Colorado Motor Vehicle Injury Attorneys
In Colorado, you have certain rights when you’re injured in a motor vehicle crash, but it is up to you to assert them. That’s where we, Motor Vehicle Injury Attorneys, come in.
At Law Offices of Clifton Black, we will not only advise you and guide you as to what your rights are and how best to protect your rights, but we will fight for you to assert those rights to make sure that you get the most compensation legally available to you so you can get back to your life.
We have the experience and skills necessary to bring your case to a swift and just resolution for you.
What can I recover if I’m hurt in a Car Crash?
If you’re injured in a motor vehicle crash as a result of another’s negligence, you may be entitled to recover:
- Cost of medical expenses incurred as a result of the injury
- Lost wages
- Reasonable expenses incurred as a result of the injury (transportation to/from medical care, additional equipment needed to perform work after injury, etc.)
- Pain & Suffering
- Disability – inability and/or difficulty performing the tasks and actions you used to perform without problem before the injury
- Disfigurement – Any visible deformity, from cuts and bruises to loss of limbs, caused by the injury
- Loss of normal life – An injury will have an impact on your normal everyday life, and you are entitled to compensation for this
- Property damage
What Happens When You’re Injured in a Car Crash
If you’re hurt in a motor vehicle accident, there are so many things to worry about and do. Here’s a general overview of what happens and how they will impact your potential personal injury case.
After the Crash: Police
In many cases, after a crash, the parties involved will have an opportunity to speak and investigate the situation. If you are involved in a car accident, you have the right to call the police to investigate. For several reasons, it may be advisable to have the police arrive on scene.
When police arrive on the scene of an accident, they will create a police report. This report will include information such as: Identities of the drivers, identification of the vehicles involved, insurance information for the parties involved, a brief description of the manner in which the crash occurred, and information regarding potential injuries. This police report is incredibly helpful for your personal injury case because it acts as a paper trail documenting the manner in which the accident occurred and allowing you or your attorneys to quickly identify the proper parties involved, ownership of the vehicles, and most importantly, insurance information for all parties involved. Assuming the at-fault party has valid insurance, your claim will be handled by and ultimately paid out by this insurance company. This information is important to have because it is up to you to make sure the at-fault party’s insurance carrier is aware of your claim.
After the Crash: Ambulance
If you are feeling pain, discomfort, or believe you are injured in a crash, you have the right to seek immediate medical attention, which includes the right to have an ambulance treat you on scene and transport you to a hospital.
As an injured party, it is your burden to prove all elements of your claim, which includes not only that you were, in fact, injured, but that your injuries were caused by the crash. The best evidence of injury and the cause of the injury is through medical records. If you call an ambulance to the scene of a crash where you believe you sustained injuries, the EMTs will ask you if you’re injured, where you’re injured, how the crash occurred, etc. All of this information will appear on the EMT records. If you are taken to a hospital, the hospital staff will ask you these same questions, which they will include in their medical records. This is very helpful in supporting not only your claim that you sustained injuries, but that they were caused by the crash. That being said, it is very important to be honest and forthright with the EMTs and medical staff – be complete and thorough when you discuss how you feel after the crash. They cannot treat you if they don’t know what’s wrong.
After the Crash: Insurance
After a crash is reported to the parties’ insurance companies, what do they do? In our general experience, this is what happens.
The insurance companies will open a claim. They will talk to the party reporting the claim to get the general information about the crash (who, when, where, how, etc.). This information will then be transferred to a claims adjuster, whose job it is to investigate claims. These adjusters job is, more specifically, to save the insurance company money on any claims they need to pay out, regardless of whether it is your insurance company or the at-fault party’s. The adjusters are the ones who generally make decisions on whether to pay out any injury claims and how much. It is important to note – they do not work for you – they work for the insurance company.
You may be contacted by either your insurance company or the at-fault party’s, asking if you will give a sworn statement regarding the crash and any injuries you sustained. You are under no obligation to do so. The adjusters will use these statements in their decision on whether to pay out and how much to pay out – meaning anything you say may be used against you. Again, their goal is to save the company money, not to give you what you are entitled to.
This is where an experienced attorney will come in handy. Your Motor Vehicle Injury Attorneys should stand in your corner and fight for you, while the adjuster fights for the insurance company. An experienced attorney will know how to value your case properly and how to fight against the insurance company to make sure you get everything you are entitled to. If the insurance company has people fighting for them, shouldn’t you?