Know Your Rights & Learn About Personal Injury Law

If you agree to a quick settlement, the insurance company will assume that you need the money right now, and you will be willing to settle for less. But there are other reasons: settling later means that new injuries or complications might be discovered, new medication prescribed, or new treatments are needed to help you heal from your injuries. Do you know what your future medical bills will be or the extent of the damage to your car?

The “smaller walk-away settlement” is part of the insurance company’s manual on how to pay less to injured people. Insurance companies bet that most victims of Colorado car accidents would rather take a lower payment now than fight against a large corporation for a fair amount to compensate for that victim’s injuries. If you are not satisfied with the proposed settlement, are not 100% sure that it will cover all your present and future expenses, or are not being compensated for your pain and suffering or lost wages, contact our Colorado car accident attorneys for a free consultation.

As a general rule, no.

If you are involved in an accident that is not your fault, the insurance company cannot raise your rates, refuse to renew, or otherwise hold the accident against you even though you have made claims for no–fault benefits, collision, or comprehensive claims, or uninsured motorist claims. You paid a premium to the insurance company to protect you against these types of losses. They spread that risk out over many policies and profit from doing so. So long as you are not at fault, a claim does not count as a strike against you in any fashion.

Many factors influence the monetary value of your case, and no formula or coefficient can be used to determine how much is owed. However, by looking at the elements of your personal injury case, we can give you a reasonable estimate of the settlement you might expect.

The main elements influencing the outcome of your claim are:

• The Accident: How did it happen, what were the consequences (injuries, material damage, other losses), who was at fault, and what is the evidence (were there witnesses)?
• The Injuries: Are we talking about soft-tissue injuries? Broken bones? Brain injuries? Objective or permanent injuries? What is the claimant’s medical history, and what are the anticipated medical needs?
• The Impact on Your Life: Pain and suffering, loss of income or opportunities, impairment or disability, etc.
• A person partially at fault may still be entitled to recover for the damages and injuries sustained in an accident. Still, the settlement value will be reduced by the proportion of that person’s fault.

To recover for the damages to you, call Anderson Injury Law Firm and speak with one of our experienced personal injury attorneys today to discuss your case.

Typically, yes.

There can be a claim for medical bills, lost wages, and other damages. Depending on the coverage you purchased, you may be able to make a property damage claim against your own company. This may include rental car and towing expenses. Additionally, uninsured motorist benefits may be available for your bodily injuries or different types of claims that can be made under the Victims Compensation Fund.

Lastly, even though the driver at fault may initially appear uninsured, that is not always the case. Drivers often have insurance covering them, such as through the vehicle owner, a resident relative, an employer, or in some other fashion they did not expect. It may also be that the person has insurance but did not have proof of it on them at the time of the accident.

Whether you are being compensated by your own insurance company or by the other party, insurance companies want to be able to sue the negligent third party who caused the accident. Giving them subrogation rights means you give up your rights to sue the negligent party (because you have been compensated), and you hand over this right to the insurance company, which will seek to recover damages from the party at fault.

It is not unusual for insurance companies to sue the negligent party for amounts much more significant than the compensation you recovered. The best way to prevent them from making a profit on your accident is to ask for legal advice before you settle with the insurance company-especially when a large amount is involved, including not just the compensation for material damage but also for expenses resulting from sustained injuries.

With a maximum gross weight of 80,000 pounds and an overall length of seventy-five feet, a tractor-trailer cruising at 65 mph right behind your small car on a Colorado highway is likely to make you glance apprehensively at the large radiator grille in your rear-view mirror. Even the above maximum limits can be exceeded on certain highways, and there are exemptions for LCVs (longer combination vehicles). Truly monstrous vehicles sharing the road with passenger cars are unavoidable, and we had better adjust to them.

Big trucks not only look dangerous; they are. There are several reasons why trucks, especially very large trucks, can be dangerous:

• Trucking companies put delivery deadlines and cost control before safety
• Poorly maintained or worn-out trucks
• Poorly stowed cargo, shifting or falling during transport
• Untrained or reckless drivers
• Sick or exhausted drivers, driving under the influence or distracted
• Large blind spots and truck maneuvering space

With new tires and perfectly maintained brakes, a big truck moving at 60 mph will need 361 feet to come to a stop, while a passenger car needs only 302 feet. But malfunctioning brakes or worn tires will increase by a factor of two or more the distance required to stop the massive vehicle. Another important observation should be made in this respect: a large share of Colorado accidents involving big trucks are caused by passenger vehicles being too close in front of the truck. Whether the truck is tailing the car or the car cuts right in front of the truck cannot be deducted from accident statistics, but the conclusion should be clear: keep your distance!

