When people think of accidents on the road or highway, they probably think of car accidents. Motorcycle accidents are often disregarded and overlooked. Unfortunately, motorcycle accidents are often more dangerous because riders are not protected by an enclosed vehicle. Injuries from motorcycle accidents can be very severe.
Your motorcycle accident might have left you with painful injuries, mounting medical bills, and a totaled motorcycle. While you suffer, the driver of the car that hit you might have incurred only minor damages. They should be made to pay for your expenses and the pain you have endured.
After a motorcycle accident, you might be suddenly faced with debts, bills, and other expenses all at once. Our Milwaukee motorcycle accident lawyers can help you hold the other driver in your crash liable for your damages. Call the offices of Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 and ask about a free case review.
Many motorcycle accidents happen because of someone’s careless driving. Even though an accident was unintentional, the driver who caused it can still be held liable. Negligence is a legal standard that applies in most accident cases, and it involves proving four critical elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages. Our Milwaukee motorcycle accident lawyers can help you meet your burden of proof.
First, you must show that the other driver in your crash owed you a legal duty of care or safety. All drivers bear a duty to drive as a reasonably prudent driver would under the circumstances on the roads. This duty can be a bit tricky because as the driving conditions and circumstances change, so does the duty of care., For example, a driver might be expected to drive differently during a dark rainy night than on a bright sunny day.
Next, we must show that the other driver breached their duty of care. A breach is like a violation of the duty. Essentially, you must prove that the other driver drove in a way that was not reasonably safe or prudent under the circumstances. We may show this by proving the driver broke the speed limit, ran a red light, or was otherwise driving dangerously.
Third, we must show that the other driver’s breach of their duty is the direct, proximate cause of the accident. Just because a driver violated traffic laws does not mean they caused your accident. We must show the negligence caused the accident.
Finally, we must show that your damages are real and not hypothetical or potential damages that could have happened. If you were in an accident but suffered no damages, there is no cause of action. For example, you cannot sue another driver for almost T-boning you at an intersection. The damages and injuries must be real.
The defendant in an injury case is the person you want to hold liable and pay your damages after the accident. You might already have a defendant in mind when you decide to pursue a personal injury lawsuit for a motorcycle accident – usually the driver who hit you. You should discuss potential defendants with our Milwaukee motorcycle accident lawyers to determine who you should sue.
In many cases, injured motorcycle riders sue another driver for causing their accident. Many motorcycle accidents happen because drivers in cars, trucks, and SUVs fail to look out for motorcycles. Failing to keep a proper lookout is usually sufficient negligence for a lawsuit.
Sometimes, accidents involve more than just two vehicles; when multiple drivers are involved, it becomes harder to tell who is responsible for causing the accident. Often, several drivers share some degree of blame. An injured motorcycle rider can sue multiple defendants for damages in these cases.
Unfortunately, not all drivers stop to help when they hit a motorcycle rider. A hit-and-run accident is when a driver strikes another vehicle or person on the road and then flees without stopping. Not only is this a criminal offense, but it makes identifying your defendant challenging. You cannot sue someone if you do not know who they are. If this sounds like your case, you should call the police and report the accident. The police can help to track down the other driver and bring them to justice.
The purpose of a personal injury lawsuit is to claim damages and compensation for your motorcycle accident. Accidents can be very expensive things to live through. You might have to pay expensive medical bills and the cover cost to replace your bike, plus you might lose income from missing work while you recover.
Bodily injuries from a motorcycle accident can be extreme. Riders are usually only protected by the clothes on their back and the helmet on their head. Many riders experience injuries like broken bones, head trauma, brain damage, spinal cord injuries, back injuries, and more. The medical bills related to a motorcycle accident can devastate your finances. Our Milwaukee motorcycle accident attorneys can help you get these damages covered.
You also need to consider the extent of your property damage. Motorcycles often cost thousands of dollars and can be expensive to repair or replace. These expenses can be tacked onto your total damages.
We must also take stock of your intangible damages. These losses do not come with a financial cost but still deserve financial compensation. These damages often include an injured rider’s pain and suffering. Motorcycle accidents can be very traumatic, both physically and emotionally. We can help you evaluate your intangible damages and come up with an estimation of their value.
Wisconsin is an at-fault state. This means that after a car or motorcycle accident, you can file a claim with the other driver’s insurance company. When you file your claim, you must prove to the insurance company that their insured driver was at fault for the accident. This can be challenging since insurance companies are skilled at denying claims or trying to limit the payout owed to you. Our Milwaukee motorcycle accident attorneys are skilled at presenting these claims and know how to fight the tactics insurance companies use to try and avoid paying the full compensation you’re entitled to.
If the other driver’s insurance company denies your claims or offers an insufficient settlement, you can pursue a personal injury lawsuit against the other driver.
If you were injured in a motorcycle accident, you deserve to have your injuries and damages covered by the responsible driver. Call our Milwaukee motorcycle accident lawyers at Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 and ask about a free case review.
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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