Georgia Personal Injury Law Center > FAQ > Auto Accident

WHAT SHOULD I DO IN THE EVENT OF AN AUTO ACCIDENT?

First and foremost, make sure that everyone is out of harms way before taking down all pertinent information concerning the accident?  If you wish to pursue an action for Personal Injuries, the following information will be crucial to your attorney in properly presenting a strong case:

1. Who were the drivers of the vehicles involved?

2. Did all drivers have driver's licenses? Be sure to get the driver's license numbers and addresses of the drivers!

3. Did any of the driver's appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs? (Write down who and why you think they were and who else observed that same thing. After the effects wear off it would be your word against theirs.)

4. Were any passengers in the vehicles? Get their names and addresses!

5. Were any pedestrians involved in the accident? Get their names and addresses!

6. Did any person involved in the accident report any personal injury shortly after the accident? Who are they, and where do they live?

7. Was medical assistance rendered at the scene of the accident?

8. What personal injury did the injured person report? Did anyone say "I'm not hurt"?

9. What was the actual location of the accident?

10. Were there any witnesses to the accident (other than those directly involved in the accident)? Get the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all witnesses!

11. In what direction were the vehicles traveling just prior to the accident?

12. At what time of day did the accident occur?

13. What were the weather conditions at the time of the accident?

14. Was there anything "wrong" with the vehicles before the accident, such as driving with a broken headlight at night, or with bald tires?

15. Was there any damage to the vehicles as a result of the accident? (Even if there wasn't, that does not mean that someone may not have been injured, even with a "soft tissues injury".) What parts of the vehicle were damaged?

16. Who were the registered owners of the vehicles (names and addresses)?

17. Were all vehicles involved in the accident insured? What are the names of the insurance companies and the policy numbers? (If they said how much insurance they had, record that too.)

18. Did any of the vehicles need to be towed from the scene of the accident?

19. How did the accident occur?

20. Did anyone accept responsibility for the accident, such as by saying "It was my fault, I am sorry. I was speeding / not paying attention / not wearing my glasses / distracted / tired / late for work / in a hurry / my coffee had just spilled ... etc."? If so, write it down.

21. Did anyone else say something to indicate that s/he too was at least partially at fault -- such as "I should have seen you but I was on my cell phone / I've been taking these pills / my eyesight isn't what it used to be after dark, etc"?

22. Did the police come? If so, did they issue anyone a ticket? Which officers were present?

As much basic information as possible should be gathered immediately after the accident occurred. As time passes, memories tend to fade and new versions of the chain of events are created. Putting the basic information down on paper helps later when liability for the accident begins to be examined.

WHO DO I CONTACT AFTER AN AUTO ACCIDENT?

Depending upon the nature of the accident and the extent of the damages and injuries involved, a series of auto accident reports must be filed. Sometimes the reporting of an auto accident is mandatory, sometimes it is voluntary. Reports typically must be filed with:

• Police (law enforcement agencies) - The law of the state where the accident occurs may require a police report to be filed. However, as there are many variations in state and local laws -- and even local practices -- we can not address them all. Generally if any personal injury occurs in an auto accident, a police report must be filed. A police report generally also is required when property damage exceeds a certain dollar amount (often $200 to $500). The manner of making the report also varies. Some local police only take certain auto accident reports over the telephone, some require a trip to the station house. To be safe, at least a telephone call to local police should be made shortly after an auto accident to determine local practice and the information you are required to provide.

• Insurance company - Most auto insurance companies require their policyholders to promptly report every auto accident. The insurance company will want to gather all of the basic information concerning the accident for its records. Sometimes the insurance company will want your authorization to make a recorded statement concerning the accident. We suggest that if you or your passengers were injured in the accident, or believe the insurance company will try to claim "you're not covered" or you have any concerns about the adequacy of your coverage, you should contact an attorney before you go much further, and certainly before you give the insurance company permission to record your conversation. However, bear in mind that failure to provide information to your insurance company on a timely basis -- your policy will set out how quickly you must notify the company (and it can be a VERY short time frame). Failure to comply could result in loss of coverage for the accident, without it constituting

As you know, if you suffer a personal injury you'll likely require medical attention and may need rehabilitation, both of which cost money. You may lose income (and/or have to use up "sick time") because of the injury, and while treatment and recovery takes place. You may have sustained property damage to your car and other property. As you can't drive your vehicle while it is being repaired, you may have to rent one, and car repairs and rentals can cost money.You may lose the ability to perform various activities of normal daily living, for a while or long term. You may endure pain and suffering.

