Menasha Car Accident Lawyer

A car accident can leave you severely injured. In extreme cases, these injuries can leave you permanently disfigured or disabled. In even more extreme cases, they can leave you dead. When you are injured in a car accident because of another party’s negligence, you have the right to pursue monetary compensation for your related damages through a personal injury claim.

The party whose negligence caused the accident is liable for your damages, which means they are responsible for paying for the expenses you incur from the accident. To seek this compensation, you must file a personal injury claim.

What Causes Car Accidents?

As we mentioned above, car accidents are often the result of negligence. A driver can be negligent in many ways, such as:

• Driving drunk or under the influence of drugs;
• Speeding;
• Driving aggressively;
• Disregarding posted traffic rules; and
• Driving distracted.

Not all car accidents result from driver negligence. Sometimes, they occur because of a vehicle malfunction or poor roadway design or maintenance. In certain situations, a vehicle malfunction is the driver’s fault. This can be because the driver failed to properly maintain his or her vehicle or because he or she failed to have a defective part repaired or replaced following a recall. The vehicle’s manufacturer or the mechanic who worked on the car could also be the negligent party in a case like this, depending on whose actions or lack of appropriate action directly made the malfunction possible.

When an accident results from poor roadway design or a poorly maintained roadway, the party responsible for maintaining the area where the accident occurred may be liable for the victim’s damages. This can be a private or government entity. When you file a personal injury claim against a government entity, the rules are a bit different. You must notify the party against whom you plan to file your claim of the accident within 120 days of its occurrence in order to file the claim. Your Menasha personal injury attorney can advise you about the differences between filing a personal injury claim against a government party versus a private party and help you manage your case.

Injuries that Can Result from a Car Accident

There are many different ways you can be injured in a car accident. These injuries include:

• Broken bones;
• Soft tissue injuries;
• Burns;
• Cuts;
• Spinal cord injuries;
• Traumatic brain injury; and
• Organ damage.

Any injury can have complications, like a traumatic brain injury leading to paralysis or permanently impaired cognitive function. When a victim dies from the injuries he or she sustains in a car accident, his or her loved ones can pursue compensation for their damages through a wrongful death claim.

Pursuing Compensation for your Car Accident Damages

In your personal injury claim, you can pursue monetary compensation for the following damages:

• Your medical expenses;
• Your lost wages; and
• Your pain and suffering damages.

You can recover monetary compensation for all the medical expenses you incur because of your injury. These include your hospitalization costs, prescription costs, and the cost of any occupational or physical therapy you need to make a full recovery.

When your injury inhibits your ability to work, you can pursue monetary compensation for all of your career-related damages. These go beyond the daily wages you cannot earn while you are recovering and can include compensation for your reduced work capacity due to permanent disability and the career advancement opportunities you now cannot pursue due to the injury. Additionally, you can pursue monetary compensation for the wages you would have earned if your career had not been cut short by a permanent disability.

Your pain and suffering damages include all other expenses you face because of your injury.

These can include:

• Your transportation costs;
• Your need to hire in-home domestic help while you are recovering from your injury;
• The cost of psychological counseling to work through your emotional trauma after the accident; and
• Your reduced quality of life due to the injury and its complications. Your lawyer can work with you and the insurance provider to quantify these damages and reach an appropriate compensation amount.

In most cases, your lawyer will advise you to file a personal injury claim with the negligent party’s insurance provider to seek compensation for your damages. When you are up against Wisconsin’s three-year statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits, he or she may instead advise you to file a lawsuit. Your lawyer might also advise the lawsuit route if your insurance claim does not appear to be likely to reach an appropriate settlement.

To recover compensation for your damages, your claim must successfully demonstrate that your injury and related financial damages were the direct results of negligence on the negligent party’s part. You can do this with evidence like:

• Photographs of the accident scene;
• A copy of the official police report;
• Testimonies from witnesses to the accident;
• Receipts for your tangible expenses related to the injury, like your pharmacy expenses for bandages and pain medication;
• Commentary from your doctor discussing your injury and treatment needs;
• Documentation showing your current wage, your time out of work, and your projected lost wages; and
• Any other documentation that attests to your reduced quality of life, such as testimonies from your loved ones and commentary from your mental healthcare provider.

Work with an Experienced Menasha Car Accident Attorney

If you were injured in a car accident that could have been prevented if another party had taken greater care, you could be entitled to recover monetary compensation for your damages through a personal injury claim. To learn more about pursuing compensation for your damages this way, speak with an experienced car accident lawyer in Menasha. Contact our team at Hammett, Bellin & Oswald, LLC today to set up your initial consultation in our office, during which we can go over your case in detail to determine the most effective way to move forward with your claim.