Rear-end collisions are motor vehicle accidents frequently resulting in injuries and actual damages. Actual or compensatory damages are the financial and intangible losses you sustain from injuries after an accident. Though fatalities are less common with rear-end collisions, they can occur.
If you sustained injuries or if your family is suffering the loss of a loved one due to a rear-end collision, contact a rear-end collision lawyer right away. You’ll want an experienced legal professional to assess your case and compensatory damages before unearthing a plan to secure a substantial settlement. Schedule your free case evaluation now.
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Speeding is a significant factor in motor vehicle accidents, especially rear-end collisions. Driving at high speeds creates dangerous situations for motorists, such as delayed response time and the inability to stop before hitting the vehicle, motorcyclist, or cyclist in front of them.
Other contributing factors to rear-end collisions include:
Inexperienced drivers unfamiliar with judging distances or exercising appropriate response times also contribute to rear-end collisions.
Regardless of the cause, speak to an experienced car accident lawyer about your rear-end collision before filing an insurance claim. They can build a strong case around the evidence supporting your case for the at-fault driver’s negligence.
Neck strain or whiplash is a common and potentially serious injury resulting from rear-end collisions. It can cause excruciating pain and stiffness in the neck and shoulders. Some injured parties may experience pain or numbness in their arms and hands.
Whiplash can take several days to weeks to fully affect a car accident victim. It’s also a common injury that insurance companies try to downplay. Your lawyer will ensure proper medical documentation and consultation with experts to maximize injury claims.
Other common rear-end accident injuries include:
Mental or psychological injuries may also occur after a rear-end accident. Examples of psychological trauma include a fear of or anxiety surrounding driving, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These injuries often develop over time.
For example, people living with PTSD must experience over a month of symptoms before receiving an official mental health diagnosis. Symptoms of PTSD usually begin within three months of a car accident.
Never rush to settle a car accident claim. Psychological injuries can result in compensation when accompanying physical injuries after rear-end collisions.
When involved in a rear-end collision, you must take precautionary steps for medical and legal purposes. Otherwise, you risk insurance companies or other liable parties undervaluing or denying claims.
These steps include undergoing medical evaluations and treatments, documenting your rear-end collision, not posting to social media, avoiding insurance companies, and consulting an experienced car accident lawyer.
Regardless of how you may feel following a rear-end accident, you must undergo a medical evaluation to assess and document the accident and injuries for your medical records and car accident insurance claim.
Claims adjusters insist on precise medical documentation before paying claims. When you delay seeking medical attention, they may downplay your injuries or accuse you of filing a fraudulent claim.
Furthermore, it’s important that you follow prescribed medical treatments and rehabilitation so that you make a full recovery or achieve your maximum medical improvement (MMI) before settling your case.
Your treating physicians will determine when you reach your MMI—when you are healed or there are no further viable treatments for your injuries.
Write down an account of your rear-end accident while the details are fresh in your mind. Critical facts can quickly fade from memory. Keep copies of all monetary losses incurred due to your accident, such as medical bills, vehicle repair invoices, and receipts for out-of-pocket costs.
Injured parties must keep a detailed journal documenting non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering. Your journal should include consistently dated entries discussing your physical pain, mental anguish, sleep issues and discomfort, psychological trauma, and other symptoms of injury.
Your attorney will use your detailed documentation to help make a solid case for compensation.
Avoid posting to social media following a rear-end collision, especially about your accident. Insurance companies may watch for social media posts they can use to discredit your claim of injuries or their severity. Injured parties should set their social media accounts to private and refuse or hold off on accepting new friend requests.
Examples of posts that may result in significantly undervalued or denied car accident claims are:
Don’t post about the specifics of your rear-end collision or injuries online. Social media posts can be taken out of context and used to downplay injuries to minimize insurance company losses.
Liable insurance companies can interpret even seemingly harmless posts as evidence of minor injuries or fraudulent claims. If you already made posts to your social media account about your accident, you’ll want to speak to a car accident lawyer about how to proceed.
Say very little to the at-fault driver’s insurance company, if anything at all. You do not have to answer their questions or provide recorded statements. They usually call almost immediately following rear-end collisions, hoping to get you to admit liability or accept a quick lowball settlement before the full impact of your collision hits you.
Other tactics insurers may use to deny or undervalue claims include:
Insurance companies also commonly press claimants to settle too quickly and for too little money, and they may resort to making threatening statements about legal action if you don’t accept their lowball offer.
An attorney will prevent insurers from contacting you once you retain their services. Never admit fault or say you are uninjured after a rear-end accident.
The driver responsible for rear-ending a car is usually at fault for the collision. The rear driver should be able to see and respond to the vehicle in front of them, including applying the brakes in time to prevent an accident.
The rear driver is always liable in rear-end collisions without evidence contradicting this scenario. However, other possible parties of liability can involve a pedestrian or cyclist who darts out quickly, causing the front driver to brake suddenly and without ample warning for the rear driver.
Vehicle or parts manufacturers for malfunctioning parts and mechanics and auto shops for faulty repairs are other viable possibilities.
You’ll want to consult an experienced car accident attorney following a rear-end collision. Proving negligence can require a lawyer, especially when multiple liable parties exist.
You must demonstrate the four elements of negligence associated with tort law when filing a car accident claim or lawsuit:
Your lawyer will use the evidence in your case and expert witness testimony to prove negligence and liability in your rear-end collision. Evidence can include police or accident reports, photos of the collision scene, video surveillance of the crash, debris from the scene, medical records, and documentation of monetary losses.
Depending on the nature of your rear-end collision, your attorney may work with accident reconstruction specialists to recreate the circumstances of your crash. However, lawyers generally reserve accident reconstruction for complex cases with multiple liable parties.
Injured parties may seek compensation for their compensatory damages following rear-end collisions. Compensatory damages comprise your economic and non-economic losses due to the accident.
Sometimes, a car accident case may require litigation to pursue punitive damages in court. Courts may only award them when particularly heinous acts warrant the defendant’s punishment.
The economic damages in your rear-end collision are the losses that cost you money due to injuries sustained in the accident.
Economic damages often include:
Depending on the severity of injuries, economic damages may include future medical care and future lost earnings. You can prove these losses with receipts, billing statements, pay stubs, and an employer-lost income statement verifying income loss.
Your non-economic damages are the intangible losses you experience following a rear-end collision. These are often called pain and suffering and can entail physical pain, emotional distress, and mental anguish.
Other non-economic damages include a loss of enjoyment of life, decreased quality of life, and a loss of consortium or companionship, including physical affection and intimacy.
Attorneys may also recover compensation for permanent impairment, disability, and disfigurement.
Contact an experienced car accident lawyer to review your rear-end collision case. After learning the specifics of your accident, they can advise you on the legitimacy of your claim and how to proceed. Schedule a free case evaluation with Pennsylvania personal injury attorney to review the details and evidence of your rear-end collision claim.
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