After a motorcycle accident, you may wonder whether you need to hire a lawyer. Do so to protect your rights and ensure fair compensation for your injuries and damages.
Insurance companies will do everything possible to avoid paying you when significant money is at stake; hiring a motorcycle accident attorney can level the playing field. Insurance adjusters are skilled at protecting their company's bottom line and may try to minimize or deny your claim unfairly.
A lawyer will advocate for your rights and negotiate with the insurance company to ensure you receive fair compensation for your injuries whenever possible, covering your medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering. You must protect yourself, and legal representation is crucial.
The best thing is that you have no financial risk in hiring an attorney. The lawyer will not ask you to write them a check when you retain them, and they are not going to send you bills along the way. Your attorney will not get paid anything if you are unsuccessful in your case for any reason. In other words, money should never come between you and the lawyer you need to fight the insurance company. If you think too long about whether you can afford a motorcycle accident lawyer, you are wasting valuable time that an attorney can use to work on your behalf.
The Insurance Company Is Out to Get You
There should never be any question of whether you need legal help after a motorcycle accident. To understand why you need a lawyer for your case, you must always know who you are up against.
An insurance company will represent the driver who injured you, and it will assume the driver's legal obligation to pay you up to the amount of the policy limit. The insurance company will negotiate any potential settlement or defend against your lawsuit in court.
Insurance companies have no charitable motivations in your case. They may see how seriously injured you are and know that their policyholder caused your injuries, but they still do everything in their power to avoid paying what they owe you. If they try to pay you anything, it will be pennies on the dollar when they know you deserve far more.
Insurance Companies Will Get the Better When They Are Directly Against You
You only stand a chance against the insurance company if you have an attorney, and this is not a scare tactic that lawyers use to get you to use their services.
Insurance companies will try to push you around in any way possible. They have an apparatus in place to protect their interests.
From the adjuster to their lawyers, insurance companies have invested quite a bit of money in their systems and infrastructure, and the last thing they want to do is pay you fully. They want to pocket as much money as possible and do not care whether it comes at your expense.
A motorcycle accident claim is a legal process. Even if you are dealing with the insurance company as part of a claim, you have established a legal right to financial compensation because the other driver caused your injuries. They take on a legal obligation to pay for the total damages they have caused, and you and the insurance company must reach a settlement or move to litigation. The best way to effectively protect your legal rights is to hire an experienced attorney.
There Is Little That You Can Do on Your Own When You Suffered an Injury
Because motorcycle accidents are so severe, you are likely dealing with serious physical injuries. Motorcycle accident victims often need extensive medical treatment in the days after the incident. This time is also when you need to build the foundation of your claim, and if you do not have an attorney, your legal rights may be at risk.
You must establish your legal rights before you have any entitlement to money. In a motorcycle accident case, the legal principle is that you must demonstrate someone else’s negligence before they take on the responsibility to pay you. You must show that someone else caused the accident. If you do not meet that burden of proof, you will come away empty-handed with no compensation.
Your Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Will Need to Investigate Your Accident Immediately
The basis of your claim is the physical and documentary evidence that shows what happened in the accident. You only obtain all this evidence after someone completes the accident investigation, and this takes time and skill that you may not have.
First, it is virtually impossible to do any investigating when you are dealing with physical injuries. You cannot talk to people or chase down leads when lying in a hospital bed or otherwise immobile.
One of the immediate tasks is gathering evidence to support your claim. The discussion of your legal rights is going to involve showing that the driver did something that the ordinary driver would not have done under the circumstances. These situations include making an illegal left-hand turn across your path or rear-ending your bike because they did not see you.
An attorney can establish liability for the accident by compiling:
- Testimony from witnesses who saw the actual accident
- Pictures from the scene of the accident or the aftermath
- Dashcam or traffic camera footage that may show the accident
- Testimony from an accident reconstruction expert
An attorney will also review the police report from the accident and pursue any leads in the report. They will continue any investigation that law enforcement has made.
A Motorcycle Accident Attorney Helps You Know How Much You Should Get for Your Injuries
Establishing fault is only part of what an attorney can do to help you. Even if you can prove fault, you must also know how much you seek in your claim or lawsuit. You may deserve substantial damages if you have suffered a severe injury, but you must know how much to ask for.
There is a wide variety of financial outcomes in a motorcycle accident case. The one certainty is that the insurance companies will pursue the most financially advantageous outcome for them, and they know precisely how much your claim is worth.
