Aside from insurance carrier deadlines, crash victims need to know that they also have a limited amount of time to file a lawsuit against the alleged negligent driver in their case. The personal injury statute of limitations in North Carolina is three years from the date an injury occurs. If a lawsuit is not filed in civil court against the alleged negligent driver within this three-year timeframe, the crash victim will likely be unable to recover the compensation they are entitled to.
What About Partial Liability?
Shared liability for a vehicle accident in North Carolina is a problem. In most states around the country, individuals are able to recover compensation even if they are partially responsible for causing a vehicle accident. However, North Carolina is one of the few states in this country that operate under a “contributory negligence” system. This means that a person will not be able to recover compensation if they are in any way responsible for causing an accident, even if it is just 1% responsibility.
Because of North Carolina’s strict contributory negligence laws, it is crucial for an individual to work with a skilled attorney who can determine the liability of the other driver(s) involved and fight back against any claims of partial responsibility.
Assert Your Rights after a Motor Vehicle Collision
The period following a serious motor vehicle accident is extremely traumatic for a victim and their family. In addition to physical injuries, they often face financial challenges as a result of medical expenses and income loss arising from the crash. If a careless driver was responsible for a serious car accident, the victim or the victim’s family should enlist a lawyer to immediately protect and enforce all financial and legal rights. Aggressive pursuit of your personal injury claims will help to provide compensation for the losses you endure on physical, emotional, and financial levels.
A driver may be held legally responsible for an accident if they were negligent, or careless, in their conduct or behavior. In serious injury cases, it is important to carefully investigate the collision and crash scene to identify all parties who share blame for the accident. If two or more drivers made mistakes which led to your accident, they can be held jointly liable. If a driver was on-the-job when they caused an accident, their employer’s commercial liability insurance coverage can be brought in and forced to contribute toward the payment of victims’ claims. Proving fault also requires you to eliminate allegations of victim fault. In North Carolina, if the victim is slightly (even just 1%) at fault, they have no legal right to compensation! Hiring an attorney to investigate the crash and nail down evidence to prove fault costs nothing up front and may make all the difference for you and your family.
Accident victims may seek payment for economic losses and also for past and future pain and suffering. Economic losses include medical bills, including future medical costs where we can prove that your injuries may be lasting or permanent. Similarly, we can collect for future lost income and for early retirement with evidence from doctors and vocational rehabilitation specialists who together testify that injuries will prevent you from working until retirement. Even if you are back to work now, we may be able to collect for lost future earnings if evidence indicates you will not be able to work until natural retirement age.
To prove the full impact of a victim’s injuries and maximize personal injury compensation, the most vital step is to carefully develop and interpret medical evidence. Our vehicle injury law firm only handles traumatic injury cases and our team has extensive experience working with neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, internal medicine specialists, vascular surgeons, physiatrists, pain management specialists and physicians in all areas of medical practice. Our focus on medical evidence will compel the opposition to pay fair value for all losses, such as ongoing medical treatments, home modifications or other expenses necessary to help a victim cope with permanent injuries.
In the most devastating and tragic cases, a family may lose a loved one to a moment of carelessness by someone else. When this happens, they can bring a wrongful death claim to seek damages for their loss. This compensation is often the only way to provide replacement income and services to help surviving family members avoid financial setbacks and to safely move forward. Our law firm has handled many wrongful death claims and we stand ready to advise surviving family members of all legal rights and options whenever this need arises.
Simple To Retain Our Raleigh, NC Car Accident Lawyer
Carl Nagle and his vehicle accident lawyers work on a pure-contingency basis. This means that we are paid a legal fee only if and when we collect money for you. If we do not succeed collecting money for you, we receive no fee. You also pay nothing to get our firm started. Begin with a free consultation by telephone – simply call our office and speak with Mr. Nagle now to learn your best plan of action. If you need our representation, it costs nothing up front to retain our firm and we can begin working for you today. If a visit to our office is currently inconvenient, we have investigators who can come to your home or workplace to get your case started. Even if you choose to proceed without an attorney, a friendly telephone consultation will help you understand how to access and use all available insurance coverage, and how to secure maximum payment for all of your vehicle accident claims.
Explore Your Options with a Car Accident Lawyer in the Raleigh Area and Beyond
At Nagle & Associates, we understand that serious car accidents have lifelong consequences. If you or a loved one is confronted with this difficult situation, contact Raleigh car accident attorney Carl Nagle to discuss your options. He seeks to leave clients financially stable, so he charges lower legal fees than most Raleigh personal injury attorneys: one-quarter rather than one-third of the ultimate award obtained through a simple, private settlement. We offer a free consultation, so call us at (800) 411-1583 or contact us online to set up an appointment with a motor vehicle collision attorney. We serve victims and families in Raleigh, Asheville, Winston-Salem, Wilmington, Greensboro, Hickory, Charlotte and throughout North Carolina.