Don’t seek legal support from a lawyer who doesn’t have real, proven truck accident experience. Truck accidents are likely to have tragic consequences. If you or someone you care for has been involved in an accident with a truck in the Colorado Springs or Denver areas, you need someone you trust to help you through the hardship. In case of severe injuries or wrongful death, strong legal support will be required to obtain total compensation for your pain, suffering, costs, and loss of income. Colorado Springs personal injury attorney Anderson Injury Law Firm is exceptionally well qualified to build your case, having focused on Colorado truck accidents for several decades. The attorneys at Anderson Injury Law Firm know the federal and Colorado trucking regulations and are wise to the transport companies’ failures and deceptions. They are practiced in collecting evidence and witness statements and have insider knowledge of the insurance companies’ tactics. Call us today for a free consultation.

Many Colorado drivers never think they could be involved in a head-on collision. Even though head-on accidents are less frequent than the typical fender bender, they occur, and drivers need to be aware of how serious they can be. In this type of accident, a driver of one vehicle typically crosses the centerline and crashes into oncoming traffic. Most head-on collisions in Colorado are deadly. When two vehicles hit each other head-on, the force is so strong. Experts relate an accident of this nature to hitting something immovable, such as colliding with a solid block wall. Common reasons why Colorado head-on crashes occur include:

• Falling asleep at the wheel
• Not paying attention to the road
• Turning the wrong way down a one-way street
• Entering an off-ramp instead of an on-ramp
• An animal or object in the road that makes the driver swerve

Several things have helped drivers avoid head-on collisions in Colorado Springs, such as traffic signs, center dividers, medians, concrete barriers, properly designed freeway off-ramps, and road surface markings. Although median barriers can be a hazard to crash into, it is often less harmful than a head-on collision with another vehicle.

To minimize a head-on collision from happening to you, you should look far down the road, pay attention, don’t text and drive, use your headlights even in the daytime, and pull off the road if you feel sleepy. If you are on a curvy or mountain road, it is best to stay on the right side of your lane so oncoming cars don’t hit you if they are hugging the centerline.

Even if you have done everything you can to avoid and prevent a head-on crash from happening to you, it could still happen despite your best efforts. If you find yourself in this situation, and an oncoming driver drives straight into you, try to slow down and go off the road to the right. A one-car crash is typically less fatal than a head-on collision.

You may need ongoing medical care if you have been injured in a severe Colorado Springs car accident. If you believe the accident was caused due to the negligence of others, you may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, hospital bills, medication, physical therapy, rehabilitation, and lost wages.

Most truckers usually have commercial insurance policies. The good news is that these policies have higher limits, typically paying you more for your injuries and damages. However, most insurance companies will try to take advantage of you and offer you less compensation if an attorney does not represent you.

If you have pain and suffering, medical bills, or lost wages due to this accident, contact our experienced Colorado Springs and Denver truck accident attorneys for a free legal evaluation to ensure you are getting the fair compensation you deserve.

The Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) is a nationwide and pioneering investigation based on 120,000 truck crashes between 2001 and 2003. Drawing a sample of 963 crashes, LTCCS analyzed each crash’s causes, vehicles, and circumstances in minute detail.

What might car and truck drivers in Colorado learn from the study?

We’ll leave aside what the study calls the “critical events” leading to the crash, i.e., the vehicle action that made the crash unavoidable, like turning or rear-ending. It is more to the point to look at the “critical reasons” of the accident, namely the failures that led to the critical events. The three critical reasons are:

• Driver error
• Vehicle failure
• Environment (weather, road conditions, etc.)

Of the large truck crashes involving a passenger car (car, van, pick-up truck, SUV), 44% were caused (critical reason) by the truck. This means most (56%) of car-truck crashes are caused by passenger vehicles.

The study further shows that, of all accidents, 87% were caused by the driver, 10% by a vehicle failure, and just 3% by the environment.

Associated factors causing a truck crash: LTCCS carefully analyzes the elements leading and contributing to the critical reasons, looking at a wide range of factors that can be associated with the truck involved in the crash. Associated factors could be brake problems or driver fatigue, for instance.

