Car Accident Lawyer in Dunwoody

Any car accident can cause painful, long-term conditions requiring hospitalization, surgery and months or years of physical therapy. Care is expensive, even for injuries that seemed minor at first. If you or a loved one was hurt in a car accident in Dunwoody, you do not have to pay your medical costs or bear the burden of lost time from work. A Dunwoody car accident lawyer can help you get the money you need.

At John Foy & Associates, we have built our reputation on helping accident victims recover money to pay for medical bills and other costs. We started as a small local law office, but over the past 20 years we have become one of the most widely respected law firms in Georgia.

Our mission is to help you get the money you need to pay for your treatment and rebuild your life after an accident. We’ll give you a free consultation to talk about your accident and explain how to get started with your claim.

What Can I do to Protect My Rights After a Car Accident?

To legally protect yourself after a car accident, you will need to document the accident, gather evidence, get your injuries treated as soon as possible, and seek legal help.

Documenting the Scene

After the accident happens, you will need to:

• Call the police to report the accident and tell responding officers what happened
• Take pictures of the accident scene, your injuries, and vehicle damage to your car
• Avoid admitting any blame or apologizing to the other driver until you have all the facts
• Talk to witnesses and get their names and contact information

Each of these steps can help create a record of the car accident, which is crucial for your insurance claim.

Getting Your Injuries Checked Out

After you’ve left the scene, see a doctor as soon as you can to have your injuries checked out. Some car accident injuries take time to fully show up, so you should see a doctor even if your pain is minor. The sooner you can get treatment and create a record that you saw someone for your injuries, the better it is for your case.

Also, keep track of all medical bills, doctor notes, and other records of your injuries and medical expenses.

Taking Notes on the Accident

Keep a record of what happened before, during, and after the car accident. Write down how the accident made you feel and how your injuries have impacted your day-to-day life. Also, record any names and contact information of people you’ve communicated with about your accident.

Getting a Car Inspection

Assess how much your vehicle damage will cost to repair (or replace, if your car was totaled). You might see a few different inspectors for an average estimate of how much your vehicle damage is worth before the other driver’s insurance company steps in.

Documenting Your Damages

Keep track of all costs associated with your car accident. Use a file or folder to save documents and notes in one place. This should include:

• Your claim number
• The insurance adjuster’s name
• All medical bills and records
• Quotes for vehicle damage repairs
• Full names, phone numbers, and addresses for all relevant contacts

Calling a Car Accident Lawyer

Schedule a consultation with an experienced car accident lawyer who can make sure you are doing everything to protect your rights after the accident. It’s easy to get taken advantage of if you don’t know how to handle the insurance company, so a lawyer can make sure that doesn’t happen. They can also help fight for the fair settlement you deserve.

If the insurance company or other driver fights against your claim, your lawyer will be there every step of the way—even if you need to take the driver to trial.

Basically, be cautious in everything you do or say after a car accident. Avoid admitting blame, apologizing, or downplaying your damages—and get a trusted lawyer on your side who can help you take the right actions for your case. The goal is to protect your legal rights to full compensation for all the damages you face because of the other driver’s negligence that led to your accident.

Getting Your Injuries Checked Out

After you’ve left the scene, see a doctor as soon as you can to have your injuries checked out. Some car accident injuries take time to fully show up, so you should see a doctor even if your pain is minor. The sooner you can get treatment and create a record that you saw someone for your injuries, the better it is for your case.

Also, keep track of all medical bills, doctor notes, and other records of your injuries and medical expenses.

Why do I Need a Dunwoody Car Accident Lawyer?

