Cherry Hill, NJ Motorcycle Accident Lawyer
Cherry Hill has a mix of suburban, urban, and rural roads. Motorcycle riders in town, on the highway, and on back roads could risk serious motorcycle accidents if the other drivers fail to use the proper care and skill behind the wheel.
While many injured riders file insurance claims to help cover the costs of an accident, a lawsuit can help riders recover even greater damages. Your injuries after a motorcycle accident might be severe, even catastrophic, and you deserve the full extent of these damages as part of your compensation. Of course, damages include economic losses like medical bills, but they should also account for non-economic injuries like pain and suffering. Proving your claims will take work, as we must show that the defendant’s negligence caused the collision. Our motorcycle accident attorney can help you file your case so you can get fair compensation and justice.
For a free evaluation of your potential case, call our New Jersey motorcycle injury attorney, Jerry Friedman, today at 1-800-LAW-4-HOGS.
Suing for Motorcycle Accident Injuries in Cherry Hill, NJ
Motorcycle riders and drivers throughout New Jersey usually use one of two types of insurance policies: limited tort or full tort policies. A “tort” is a civil lawsuit filed against someone who injured you or damaged your property. With “full tort” policies, the policyholder can take anyone to court for causing their auto accident. “Limited tort” policies only allow you to sue for damages in certain circumstances, instead relying upon insurance claims. However, anyone who suffers serious, permanent injuries in a motorcycle accident in New Jersey is usually entitled to file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver.
A lawsuit against a driver can help maximize damages that an insurance claim might restrict. For instance, most insurance policies refuse to pay damages for pain and suffering, instead covering economic damages only. That means that while you might be able to get compensation for medical expenses and lost wages, you might miss out on potentially high areas of damages if you do not file your case as a lawsuit.
Talk to a lawyer about your ability to sue for a motorcycle accident in Cherry Hill. Our attorneys understand the needs of a victim after a motorcycle accident lawyer, and we can help you determine the fastest course of action to get you fair compensation. We can also help you understand whether an insurance offer or a settlement offer from the at-fault driver needs to be higher to cover your needs.
Potential Injuries in Motorcycle Accidents in Cherry Hill, NJ
Motorcycle accidents can be severe, especially when they occur when the parties are traveling at a high rate of speed. While negligent drivers are often protected inside enclosed vehicles, motorcycle riders are completely exposed with only helmets and the clothes on their backs to protect them. Our motorcycle accident lawyer can help you prove the severity and extent of your injuries to get you the compensation you deserve.
Some relatively minor injuries that tend to be common in motorcycle accident cases include broken bones, lacerations, road rash, and whiplash. People sometimes think of these injuries as minor because they often heal after proper medical treatment. However, these injuries may be extremely severe, even life-threatening in some cases.
Motorcycle accidents might also involve catastrophic injuries. Brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and other permanent injuries are all possible. People who experience such injuries might live with permanent complications or disabilities, and their damages should account for future costs and expenses.
You should also consider the psychological trauma you endure because of the accident as one of your injuries. Although psychological or emotional trauma is not necessarily outwardly visible, it might still take a heavy toll on your life, and you should be compensated.
Damages for Motorcycle Accidents in Cherry Hill, NJ
As mentioned, damages in a motorcycle accident can often involve damages for pain and suffering, but there are many other areas of damages you might be entitled to claim in your case.
Pain and suffering damages are paid to compensate the victim directly for the harm they face. This means paying them money to make up for injuries, physical discomfort, physical pain, mental suffering, emotional distress, and other effects of injuries.
Pain and suffering damages are separate from the damages to treat the injuries you suffered. Damages for medical bills can also be claimed in a lawsuit, including compensation for hospital stays, physical therapy, and other expenses. These damages can also cover the future projected costs of medical care and ongoing needs after an accident.
If you cannot work after an accident, you could also be entitled to damages for lost wages. If your inability to work is only temporary, these lost wage damages could cover the payments you missed during that limited period. If you have permanent injuries or disabilities, these damages could be projected into the future and cover any reduction in earning capacity.
If you lost a loved one in a motorcycle crash in Cherry Hill, the damages you can claim might be increased. Losing a loved one means paying certain expenses, such as burial and funeral costs. It also means you can claim damages they would have been able to claim in an injury case, such as their pain and suffering and medical expenses. You can also claim damages for your family’s intangible harms, such as lost companionship and spousal services.
