Brockton Car Accident Lawyer
Many car accidents occur as the result of drivers’ negligence. Fortunately, after collisions that cause serious injuries, victims can hold at-fault motorists responsible for damages they caused.
Negligent drivers might cause crashes when speeding, driving under the influence, making improper turns, or being generally reckless. Any car accident could cause severe injuries, such as brain damage, nerve damage, and complete fractures, all of which require medical attention. Victims can typically file lawsuits against negligent drivers to get compensation for their hospital expenses and other damages, and our lawyers can prepare and file complaints before the three-year window of opportunity runs out.
For help with your case from the Law Office of John J. Sheehan’s car accident lawyers, call (617) 925-6407.
Common Causes of Car Accidents in Brockton, MA
Generally speaking, seriously injured victims may sue negligent drivers for the injuries they cause in car accidents. Many forms of careless conduct could lead to harmful accidents, such as drunk driving, speeding, distracted driving, and general recklessness. Confirming how the at-fault party breached their duty of care and caused the accident will be necessary for your case so our lawyers may focus on that in the initial stages.
Driving Drunk
Driving drunk is an extremely dangerous activity. Intoxicated drivers typically experience blurry vision and poor reaction times when behind the wheel, making it harder to slow down and avoid rear-ending other drivers when following vehicles too closely. Furthermore, drunk drivers often exhibit reckless decision-making abilities, making them prone to committing careless maneuvers that lead to accidents. For example, a drunk driver may cause a crash by running a stoplight or swerving out of their lane and into oncoming traffic. Thankfully, these drivers may be held accountable for the damages they cause after recklessly getting behind the wheel intoxicated.
Speeding
Driving at illegal speeds is also a common cause of car crashes. Speeding drivers will experience difficulty reacting to traffic signals and hazards in the roadway. Furthermore, drivers who travel at excessive speeds will have trouble stopping in time to avoid collisions when vehicles in front of them have to brake, particularly if they are tailgating.
Accidents that occur at high speeds are especially likely to cause serious harm. Victims of such accidents can consult with our car accident lawyers to determine the strength of their claims against other motorists. Eyewitness testimony confirming a negligent driver was speeding can greatly benefit these types of claims, so our lawyers will prioritize interviewing anyone present at the crash site as soon as possible.
Driving Distracted
Driving distracted is also one of the most common causes of car accidents in Brockton. Drivers become distracted when they take their eyes off the road, their hands off the wheel, and their attention off the task of driving. Examples of activities that often distract drivers are picking music for their radios, texting, talking with passengers, and interacting with GPS systems. Distracted driving is a top cause of rear-end accidents, which typically result in less serious injuries like whiplash. However, drivers who take their eyes off the road momentarily might lose control of their cars, causing serious multi-vehicle accidents.
Making Improper Left Turns
Additionally, many collisions occur because careless drivers fail to yield the right-of-way. When motorists attempt improper left turns, they can collide with vehicles in the opposite lane of travel. These collisions often cause significant harm. Fortunately, several types of evidence can be used to show that another driver failed to yield the right-of-way, like eyewitness statements, security camera footage, and even accident reconstruction experts’ assessments after reviewing photos and other information from the site.
Common Types of Injuries Caused by Car Crashes in Brockton, MA
Victims could suffer many different types of injuries during car accidents. Since Massachusetts is a no-fault state for auto accidents, we must use your medical records to show you pass the serious injury threshold or have incurred more than $2,000 in hospital expenses to file a lawsuit for all compensable damages. Fortunately for victims, many of the common injuries sustained in crashes meet this threshold based on the cost of treatment alone.
Back, Neck, and Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord damage is a particularly serious type of injury caused by car accidents. These injuries can come in several forms. For example, crash victims may suffer fractured vertebrae, herniated discs, or spinal stenosis. Such injuries can cause high amounts of pain. In severe cases, those with spinal cord injuries may even experience varying degrees of paralysis. In addition to long-term physical therapy and other rehabilitative care, victims may undergo several surgeries, have to take pain management medication, and experience severe emotional distress, all of which is compensable in a lawsuit.
Head Injuries
Head injuries are also a common type of harm suffered by car accident victims. Like spinal cord injuries, there are many different types of head injuries that can occur. Plaintiffs may sustain severe facial damage that requires cosmetic surgery or dental work to repair. Furthermore, some crashes lead to traumatic brain injuries like concussions, skull fractures, and intracranial hematomas. These injuries can lead to a wide range of harmful symptoms that permanently restrict victims’ abilities to continue their lives as they once did, entitling them to compensation for their reduced earning capacity and mental anguish.
