Atlanta Motorcycle Accident Attorneys

The first thing you should do, obviously, is to seek medical treatment for your injuries. While paramedics might treat you at the scene, you also should go to the emergency room to ensure your injuries are not more serious than they appear.

Further, you should undergo an exam by your regular doctor as soon as possible following your accident. Not all injuries are immediately apparent, and you want to ensure that you can establish a connection between your accident and your injuries. The best way to do that is medical attention as soon as possible after your accident. If the paramedics say you’re fine except for maybe some road rash, go to the emergency room. If their doctors there see nothing obviously wrong, go to your doctor.

Neither paramedics nor ER doctors have the time to deal with someone who appears to okay. However, symptoms for many injuries do not manifest for days or even weeks, particularly with brain or soft-tissue injuries. Such injuries can have long-lasting consequences.

Fault in a traffic accident generally is decided by the police, insurance companies, and the courts should an accident case actually get to trial. The police will take statements from witnesses and gather other available evidence, including traffic or security camera footage.

They might or might not ultimately charge someone with a traffic violation in the accident. If they do, that doesn’t settle the issue of fault—for instance, the police rarely witness the accident—but it makes it more likely that insurance companies will agree with the police determination of who was at fault. In the absence of any driver being cited, the insurance companies investigate and then work out fault.

If fault remains disputed, such cases are much more likely to result in litigation, even if they eventually settle before actually reaching trial. Because of the way the process works, that just makes it all the more important to gather any information at the accident scene possible. This could include photos of the scene, contact information from witnesses, or even just observations from the scene, such as the location of any security or traffic cameras, that could provide information that investigators—for the police, insurance companies, or your lawyer—could use to help determine fault.

Never make any statement—to the police or one of the insurance companies involved—that the accident was somehow your fault. Stick to the facts when talking to the police. Refer all insurance company inquiries to your Atlanta motorcycle accident lawyer.

Regardless of fault in an accident, your auto/motorcycle insurance policy will pay for your medical expenses up to your policy limits. After that, you can collect against your health insurance, subject to your deductible. Your motorcycle insurance will pay all medical costs so long as they remain within your policy limits. If you exceed those limits, your health insurance will pay subject to any conditions of your policy.

Some health policies require copays or might pay only a percentage of some costs. Further, almost all health insurance policies have what is known as a subrogation clause. What that clause means is that if the other driver is at fault and you can recover compensation for your damages from that driver or his auto insurer, you must reimburse your health insurer for payouts they made for your medical expenses.

If your medical expenses will exceed your motorcycle policy coverage limits, you should put your two insurance companies in touch so that they can coordinate on payments and any subrogation issues. Your Atlanta motorcycle accident lawyer can help you do this.

The short answer is no, or at least not in any practical sense. Your employer provides you with paid sick leave as a benefit. If you use some or all of that paid leave while recovering from injuries from your motorcycle accident, those benefits are not available to you in the future to use if you catch the flu or something and have to miss a few days of work. Because of that, the value of any sick days you have to take as a result of your accident would be added to your damages and be part of any compensation recovery you receive.

If another driver caused your accident, then you generally can recover damages from that driver (and his insurance company). The process might be contested, particularly if there is a dispute with the other insurer over fault or the amount of damages. This is part of why you must carefully document any expenses you incur, medical or otherwise, as a result of your accident.

That can include many things, including missed time at work or if you need someone to drive you to work because of your injuries, but also more intangible damages, such as pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment for activities you enjoy but can’t participate in for a while because of your injuries.

While your insurance company will represent your interests on fault and medical expenses, you should hire an attorney to fully represent your interests and ensure you receive compensation to fully cover all of your damages, whether through an insurance settlement or a judgment at trial.

You can wait up to two years to contact an attorney and make a claim. Two years is the length of the statute of limitations for filing a personal injury in Georgia. If you wait more than two years after your accident, you cannot file a claim. The question really should be, “How long should I wait to contact an Atlanta motorcycle injury attorney?”

Waiting two years to file a claim would likely be a mistake on many levels. First, the law will bar you from filing a legal claim or an insurance claim if you waited more than two years. Even if you filed your insurance claims promptly, your claim almost undoubtedly would be settled after two years, and you likely would have had to sign an agreement stating that your settlement was final and included compensation for all claims.

The longer you wait to file a claim, the more difficult gathering evidence becomes, and the more likely it becomes that you might have made agreements with the responsible driver’s insurance company that limit your ability to recover full compensation for your damages.

Thus, in answering the question of how long should you wait to contact an Atlanta motorcycle accident attorney, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible after your accident. An experienced attorney is much more qualified than you to negotiate with the insurance adjuster, to evaluate the damages you can claim, to support those claims with evidence, and, if necessary, to take those claims to court. Waiting only makes all of those elements of the process more difficult. Quickly hiring an attorney enhances the likelihood that you will recover a settlement that will fully cover your medical costs and other damages.

Yes. In fact, motorcycle passengers are actually more likely than motorcycle drivers to be severely injured in an accident, so you may have a better case than the motorcycle driver. Motorcycle passengers are less likely than drivers to wear a helmet and they suffer serious head injuries at a higher rate. However, even in instances when both the driver and passenger were wearing helmets, passengers still suffered serious head injuries at a higher rate than drivers. Your passenger has the same rights to compensation as you. If the other driver was at fault, the claims for the motorcycle passenger and driver will be extremely similar, possibly differing only in the amount of damages.

Absolutely. Filing your initial claims against the at-fault driver (through the driver’s insurance company) sets down a marker for your claim. It doesn’t limit your ability to add to that claim.

Further medical care can bring to light additional injuries that were not immediately apparent. Many injuries are immediately obvious. Common motorcycle injuries include road rash, biker’s arm, broken bones—especially to the lower extremities—spinal cord injuries, and head injuries. Most of these are immediately apparent, but for some—primarily road rash and head injuries—the seriousness might not be known until as much as a week or more after the accident.

Road rash, which can be fairly mild or so serious as to require surgery and skin grafts—is highly susceptible to infection, which does not set in right away. Infections of road rash can have serious consequences and, if untreated, even cause death. Head injuries, especially traumatic brain injuries or TBI, also can be difficult to diagnose immediately.

Federal statistics show that TBIs are common in motorcycle accidents, even when the cyclist is wearing a helmet. Symptoms of mild TBIs generally fade quickly. However, many mild TBIs—such as many concussions—might look normal in a brain scan, and yet lead to lasting symptoms that do not immediately appear. Studies indicate up to 15 percent of those suffering mild TBIs suffer continuing symptoms. Even if symptoms do not immediately appear, your doctor should thoroughly examine you. Paramedics and ER doctors may miss hidden head injuries and could miss mild TBI. Untreated mild TBIs can cause ongoing problems that you will have a hard time linking to the original accident.

Even if you think you aren’t hurt badly, you should file a claim and get thorough medical confirmation of your injuries. Hiring an attorney under such circumstances also might help protect your rights as you and your doctor confirm your injuries.