Proving a Motorcycle Accident Injury Claim in Cherry Hill
To prove that the other driver was at fault in your claim, you will need to prove that they did something “negligent.” Most motorcycle accident claims are not based on intentional assault with a vehicle – though you can certainly sue for that as well. Instead, the at-fault driver will usually have caused a crash because they made an error in judgment behind the wheel or violated traffic laws.
If you can prove that a mistake caused the crash – like failing to watch the road for other vehicles or failing to check one’s blind spot – then you can prove that the driver who made that mistake was at fault. If there is a specific traffic law on point, it is often simpler to prove that the other driver committed errors, since traffic laws are clear about what the driver did wrong.
Juries often understand who is at fault when one driver is accused of speeding, tailgating, reckless driving, distracted driving, or drunk driving. Other traffic violations like failing to stop at a stop sign, running a red light, or even changing lanes without signaling could also prove who caused the crash.
How Our Cherry Hill, NJ Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Can Help You Win
Injury lawsuits for motorcycle accidents can be fraught with complex rules and legal procedures. Our motorcycle accident lawyer can help you get your case started, prove the defendant’s negligence caused the crash, and hopefully get you the compensation you need.
Information We Need From You
Before beginning a case, our attorney needs certain information and details from you to begin building the case and drafting a formal complaint. First, we need to know details about you and the defendant. Personal information like names, addresses, and contact information are necessary to verify the defendant’s identity and properly serve them notice.
Next, we need details about how the accident occurred. This might be difficult if you cannot clearly recall the events of the accident, which is normal after such a traumatic event. If we need additional details, we can obtain a copy of the police report. We need information about where the accident happened, what you were doing, what the defendant did, and how they were negligent.
Finally, we need details about your injuries. How badly were you injured? What did your doctor say? How much did medical treatment cost? Did you lose time at work? All this information can help us accurately understand your overall damages and compensation.
Proving Fault
Proving fault often comes down to negligence. Many accident cases are based on negligence, although some might be based on a defendant’s intentional actions, but that is a bit less common. To prove negligence, we must establish 4 legal elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages.
Duty is the defendant’s legal obligation they owed to the plaintiff at the time of the accident. A defendant’s legal duty when behind the wheel of a vehicle is to drive with reasonable safety under the circumstances and obey all traffic laws.
The next element, breach, is the way in which the defendant violated their duty. What this looks like and how we prove it may vary greatly depending on the circumstances. One possibility is that the defendant committed a traffic violation that ultimately caused the crash. For example, if the defendant ran a stop sign while you were crossing the intersection and hit you, their failure to stop would be the breach.
Causation is the element that links the breach to the accident. In short, the defendant’s breach must be the direct cause of the accident. Even if the defendant breached their duty, but some other intervening force caused the crash, we cannot prove negligence.
Finally, we have to prove that your damages are real. You cannot sue for a near miss or a close call; your injuries and expenses must be actualized.
Gathering Evidence
Finding evidence to support your case can be difficult. If you do not begin collecting evidence almost immediately, you risk losing some. For example, you can take photos and record videos of the accident scene immediately after the crash to preserve details about how the accident occurred. This is important because many of these details will disappear once the police clean up the scene.
Other evidence might come from various places that many injured riders might not think to look. We can get copies of your medical records to help prove the extent of your injuries. We can also speak to witnesses who can shed light on how the crash happened.
Dealing with Insurance Companies
After a motorcycle crash, dealing with insurance companies is practically inescapable. Insurance companies do not like paying for accidents and injuries, and they might look for any excuse to reduce your compensation or even deny your claim altogether.
Our motorcycle accident attorney can help you communicate with insurance companies to minimize the risk of losing compensation or having your claim denied. It is important to avoid saying anything that could be misconstrued as an admission of fault or wrongdoing. The insurance company might use comparative negligence laws to reduce your compensation.
On top of that, our attorney can help you make sure all forms and paperwork submitted to the insurance company are correctly filled out. Small mistakes might cause your claim to be slowed down while we work to correct the mistakes. The insurance company might even use the mistakes to justify denying your claim.
Call Our Cherry Hill Motorcycle Accident and Injury Attorney for a Free Legal Consultation
Call Jerry Friedman today at 1-800-LAW-4-HOGS for a free case review if you or a loved one was injured in a motorcycle crash in Cheory Hill or the surrounding areas.