It is crucial to figure out if a factor is associated more frequently with a truck when it causes the accident than when it does not cause the accident. In the list below, the column “relative risk” shows that trucks that have caused the accident are associated with “traveling too fast” 7.7 times more frequently than trucks not having caused the accident, which means that speeding increases the probability of causing an accident close to 8 times. Had the relative risk ratio been equal to 1, speeding would not have been a factor in causing accidents.

The list also mentions the percentage of associated factors assigned to all the studied truck crashes. Only a few significant associated factors are discussed hereafter.

Associated Factors & Percent of Total:

• Brake problems – 29% (Relative Risk: 2.7)
• Traveling too fast – 23% (Relative Risk: 7.7)
• Inadequate surveillance – 14% (Relative Risk: 9.3)
• Fatigue – 13% (Relative Risk: 8.0)
• Pressure from employer – 10% (Relative Risk: 4.7)
• Illegal maneuver – 9% (Relative Risk: 26.4)
• Inattention – 9% (Relative Risk: 17.1)
• Following too close – 5% (Relative Risk: 22.6)

A few of the conclusions that can be drawn from the above figures are:

Brake problems are present in a large share of the trucks involved in crashes (which is not reassuring) but are only moderately likely to be the cause of the accident. On the other hand, tailgating is not frequently associated with truck crashes, but when it is, it is almost always associated with the truck having caused the accident.

Truck accidents are often more complex than passenger car accidents. This is because the defending party is not an individual but several commercial, logistics, or industrial companies interested in freight haulage.

To give the example of a semi-trailer, the tractor often belongs to one company while the trailer is the property of another. Depending on who or what caused the accident and the existence of aggravating circumstances, any one of the following parties could be held liable, to a certain extent, for the damages you suffered:

• The tractor owner
• The trailer owner
• The driver’s employer
• A parent company of any of the above
• The driver
• The manufacturer of truck, trailer, or parts
• The cargo owner or logistics company

Even third-party drivers or owners could be involved in the crash and subject to liability. Truck accidents require, in most cases, an immediate and thorough investigation of the parties involved and the causes of the accident, from cargo shifting to driver drowsiness or the violation of federal regulations.

A concussion is when a blow to the head injures the brain without skull fracture or internal bleeding. Some symptoms of a concussion include:

• Loss of Consciousness (i.e., blacking out)
• Nausea
• Seeing stars
• Short-term memory loss
• Long-term memory loss
• Difficulty concentrating
• Inability to look at computer screens for long periods
• Fatigue
• Visual disturbances
• Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
• Constantly bumping into things like desks and doors

Many concussions will resolve after two weeks, but you should be evaluated immediately by a medical professional if any of the symptoms of a concussion appear at any point in time. Concussions can be severe medical conditions, but often, medical professionals can help people recover from this injury. A medical professional can diagnose and create a proper treatment plan.

Concussion symptoms are often involved in other severe medical conditions. For example, a person with a brain bleed may exhibit some of these symptoms, but a brain bleed requires immediate medical attention to prevent long-term severe injury or death. Seek immediate medical attention if you have any symptoms of a brain injury.

That’s a good question. You do not need an attorney if the settlement satisfies you and your family. However, the difficult question is determining how much is a fair settlement offer. Many people try to settle their cases too quickly and are left paying for their future medical care for the injuries caused by another person’s negligence. Are you sure that today’s decent proposal will still be a satisfactory settlement three weeks or two months from now?

There are several reasons why this may not be the case:

1. Many injuries have symptoms that only appear gradually and at a later stage. This is often the case with concussions or back and neck injuries. Retinal detachment, for example, can blur the vision after many days or weeks and must be treated immediately when it is discovered.
2. The same reasoning applies to the material damage. Are you sure your car will be repaired within the quoted budget and in the same condition as before?
3. Some people are not aware of the full medical bills they owe. Hospitals, for example, usually show up in 2-3 separate bills. One from the treating doctors, one from the facility, and one from the radiologist (if any imaging was performed). The hospitals will often send their bill to the auto insurance company. It may take months before the hospital receives a rejection from the auto insurance company. When this happens, the hospital will pursue you directly for the bill.
4. Insurance companies always want to settle as quickly as possible. Doing so prevents you, the victim, from claiming additional medical and other costs when they occur.

The answer depends on how sure you are that all the present and future costs of the accident will be compensated. We recommend that comprehensive medical examinations be made and that you make sure all the bills and expenses have been taken into account.

