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Car accidents happen when we least expect them. One minute you are driving down the road, then the next thing you know you are overturned in a ditch or worse. The fallout from a car accident can be quite severe and long-lasting. Car accident victims often have to figure out how to repair or replace their car while also paying for expensive medical bills. Some people spend years recovering both physically and financially. If your car accident was the fault of another driver, that person should be held responsible. Filing a personal injury lawsuit might be necessary to cover your expenses so you can recover in peace.
Car accidents can be very costly, even when damages and injuries do not seem all that bad. Dealing with insurance can often take a long time and be extremely frustrating. When all else fails, you can file a personal injury lawsuit to make the defendant pay for your damages. This is not an easy undertaking, but it may be well worth your time and effort in the end. Our team can help you gather evidence demonstrating the extent of your injuries to prove that the defendant caused your accident.
If you were recently involved in a car crash, you should get help right away. Our Indianapolis car accident lawyers can assist you in getting compensation to cover your damages. Do not let insurance companies walk all over you. Reach out to our dedicated staff at Wruck Paupore for help. Call (219) 322-1166 to set up a free legal consultation at our offices.
Immediately after a car accident, you or someone on the scene must call for help. If you can, call 911, report the accident, and wait for emergency medical services to arrive. If you are injured and unable to make the call, have someone with you make the call. It is crucial to get medical attention as soon as possible for several reasons.
First, you need medical attention to treat any injuries you might have sustained. Your health and safety should be your top priority after an accident. Additionally, records of medical treatment will be necessary later when you file your insurance claim. They will also be necessary to prove damages if you end up filing a personal injury lawsuit.
Once the police have inspected the accident scene and you have received medical attention, you should begin thinking about insurance. Different states have different requirements when it comes to insurance. In Indiana, insurance companies must follow a fault rule. Under this rule, you must file a claim with the other driver’s insurance company, and they will make a settlement offer if their driver was at fault. It may be difficult to convince the insurance company that you did not share fault, which would reduce your compensation.
It is important to note that if you wish to file a lawsuit, you have a limited time to do so. Indiana employs a two-year statute of limitations on most personal injury claims. If two years have elapsed since your accident, you might be barred from suing. However, there are ways to toll or pause the statute and buy yourself some extra time. If you were involved in a car accident, our Indianapolis car accident lawyers could help you get your expenses covered so you can get back to your normal life.
When filing an insurance claim or a personal injury lawsuit, you will need evidence to prove your injuries and damages. There are many different kinds of damages a person can claim, and these damages may vary from case to case. Our Indianapolis car accident attorneys can help you assess your damages.
First, you should consider your physical injuries. Medical treatment is very expensive, even for people with health insurance. Very serious injuries may require multiple treatments or some form of extended care. Your defendant should pay for things like hospital visits, surgeries, physical therapy, and medication.
Second, you need to assess your property damage. This will mostly include damage to your vehicle but may also include damaged or destroyed property inside your vehicle. For many people, their vehicle is their lifeline. They cannot go to work, go to the grocery store, or support their families without reliable transportation. Your defendant should pay to repair or replace your damaged vehicle.
Additional damages could include lost wages from missing work after an accident and any physical or mental pain and suffering. An experienced attorney can help you identify all possible damages you can claim and fight to get you the compensation you need.
After you file your insurance claim, the insurance company will determine what your car accident is worth. Do not be fooled. The number the insurance adjuster comes up with is likely not an accurate reflection of your expenses and injuries. While insurance companies are supposed to cover us when we encounter unexpected costs, they seem to hate paying their customers any money. An attorney is often necessary to effectively negotiate with insurance adjusters and get the money you not only need but deserve.
Insurance will primarily look at tangible, economic costs when determining what your accident is worth. They often take into consideration medical bills and the cost of repairing or replacing your car. If you wish to have other damages covered, like lost wages from missing work or pain and suffering damages, you may need to present evidence of those losses and fight for it.
Things become complicated when drivers incur more serious, long-term injuries. Suppose you were so grievously injured that you can never return to work again. That is a lifetime of earnings down the drain. In particularly tragic cases, you might not be the one who was in the accident. Instead, your loved one might have been in a car crash and not survived. In that case, you could file a wrongful death lawsuit.
The more serious your injuries and losses, the more likely you will need to file a lawsuit to get full compensation. If you cannot afford the aftermath of your car accident, do not settle for whatever the insurance company thinks you deserve. Our Indianapolis car accident lawyers will fight to get all of your damages covered.
As mentioned above, Indiana uses a fault system for insurance purposes after a car accident. Many other states use no-fault systems, under which insurance companies pay their customers after an accident regardless of who is at fault. Under a no-fault system, it is often difficult to file a personal injury lawsuit unless specific conditions are met. In Indiana, no such restrictions are present, and you may file a lawsuit if your opponent’s insurance company does not make a satisfactory settlement offer.