Insurance companies have sophisticated programs that tell them how much claims are worth nationwide and in your area. They have this information on practically an up-to-the-minute basis, and their goal is to pay you as little of that amount as possible. Insurance companies want your signature on the dotted line of an agreement that is as favorable to them.
Your attorney helps you by letting you know how much your claim is worth. Once you have reached the point of maximum medical improvement, your lawyer can determine the full extent of your damages and calculate a fair settlement amount. They can assess your medical bills, future medical needs, property damage, and any other losses you may have suffered from the accident. This comprehensive evaluation will ensure you don't settle for less than you deserve. You must have this information before you do business with the insurance company.
A Motorcycle Accident Attorney Provides Muscle When You Are Dealing with the Insurance Company
The actual fight begins when you submit your claim to the insurance companies. They may have already tried to undermine it by getting you to speak on the records, and they are ready to try more tricks.
One of the insurance companies' favorite tactics in dealing with motorcyclists is to blame the biker for the crash, partially or entirely. Society perceives motorcyclists as riskier than the average person, and insurance companies do everything possible to take advantage of this perception.
They may claim that you broke the speed limit or drove recklessly. Then, they may try to shift the burden of proof onto you to show that you caused the accident.
Your attorney may need to defend you as much as they try to prove that the other driver was responsible for the accident. Unfortunately, your lawyer must address any allegations against you, and they may need evidence that shows what you were doing as opposed to what the other driver was doing.
A motorcycle accident lawyer can push back when the insurance company tries to blame you. They can either deal directly with the insurance company or persuade a jury that the insurance company is wrong in attempting to blame you.
Your Attorney Negotiates on Your Behalf With the Insurance Company
Then, you must have an attorney when you try to negotiate with the insurance company. Always assume that you must negotiate your claim; often, these negotiations will be extensive. Insurance companies will begin by offering you only a fraction of what you deserve and will only get in the same ballpark as you with some significant back-and-forth.
Insurance companies will have little reason to respect you if you represent yourself. If you say no to their offer, their approach will be, "What are you going to do about it?" Insurance companies know there is one way to make them pay. The only authority above them is a jury, which can determine whether you have legal rights and how much money you can get in a claim.
Hiring a Lawyer Means a Credible Threat of Litigation
If you reach an impasse or if you cannot agree with the insurance company, your recourse will be to take the case to a jury. Insurance companies fear that prospect because the outcome will likely be far worse for them if the jury sides with you.
Without an attorney, you cannot make a credible case in court. If you filed the lawsuit on your own, there is little chance of you succeeding.
Only an attorney with experience inside the courtroom can persuade a jury that you deserve money and how much you should get.
You Need to Hire an Attorney Right After Your Injury
The time to hire a lawyer is immediately after your motorcycle accident. If too much time passes, filing a lawsuit with the proof you need to succeed will get much more complicated, and insurance companies will see you as an easy mark.
However, when they see that you have a lawyer, they know they must treat you with more respect than the average claimant.
Study after study shows that hiring a lawyer has financial benefits for clients. Sure, a lawyer will receive part of your settlement or jury award. However, if you do not have a lawyer, there is a greater chance that you will be unable to get any money.
Even if you did, the compensation will be far less than you may receive if you have a lawyer fighting for you. When you realize that the insurance company has gotten the better of you, you can do nothing about it because you will have signed away your legal rights.
Your Lawyer Works On a Contingency Basis
The good news is that most injury lawyers work on a contingency basis, meaning they only get paid if they win your case. Instead of requiring you to pay an upfront fee, they agree to take a percentage of the compensation you receive as their payment. This arrangement offers a win-win situation for both you and the lawyer.
By working on a contingency basis, lawyers are motivated to work tirelessly on your case because their own financial interests depend on the outcome. They will invest their time and resources to build a strong case, gather evidence, interview witnesses, and negotiate with insurance companies. This commitment ensures you have the best chance of receiving fair compensation for your injuries and losses.
Hiring a lawyer after a motorcycle accident can significantly benefit your case. They will provide the knowledge, experience, and support needed to navigate the legal process and secure the compensation you deserve.
Don't hesitate to contact a reputable personal injury lawyer who can guide you through the complexities and protect your rights.
Thomas Waffenschmidt
Attorney
Thomas Waffenschmidt has served on the Pennsylvania Association for Justice since 1990 and has been a board member from 1999 through 2014. He has also served on the board of the Lycoming Law Association since 2008 and served as president in 2014.
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