, bargaining back and forth will result in an amount that is both fair and reasonable.
A skilled attorney can successfully argue for your claim's merits, by presenting evidence to justify your losses. This could include photos of the damage to your vehicle as well as a police report and witness testimony. We also know how to calculate the value of each element of your claim, such as lost income and pain and suffering.
If the insurance company is unwilling to pay an acceptable amount at this point, we could file a lawsuit. A trial typically lasts between one and two days, and is ruled on by either a judge or jury. If your case settles prior to this stage it can take a few months. Or, your lawyer may be eligible to file an application for summary judgment. This is a way of claiming that all evidence is in your favour, and arguing that it's impossible to allow the other side to win.
Filing an action
In a majority of cases involving car accidents parties are able to resolve their disagreement outside of court. Our team will assist you in negotiating a settlement with the other driver's insurance company, or directly with the party at fault. If no agreement can be reached, our attorneys will file a lawsuit against the defendant. The Complaint will list your claims and details about how the crash occurred and why you deserve compensation. The defendant is served the Complaint and given a certain time frame to respond.
During the discovery phase, our attorneys will share documents and other information with the defendant and ask questions via interrogatories as well as depositions. Our team will ask the defendant's attorney questions about their view of events, focusing on what they believe happened during the crash, as well as how they think it happened and what injuries you've suffered. We will also seek experts to back our assertions.
During the discovery stage, your lawyer will prepare legal documents referred to as motions to the court for the decision of the judge. This could include requests for the court to omit certain evidence, or to set a trial date. It can take up an entire year for the discovery process to be completed and a trial date to be set. It is crucial to talk with an experienced Long Island Auto Accident Law Firm accident attorney as early as possible in the process.