If you’ve recently suffered harm as a result of a single-vehicle car or truck crash, you may be hesitant about speaking with an attorney. After all, if your vehicle was the only one impacted by an accident, there is no one that can be held accountable for your harm, right? Not necessarily.
Working with an experienced attorney can help you to better understand whether you may have grounds upon which to file legal action or pursue compensation for your harm in some other way. No two single-vehicle crashes occur under exactly the same circumstances. By seeking professional legal guidance, you can be better assured that you’re making informed choices about your options.
Work-Related Crashes
If you work as an independent contractor or you are otherwise ineligible for workers’ compensation benefits, you can skip down to the next section of this piece. But, if you’re classified as a part-time or full-time worker, chances are that you’re eligible for workers’ compensation benefits in the wake of your single-vehicle crash and you’ll need to act quickly to secure them. The workers’ compensation benefits application process is extraordinarily time sensitive. Don’t wait to speak with a lawyer about initiating this application process.
Although a workers’ compensation benefits award doesn’t cover as many crash-related costs as a personal injury damages award does, it’s important to take advantage of this form of compensation. The workers’ comp system isn’t fault-focused, so you won’t have to prove that anyone else caused or contributed to the cause of your harm. As a result, this is one of the most straightforward compensation opportunities for single-crash injury victims. As long as you’re covered by workers’ comp insurance and your crash was work-related, you should receive benefits as a result of your injuries.
Pursuing Personal Injury Damages
As an experienced truck accident lawyer – including those who practice at MartinWren, P.C. can confirm, there are circumstances under which single-vehicle crash victims can successfully pursue damages in civil court. “But don’t I have to prove that someone other than myself was at fault for my harm to win a personal injury case?” you may be asking. The answer to that question is yes. But, making this argument successfully doesn’t necessarily require that any crash victim be harmed directly as a result of a collision with another vehicle.
There are many factors that may have influenced the cause(s) of your crash. Perhaps an unusually aggressive driver forced you off the road or you had to swerve to avoid a drunk, distracted, drowsy, or drugged motorist’s oncoming vehicle. Or perhaps a part of your car – your brakes, your electrical system, your tires, etc. – malfunctioned. In these scenarios, you’d be in a strong position to prove that either the other driver’s conduct or the practices of an auto parts manufacturer caused your harm. If so, you should be able to hold that responsible party liable for damages given that, absent their conduct, you wouldn’t have suffered harm in the first place.