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Civil Litigation, Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Articles
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What To Do In The First Ten Minutes After An Accident.
Help the injured. If someone has serious injuries, call the police or 9-1-1 and ask for an ambulance. Do not move injured people unless absolutely necessary, but try to make them as comfortable as possible.
Call the police. In many states it may be unlawful to leave the scene of an accident without permission. Furthermore, a police investigation and a report may be essential because in many accidents, no witnesses come forward and later the persons involved in the accident might give conflicting versions about how the accident happened.
If the accident involves one or more vehicles, do not move them before the police arrive. The most important evidence of a motor vehicle accident is the position of the vehicle or vehicles after they came to rest. Unless the vehicles are a hazard to other traffic, turn off the ignition and leave the vehicles where they are. It is appropriate for you to ask the drivers of any other vehicles involved in an accident to not move them until the police see them.
While waiting for the police to arrive, get the names and telephone numbers of witnesses and the people involved in the accident. People often leave the scene of an accident before the police arrive, so it is very important to identify them before they are gone. If there are vehicles involved, for each vehicle get the driver's name and telephone number, the vehicle's license plate number, and any insurance information.
If you are injured, tell the police officer. It is common for the police to ask you if you are injured, but if they do not ask you, they may assume you are all right. Let the police know if you are injured.
If you are injured, get medical treatment. After the police give you permission to leave the scene of the accident, if you are injured, get help immediately. Some injuries may not be readily apparent to you, and some injuries may get far worse if not promptly treated. If you do not have a personal physician who can see you right away, you can always go to the emergency room of the nearest hospital.
...After The First Ten Minutes...
Report the accident to your own insurance company. You are certainly free to discuss any accident with your own insurance company, as soon after the accident as possible. However, as is often the case in car accidents, someone else's insurance company may become involved. They may assign an adjuster as soon as a few days after the accident. The other insurance company's adjuster will contact you and ask you to give a written or recorded statement. You are not required to give the other insurance company a statement right away. Simply tell them that someone will be getting back to them later, and promptly consult an attorney about your rights.
Do not try to negotiate with the insurance company if you have a serious injury. The insurance company may ask for your statement, and your permission to get all your employment and medical records (even those that may be private, and not related to your accident injury), before they offer you a settlement. If they make you an offer to settle, they will ask you to sign a release. For all practical purposes, once you settle a claim and sign a release you may never reopen the claim.
If you do not seek the advice of an attorney, you may not know whether the offer fully compensates you for all your injuries. You may be unaware of certain laws or some types of insurance coverage that may apply to your accident. Experienced personal injury attorneys will generally be able to protect your private records to the extent possible under the circumstances, and fully explore all the problems and issues in a claim as it develops so that you receive as fair compensation as you are entitled to get under the law.
The law limits the amount of time you have to make a claim. Each state has its own laws, and many exceptions, limiting the time you have to make a claim for injuries or for a loved one's death. Some states impose time limits as short as one year from the date the accident occurred. Also, over time, witnesses' memories fade. Witnesses and those people responsible for causing the accident may disappear or die. Thus, for all these reasons, the sooner you see an attorney after a serious injury in an accident, the more likely it is that the attorney can thoroughly investigate and help you with your claim.
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The information in this web site is all general information. The information is applicable only to the state of Washington, unless otherwise stated. This general information is not legal advice for your particular circumstances. If you have legal questions you should consult your lawyer.