Georgia roads see thousands of accidents every week, and a significant portion of those incidents end up causing serious injuries to one or more people involved. If you recently got hurt because another driver on the road with you acted irresponsibly, you may have grounds to file suit against them and seek restitution for every form of harm you suffered due to their actions.
However, the steps between starting the litigation process and successfully recovering compensation can be incredibly time-consuming and complex, especially if you try to handle your case without help from a professional attorney. By retaining a seasoned Macon car accident lawyer, you could put yourself in a much stronger position to hold another individual liable for your wreck and achieve fair financial recovery for your injuries.
Causes and Effects of Car Crashes
Although many people do not think about roadway safety in these terms, every driver in the state of Georgia has an implicit legal responsibility to look out for the safety of other people around them. Because of this, anyone who acts recklessly or carelessly on the road may be considered in violation of their duty of care, making them financially liable for any accident that occurs as a direct result.
A driver can breach their duty of care and cause someone else to suffer compensable losses in numerous ways, from driving while intoxicated to running red lights, to simply letting their attention drift away from the road ahead of them. Regardless of what ultimately causes a car wreck, the impact these incidents can have on the people involved are often severe.
Auto accident victims in Georgia often find themselves dealing with deep lacerations, ligament strains and tears, bone fractures, severe burns, and sometimes even life-altering or life-threatening damage to their spine, brain, and/or internal organs. Once hired, a Macon car accident attorney could relentlessly pursue recovery on a crash victim’s behalf for all damages stemming from their incident, including medical expenses, costs of repairing or replacing their car, physical pain, emotional suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Potential Limits on Civil Recovery
According to Official Code of Georgia §51-11-7, a plaintiff who could have avoided getting hurt in an accident if they themselves demonstrated “ordinary care” is not entitled to seek financial recovery. In other words, car accident victims cannot file suit for damages if they bear 50 percent or more of the total fault for the incident. Someone who bears between one and 49 percent of the blame for a car crash can still recover some compensation, but as per O.C.G.A. §51-12-33, a court may reduce their final damage award by whatever percentage of fault they bear for causing their own injuries.
Furthermore, O.C.G.A. §9-3-33 sets a two-year deadline on filing a personal injury claim, meaning that auto accident victims have only two years after discovering their wreck-related injuries to start seeking civil recovery for those injuries. Working with a car crash lawyer in Macon is often critical not only to effectively and efficiently proving fault by someone else, but also to disproving plaintiff fault and navigating around other possible legal roadblocks.
Call a Macon Car Accident Attorney Today
Even if it seems obvious who is to blame for a car crash, successfully holding that person liable in civil court can still be a challenging endeavor. Collecting evidence of fault and factoring that evidence into a convincing legal case can take weeks or even months of hard work, and negotiations with insurance companies may make the prospect of recovering compensation seem even more unachievable.
Fortunately, help is available from legal professionals who have helped people in situations similar to you seek beneficial resolutions to their claims. Talk to a Macon car accident lawyer today to see how a dedicated attorney could help you.