So you’ve been in a car wreck, and you know the other side has insurance. Maybe it is State Farm, Allstate, Geico, etc.
A common question that comes to mind when we’ve been in a car wreck is, “Should I take pictures of my vehicle?”
The simple answer is yes.
A picture is worth a 1000 words
A common question that comes to mind when we’ve been in a car wreck is, “Should I take pictures of my vehicle?”
If we’ve been in a car wreck, and we’re suing the person who ran into us, we may wonder, “Why does the defendant get to see my medical records?”
This is a reasonable question because we know about HIPAA, which protects our medical privacy.
If you’ve the unfortunate experience of being in a car wreck, you may wonder, “How do I figure out how much insurance the other person has?”
Pretty important question if you need money from the other side to compensate you for lost wages, pain and suffering, medical expenses, permanent injury, etc.
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When you’re dealing with a company that has wronged you, you may wonder, “Why are punitive damages so important?”
Punitive damages are an important part of the law but the business community has done a great job of “demonizing” punitive damages (except when a business has been harmed then it is “ok” to get punitive damages).
So what are punitive damages?
Punitive damages are awarded in rare circumstances where the defendant (the one sued) has caused injury intentionally or recklessly.
Ultimately you show the jury enough evidence to convince them the other driver was at fault. So how do you do this?
Right After The Wreck
Take pictures of your car, the other car, the scene, and any injuries you have. Make sure to save those pictures on your computer and a back up — dropbox, google drive, etc.
This is known as a “pre-existing” injury and you can still be compensated for a negligent person making your pre-existing injury worse.
Practical Reality
If you are over the age of 20, you likely will have some pre-existing injuries. Maybe in high school you hurt your knee. Or you hurt your back on your job.
Alabama is one of only a few states in the nation that has what is called contributory negligence. This means if you, the injured victim, were at fault in any way for the car wreck, slip and fall, etc. then normally you cannot recover any damages against the party that was primarily at fault.
Most states have something called comparative negligence which means that the court “compares” your degree of negligence with the degree of negligence of person or company that you sue. Normally your damages will be reduced by whatever percentage you are at fault.
But in Alabama if you are even 1% at fault, the normally the defendant will win the case based upon contributory negligence.
Alabama Consumer Law Blog