Roanoke, IN Personal Injury Attorney
If another driver causes you to suffer injuries in a car accident in Roanoke or a nearby community in Huntington County, you may be eligible to file a claim against that driver and seek compensation through the driver’s auto insurance liability policy. However, these claims can be challenging. You can also expect the insurance company to do everything it can to pay as little as possible or to try to avoid paying your claim altogether.
At Truitt Law Offices, we will protect your rights when dealing with the insurance company. Our goal will be to secure the compensation that you need to move forward after an accident has turned your life upside down. Throughout your case, we will listen to you and pay close attention to what is important to you. To learn more, call or reach us online today. Our initial consultations are always free.
What Are Your Legal Options After Suffering a Personal Injury in Roanoke, IN?
If someone else’s negligence has caused you to suffer physical, emotional, and financial harm, you may have many different options available to you for seeking compensation, including:
- Filing an insurance claim against the at-fault party – One of the first steps after an accident is to file a claim with the negligent party’s insurance company. For example, in a car accident, you would typically file a claim through the driver’s liability insurance policy.
- Filing a lawsuit against the at-fault party – Some personal injury cases can be resolved without the need to file a lawsuit. However, if necessary, you can file a lawsuit in a court such as Huntington County Circuit Court.
- Filing a claim with your own insurance company – If you are involved in an auto accident in Roanoke, IN, you may need to file an uninsured motorist/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) claim with your own insurance company. However, even though it is your own insurer, you should not expect the claims process to go smoothly.
- Taking action against other liable parties – In some situations, multiple parties may be held accountable for an accident. For example, if a driver hit you while the driver was “on the job,” the driver’s employer could potentially be liable for your injuries.
- Pursuing disability benefits – In addition to personal injury damages, you could also be eligible to recover workers’ compensation and/or Social Security disability benefits.
Your attorney from Truitt Law Offices will thoroughly review all of your options with you and help you to understand and explore all avenues for seeking just compensation in your case.
What Evidence Do You Need for a Personal Injury Claim?
Generally speaking, you must establish four elements in order to recover compensation for your losses in a personal injury claim. Those elements are:
- Duty – You must prove that the at-fault party owed you a duty of care. A driver, for instance, owes a duty to others on the road to drive in a safe, reasonable manner.
- Breach – A breach of duty typically is a careless or reckless act. A driver who texts or talks on the phone while driving would be an example of one who breaches a duty of care.
- Causation – You must prove a link between the other party’s negligence and your injuries. This means that it would not be enough to show that a driver was speeding at the time of your accident. You would also need to show that the driver’s speeding cause the crash.
- Damages – Personal injury claims are meant to compensate you for your injuries and other losses. So, if you can’t show that you suffered any harm, you will be unable to recover compensation.
At Truitt Law Offices, we work hard to gather evidence that can establish these elements, including photographs, the police report, expert testimony, witness statements, medical records, and more.
What are the Most Common Injuries that People Suffer in Car Accidents?
An accident can result in a number of different injuries. The most common ones include:
- Whiplash – When the neck moves back and forth in rapid succession, but the body stays still, whiplash can result. At Truitt Law Offices, we know how whiplash is extremely painful and can take months to recover from.
- Fractures – Accident victims in Roanoke often sustain multiple broken bones. These are not only painful injuries. They may require multiple surgeries to help them heal.
- Soft tissue injuries – These injuries involve damage to the muscles, ligaments and tendons throughout the body.
- Burns – Fires and explosions are common in accidents, which can cause victims to suffer severe burns. Victims can also suffer chemical burns and friction burns.
- Traumatic brain injury – During a car accident, in particular, victims can hit their head on the wheel, dashboard, windshield and other parts of the car. The impact can result in a traumatic brain injury such as a concussion.
- Spinal cord injury – Spinal cord injuries can range from herniated or bulging discs to more severe injuries such as paralysis.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder – Accidents can traumatize victims. Many suffer from debilitating anxiety and depression in the months or years that follow.
These injuries are often life-changing. They can require expensive medical treatment and prevent a victim from being able to work for a long period of time, if at all. At Truitt Law Offices, we help victims to pursue full and fair compensation for their injuries and all of their related losses, including past and future medical expenses, lost income, decrease in future earning ability, pain, suffering, and emotional distress.
What Happens If Both Parties Are At Fault in a Personal Injury Case in Roanoke, IN?
Sometimes, more than one party is at fault for an accident. Under Indiana’s comparative negligence law, accident victims can still claim compensation as long as they were no more than 51 percent at fault for the accident. An insurance company or judge will assign accident victims a percentage of fault, and a person’s compensation will be reduced according to that percentage of fault.
Because of this law, insurance companies often try to pin the blame for an accident on the victim. At Truitt Law Offices, we will aggressively challenge any attempt to assign undue fault to you.
What is the Statute of Limitations for a Personal Injury Case in Roanoke, Indiana?
Indiana has a statute of limitations for personal injury claims, including claims arising from car accidents. This is the amount of time that you have to file your claim. Personal injury claims have a statute of limitations of two years from the date of the injury.
Sometimes, accident victims do not discover their injuries right away. When that occurs, individuals have two years from the date on which they discovered their injury in which to file a claim.
The statute of limitations is important to any accident claim. If accident victims do not file a claim before this time limit has expired, they will likely be barred from receiving any compensation.
Get Help from a Roanoke, Indiana Personal Injury and Car Accident Attorney
If you have been injured in a car crash or any other type of accident in Roanoke, it will be crucial that you speak to our personal injury lawyers at Truitt Law Offices right away. The insurance companies are not on your side, but we will ensure that your rights are protected and pursue the compensation that you deserve. Contact us today to schedule your free case evaluation with a Roanoke personal injury lawyer who can offer the legal resources to help with your claim.