Did you get injured on a motorcycle? Here’s what you need to do: read this article for guidance, then contact our Florida lawyers today.
After a Motorcycle Accident
The first thing you ought to do is get medical care. Because whether you have a case or not, you’ve been hurt. Get medical care, even if you don’t think you’re hurt. On a motorcycle accident, there’s no such thing as a minor motorcycle accident. There are cases where a motorcyclist may think he or she’s not hurt, but then injuries surface later on. Go get checked out. If you don’t, you may lose important benefits that are available to you. If you don’t get checked out, you may not get early intervention that will enhance your ability to get well. That’s the very first thing you should do.
Next, call a lawyer early on because we can preserve evidence. We can navigate you through the myriad of insurance questions that you may have. Many times, this is the first time someone’s been involved in a motorcycle accident and they don’t know exactly what to do.
Motorcycle Accidents vs. Car Accidents
Motorcycle accidents and car accidents are very different. Two of the major differences are that, in a motorcycle accident, you do not have to have a permanent injury to make a claim, which is different than in an automobile accident case. In most cases, there’s no such thing as a minor injury in a motorcycle accident case. If you are one of the lucky few who don’t think they’re hurt permanently, rest assured you don’t have to be to make a claim.
The other difference is— and this is where the experienced trial lawyer comes into play— there is an unspoken bias against motorcyclists out there. The lawyer representing you has to know that and understand it so that he can craft the case appropriately and understand and get responses from potential jurors about their prejudices and biases because it exists. This bias against motorcyclists has a danger of lowering the value of your settlement.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
One is that some clients will repair their motorcycle if it’s not damaged beyond repair. Motorcycle operators are oftentimes motorcycle enthusiasts which means they are hands on people and they like to fix things. Many times, they will, on their own, repair the bike. All that is well and good but, unless pictures were taken before that happens, then we’ve lost valuable evidence. Another scenario that happens quite often is these bikes are torn up and they get disposed of. Unless we get pictures to preserve the damage, that is an opportunity missed.
Another common mistake is clients don’t get the kind of treatment that they need. Many times, clients’ minor injuries get missed. They don’t get treated. They don’t get complained about by clients, by the patient. They don’t get treated until later on. You’re not recovered as well as you could have.
Finally, one of the biggest mistakes is not contacting a lawyer soon enough. We can take care of most of those things in terms of collecting the evidence, preserving the evidence, going to the accident scene, and taking photographs. Up here in Nassau County, we have a major road that is the only east-west armory for I95 into Amelia Island. It’s been under construction for many years and will be under construction for many more years. The roadway seems to change on a daily basis. If you don’t get a lawyer involved early, that traffic pattern that may have contributed to the motorcycle wreck will have changed and we won’t be able to preserve it.
Case Value
The mechanics of putting a value, or more accurately, a value range, on a case doesn’t happen overnight. Lots of things go into factoring what the value range of your case is. That involves the nature and the extent of your injuries, whether they are permanent or disabling and whether they impair your ability to do your normal functions of life. It also includes whether you have any out of pocket expenses such as medical bills, and whether you have lost time from work. Cases sometimes are not clear cut about whose fault it was, as well, which further complicates things. There may have been someone who’s not even a party to the case who’s got some responsibility.
All of that affects the recoverable value of your case. It’s a determination we don’t make until late in the case because lots of things have to be gathered first. Lots of evidence has to be evaluated and preserved, medical records collected, pictures of the scene taken, etc. A lot of collection has to occur. If we’re in the lawsuit, depositions and statements are taken, and we spend some time sizing up who we’re dealing with. All of those intangible things get factored into a value range. So, when people ask us, we don’t answer them with any kind of a firm answer. We say we might have to wait and see.
Were you or a loved one seriously injured in a motorcycle? Here’s what you need to do: contact an experienced Nassau County motorcycle accident lawyer at Paul Boone Law today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
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