After you have suffered injuries in a motorcycle accident caused by a negligent driver or some other party’s actions, you may have the right to pursue legal claims to recover compensation. However, the claims process can become complex and time-consuming. Hiring a motorcycle accident lawyer can give you the advice and assistance you need to secure a full financial recovery.
When you have a motorcycle accident attorney in your corner, you can expect your lawyer to handle all the details of your legal case, including investigating the accident, securing and organizing evidence, identifying liable parties and applicable insurance coverage, crafting a case strategy, and negotiating with insurance adjusters on your behalf. Reach out to a Miami motorcycle accident lawyer.
A motorcycle accident lawyer can also provide other support during your recovery. They can help you connect to medical specialists and assist you with issues like getting your damaged motorcycle repaired.
What You Need to Know About Motorcycle Accidents
Essential facts to know about motorcycle accidents include the causes of these accidents and the kinds of injuries that motorcycle riders can suffer.
Common Causes of Motorcycle Accidents
Many motorcycle accidents occur because another driver fails to share the road with motorcycles safely.
Some of the most frequent causes of motorcycle accidents include:
- Speeding
- Tailgating/following too closely
- Passing a motorcycle without moving to an adjacent lane
- Distracted driving
- Drowsy/fatigued driving
- Driving while intoxicated
- Running red lights/stop signs
- Failing to yield the right of way
- Turning or changing lanes without signaling or checking mirrors
- Opening a door on a street-parked vehicle without checking for oncoming traffic
- Reckless driving, including excessive speeding or weaving between lanes
- Driver inexperience
- Inadequate vehicle maintenance
Injuries Suffered by Riders in Motorcycle Accidents
Because riders don’t have the protection of a vehicle body or other safety systems like seat belts or airbags, motorcycle accidents often lead to severe injuries.
Examples of injuries caused by motorcycle accidents include:
- Lacerations
- Abrasions/road rash
- Degloving injuries
- Dislocated joints
- Broken bones
- Whiplash
- Nerve damage
- Burns
- Ligament sprains and tears
- Muscle/tendon strains and tears
- Herniated spinal discs
- Spinal cord injuries and paralysis
- Internal injuries and bleeding
- Head and facial injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Amputation, dismemberment, or limb loss
What Does a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Do?
A motorcycle accident lawyer can help you with every aspect of your recovery process. While it’s true that your attorney will focus on handling the details of preparing and pursuing your legal claims, a lawyer can assist you with other matters, such as finding specialist medical care or dealing with medical debt collectors.
Hiring a motorcycle accident lawyer will provide you with various benefits. You’ll have access to your lawyer’s legal knowledge and experience dealing with insurance companies and defense lawyers. You can best protect your rights and interests after a motorcycle accident by hiring a lawyer as soon as possible after the crash.
Investigate and Collect Evidence
Your motorcycle accident case should start with a thorough investigation of the crash to secure evidence and identify the party or parties responsible for the crash.
A motorcycle accident lawyer has the experience to know what evidence you will need to prove your right to compensation. Your lawyer also knows how to secure and preserve evidence by filing preservation/litigation hold requests or serving subpoenas on third parties with relevant documents or evidence.
Your lawyer can also interview eyewitnesses to the accident to obtain testimony that confirms your allegations against the other driver.
Examples of evidence your motorcycle accident lawyer can collect and use in your case include:
- Accident scene photos and videos
- Surveillance/traffic camera, helmet cam, or dashcam footage
- Eyewitness testimony
- Drivers’ cell phone records
- Logs from vehicles’ event data recorders (black boxes)
- Drivers’ drug/alcohol test results
- Vehicle maintenance records
- Post-accident vehicle inspections
- Medical records from the treatment of your injuries
Your motorcycle accident lawyer can also bring in accident reconstruction and engineering experts. These specialists can review the evidence and provide reports and opinion testimony to explain what happened in the accident and identify who caused the crash.
Document Your Injuries and Losses
A motorcycle accident lawyer can also help you gather the necessary records to support your injury claims. You will need documentation, such as your medical records, bills, invoices, receipts, and pay stubs/income statements, to prove your right to recover compensation. Your lawyer can also retain medical, vocational, and financial experts to provide opinion testimony regarding your injuries, disabilities, and economic losses.
Prepare Your Case
An experienced motorcycle accident lawyer will know how to assemble a persuasive legal claim that can give you the best chance of securing maximum compensation for your injuries. Your attorney can review the evidence and work with accident reconstruction experts to identify the parties who caused the accident or have liability for your injuries.
Your lawyer can draft demand letters to send to the insurance company or at-fault driver, laying out the evidence that demonstrates the other driver’s fault, documenting your injuries and losses, and demanding a certain sum to settle your claim.
Deal With the Insurance Company and Other Parties
Getting phone calls from insurance companies and other parties, such as bill collectors, can cause stress when you already have so much on your plate. But when you have a motorcycle accident lawyer in your corner, you can turn to your attorney to handle communications about your case or other legal matters.
Your lawyer can protect you from insurer tactics, such as asking for a written or recorded statement or requesting access to your medical history.
Your lawyer will negotiate with adjusters to aggressively advocate for maximum compensation. Your attorney can also stop harassing phone calls from medical billing companies or debt collectors, ensuring that your expenses from the motorcycle accident get paid from the financial recovery in your case.
