If You Did Not Cause Your Richmond Car Accident
Knowing exactly how the accident took place is a major step forward in determining who is liable for your injury. That information is crucial to recovering all the damages you are legitimately owed by the best possible source of financial recovery.
In many cases, the other driver is clearly the at-fault party. That person failed to yield, decided to speed while quickly changing lanes without checking their blind spot, or so on. You may need to pursue your financial recovery through that person’s insurance, your own insurance carrier, or a personal injury lawsuit.
The other driver isn’t always the liable party, however. In some cases, your best source of compensation may be someone else entirely. Liability may fall on the driver’s employer, for instance, if the accident involved a commercial truck or someone driving as part of their job.
In other situations, the accident may have occurred due to faulty equipment, shoddy mechanical repairs, improper cargo loading, and so on. That's why it’s crucial to have a qualified Virginia car crash lawyer perform a thorough and exacting investigation into your accident.
How to Find the Causes of a Virginia Auto Accident
A car accident attorney is necessary to comb through all the available evidence to prove how the crash happened and who is liable for your damages. Part of that investigation also covers the accident’s overall impact to your life. If you couldn’t work for a month while recovering and lost out on income and employment benefits, you should be compensated for those losses.
All of this requires collecting various evidence, which is why the actions you take immediately after the crash are extremely important. After a crash, be sure to:
- Contact law enforcement, so a police report is filed covering the crash
- Get the contact details from anyone who saw the accident and can describe what occurred
- Snap photos of the vehicles and scene of the accident
- Visit a doctor after leaving the scene to document injuries
The single most important step after seeing a doctor is to then consult an attorney. Your legal counsel can assist in determining exactly how much compensation you deserve based on medical and employment records. After suffering an injury in a car crash caused by negligent behavior, Virginia law specifically allows you to recover:
- Costs for medical bills like the ambulance ride, ER visit, in-patient hospital care, prescription medications you need to take, and so on
- Non-economic damages. These don’t have as much of a hard and fast way to calculate, like with wages, but physical pain and emotional suffering still needs to be considered.
- Out-of-pocket costs while pursuing treatment
- Wages lost while recovering
- Wrongful death covering elements like funeral costs if a loved one died due to injuries sustained in the car crash
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