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We Have Over Three Decades Of Collective Legal Experience In Auto Accidents
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Car accidents happen every day in Atlanta, Georgia. Any accident – whether its a relatively minor fender bender or a serious auto collision – can turn your life upside down - mentally and physically. When someone else is to blame, you might be entitled to compensation for the harm they've caused. An experienced Atlanta auto accident lawyer at Paisley Law will help you fight to get the money you need and deserve from auto insurance companies.
If you or someone you love were injured in an auto accident caused by someone else's negligence, you may have the right to pursue monetary compensation. At Paisley Law LLC in Atlanta, our auto injury attorneys have years of experience and have helped hundreds of individuals successfully resolve their personal injury cases throughout Georgia.
Our personal injury law team understands how important money can be after a devastating crash. That's why we'll go above and beyond to obtain a settlement or award on your behalf. Paisley Law fights to obtain the maximum compensation you deserve.
Our auto accident attorneys understand how difficult it can be to recover after being involved in a car accident, especially if you have been the victim of a drunk driving accident or any other auto related accident caused by the negligence of another. It is our goal to ensure you obtain a fair amount of compensation, and if the negligent party's insurance company does not offer reasonable compensation, we will take your case to a Georgia court system.
Paisley Law LLC Knows How To Maximize Your Compensation
When you are involved in an auto accident, you will have to deal with the negligent party's insurance provider. Unfortunately, insurance companies rarely provide just compensation for injured parties. They are more concerned about their bottom line than they are with your well-being. When you hire an auto accident lawyer from our Atlanta law practice, we can handle insurance companies on your behalf, as well as fight to ensure you receive a justified amount of monetary compensation.
Even if you're extremely careful, there's still a chance you could get into a fender bender or a major accident in Atlanta because of all the distractions on these Atlanta highways - texting while driving, drunk drivers, truck drivers, etc.
Our auto accident attorneys can also:
- Hire investigators to determine how your car accident occurred
- Obtain medical experts to help determine the costs of future medical care
- Provide expert witnesses in auto injuries
- Provide financial experts to evaluate future monetary needs
An overview of car wreck PI cases
Car accidents are by far the most common personal injury case. Liability is usually very clear, and the claim process is pretty predictable. Generally, these cases are non-surgical soft tissue, surgical soft tissue, surgical joint/ligament tears, mild TBI cases, non-surgical fractures, surgical fractures, catastrophic injury, and wrongful death cases.
A car accident case is usually worth whatever coverages are available under the policy limits we expose. The most common types of coverages are (in thousands):
25/50 – By far the most common policy coverage, as it is Georgia's minimum.
I'd beg anyone reading this to increase their coverage limits. In a serious injury case, medical liens will far exceed these limits, leaving the client with massive amounts of debt. With that said, most non-surgical soft tissue cases should settle within these policy limits. If there are multiple people in a vehicle that are injured, our team needs to move quickly to represent the client's best interests and recover as much of that piece that our client is entitled to.
30/80 – This amount of coverage I have only seen with Allstate. This coverage is only marginally better than the minimum 25/50 limits.
50/100 – These are still pretty low so if there are multiple plaintiffs, we have to make sure our client gets the first shot at available coverage. Even if six people are seriously injured, the most the liability has to pay out is $100,000 total assuming they pay limits in accordance with the demand statute.
100/300 – Good policy limits that should allow us to settle most car wrecks within the limits.
250/500 – When we see these limits on an auto policy we can assume they have an excess liability umbrella policy for typically $1 million or in some cases higher. We make sure to request all liability policies for the at fault party.
We are experienced and skilled with claim management, and always ensure our clients do everything they can to maximize the value of their injuries. These include making all appointments, following doctor's orders, filling prescriptions, and avoiding gaps in treatment.
Having said that, the way we manage a soft tissue injury case is different than the way a serious injury case is managed. Many times, the costs of treatment will exceed the liability limits of a policy. At that point, we must work to expose every avenue of recovery available. Questions to ask include but are not limited to:
• Is there UM coverage for our clients and do they have UM policies that can stack?
• Does our client have resident relatives with their own auto policy that could stack on their UM coverage.
• Are there liability policies that could stack?
• Was the defendant driving for work purposes? Or for Uber, Lyft, etc.?
In every car accident case, there are several phases to the process, each phase with its own parts and practices that are individually critical.
PHASE 1 – INTAKE
Intake is really broken down into three parts, but this includes getting all relevant information about a case, establishing liability, and medical timelines in part one. In part two, the lawyer will send out all letters of representation, spoliation letters, notice to UM or homeowner's carriers, anti litem notices, open record requests, and have a good working knowledge of Google maps. Lastly in the intake phase, which can last several weeks, the attorney needs to make sure he/she is maximizing channels of recovery by stacking liability and UM limits, exposing all UM coverages, inquiring whether the case might warrant punitive damages, and investigating whether there are multiple defendants (this is much more common in trucking cases).
PHASE 2 – TREATMENT AND RECOVERY
The client must see a doctor immediately if they are hurt. In many states like Texas, if an injured person waits more than a few days to see a doctor, they are barred from making a claim at all. Although I would rather the client decide their own treatment path, I certainly don't mind making the referral, and any drawbacks of that I think are overstated.
PHASE 3 – THE DEMAND
After treatment is complete or a prognosis is reached by doctors where we can truly see the short- and long-term implications of an injury, we will write a time limited Holt Demand where the insurance company will have 30 days to respond to our demand under the statute. If the insurance company does the right thing and pays the demanded amount, we move onto settlement. If they don't pay the demand, we negotiate a fair amount, or we file suit if they are being unreasonable.
PHASE 4 – SETTLEMENT
The settlement phase is actually where the lawyer can provide the most value for their client. It is tedious and usually can mean lots of letters and phone calls. We address ERISA self-insured plans vs. fully insured plans, Obamacare plans, and ERISA exceptions to address whether payments provided by a health insurance carrier actually have to be paid back. We also address other providers like hospitals, private funding liens, medical doctors, and chiropractic offices and do our best to minimize what our client has to pay back, so we maximize their bottom line.
PHASE 5 – FILING SUIT & LITIGATION
More often than ever insurance companies are betting on us taking a discount on our client's cases. We simply will not budge if the insurance company is trying to rip our clients off. In about 20-30% of our cases, these insurance companies are completely unreasonable, and we will file suit against the person who hurt our client. Litigation takes anywhere from 30 days – 3 years and can include depositions, written discovery, mediation, and even trial.
Begin Building Your Auto Injury Claim Today
Obtain the legal representation and assistance you deserve now by contacting the Atlanta auto accident lawyers at Paisley Law LLC. Our Atlanta firm is available 24/7 to answer your calls. If you are unable to meet at one of our locations due to an injury, we offer home, hospital, and weekend appointments. We look forward to helping you obtain the monetary compensation and justice you deserve for your car injury case.
Our team of experienced trial lawyers are ready to negotiate a fair settlement on your behalf. Contact Paisley Law LLC today for comprehensive legal representation in Georgia! Contact us (404) 618-0960.