In the first two weeks of 2021, Erika Floyd (57) died during a head on collision with a commercial truck in Boston, Massachusetts. Francis McGrath (92), while walking across Rutherford Avenue at Chelsea, died as she was struck by a hit and run driver. People were injured in collision with a wrong-way driver on Interstate 91. Proof of liability is necessary in each of these traffic accident cases to win compensation for your injuries or your loved one’s wrongful death.
Immediately After an Accident
Always go to the hospital after a traffic accident for a date and time-stamped treatment record with diagnostic codes for your injuries. Notify the police, your insurance company, and your employer. If your injury occurred while you were working, on a jobsite, or on your way to or from the office, you may be eligible for workers’ compensation. Workers’ compensation claims must be timely filed without any errors typically within four weeks. Choose an experienced personal injury attorney to represent you in negotiations with the adverse party, your insurance company, and in agency hearings, workers’ compensation and social security. Social security can deny your claim based on your initial answers to questions, such as, have you ever smoked cigarettes?
Head on Collisions
Head-on collisions are rare, but they account for 10 percent of all the fatal accidents in the United States every year. A commercial truck can weigh 16 times more than a passenger car, and the large trucks need 40 percent more space to stop. You need a personal injury attorney with experience solving commercial truck accidents to prevail against a trucking company in a horrific accident.
Boston Accident Lawyer
You need our staunch accident lawyer to fight for your rights. The truck driver will fight to stay employed, and his employer will want to minimize your settlement. The determination of who is at-fault for the traffic accident is based on motor vehicle law, insurance law, and who was negligent, or caused the accident. The law of negligent entrustment holds the trucking company responsible for the acts of their driver if the driver is directly employed by them.
Wrongful Death
While you’re in the throes of grief, you may need to make life and death decisions for your loved one. You may have dependent children who are suddenly without a parent or a spouse without a wage earner. You have the responsibility for your loved one’s care and medical expenses. A third-party wrongful death lawsuit recovers compensation for your loved ones medical bills, property damage, and burial expenses. The wrongful death lawsuit also forces the at-fault party to pay the deceased’s spouse for the loss of companionship and his or her children for their loss of guidance from the parent. Wrongful death compensation for financial loss includes the amount of money the deceased would’ve earned if he or she lived until retirement.
Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accidents represent 17% of all fatal accidents in Massachusetts, and the category includes those in motorized wheelchairs. Motorists are required to yield to pedestrians in cross walks or at traffic signals in intersections, but a pedestrian in an unmarked intersection crossing at an inappropriate time contributes to the accident. Liability for pedestrian accidents is not always clear.
Hit and Run Accident
Even if your police report says the hit and run driver who ended your loved one’s life is unknown, our attorney can use onboard OnStar data from the cars in the area at the time of the pedestrian accident and from surveillance cameras in the area to find the absent driver. Drivers’ statements including exclamations at the time of the accident are admissible in court. The accident report contains witness names, addresses, and additional facts about the accident. The criminal hit and run conviction means the defendant owes considerably more money than a responsible driver would for the same accident.
Settlement Negotiations
Even the most hospitable adversarial insurance company who accepts liability for a traffic accident requires our Boston accident lawyer with 60 years of combined experience. Workers’ compensation can pay all of your medical bills and a percentage of your lost wages while you’re in treatment, but workers’ compensation also holds your employer harmless if you were injured on a job-site.
Accepting liability for an accident means that the adverse party agrees to pay for your emergency medical care and the ambulance that took you to the hospital. Whether your remaining medical expenses are directly necessary as a result of the accident maybe left for a judge to decide. Preparing a case for trial is time consuming and costly, and an unknown jury will decide your compensation.
If you had a heart attack at the time of the accident or you required a knee replacement as a direct result of the accident, but you were on blood pressure drugs and grossly overweight before the accident or your knee was x-rayed due to arthritic changes before the accident it’s possible that the accident is not why you had the heart attack or why you suddenly needed knee surgery. Your legal advocate can negotiate a generous settlement offer for your medical care, lost wages, and pain and suffering or for your loved one’s wrongful death.
Call our personal injury law office immediately after the accident for peace of mind, prompt courteous service, and an evaluation of your accident claim. No fees will be due until your case is settled leaving you and your family free to recover from the accident.