If you were hurt in Newnan and it was someone else’s fault, you’ve been the victim of a personal injury accident. That means, under Georgia law, you may be entitled to recover for all expenses related to your injuries and other damages.
Whether the accident was major or minor, that money can help pay your bills and work to move on from what you’ve suffered. Don’t miss out on your chance of potential recovery. Contact a qualified Newnan personal injury attorney at John Foy & Associates who can help.
How Can You Prove the Accident Was Not Your Own Fault?
It’s true that in order to financially recover from a personal injury accident, you must prove the other person or party was at fault. In some accidents, such as a rear-end collision accident, it’s fairly obvious who was at fault. Other times, the fault may seem more ambiguous, like in a car accident where you had to swerve or an accident with a phantom driver.
Either way, to prove fault you will need to show evidence. That means gathering information about the accident as soon as you can by:
- Reporting the accident to the police and telling officers what happened
- Taking pictures of the entire accident scene, including any skid marks, broken glass, traffic signs or signals, and all sides of each vehicle in a car or truck accident or the obstacle that caused your injury in a slip and fall accident
- Talking to any witnesses and asking for their contact information
- Seeing a doctor as soon as you can after the accident
- Keep track of all bills and other expenses you now face
These details matter because you’ll need to include them in your claim to the at-fault person’s insurance. Proving fault can seem daunting or near impossible, many individuals are surprised to see it’s more easily done than they thought with the help of an attorney.
What Happens After You File Your Personal Injury Claim?
When you file your claim with the insurer, they will assign an adjuster to the case. This person will look at the facts you present, including the police report, a statement from witnesses, evidence at the scene, and injuries and property damage, and give their take on who was at fault for the accident.
The adjuster assigned to your case can be biased and you should be prepared to negotiate if they deny your claim or put some of the blame on you. It helps tremendously to have a personal injury lawyer on your side from the beginning, as they can assign their own investigators to the case and look at what happened.
Your personal injury lawyer in Newnan will also help you make a case against the at-fault person and use the evidence they gather to help prove their fault.
What If You’re Not Sure If You’re at Fault or Not?
Accident victims are often inclined to blame themselves after an accident, even if they didn’t do anything. They also might be hesitant to file an insurance claim against someone else. If you are not at fault, you are legally entitled to file for damages you didn’t cause. You’re usually making a claim against the person’s insurance company, not the individual him or herself.
If you truly are not sure whether or not you’re at fault for the accident, contact a Newnan personal injury attorney. They can look at the details of your case with a legal eye to determine what happened.
How Much Money Can You Win for a Personal Injury Claim?
The exact amount you can recover depends largely on the details of your case, including the:
- Full extent of your damages
- Degree of fault
- Type of personal injury accident
- Insurance coverage of the at-fault person
It mostly comes down to your damages. These are some of the most common damages you can recover after a personal injury accident.
Medical Bills
Injury costs make up the bulk of most personal injury claims. This includes bills from doctor visits, tests, consultations, and medications you’re prescribed. You’ll want to keep track of all medical records related to the accident as proof of your expenses.
Lost Wages
If you had to miss work because of the accident and your recovery, lost wages can be included in your claim. Whether you had to use vacation time or didn’t get paid for those days at all, it’s all a loss you wouldn’t have experienced if the accident hadn’t occurred.
Property Damage
This includes the costs of repairing or replacing a vehicle after a car accident or other personal possessions that were damaged in any type of accident.
Pain and Suffering
The damages mentioned so far are known as special damages because they have specific, easily-measured costs. But pain and suffering fall under general damages, which are losses that directly impact the victim’s life. These damages can include:
- Anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Other social disorders
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Mood swings
- Fear or humiliation
General damages are often related to changes that can’t be reversed or cause the victim suffering. If they accompany physical injuries, you can usually include them in your claim. It takes the help of an experienced personal injury lawyer in Newnan to ensure your claim includes the full value you deserve for pain and suffering or other general damages.
Cases that Our Newnan Personal Injury Lawyers Represent
Our personal injury attorneys in Newnan have years of experience representing Georgia victims in a range of personal injury cases, such as:
- Car accidents
- Dog bites
- Slip and falls
- Workers’ compensation
- Motorcycle accidents
- Truck accidents
- Medical malpractice
- Premises liability
If your loved one passed away because of another individual’s negligence, a personal injury lawyer can help you file a wrongful death lawsuit and help your family fight for their legal right to compensation.
You Can Still Recover Compensation If You’re Partially At-Fault
Georgia follows a modified comparative negligence rule in personal injury cases under Ga. Code § 51-12-33. You can collect compensation from any individual who is more at fault than you were. Even if you are partially at fault, you can still seek damages if you are less than 50% at fault, so don’t assume you don’t recover until you’ve looked at all the facts.
Your damages, however, will be reduced by a percentage that corresponds to your share of liability. Hypothetically, if you were 30% responsible for the accident, your total compensatory award you’d be eligible to receive would decrease by 30%. The ultimate decision as to who is liable will fall on an insurance claim adjuster or a judge and jury.
Cost of a Newnan Personal Injury Lawyer
You may be experiencing financial difficulties because of your accident and the personal injury lawyers in Newnan are aware of that. To ease your stress, many firms do not need any money upfront, work on a contingency fee basis, and offer free consultations.
Attorneys’ fees are anywhere from 30% to 40% of your total award. This fee can differ depending on if your case was settled through negotiation or if it went to court and a judge or jury was required.
Talk to a Newnan Personal Injury Lawyer for Free Today
A personal injury accident can change your entire day-to-day life and leave you with unnecessary pain and stress. Don’t suffer alone. Get the help of a Newnan personal injury lawyer on your case as soon as you can.
This is what we do at John Foy & Associates. Focusing solely on personal injury cases, we fight for the rights of accident victims. We know how painful and overwhelming an unexpected injury can be in your life, and we want to help you recover as fully as possible.
For a FREE consultation with one of our Newnan personal injury attorneys, where we’ll go over the details of your accident and your options, call us today or reach us online by filling out the form on this page.
