Auto Accidents Occur Daily : Auto accidents occur every single day throughout Georgia and across our country. Even with the state of the art safety features in today’s automobiles, serious injuries and even death often occur from car wrecks, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents. Normally these motor vehicle accidents occur because one or more drivers are negligent meaning that a driver did not drive in a reasonable and responsible manner. Negligence in automobile accidents often involve violations of the Georgia traffic laws such as speeding, driving too fast for condition, drunk driving, failure to yield, improper lane changes, reckless driving, racing, distracted driving (example texting), and other unsafe driving maneuvers. The auto accident lawyers at our firm specialize in auto accident personal injury and wrongful death claims. Our goal is to maximize our client’s recovery on every case.
How Often Do Auto Accidents Occur? It is truly amazing how frequently auto accidents occur and how many injuries or deaths they cause every single year. The statistics for auto accidents produced by the Bureau of Transportation found the following:
What Is An Auto Accident Personal Injury Claim? Personal injury claims arising from auto accidents are based on recovering money damages to compensate you for the damages that arose from the car wreck. These damages include past and future medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and sometimes even punitive damages (usually DUI drunk driving, hit and run, and other conduct that shows a reckless disregard for human life). The experienced personal injury lawyers at The Griffin Law Firm, P.C. will make sure that you are fully compensated for your personal injury claim. For a great settlement to be secured, our trained personal injury attorneys must make sure your damages are fully documented and that your accident is fully investigated. This documentation can include medical records, medical bills, lost wage documentation, medical narratives, depositions, photographs of property damage and injuries and other important personal injury documentation. Our personal injury attorneys have often recovered the policy limits on cases involving punitive damages. These damages are damages designed to punish the negligent driver whose actions were more than just negligent. These cases often involve defendants who are driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, hit and run, racing, and intentional acts.
Our Firm Will Treat You Fairly To Make Maximize How Much You Net From Your Settlement : There is nothing sadder than having a client whose personal injury claim is worth more that the insurance coverage available. When this occurs our attorneys work hard to make your settlement dollars go as far as possible by negotiating for reductions in your medical bills and any subrogation liens. But our firm does not stop there. Sometimes our firm will also reduce our own attorney fee if the case settles before litigation and if the client is netting less money than our attorney fee. Attorney Richard Griffin reduces his attorney fee on occasion to be as fair with his clients as he can be. After all, it is the client who is the innocent victims who suffered the painful and debilitating injuries. Attorney Richard Griffin further states, "Because of this approach, our firm has been greatly blessed with incredible growth from referrals from our past clients. Client referrals are our goal because it confirms we are working hard, getting great results, and that we are treating our client's fairly."
What Auto Insurance Is Required For Auto Accident Personal Injury Claims? The personal injury settlement or recovery is usually paid by the negligent driver’s own automobile insurance under their liability coverage. Since the minimum liability coverage required by Georgia law is only $25,000 for any one injury party and $50,000 for all parties injured in the accident, many car wrecks in Georgia result in personal injury claims that are worth more than the policy limits purchased by the negligent driver. For this reason, it is very wise and extremely important that you purchase uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage often referred to as “UM Coverage”. “UM Coverage” (uninsured and under-insured motorist coverage) covers you if you are injured by a negligent driver who is driving without insurance or who has less coverage than your personal injury claim is worth. There are two types of UM Coverage. One type is called “Traditional or Reduction UM” coverage and the other type is called “Add on or Excess UM” coverage. “Traditional or Reduction UM” coverage means that the policy limits provided to you under your policy are reduced by the amount of liability coverage the negligent driver has. “Add-on or Excess UM” coverage means that your UM policy limits are not reduced and are simply add to the coverage available to you under the negligent driver’s liability automobile policy. The personal injury lawyers at The Griffin Law Firm, P.C. strongly recommend that you purchase as much “Add-on or Excess UM” coverage as you can afford to better protect you and your passengers if a negligent driver does not have enough automobile insurance to fairly pay your personal injury claims. UM coverage and Med Pay coverage are not required by Georgia law, but are great ways to protect yourself and your passengers from have a personal injury claim without enough insurance to fully pay for your medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