Under Indiana’s comparative fault system, we must file a claim with the other driver’s insurance, and they will make an offer, usually a low one. This portion of your case will likely involve a bit of back-and-forth between you and the insurance company. If they believe you are at least partially to blame for the accident, they will make a low offer. In that case, it might be in your best interest to file a personal injury lawsuit. Our Indianapolis car accident lawyers will help you negotiate with insurance companies.
Immediately after a car crash, you should get medical attention for any injuries. Even if you think you only have a few bumps and bruises, seek care from the EMTs or go to the hospital. Internal injuries can go unnoticed for some time and could lead to serious complications. Once you have been medically cleared by a doctor, you can begin to focus on how you are going to pay for everything.
Indiana follows a comparative fault system when it comes to insurance for car accidents. If the other driver were responsible for the wreck, you would file a claim with their insurance instead of your own. However, the insurance company will want to see some evidence of the accident, and they may do their own investigation. If they determine you share some of the fault, they will lower their settlement offer. If they think you are the one who caused the accident instead of their driver, you might get nothing.
Your situation could be more difficult if the other driver is uninsured. In that case, you will have to go through your own insurance, even though Indiana’s rules on fault usually say otherwise. It is not legally required, but many insurance adjusters offer uninsured/underinsured motorist policies that cover you if an uninsured driver hits you. If you have such a policy, the process may be a bit easier: your own insurance company will estimate the cost of your accident and make a settlement offer. An attorney is still important to help you negotiate a fair value.
Alternatively, if the insurance companies are uncooperative or offer low settlements, you could take the insurance company to court. If they refuse to make an adequate settlement offer, this may be your best chance at recovery. You could also take the other driver to court, as they are responsible for the accident in the first place. Their insurance company will typically provide them with a lawyer and pay their damages under the terms of their insurance policy, getting you the compensation you need. No matter your situation, our Indianapolis car accident attorneys are here to help.
According to the Indiana Code § 34-11-2-4, there is a two-year statute of limitations on personal injury cases, including lawsuits for car accidents. If more than two years have passed since your accident and you have not filed a lawsuit, you will be barred from doing so.
This personal injury statute of limitations is important to remember because there are multiple steps to take before you ever file your lawsuit, and these steps can take time. Dealing with insurance is often a very time-consuming task. However, there are circumstances under which the statute might be tolled, and you can have extra time to file your lawsuit.
You might toll the statute if you were disabled and physically incapable of filing, such as if you were in a coma after an accident. You could also toll the statute of limitations if the defendant intentionally stalled the case to prevent you from filing on time. Contact our Indianapolis car accident lawyers for help filing your lawsuit.
Car accidents often involve injured passengers who need their damages covered. The driver who caused the crash will typically be responsible for damages. This means you could recover damages from the driver of the other vehicle or the driver of the vehicle you were in. You might be uncomfortable suing your friend after a car accident, but you should not have to pay for expensive medical bills that someone else caused. Your friend’s insurance will typically cover the damages, so your fight is really with the insurance company, not your friend.
Because Indiana follows comparative fault laws, both drivers could share a percentage of the blame. Passengers typically cannot be blamed for an accident because they were not in control of the car. However, insurance adjusters may attempt to blame a passenger who distracted the driver, grabbed the steering wheel, or got in the car with a drunk driver.
As a passenger, you should be afforded the same rights and protections as a driver in a car accident case. For help getting compensation for your injuries, call our Indianapolis car accident attorneys today.
If you were involved in a car accident, you should seek help from experienced, skilled attorneys. Our Indianapolis car accident lawyers are here to help you through this difficult time. Schedule a free legal consultation with us at Wruck Paupore. Call (219) 322-1166 to get help today.
Don is a founding partner and one of the nation’s top-ranked personal injury litigators. He is a member of the Multi-million Dollar Advocates Forum, which includes less than 1% of the nation’s trial lawyers, and awarded the highest ranking given by Martindale Hubbel and AVVO.
More importantly, Don understands representing personal injury victims is about more than recovering the best settlement: it’s about helping clients get back on their feet and supporting them in every aspect of their recovery.
In nearly all cases, our clients seek compensation from the wrongdoer’s insurance company. Before forming Wruck Paupore, Jason worked for a prominent law firm representing some of the world’s largest insurers. This experience gives Jason a deep understanding of the insurance industry and the strategies it uses to pay injury victims as little as possible.
Jason -- and our entire team -- put this inside knowledge to work to force insurance companies to pay what is actually owed. Often, we use the insurance company’s own tactics against them as we fight for the full compensation our client deserves.
For more than four decades, Keith has been fighting for injury victims. During that time, he’s watched the insurance industry change, with insurers now more interested in protecting their stock price than treating injury victims fairly.
Since the beginning, Keith has put people first. From his childhood in Gary, Indiana during the 1960’s and working his way through law school, Keith has risen to become one of the Midwest’s most respected trial lawyers. He has never forgotten that being a lawyer is about helping people -- and seeing injury victims through struggles in a way that could change their lives forever.
Over the decades, Keith, Don and Jason have fought relentlessly for clients, even when other lawyers have said the case was impossible to win.
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Wruck Paupore P.C.
Injury Lawyers
275 Joliet St. Suite #250
Dyer, IN 46311
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