File Your Claims
Your motorcycle accident lawyer can ensure the proper filing of your insurance and legal claims. Errors or missing information in your insurance claim paperwork may delay your compensation.
A lawyer can ensure that your insurance paperwork does not have errors that may lead the insurer to drag out or deny your injury claim. A motorcycle accident attorney can also prepare demand letters to put insurers or liable parties on notice of your legal claims.
If you need to go to court in your motorcycle accident case, your lawyer will draft your complaint and other court documents and make sure that you file suit before the statute of limitations expires on your claim.
Pursue Compensation for You Through a Settlement or Trial Verdict
A motorcycle accident lawyer can help you recover maximum compensation for all your injuries and losses, including for:
- Costs of repairs to your motorcycle or reimbursement of your bike’s value if the insurance company declares it a total loss
- Medical and rehabilitation expenses, including emergency care, hospitalization, surgeries, prescription medications, doctor’s appointments, medical/mobility equipment, and physical/occupational therapy
- Long-term care expenses after you suffer permanent disabilities, including home health services, housekeeping/home maintenance services, or installation of disability accommodations
- Loss of income if you can’t work or need to go on lower-paying part-time or light duty while you recover from your injuries
- Loss of earning potential and job benefits if you become permanently disabled from working
- Physical pain and anguish
- Emotional trauma or distress
- Loss of enjoyment and quality of life caused by permanent disabilities or visible scarring/disfigurement
Insurance companies often fight hard to minimize the compensation they must pay in a motorcycle accident claim. A motorcycle accident lawyer has experience dealing with insurers’ tactics. By documenting your injuries and losses, your attorney can help you pursue fair financial recovery. Experienced attorneys will know what kind of compensation you deserve to recover based on the type and severity of injuries you sustained in a motorcycle accident.
Working with a motorcycle accident lawyer will give you your best chance to receive the total amount of compensation you deserve. That compensation should include money for future expenses or needs you may have after resolving your legal claims.
Once you settle or obtain a judgment in your motorcycle accident claim, you cannot demand more compensation from the insurer or liable parties if additional expenses arise. Your motorcycle accident lawyer will consult with medical, vocational, and financial experts to calculate your future needs and ensure the settlement you pursue includes the resources you need now and in the future.
A motorcycle accident lawyer has the litigation experience necessary to fully pursue your claims at the negotiating table and in court. Your lawyer can pursue a maximum settlement for you in negotiations with the insurance company or at mediation. If your case goes to trial, an attorney can present evidence and arguments supporting your claims to the judge and jury to pursue a verdict that provides you with the compensation you need.
Support You During Your Recovery
In addition to handling your legal case, a motorcycle accident lawyer can offer logistical help and a compassionate ear during your recovery. Recovering from injuries suffered in an accident can often cause feelings of isolation, anxiety, or depression.
Because your lawyer has helped others like you who have sustained injuries in motorcycle accidents, they can reassure you about aspects of your case so that you never feel alone during your recovery.
Working with a motorcycle accident lawyer can provide peace of mind knowing that you have someone fighting for your financial recovery. Your attorney can advise you of your legal options in your case and keep you updated on the status of your claims. Some lawyers can help you with non-legal aspects of your recovery, such as helping you get medical care for your injuries or repairs to your motorcycle.
A motorcycle accident lawyer could serve as your most important resource as you recover from an accident. Your attorney can reduce the anxiety and stress you experience as you put your life back together after a devastating motorcycle accident.
How Do Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Fees Work?
You may have concerns about the cost of hiring a motorcycle accident lawyer, especially if you have medical bills piling up or need help to do your job due to your accident injuries. Because motorcycle accident lawyers understand the financial pressures that their clients experience, most personal injury attorneys offer their services on a contingency fee basis.
In a contingency fee arrangement, a client does not pay any money upfront to hire a lawyer. Instead, the lawyer gets paid only if they recover compensation for their client in a settlement or at trial. The lawyer receives a percentage of the total financial recovery as their fee. Some lawyers use a sliding scale where the percentage increases at certain milestones in the case, such as filing a lawsuit or going to trial, reflecting the additional work the lawyer has put into the case.
Motorcycle accident lawyers who use contingency fee arrangements also frequently cover the case’s expenses, such as court filing fees, expert witness fees, or printing and mailing costs. When the lawyer recovers compensation for their client, they may roll these expenses into their fee or receive reimbursement for these costs in addition to their legal fee.
Contingency fees make hiring a motorcycle accident lawyer affordable and align the attorney’s and client’s interests. Because their legal fee scales in proportion to the client’s financial recovery, a motorcycle accident lawyer will want to recover as much money as possible.
A Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Can Pursue Compensation and Justice for Your Injuries
A motorcycle accident lawyer can help you after a crash by handling every aspect of preparing and pursuing your legal claims, freeing you to focus your time and energy on your medical treatment and rehabilitation. Reach out to a Miami personal injury lawyer.
Your lawyer can investigate the accident, secure evidence to support your claims, develop a compelling case strategy, communicate with insurers and other parties on your behalf, and advocate for you at the negotiating table or in court.
After you’ve suffered injuries in a motorcycle accident, don’t wait to consult with a lawyer about your legal options.