Chestermere Personal Injury Lawyers Car & Motorcycle Accident Claims
Chestermere may be a small, beautiful community, but it gets its fair share of car and motorcycle accidents. If you’ve been injured while cruising on Hwy 1 or have run into trouble out in Calgary, we’re the lawyers to call. We can help you get compensation for your injuries, pain, and suffering.
Our senior Alberta injury lawyers have decades of experience working with car and motorcycle accident claims just like yours. We’ve helped thousands of Albertans recover compensation for their injuries. Medicare doesn’t handle everything, and these accidents are often disruptive to your ability to make a living.
If the other driver was at-fault for the accident, then we can help. Our lawyers are known as some of Alberta’s savviest negotiators and toughest litigators. When you call a Merchant Law lawyer, you let the insurance companies know you mean business.
What should you do if you’re injured in an Alberta car or motorcycle accident?
The first thing you need to do is contact the police. Stay at the scene of the accident and exchange insurance information. Take photos if possible.
Make sure you watch what you say. What you say can be used against you later. For example, you might be stressed and tempted to apologize. The insurance company responsible can later use your apology against you as “proof” that you “took responsibility” for the accident.
You should also be careful to avoid falling into traps and pitfalls at the accident scene. For example, the other driver might try to convince you that they’ll just pay all the damages themselves out of their own pocket and that you don’t have to contact the insurance companies. This can lead to plenty of trouble. If you don’t call the police after an accident you’re committing a crime, and you can cause real harm to your case if the accident does not get reported.
The most important thing you can do after the accident is to get medical care. Follow all of your provider’s instructions. Any failure to do so could muddy the waters between the accident and your losses.
Finally, consider calling a personal injury lawyer as soon as it’s feasible to do so.
If you are unconscious or too injured to respond to your accident others will take many of these steps for you. You’ll want to call a lawyer even more quickly than the average accident victim. Your lawyer can get to work reconstructing the facts of the accident, ensuring you’re treated fairly.
How do you know you have a strong personal injury case?
You shouldn’t try to speculate. You should let a lawyer review the facts of your case. Yet there are a few basic questions you can ask yourself.
First, were you at-fault for the accident? If you were less than 51% at-fault you can still recover compensation. The more innocent of fault you were the stronger your case. Were you breaking traffic laws? Driving distracted? Was the other driver? Review the specifics of your accident case as honestly as you can.
How severe are your injuries? You can recover even for minor injuries, but the defendant’s insurance company may just pay out for minor injuries. You need to start thinking seriously about a case when the injuries are severe. We most often work with clients who have severe lacerations, broken bones, disfiguring burns, spinal injuries, or traumatic brain injuries. The more expensive and extensive your injuries, the more you’ll have to fight the insurance companies to get your claim paid.
What is considered a good pain and suffering award from a car accident?
If you have severe injuries you can expect a pain and suffering award somewhere between $5000 and $370,000. $370,000 is the cap for pain and suffering awards in Alberta.
The exact amount of the award will depend on the nature of your injuries. The more extensive and life-altering the injuries, the higher the award. It will also depend on your lawyer’s skill at negotiation. The amount will most likely be determined at a settlement conference. 8% of these awards are set by juries after a trial.
Why do motorcycle accident claims require more expertise?
If you’ve been in a motorcycle accident then you truly need a lawyer with decades of personal injury experience. These cases are some of the toughest ones to manage correctly.
Riders are up against more challenges than the drivers of passenger vehicles. The first challenge is their injuries are most often the most extensive and life-altering. Riders often face amputations, spinal injuries, or traumatic brain injuries. They tend to need their lawyers to press loss of earning capacity claims. They tend to need decades of long-term care.
The expense of these injuries make insurance companies fight harder to avoid paying out the claim. They will work harder to try to present a case that says the accident is the rider’s fault, even though the vast majority of motorcycle accidents are caused by passenger vehicles making improper left turns. If they succeed, you might not be able to recover funds. Get the help you need right away.
Get help with your Alberta personal injury case.
We have offices conveniently located in Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, Airdrie, and Cochrane. We also serve clients all across Alberta including Lethbridge, Fort McMurray, Medicine Hat, Grande Prairie, Spruce Grove, Lloydminster, Leduc, Okotoks, Fort Saskatchewan, Chestermere, Camrose, Beaumont, Stony Plain, Sylvan Lake, Brooks, Strathmore, High River, Canmore, Morinville, Whitecourt, Hinton, Olds, and Blackfalds.
Our personal injury lawyers have helped hundreds of drivers throughout Chestermere and the province of Alberta. Our lawyers have decades of experience with cases just like yours. We’re known for being some of Alberta’s savviest litigators and negotiators, and we’re responsive and empathetic.
Calling us is 100% risk-free. You don’t have to come up with a big retainer or a large hourly payment. We get paid when we’ve brought your case to a successful conclusion, and not before. Call (403) 225-7777 today to schedule a risk-free case evaluation. We’ll answer all your questions and walk you through your next steps. Call now.