Being involved in a high-speed automobile collision is a traumatic event. Victims of such collisions often incur costly medical bills and are left with lasting physical pain. If you have been involved in a car accident caused by the inattention or negligence of another driver, you are entitled to recover personal injury compensation for these bills and pain from the at-fault driver’s automobile insurance company. Durham Automobile Accident Attorneys can assist in this matter.
Insurance adjusters’ focus is to limit the financial recoveries of personal injury claimants. They act as an advocate for the insurance company. You can help level the playing field and protect your right to fair personal injury compensation by retaining the Durham personal injury lawyers of Maginnis Howard.
Determining Accident Compensation
Determining fair compensation in any personal injury matter depends upon what a jury might award you at trial. In North Carolina, a jury may award several elements of personal injury recovery. Among those are (1) medical and pharmaceutical costs; (2) lost wages; (3) loss of wage-earning capacity; (4) physical, mental, and emotional pain and suffering; and (5) loss of enjoyment of life. A jury may also award punitive damages of up to the greater of three times your compensatory damages or $250,000.00 when the at-fault driver was grossly negligent. In most cases, if a drunk driver has struck you, they will be guilty of gross negligence. Durham Automobile Accident Attorneys will ensure that you receive the compensation you deserve.
Sources of Compensation
After determining reasonable compensation for your injuries, you must choose from what sources you may recover your damages. Despite the insurance industry’s cries for “tort reform,” many personal injury claimants’ recoveries are already limited by small insurance policies. For instance, North Carolina’s minimum third-party liability limits follow a “30/60” rule. This means that any one person injured by the insurance company’s insured can recover up to $30,000.00. If multiple persons are injured, the maximum they can recover in the aggregate is only $60,000.00. Consulting Durham Automobile Accident Attorneys can help clarify these options.
In some cases, a personal injury claimant’s medical bills alone will exceed these limits. In such instances, locating other sources of funds becomes essential, such as the underinsured motorist insurance coverage provided by your own policy or those of others in your household. Our skilled personal injury attorneys can help you determine all sources of compensation after an accident.
Experienced Durham/Hillsborough Lawyers
Maginnis Howard regularly handles automobile accident matters in Durham and Hillsborough and offers free consultations for new personal injury clients. If your injuries leave you unable to travel, we will meet you to discuss your case. To further accommodate our clients, we handle all automobile accident matters on a contingency basis so that you pay no attorneys’ fees unless you recover monetary compensation for your injuries.
If you have sustained personal injury in an automobile accident in or around Durham or Hillsborough, North Carolina, including on Interstate 40, Interstate 95, US Highway 70, NC Highway 54, NC Highway 55, or US 15-501, call the automobile accident attorneys of Maginnis Howard at (919) 526-0450 or submit a confidential email inquiry via our contact page. Our Durham Automobile Accident Attorneys represent clients across the Carolinas from our offices in Raleigh, Charlotte, and Fayetteville.