In the days after an accident, it may seem like the insurance company is taking good care of you. But beware—insurance companies can have an ulterior motive. Their job is to make a profit, and the only way to do that is to settle claims for the smallest amount possible.  They may do any or all of these things:

• Act friendly and caring. For example, they may ask you how you are feeling. Remember that the friendly insurance company representative works for a company that wants to deny your claim or pay you less than you deserve. Anything you say can be used against you.
• Offer you “quick money.” This can be tempting, but we have found that these quick offers are almost never enough to pay the true cost of an injury. And if you accept the money, you will give up your right to get anything else later.
• Delay. Sometimes the insurance company does nothing at all for months. It hopes that when it finally does process your claim and offer you money, you’ll be desperate enough to take anything you can get.
• Blame you.  Under Georgia law, the party who is at fault must pay the cost of the accident, and even if you are only partly to blame you may recover less money. By blaming you, the insurance company hopes to get away with paying you less than you deserve.

Without a lawyer, it’s hard to battle these tactics. Few accident victims have the legal knowledge and experience to go up against insurance company lawyers who handle accident claims every day.

When you hire a lawyer, you take away the insurance company’s advantage, putting you on an equal par with the people who are out to deny your claim. Often, just having a lawyer on your team is enough to get a substantially better offer.

What Kinds of Costs Can I Recover for a Car Accident?

If a cost or expense is a result of the car accident, then you can probably recover money for it. This means that many accident victims can recover these costs and damages:

• Medical bills, including doctors, hospitals, surgeries, physical therapy and tests
• The cost of prescription drugs
• The cost of repairing a car or replacing a totaled one
• Lost wages if you missed time from work because of your accident

When accidents cause serious, long-term losses, victims are often eligible to recover much more. This might happen if you suffer a long-term disability, severe pain, or even the loss of a loved one’s life. Money cannot begin to compensate you for a loss this serious, but the money you receive from the insurance company can allow you to keep getting medical care, pay your bills and take care of your family as you work toward recovery.

How do I Know If I Have a Valid Car Accident Claim?

It’s hard to evaluate your own car accident claim. Most people don’t have experience with the way the law works after an accident, and we have seen many people blame themselves for accidents they didn’t cause. Under Georgia law, most car accidents lead to valid claims—the question is who is at fault.

Legally, the person at fault is the one who could have prevented the accident by being more careful, paying better attention, or following the law. This person was “negligent” and must pay for all the injuries and damage.

We have successfully brought personal injury claims for many types of car accidents:

• Head on collisions
• Rear end accidents
• “T-Bone” collisions
• Accidents caused by rain, fog and other dangerous driving conditions
• Distracted driving accidents
• Accidents involving DUI
• Defective tire accidents
• Accidents that cause whiplash injuries

In many cases we can help victims recover even if they were involved in a hit and run accident. We have also recovered money from uninsured drivers.

Will I Have to File a Lawsuit and Go to Court?

No, not most of the time.  In a small percentage of claims, the insurance company flatly refuses to bargain. If this happens to you, we will explain the situation and go over the risks and potential benefits of taking your case to the local courts. The decision is yours, but if you do decide to go to court, our experienced litigation team can handle your case every step of the way.

Most of our cases never get that far. At John Foy & Associates, we know how to make a strong case that will force the insurance company to pay you a fair amount. The first thing we do in any case is to start an investigation. We will review police reports and witness statements.

We will refer you to doctors who can perform a full evaluation and estimate what your injuries will really cost over the long haul. Once they see our evidence, insurance companies will usually make a substantial offer. This usually puts money in your bank account much more quickly and with less stress than going to court.

Is There a Time Limit for Filing a Car Accident Claim in Dunwoody?

Yes.  The City of Dunwoody must follow deadlines established by state and federal law. The deadline that applies to your case will depend on your unique situation, but there are two general rules:

• Many car accident victims have up to two years from the date of the accident to make a claim.
• Some accident victims, however, must get their claims filed within a matter of weeks.

Missing a deadline is serious—it means you won’t be able to recover any money for your accident. This is why it is critical to talk to a car accident lawyer as soon as possible after your accident.

Talk to a Dunwoody Car Accident Lawyer for Free

At John Foy & Associates, our lawyers have been getting money for car accident victims for more than 20 years. Let us meet with you for a free, no-obligation consultation and show you how we can help you too.