Lawsuits are sometimes necessary to get the compensation that you deserve after a car accident. You might get adequate compensation from the other party’s attorney if they were at fault. Unfortunately, this is not always something that you can count on, even if they are ultimately responsible.
It is important to be assertive and be ready to hire an auto accidents injury attorney if you aren’t given the compensation that you need. The right attorney can make sure that you get access to the medical treatments at QC Kinetix Austin for your injuries.
Don’t underestimate the potential cost of medical care after an accident
Car accidents are unfortunately far too common. Around 6 million car accidents occur every year. That amounts to over 16,000 accidents every day.
Many people don’t realize how serious car accidents can be until long after they happen. They can easily end up filing for medical bankruptcy months or even years after if they don’t make sure that they get adequate treatment.
To put things in perspective, it is important to understand the true cost of a car accident. Many people think that the most expensive part of their medical treatment will be the emergency room bill right after the injury first takes place. Unfortunately, that is not at all the case.
The average emergency room bill after a car accident is $3,300. This figure is obviously nothing to sneeze at. However, the cost of and long-term treatments over the course of their lifetime is around 19 times that figure. Car accident survivors can expect to spend over $60,000 on average for medical treatments.
Of course, this doesn’t even begin to cover the true cost of the car accident. You will also have to account for the costs of lost wages and property damage. You might also have to pay for psychotherapy to deal with the mental anguish that the accident had caused.
Unfortunately, you might not be guaranteed compensation for all of these things. In these situations, you might have no other alternative than to file a civil lawsuit against the person responsible for the car accident.
When might you need to file a lawsuit against the other party in a car accident?
You might not always get the compensation that you should be entitled to after a car accident. Here are some scenarios where you might need to sue the other driver or their insurance company.
The other driver is uninsured
The average uninsured motorist rate is probably a lot higher than you expect. It is estimated that around one out of every eight drivers do not have any liability insurance.
In this difficult situation, your only recourse is to work with a car accident lawyer and file a lawsuit against the other driver. You might be tempted to dismiss the idea on the basis that the other driver is worth suing because they probably have inadequate assets. There are two reasons this is not a good assumption:
- If you get a favorable lawsuit, then you can get the courts to garnish a portion of their wages for years until the cost of the settlement is paid off. Even if they have a paltry income, you might still get a good portion of it over the course of their lifetime.
- The other party might be lying about their assets. During court proceedings, you might find they have more assets than you think. This might make it worth your while.
- The other party might get a promotion, win the lottery, get an inheritance or some other windfall down the road. You will want a favorable judgment in place, so that you can immediately have a claim against their money before they have a chance to blow through it.
You should never automatically reject the idea of filing a lawsuit against someone that caused a car accident. You might get a lot more money from them than you think. Of course, you should talk to your lawyer first.
The driver doesn’t have enough insurance
Some drivers are also underinsured. You might have multiple people in both vehicles that were severely injured. In this case, their insurance coverage might not be enough to cover everybody.
You might find that it is preferable to file a lawsuit against them to cover the difference. You might also want to consider this for special damages, such as pain and suffering even if their insurance was sufficient to cover all of your medical bills.
Their insurance won’t cover the costs
There is another frustrating problem that sometimes happens during car accidents. The driver might have enough insurance to pay for all of your medical bills. Unfortunately, the insurance company might try to find some way to wiggle out of them. They might argue that the other driver was not at fault. They could also try to argue that their insurance was voided due to some technicality, such as I’m failing to update their address.
In the situation, he will need to consider filing a lawsuit against the insurance company. This might seem like an uphill battle, but a good personal injury lawyer can help you win your case.