The law permits you to seek recovery after an accident to "make you whole again." The central concept is that you should be compensated in a manner that, as best as the law can arrange, places you back in the same position as you were before the accident.

In addition to normal compensatory damages designed to make someone whole, in extreme cases "punitive damages" may be available if the injury was the result of someone else's reckless or irresponsible behavior, or if the cause of the accident or the extent of the injury was caused by something about the car that is dangerous -- a defective product -- that the manufacturer should have corrected.

WHAT SOURCES OF COMPENSATION CAN BE PURSUED AFTER AN AUTO ACCIDENT

The answer to this question depends on your own financial resources and the circumstances surrounding the accident. Typical sources of compensation for damages sustained in an auto accident include:

• "Out-of Pocket" - When the damages sustained are minor and cause no real financial setback, paying for the loss "out-of-pocket" should be considered. There is no third party getting involved when you pay for your loss yourself, no continuing investigation, no actual change in your insurance, and generally less "hassle" overall. When your losses exceed what you can comfortably handle from your current resources, other sources of compensation must be explored.

• Your Auto Insurance Company - Whether your insurance will compensate you for your loss depends on your contract with your insurance company. In many insurance contracts, there is both first party (you and your auto) and third party (passengers, other motorists and their property) considerations. Some contracts have medical coverage for personal injury of the insured (you) and your passengers in the vehicle. Your insurance contract may provide for collision damage repair and possibly for a car rental while yours is being fixed. Before making a claim (which is different than providing a report) with an insurance company, many people consider whether it will be less expensive for them to pay for the loss "out-of-pocket" before relying on the insurance since the actual loss under the insurance contract could result in an increase in your insurance premium in the future. The potential of an increase in your insurance premium must be balanced against your ability to pay "out-of-pocket", (including any deductible under the insurance contract). The smaller the damages, the more likely you will pay out-of -pocket; the larger the loss, the more likely you are to seek recovery from your insurance company.

• Your Health Insurance Provider or HMO - You may have private health insurance or belong to a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). In the event of a personal injury sustained in an auto accident, you could ask your own health insurer to pay for medical treatment. Sometimes, private health insurance plans or HMOs require you to seek recovery from your auto insurance company (as a primary carrier of the risk) before it will pay/provide for your medical treatment.

• Other People Involved In the Accident - In addition the three sources above, you may be able to seek recovery from the other people who were involved in the accident. Your ability to recover from a third party, such as another driver, may be limited by the laws of the state in which the accident occurred. States can either have a "no-fault" law, which leaves those involved in an accident to provide for their own compensation, or a "fault" law, where the law generally makes the party who is "at fault" or "caused" the accident to occur to pay for all the damages incurred. If you are "at-fault" for an accident that occurred in a "fault" state, contact your insurance company (if you are sued, you will tender the defense and possible settlement of the lawsuit to your insurance company).

WHAT IS NEGLIGENCE?

A person is negligent when he/she fails to act like the standard Ordinary, Reasonable Person. Just how an "ordinary, reasonable person" is expected to act in a particular situation can be a gray area of the law. For example, an ordinary, reasonable person can travel down the highway at 60 miles per hour but if dense fog is present, the same ordinary, reasonable person may be expected to reduce his/her speed of travel to 40 miles per hour. The determination of whether a person has met his/her standard is often resolved by a jury after presentation of evidence and argument at trial.

WHAT ARE "COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE", "PROXIMATE CAUSE", AND "INTERVENING CAUSES"?

Comparative Negligence comes into play when both parties have failed to reach the ordinary reasonable person standard. For example, one person was driving too fast in a patch of dense fog on the highway and the person whom he hit with his car failed to have his vehicle lights on. In a situation where each party has some degree of negligence in causing an accident, the responsibility to the other person is reduced by one's own degree of negligence. In the example provided, the party  traveling too fast for the conditions may be determined to bear 60% of the negligence and the party driving without his vehicle lights on determined to bear 40% of the negligence. If the second person driving without vehicle lights would have recovered $10,000, his recovery is reduced to $6,000 because of his 40% contributory negligence.

Proximate Cause is the initial act which sets off a natural and continuous sequence of events that produces injury. In the absence of the initial act which produces injury, no injury would have resulted. Any time you act, you start a series of natural and continuous events to occur (for example, if you swing your arm with a ball in your hand, then release it, the ball rolls down a hill). Responsibility for injury lies with the last negligent act that produces the injury (after the ball rolls down the hill, a stranger picks it up, throws it through a window, causing the glass to shatter and strike a woman who was sitting next to the window, thus cutting her arm and requiring her to obtain medical treatment). In this example, although you caused the ball's initial movement, your act is not the proximate cause of the injury to the woman sitting next to the window. The stranger's act is the proximate cause of her injury, and he should be held responsible.