What Is An Auto Accident Wrongful Death Claim? Wrongful death claims are claims arise when someone is killed due to the negligence of another. Wrongful Death Claims can occur from auto accidents, criminal acts of physical violence, medical malpractice, product liability, and other types of deaths that occur due to the negligence of someone else. There is nothing sadder than a life being lost due to someone else’s negligence behind the wheel of a car, truck, motorcycle, or bicycle. A wrongful death claim arising from an auto accident results in the family (spouse, children, parents, and other beneficiaries) having a civil claim for damages for the loss of a life. The damages that can be recovered are the medical expenses, pain and suffering, funeral expenses, and the value of the life lost. The value of a life is based not only on the economic loss of income and support, but also, on the non-economic value of the life to the family and community. The wrongful death attorneys at The Griffin Law Firm, P.C. are specialized in handling wrongful death claims and will fight to make sure you are fairly compensated for the tragedy that occurs due to a wrongful death. No one would ever trade their health or the health of their loved ones for money. However, if you or someone you know has been seriously injured or killed due to the negligence of another, then being fully compensated for your personal injury or wrongful death claim at least helps in your attempt to put your life back together.
What Is A Loss Of Consortium Claim? In addition to personal injury claims for the injured victims of auto mobile accidents, the spouse of the injured party can also have a claim called a loss of consortium claim. This claim attempts to compensate the spouse of the injured victim for the negative impact the injuries have on the marriage. These claims involve not only the loss of the physical relationship, but also, the loss of companionship and help with the household.
Why Do I Need An Attorney For My Personal Injury Or Wrongful Death Claim? The main reason you need an experienced personal injury or wrongful death lawyer is because you do not know the value of your case and you do not know how to litigate. This puts the insurance adjusters and their defense attorneys at a huge advantage if you decide to “go it alone”. Often injured victims without legal representation settle their personal injury and wrongful death claims for “pennies on the dollar”. Our attorneys will even the playing field to make sure you recover all that you deserve. Attorney Richard Griffin is often asked by potential clients, “Will I be better off with an attorney”? From our experience, clients are going to be significantly better off with our representation. This is supported not only from our experience handling thousands of claims, but also, by studies which have found that injured victims usually recover more when they are represented. Our firm has handled hundreds of claims where the client had attempted to handle the case alone and had received no offers or offers that were way below the real value. After our personal injury law firm was hired, the adjusters either agreed to pay the fair amount or we litigated. In these cases, the client’s recovery was greatly increased after we were hired to handle the claims. However, if you do not hire an attorney, then you run the risk of allowing your case to get off track which can negatively impact the recovery even after you hire a seasoned personal injury and wrongful death lawyer. Sometimes cases require litigation because weaknesses and problems with the cases arose simply because the injured victim did not know how to properly handle their claim.
The insurance adjusters begin their investigation as soon as the claim is reported. Their main objective is to obtain recorded statements and physical evidence that will help them argue the case is worth less money. Sometimes potential clients will call our firm and say, “I didn’t want to hire an attorney, but the adjuster just isn’t being fair.” Unfortunately, what is best for the injured victim is the opposite of what is best for the insurance company since the insurance company hopes to pay as little as possible on every claim. The adjuster often tries to save their employer money at your expense.
Since our firm has extensive litigation experience, we can truly hold the insurance adjuster and their attorneys’ feet to the fire. Hiring an attorney does not get you more than you deserve. Rather, it simply makes sure you are fully compensated for your personal injury and wrongful death claim which is rarely possible without good representation.
How Can Our Firm Help You With The Problems And Challenges That Commonly Arise In Personal Injury Claims? The Griffin Law Firm, P.C. can help you from the beginning to the end of your personal injury and wrongful death claims. Many ways that we can help you include:
The consultation is free but the information you receive from our firm could be priceless.
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