Lethbridge Personal Injury Lawyer Car & Motorcycle Accident Claims Lawyer
Car and motorcycle accidents can be life-altering. They can have a profound impact on both your body and your finances. Medical insurance won’t cover all your expenses!
For over 30 years, Lethbridge residents have known they could trust the team at Merchant Law. We’ve helped hundreds of people just like you recover damages for their car and motorcycle accidents. Let us help you file your claim today.
Is it worth suing after a car accident?
It depends. When we evaluate your case we’ll be looking at a number of factors.
First, who was at-fault for the accident? If you were not at fault then you already have the grounds for a personal injury claim. Note that it is possible to be partially at-fault for an accident and still make a claim. We’re looking for less than 50% fault here.
Second, how injured were you? If you have very minor injuries and mostly have property damage the insurance company will generally pay up without complaint. They spend most of their time fighting the big, expensive cases.
In most cases, if you have major injuries, you’re going to need that money. It’s going to be what helps you get back on your feet after missing work and incurring major medical bills. Nobody pursues a personal injury case just to get rich.
You don’t have to engage in guess-work. We’re happy to give you a free consultation. We’ll review the facts of the case and help you determine what to do next.
When is it time to call a personal injury lawyer?
Insurance companies will try to trick you into believing that you have to reach maximum medical improvement before you get a lawyer involved. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In reality, you can get a lawyer involved as early as one hour after your accident. Make sure you’re medically capable of making the phone call first, but choose one.
We can help you file your insurance claim, which ensures you don’t damage your own case through the course of your conversation with them. We’ll help you deal both with your own insurance company and the other driver’s.
Acting fast offers several advantages. For example, if you wait a year then you might lose the ability to contact witnesses. Their phone numbers and addresses could change.
In addition, you only have 2 years from the date of the accident to file a claim in the first place. After that, your statute of limitations runs out and you can’t make a claim anymore.
What’s the biggest difference between a car accident and a motorcycle accident?
The biggest difference comes from the challenges inherent to each type of case.
A car accident is the most basic, standard type of personal injury case. A motorcycle case comes with three major challenges.
First, there’s a stigma against riders. Juries tend to assign riders a greater percentage of fault just for being riders. Alberta is a comparative negligence province. This means that juries have to decide what percentage of fault each party carries, and will reduce awards by that same percentage.
There are those who believe the very act of riding a motorcycle is a negligent one. It’s not a fair assumption, but it’s the one they often make.
Insurance companies know this, and this makes them a little harder to deal with during the negotiation process. They will dig their heels in knowing they might have a better chance of paying less if they can push the matter to trial. This also means you need a lawyer who is prepared to litigate from Day 1.
Second, motorcycle accidents tend to produce some of the most expensive injuries. Traumatic brain and spinal injuries are both common. These type of injuries usually come with a need for lifelong long-term care. They usually wipe out an individual’s earning capacity. This means settlements can reach the million dollar mark and beyond with ease.
Insurance companies don’t want to pay those kinds of claims, so they fight far harder than they otherwise would.
Finally, riders are rarely in a position to help themselves after an accident. You’ve heard all the advice about car accidents: call 911, stay at the scene, get insurance information from the other driver, get witness contact information, and take lots of pictures.
Yet riders are often unconscious or in too much pain to think about taking any of these steps. They’re often helpless until EMTs arrive to stabilize them and bring them to the hospital. Evidence and witness statements must often be collected after the fact, derived from police reports, or secured through some other means. You’ll need a lawyer who understands how to get every scrap of the evidence that can help your case.
In short, the wisest course of action is to work with lawyers who have long track records of successfully resolving motorcycle accident cases in their client’s favor.
Who is at fault in most motorcycle accidents?
Passenger vehicles cause far more motorcycle accidents than riders do. The most common type of accident is an improper left turn causing a collision with an unseen rider.
Despite this fact, the stigma against riders does remain. It can only be countered by a lawyer who is adept at turning the raw facts of a situation into a good story for the jury to listen to.
Help for Lethbridge, Alberta Residents
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.
Merchant Law serves Lethbridge and other areas throughout Alberta. Our team is devoted to providing top-notch legal services and to getting results. You’ll find each of our lawyers to be compassionate, responsive, and skilled.
Hiring us is 100% risk-free. We work on contingency, which means you don’t have to come up with an expensive retainer or pay an exorbitant hourly rate. We get paid when we successfully resolve your case, and not before.
Contact one of our lawyers today by calling toll-free: (403) 225-7777. We’ll set you up with a free case review, answer all your questions, and help you discuss next steps.