Intervening Cause comes between one act (or failure to act) which alters the natural and continuous series of events that follows. When an intervening cause is present, since the natural chain of events have been changed due to the subsequent act of another, and the initial actor may be relieved of the responsibility for an injury that is produced. In the example provided for proximate cause, the act of the stranger picking up the ball and throwing it through the window is an intervening cause which relieves you from the responsibility for injury which may have occurred as a result of your act. The responsibility for the injury to the woman is shifted and the stranger's act becomes the proximate cause for her injury.

To bear responsibility for injury to others, your negligent action (or failure to act in certain situations) must be the proximate cause of the injury without any intervening causes interrupting the natural sequence of events.

WHAT SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT AUTO INSURANCE?

Some people think of it in terms of "us versus them." Some of us have lives and property worth protecting and believe that there are people who have nothing, will never amount to anything and will take advantage of us anytime they can. Those of us who care purchase insurance for what we have to protect and keep it.

In our modern society, the orderly transfer of risk between the members of our society is accomplished through insurance. In exchange for a known loss (payment of an insurance premium), the risk of a large catastrophic loss (payment of thousands of dollars for damage to property) is transferred to the insurance company through the insurance policy.

In auto insurance, there is first party coverage and third party coverage. First party coverage covers you and your property (such as medical expenses, damage to your vehicle and the insurance company's duty to defend you in the event that you are sued as the result of your operation of a vehicle, etc.). Third party coverage is for your responsibility to pay for injury caused to other people, whether in your vehicle, or another vehicle involved in the accident. The coverage (and its exclusions) is set forth in your insurance policy. In exchange for the payment of a premium, the insurance company promises to provide compensation in the event of certain occurrences. You can speak to an insurance representative to find our more about the options available to you, and their costs.. Before purchasing auto insurance, it is a good idea to shop around and buy the coverage that best suits your needs at the most reasonable price. You may wish to consider factors such as customer service, claims paying ability, claims payment record, general reputation and independent rating organization's ranking.

In determining what Liability Limits you should purchase, you need to consider the amount of exposure that you have. As a general rule, the more property and wealth you own, the greater your exposure is, and the greater the need for protection against claims from third parties. Often, liability limits are set as a combination of numbers, such as 15/30, which means coverage of loss of up to $15,000 per person and up to $30,000 for all injuries which occur in a single accident. The State of Georgia requires minimum insurance coverage of 15/30 before a you may drive a vehicle on public roads. This is referred to as the minimum liability limit. Often the minimum liability limit is inadequate to protect all of your property and wealth. Increased limits, such as 100/300 or 300/500 are very common and can be purchased at modest addition cost to you.

Your vehicle itself can be covered in several different ways. Comprehensive coverage provides coverage for loss to your vehicle due to certain proximate causes (such as fire, theft, vandalism, and acts of nature). Collision covers damage to your vehicle in the event that it collides with another vehicle of object, often regardless of who is at fault in the event of an accident. Both comprehensive and collision coverage may be subject to a deductible, that is, damage to the vehicle must exceed the deductible amount before the insurance company will pay you for a covered loss. Deductibles for this coverage are available is various amounts, generally the greater the deductible, the lower the premium for the coverage.

Most insurance policies require Notice of Loss be provided to the insurance company. When you are involved in an accident, the terms of most insurance policies state that you must contact your insurance company and tell them about the accident. Should you fail to tell your insurance company about an accident in a timely manner, the insurance company may try to deny coverage for the occurrence.

After you have notified your insurance company of an accident, the policy may require you to "Tender the Defense" of any claims arising out of the occurrence to the insurance company. This means that you are required to allow the insurance company to hire an attorney or otherwise participate in the settlement and litigation of claims against you by third parties. This also protects you, as the insurance company will provide a defense for you in the event that you are sued as a result of your operation of a vehicle.

Once an insurance company has provided benefits to you, such as the repair of your vehicle under collision damage coverage, you must give the Subrogation Rights arising from the accident to the insurance company. This means that once your insurance company has "made you whole" after a loss, you must give your right to pursue negligent third parties for compensation to the insurance company. This enables the insurance company to be "made whole" for its payment to you by recovering damages from the negligent third party. In other words, if your insurance company pays you for damages incurred in an accident which was not your fault, you give them the right to sue the party at fault, and you give up that right.

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