Large or small transport companies offer a different kind of challenge than the average car driver when claiming fair compensation after an accident in El Paso, Denver, or elsewhere in Colorado. The rules enacted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) deal with truck inspection, maintenance, and repair, truckers’ hours of service and rest time, the permissible size and weight of cargo, and driver qualifications. Even though trucking companies are all supposed to operate under very detailed and strict rules, some companies will be law-abiding. In contrast, others put profits and on-time delivery before safety.

In Colorado and elsewhere, transport companies operate hundreds of trucks and deal with accidents almost daily. Trucking companies and insurers work hand-in-hand to limit their exposure to claims whose frequency and size could wipe out their profits. Knowledge and firsthand experience of the trucking companies, the FMCSA regulations, and the insurance companies’ tactics is essential to a successful claim for just and complete compensation, and this is precisely what a truck-accident attorney like Anderson Injury Law Firm offers.

A commercial truck transports commercial goods. They are known as big rigs, semi-trucks, 18-wheelers, tractor-trailers, dump trucks, freight trucks, or other large trucks. When loaded with goods, they can weigh up to 80,000 pounds; however, an average car only weighs approximately 3,000 pounds.

Because of a truck’s large size and heavy weight, a Colorado car accident involving a semi is more severe than an accident involving another car. The basic laws of physics show that a truck-car crash is more likely to result in severe injuries and death due to the difference in size between the two vehicles.

If you have full coverage on your vehicle, your insurance policy should include uninsured motorists. File a claim with your auto insurance company for property damages and any injuries, but be cautious because insurance companies will want to minimize the loss. If anyone was injured in a car accident, hiring an experienced Colorado car accident attorney is wise.

If you do not have uninsured motorists coverage included in your insurance policy, you will need to take legal action against the uninsured motorist for your vehicle damage, as well as any personal injury you may have sustained. Our Colorado Springs injury attorneys will be able to answer your questions and help you get the maximum compensation available.

Effective December 1st, 2009, Colorado House Bill 09-1094 bans all juveniles from using a cell phone while driving and all adult drivers from texting, reading, sending e-mails, or using a hand-held electronic device for anything other than making a phone call. Using the phone in violation of the new law is now a primary offense, which means that a police officer can stop a car if he has reason to believe this is the case.

Distracted driving draws the attention of legislators, research and safety organizations, and a wide range of interest groups. A surge of disastrous accidents caused by driver inattention in Colorado and elsewhere has taken alarming proportions, and the widespread use of hand-held electronic devices by car and truck drivers is the main culprit.

If dialing a number on your cell phone is dangerous, texting and reading is the shortest way to disaster.

A study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) has shown that for a driver, the key to safely using a phone is keeping the eyes on the road. The study showed that text messaging had the longest eyes-off-road time (4.6 seconds over a 6-second interval). This equates to a driver traveling the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the roadway. The risk of crashing while texting is twenty-three times as high as non-distracted driving. (source VTTI)

The conclusion is obvious: just like you wouldn’t drive with your eyes shut, texting or reading behind the wheel needs to be banned.

A distracted truck driver can inflict devastating damage by running a stop light or rear-ending a car. If you or a loved one have been the victim of such an accident in the Colorado Springs, Pueblo, or Denver areas, successfully winning total and just compensation will be an uphill battle. You will have to assess the responsibility of the transport company and the truck driver, collect witness reports, deal with wrongful death or the complex medical issues related to severe injuries, cope with insurance companies’ defensive tactics and sneaky claims adjusters, calculate loss of income and long-term medical or disability expenses, evaluate pain and suffering, and much more. We can help you deal with all of these complicated issues. Call Anderson Injury Law Firm today for your free consultation to learn how.

Effective January 1st, 2009, Colorado law requires all insurance companies issuing auto insurance policies in the state to offer an additional form of coverage called medical payments coverage/ This is a type of coverage that is designed to pay some of the medical bills right away allowing consumers to concentrate on healing instead of worrying about bills. This additional coverage, often called “Med-Pay,” provides at least $5,000 for immediate emergency transportation and medical help for the insured driver and passengers, regardless of who is at fault. Insurance companies will routinely offer coverage for higher amounts.

All insurance companies must now offer Med-Pay at the time of subscription or renewal and may charge an additional premium depending on the insured limit. However, consumers can opt-out in writing, confirming that they reject the extra coverage. Do not do this. You will want Med-Pay if you are in a motor vehicle accident causing bodily injury.