Car Accident Cases in 2022

One of the first items on the agenda during a free case evaluation is for your car accident lawyer to determine the cause of the collision. Once your personal injury attorney determines the cause of the auto crash, the next step involves deciding whether the other party should assume legal liability for causing your injuries.

Here are the most common causes of car accidents:

Reckless Driving

If the law enforcement officer responding to the scene of a vehicle collision discovers that reckless driving caused the crash, your car accident lawyer might be able to demonstrate the other party committed one or more acts of negligence. Reckless driving covers a wide variety of negligent vehicle maneuvers that includes speeding, failing to yield, and running a red light or stop sign. As the most common type of reckless driving, speeding exacerbates the impact of a motor vehicle collision. The faster the speed of an automobile, the more violent the crash. Running a red light or stop sign can lead to a car accident that causes serious, even life-threatening injuries because of the vulnerability faced by a driver who receives an impact on the driver’s side of a vehicle.

Driving Under the Influence

Operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol impairs the judgment of the driver. This means impaired drivers take more risks, such as trying to pass another vehicle while in a no-passing zone. Drugs and alcohol also slow down reaction times. If another party struck your car and you sustained injuries, you should consider filing a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages if the other driver tested positive for drugs and/or measured more than the state maximum limit for Blood Alcohol Content (BAC).

Distracted Driving

Despite state laws banning the practice of texting and driving, a glaring number of drivers continue to perform the dangerous practice. Texting and driving can lead to violent collisions that cause severe and even life-threatening injuries. Many accidents caused by texting and driving involve negligent acts such as blowing through a red light and failing to slow down in a construction zone. Other types of distracted driving include eating, moving the dials on a sound system, and tending to personal hygiene issues like combing hair and applying makeup.

With law offices located throughout the United States, Morgan and Morgan handles a considerable number of car accident cases each year. Let’s review two examples of the dozens of car accident cases in 2022 that one or more car accident lawyers from Morgan and Morgan handled for our clients.

Case Study #1

Two car accident lawyers from Morgan and Morgan represented a client who sustained spinal cord injuries as a result of a rear-end collision. Rear-end auto crashes can produce severe injuries like damage to the spinal column because the impact forcefully snaps the head and neck back and forth. Spinal injuries such as herniated discs can take months to heal, which means a victim might have to miss a substantial amount of time from work, especially if the job requires physical labor.

Another law firm initially represented our client, but the attorneys involved in the case realized they did not have the legal skills and experience to address such a complex type of car accident case. The pre-trial value for compensation offered by the defendant’s attorney exceeded a little more than $16,000. After providing plenty of coaching, our client testified under oath concerning how the collision has negatively impacted her life. Her persuasive testimony and our overwhelmingly convincing evidence led to a favorable judgment that awarded our client more than $16 million.

Case Study #2

Three highly-rated personal injury attorneys from Morgan and Morgan represented an elderly client who sustained injuries that resulted from a vehicle collision. Although the accident involved a minor impact, our client sustained injuries that generated unbearable pain. Unfortunately, our client’s insurance company refused to compensate her not only for suffering physical pain but also for the emotional distress issues that developed because of the auto crash.

The insurance adjuster claimed our client suffered pain caused by existing orthopedic injuries that developed over the years by working as a migrant tomato worker. However, our client convinced our personal injury attorneys that she sustained her injuries after the car accident. After conducting an exhaustive investigation, our attorneys agreed with the client and fought hard to get an insurance claim approved for $150,000.

Morgan and Morgan handled two types of car accident cases in 2022. We worked with clients to get insurance claims approved for a fair value. The second type of car accident case is taking another party to court to seek monetary damages. In some cases, we provide legal support for clients that file both insurance claims and civil lawsuits that seek monetary damages.

The deadline for filing an insurance claim and accompanying documents depends on the stipulations written into your auto insurance policy. For a civil lawsuit, the deadline for filing the right paperwork depends on the state where you live. Most states have established a deadline between two and four years. A few states have set a deadline for filing a civil lawsuit as long as six years and as short as one year. Also referred to as the statute of limitations, the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit is established on the day when you got involved in an auto crash. The only exception is if you developed delayed symptoms, which can happen with medical conditions like whiplash and a concussion.

Although you have enough time to file a compelling civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages, you should act quickly to ensure your case gets heard by a judge in a timely manner. Until you receive compensation from an insurance company and/or an award handed out by a judgment, you have to pay for every expense out-of-pocket. This can become a major financial issue because medical bills often run into thousands of dollars. Filing a civil lawsuit as soon as possible after a car accident helps you recover financial losses faster than if you wait several months.

If you fail to file a civil lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations, a court clerk removes your case from the judicial docket.

For all the car accident cases in 2022 litigated by a car accident lawyer from Morgan and Morgan, the primary goal always was to help our clients receive the compensation that they deserve. For most personal injury cases, our clients are eligible to receive three types of monetary damages.

Economic Damages

Economic damages cover tangible expenses, such as the cost of receiving healthcare services. Your car accident lawyer requests compensation to cover the costs associated with diagnostic tests, treatment programs, and physical therapy sessions. If applicable, you also should ask for compensation to pay for prescription medications and the use of an assistive device like a wheelchair.

Economic damages also cover the costs associated with repairing property damage, which for an automobile can produce a bill that exceeds $10,000. You also should claim monetary damages for repairing any personal property like a tablet or laptop. If you miss time from work because of a vehicle collision, you have the right to ask for lost wages.

Non-Economic Damages

Unlike economic damages, non-economic damages do not come with a price tag. Instead, your car accident lawyer from Morgan and Morgan must use a formula that factors in the value of economic damages to calculate the value of non-economic damages. Pain and suffering, which entails the development of emotional issues such as fear and anxiety, typically comprise the largest percentage of non-economic damages.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages do not cover the value of economic and non-economic losses. The judge hearing your case awards punitive damages to penalize the defendant for committing one or more acts of negligence. Punitive damages also set a precedent for future cases that involve similar legal issues. Judges usually award higher values for punitive damages if a case involves intentional negligence.

Learn more about the car accident cases in 2022 that the team of car accident lawyers from Morgan and Morgan litigated by scheduling a free case evaluation today.