The details of car accidents may differ from one incidence to another, but the sequence of what follows after car accidents is somewhat similar in great majority of car accidents. In most cases, the aftermath of car accidents usually proceed as shown below:
- Police, after being notified of an accident, will straightaway come to the accident scene to investigate on what happened.
- If anyone is injured, he or she will be taken to a nearby hospital in an ambulance or with paramedics.
- If your car is totally damaged, it will be hauled away.
- After getting to the hospital, you may either be admitted or not, depending on how severe your injury condition is.
- Questions about who will be settling your medical bills will arise right away. You’ll however be subjected to the necessary treatment.
- At this point, police investigators and a series of other investigators would have already determined who’s at fault.
- Depending on your condition, either you or one of your family members should be able to inform your insurance company about the accident.
Regardless of the accident’s specific, it’s always advisable to get a well experienced personal injury lawyer on your side as soon as possible. This will actually put you in a better position to push your case for a favourable upshot.
Filling an accident lawsuit
The compensatory lawsuits filed against car accident offenders are popularly known as tort cases or personal injury. They generally follow a certain common path when settling all their cases.To begin with, you’ll have to file a petition or a complaint with a local court. To stay safe, try to file the lawsuit as soon as you can, since many states usually limit the time of filing a lawsuit. Also, be sure to consult your car accident attorney to help you on filing the case before the statute of your limitation is up.
The complaint you file will clearly set out all the claims that make you the plaintiff, who is entitled to compensation from the defendant—the driver at fault. It will also outline what relief the complainant is seeking and, at the same time, provide a framework under which the plaintiff is planning to prove the case.
Once the lawsuit has been filed, the driver at fault, together with his (or her) insurance company, will be given a time limit under which they’re supposed to respond to the lawsuit. Now the defendant may either admit to be at fault, or deny all the allegations. Similarly, he may choose to file a counterclaim—a claim that partly makes you responsible for the accident or your own injury, or a cross-claim, which transfers the blame to a third party. In case he files a counterclaim, you’ll be given a time limit of responding to the defendant’s counterclaims.