Soft Tissue Injuries
Car crashes also regularly lead to soft tissue injuries, like whiplash. These injuries occur in the form of damage to tendons, muscles, and ligaments. They can affect nearly any part of the body and are often highly painful and immobilizing, even if only temporarily. If you sustained soft tissue damage because of your car accident, you may be entitled to compensation for the economic and non-economic losses you endured, and we can help quantify those damages before filing your case in court.
Fractures
Many victims could also suffer broken ribs, collarbones, noses, brow bones, shoulders, jawbones, arms, legs, and other fractures during motor vehicle collisions. These injuries are often highly painful and debilitating. Also, in severe cases, those who sustain broken bones may need surgical treatment to heal properly. Some complete bone breaks require victims to get pins or plates inserted to facilitate realignment, which can be physically painful and difficult to deal with in and of itself.
What to Do Immediately After a Car Crash in Brockton
Taking certain actions immediately after your accident will help your ability to obtain monetary damages for the harm you experienced, so prioritize getting medical care, exchanging information with the at-fault driver, photographing the scene, and initiating your case.
Get Medical Care
First, you should seek medical treatment as soon as you can. If you require emergency medical attention, call 911 and have the dispatcher send an ambulance to the scene. If you do not require immediate attention, you should still visit a doctor, as you might have underlying injuries. You will need to obtain medical documentation of your injuries to recover monetary damages from another driver, which our lawyers can handle while preparing your case.
Exchange Information
You should also exchange contact and insurance information with the other driver involved in your accident. This information can be highly valuable when filing your potential lawsuit. Furthermore, you should retrieve contact information from eyewitnesses if you can. Witnesses can offer oral and written statements that help establish fault for your accident, and we will aim to interview them immediately following the crash.
Photograph the Scene
Next, you should take photos of the scene. Photos from the accident’s scene may be used to identify contributing factors or disprove the defendant’s alternative theories of fault. Additionally, photos of your damaged vehicle may be used to establish the full extent of property damage from the collision, which we must know in order to calculate your total losses and get compensation for them.
Contact Our Lawyers
Finally, you should consult with our legal team as soon as possible. The sooner you contact our attorneys, the more easily we can gather the evidence required to win your case. Evidence not immediately preserved could be lost, witnesses’ memories might fade, and security camera footage could get deleted. We can best help victims overcome roadblocks to recovering compensation, file their claims on time, prove liability in court, or negotiate fair settlements when they also prioritize their recoveries by contacting us immediately after collisions.
Writing Car Accident Complaints in Brockton
Lawsuits for car accidents begin when plaintiffs file complaints in court. Judges might dismiss complaints that do not contain the necessary information, forcing plaintiffs to refile, which could further delay their access to compensation. We can ensure the complaint filed in court is complete and will properly initiate your case.
Summarizing the Accident
In injury complaints, our car accident lawyers must start by naming the defendant and explaining why they are liable. To do this, we can explain the accident’s sequence of events, which we can fully ascertain after speaking to eyewitnesses, reviewing crashes with victims, reading police reports, analyzing photos, and conferring with experts. We must summarize the accident so the judge appreciates the victim’s claim and lets it continue. We must also identify how the driver was negligent and breached their duty of care, such as speeding, tailgating, or making an improper turn.
Asserting Your Damages
Injury complaints for motor vehicle accidents must also contain compensation requests. Before filing the case, we will assess your losses. Failure to monitor damages as they accrue could lead to incorrect calculations and requests. We will seek compensation for all necessary hospital and medical expenses, including transportation accommodations, mobility assistance devices, and other costs. Victims have the right to seek compensation for wages they have missed while recovering from car accident injuries, and we can calculate these damages as well.
We will not leave out requests for non-economic damages either, as victims’ intangible losses after suffering devastating physical injuries may be great. To support these requests, we may introduce expert witness testimony from therapists who have treated and potentially diagnosed you with anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder and have qualified opinions about your emotional well-being.
Filing on Time
While the complaint must contain certain information lest it be thrown out, it must also be filed on time or risk being dismissed. Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 260, § 2A gives drivers injured in car accidents three years to file lawsuits. While you may have the full time provided under the law to sue, waiting years to do so could unnecessarily delay your financial recovery, making it harder for you to juggle hospital expenses and other costs associated with your injuries. Contacting our attorneys immediately after your accident will give us the most time to prepare a strong case without risking missing the statute of limitations, which is paramount to your financial recovery.
Victims of Car Accidents in Brockton Can Reach Out to Our Lawyers for Help
The Law Office of John J. Sheehan’s car accident lawyers can review your case for free when you call (617) 925-6407.
