Auto Accident Cases: When to File and What to Expect

Tens of thousands of injuries occur each year in auto accidents. In most cases, the insurance companies pay out what they owe and things are settled relatively quickly. Sometimes, however, the insurance companies decide to stall or try to deny payments, particularly in cases where the amounts in question are quite large. It can also turn out that the insurance company has paid out as much as they are legally obligated to and the amount is still not sufficient to pay for all of the damages caused.

When insurance companies won't pay out as much as is necessary, the victim can sue the responsible party for the rest of the money they deserve. Lawsuits attempting to recover damages for an auto accident are personal injury cases, and are handled in the Utah civil courts. Anyone who has been injured in an accident can file one of these cases, including passengers.

A civil case is an entirely separate thing from a criminal case brought by the state. In other words, you can sue the person responsible for your accident in civil court whether or not they are also being charged in a criminal proceeding. Criminal charges might include things like reckless driving, assault with a deadly weapon, or vehicular manslaughter. The state doesn't have to bring criminal charges against the responsible party for you to bring a civil case against them. You can also file a civil case even if the state did bring criminal charges against the responsible party and failed to secure a conviction. Civil courts often find that the person responsible has a financial obligation to the victim even if a criminal court didn't feel that the incident warranted jail time.

Civil cases like these are about damages. Damages are financial compensation for your injuries or the damages to your property. They can include the costs of repairing your vehicle or other property damaged in the accident, any money you lost if you took off of work to deal with the accident, and any money you had to spend on medical treatments if you were injured. In civil cases, there are also non-economic damages, which are given as compensation for things that have no direct monetary value, such as pain.

Whether your accident involved another car, a big rig, or a motorcycle, you should contact an auto accident attorney. Even pedestrians or bicyclists hit by motor vehicles can get help from an auto accident attorney. If you are worried about the cost of hiring an accident attorney salt lake city, you should know that many will work on contingency, which means you will only owe them for their services if you win your case.

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