I Was a Car Accident Injured Passenger: Now What?
Whether you were a passenger in a friend’s car or someone else’s car, you still have rights if you are injured in a car accident. If you suffered from a passenger injury, hiring a car accident lawyer with experience can give you the help that you need to make it through. By reading on, you can learn more about being in a car accident as a passenger and what you can do if you’ve been injured.
Who’s At Fault?
The problem with being injured as a passenger is that to determine fault isn’t as easy to do as it would be if you were driving and got into an accident. This means that you won’t be at fault in the accident. The person at fault would be either your driver or the other driver, or sometimes both. You would be filing a claim against the party or parties at fault for the accident. The exception is if you are related to the driver of your car. In this case, you would already likely be covered by their insurance policy. It’s also important to know that other passengers who were injured will also need to file a claim against the responsible parties, which likely means you have to settle for less money because the insurance only covers so much compensation.
Common Injuries Suffered in Car Accidents
As a passenger in the car, there are numerous injuries that you could potentially suffer from, including:
- Bruising
- Cuts and scrapes
- Whiplash
- Broken bones
- Traumatic brain injury
- Back injuries
- Damage to the spine
Even if you don’t think that you are that severely injured, you should get checked out to be sure that there’s nothing more serious wrong. It’s also important for you to do this because it can document your injuries, giving you medical evidence of your injuries and help your claim. Lastly this is important because if you refuse to seek medical treatment, then they will take note of this and use it against you later on.
Filing a Claim for Your Injuries
There are a few options that you have available to you if you are trying to file a claim to get compensated for your injuries. This section will take a closer look at these different options.
Filing a Claim with the Insurance of the Other Driver
The first option that you have would be to file a claim with the other driver’s insurance. Typically drivers are required to have a minimum amount of insurance. Within this requirement is coverage for Bodily Injury Liability and Property Damage Liability. Body Liability Insurance only pays a limited amount of damages per person. One of the problems with this option is that the insurance coverage may not be enough to cover your damages. Another issue is that this amount needs to be divided up between all parties injured in the accident. This can also be difficult because you need to prove the other driver was at fault for your injuries.
This can be a long process that will require a lawyer to make sure that you get the best shot in court.
Filing a Claim with the Insurance of Your Driver
Another option that you have is to file a claim with your friend’s or driver’s insurance. Using their Medical Payments (MedPay) or Personal Injury Protect (PIP), this can cover all of the passengers in the car. An issue with this option is that MedPay isn’t mandatory coverage and PIP rules are very strict. You need to seek out medical treatment within 2 weeks of the accident otherwise your claim could be denied. If they don’t have either of these options, you can file a claim against their Bodily Injury Liability insurance, though this can cause some hurt feelings. It’s recommended that you let your friend know that you aren’t suing them but you are suing their insurance company to get compensation for your injuries. You could also just use your friend’s insurance to compensate for damages that were left unpaid after the claim against the other driver’s insurance.
Filing a Claim with Your Own Insurance
You also have the option of filing a claim against your own insurance. Many people don’t consider this option because they think that just because they weren’t driving they aren’t entitled to the benefits of your insurance. If you have PIP and MedPay, this can be used for your medical bills in addition to any other money you get or to cover what the other insurance companies didn’t. The problem is that your insurance rates will go up when you file a claim against your insurance company. There’s also the potential that your insurance won’t cover all of the damages. As a last resort, you can rely on your medical insurance to cover as much of these expenses as possible.
What Else You Need to Know about Your Case
You may be entitled to a settlement due to your injuries, depending on how severe they are and the extent of those injuries. This settlement amount is determined through a very specific process. First, your lawyer will look at all of your medical bills and add them up to get a total. These bills will include any diagnostics required (x-rays, scans, etc.), physical therapy, hospital bills, doctor bills, and any medications you required. Then the attorney uses a multiplier between 1 and 5, which depends on how severe your injuries are. This will determine your pain and suffering. So if you have a more severe injury like damage to your spinal cord or a traumatic brain injury, the multiplier would be 5.
The lawyer will also consider any other things like lost wages and loss of future earnings, which then gets added to this total. This will be what the lawyer feels is fair for your specific injuries. The goal is to make sure that all of these damages are covered so that you don’t have to worry about financial ruin as a result of your injuries.
As soon as an accident happens, it’s important that you call the police and stay on the site of the accident. First of all, this is for legal reasons as leaving the scene of an accident is a crime. This is also important because the police can give a preliminary determination of fault and create a police report that you can use in your case. Knowing who is at fault for the accident can be helpful for you to know who to file a claim against or to sue for damages.
To achieve the best results in your case, it’s important that you compile as much evidence as possible for your claim. Take photographs of your injuries and the crime scene. Get a copy of the police report and any medical bills/reports that you can. If there are any witnesses, get as much information as you can from them, including how to contact them in case you need them for your case. These are all things that you can take to a personal injury lawyer to get started on your case. They can take a look at this information to first determine if you have a case, then to start building an even stronger case.
It’s crucial that you get a lawyer involved as soon as possible in the process. One reason for this is because there are statute of limitations that can prevent you from seeking compensation for your damages. This is also important because the sooner that you get a lawyer involved, the sooner you can get the compensation you need after your accident. These claims can be extremely complicated, which is another reason why hiring a lawyer can be very helpful to you. This is especially true if there are multiple passengers who have a claim for damages in the same accident. There are even some situations where the insurance company won’t settle if the passengers can’t come to an agreement on how much each passenger gets. To help navigate through this very complicated process, a lawyer with experience in this field can be very helpful to you.
What you do immediately after the accident can have a significant impact on how successful your claim is. This is why you need to seek medical attention as soon as possible, compile as much evidence as you can, and hire a lawyer early on in the process.
Contact a Personal Injury Attorney Today
Our law firm has a great deal of knowledge and experience when it comes to handling personal injury cases. Even though you were just a passenger in the car, if you were injured you are entitled to seek compensation for your damages. We try our best to get you the best settlement possible but are ready to go to court whenever we need to so that you get a fair settlement for your injuries. If you were a passenger in a car accident and were injured, contact us today to see what your rights are and how we can help you.
