Victims of motorcycle accidents can face far more severe injuries than many other auto accident victims. Your body can be hit directly, leading to broken bones, amputations, abrasions, and other serious injuries.
If you were hurt in a crash, get help from a lawyer. Our attorneys can bring your case, fight against insurance companies that would undercut your claim, and seek out full compensation for your injuries.
Call The Queenan Law Firm’s motorcycle accident lawyers today for a free evaluation of your potential case: (817) 476-1797.
What Injuries Can I Sue for in a Motorcycle Accident?
Victims of motorcycle accidents can sue for any harms that result from the accident. The overall damages you claim can cover not only your injuries themselves – through pain and suffering damages – but also the medical bills, lost wages, and other economic effects of the accident.
Injuries from motorcycle accidents can track with common injuries from other auto accidents:
- Broken bones
- Concussions and traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal injuries and back injuries
- Neck injuries like whiplash
- Crush injuries
- Cuts, scrapes, and lacerations.
In addition, motorcycle riders face a higher risk of amputations, broken bones, and crush injuries because they can be hit directly. Being struck on the side, with your leg pinned between the other car and your bike, can be incredibly dangerous.
You also face a risk of serious abrasions and road rash injury, potentially taking off multiple centimeters of skin.
When to Call a Lawyer After a Motorcycle Accident
You should call our attorneys as soon as you can after a crash. You must file your case within 2 years of the accident in most cases, but you should not wait the full 2 years.
If you call us sooner, we can help sooner by taking care of the following issues:
- Helping you organize and collect evidence
- Looking for additional evidence, such as security or dashcam video
- Negotiating with insurance companies for a quicker settlement
- Collecting witness statements and depositions while memories are fresh.
What Can a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Do for Me?
On top of the things discussed above, we can also help you understand the value of your case. Insurance companies often undercut damages and offer to pay far less than the case is worth. They may not even take your damages into account.
We can total all economic damages, account for future care needs, calculate lost wages, and again account for how your work abilities will be impacted in the future. When we arrive at a total, it will also include pain and suffering, emotional distress, etc.
Having a lawyer is also important, given the fact that you likely are not a lawyer. You might be unfamiliar with the basics of filing a court case, responding to briefs, attending hearings, etc. If you were to handle your case yourself, you would be responsible for all of this.
Our motorcycle accident lawyers can take care of your case for you so you can focus on getting better.
How Do Courts Determine Fault in Motorcycle Accident Cases?
The motorcycle rider can be held liable in some cases, but they often will not have done anything wrong to blame them. Instead, we can focus the blame on the defendant.
Motorcycle Rider’s Fault
Defendants will often want the motorcycle rider blamed for their own accident. They will often point to irrelevant facts, like the fact that you were on a motorcycle and not in a car. In any case, riding a motorcycle is legal with a proper license, so this is a useless accusation.
If you were speeding, following too closely, or otherwise doing something dangerous, then certainly you can be held responsible for your share of the damages. But this only applies if the defendant did not cut off your fault or do something serious enough to trump your degree of blame.
Defendant’s Fault
The defendant can be blamed if their bad actions caused the crash. This usually means a traffic violation – speeding, drunk driving, distracted driving, etc. It can also involve everyday unsafe actions, such as failing to look out for smaller vehicles on the street.
Many times, the driver will be the one making mistakes, given the fact that your safety is on the line. This puts motorcycle riders on high alert to dangers so they can avoid them, leaving the other driver to be the one to make mistakes.
Do I Have to Sue for a Motorcycle Accident?
Not every injury case needs to go to a lawsuit. Insurance claims can sometimes pay enough for your case, but only if the damages have been properly negotiated with help from an experienced attorney. Never accept money from insurance without having us review it first, as anything you sign or any money you accept can end your case.
Do I Have a Case?
You only have a motorcycle accident case if someone else was responsible and if you can point to some kind of traffic violation or mistake that they made to cause the crash. Our lawyers can help examine the facts, find the right grounds for your lawsuit, and advise you about next steps in a free case analysis. There is no need to guess or hope you have a case; we can figure it out for you.
How Much is My Case Worth?
Our lawyers cannot help you estimate the value of your case without examining the facts, the damages, and the effects on your life. Keep in mind that all economic harms can be claimed, meaning lost wages, vehicle repair costs, medical bills, therapy bills, and more. We can also claim pain and suffering damages on top of this, meaning your case value might be much higher than you expected when we add those costs in.
Call Our Motorcycle Accident Lawyers in Keller Today
If you were hit by another car while riding your motorcycle in or around Keller, call our motorcycle accident lawyers at The Queenan Law Firm today at (817) 476-1797.