Here are some of the first items to take care of in a Provo, Utah Rear-End Car Accident:
Rear-End Car Accident Example: You are driving in American Fork near State Street and are fully stopped. You are rear-ended by a large truck going around 35 miles per hour. Here is a useful QUICK GUIDE on what to do next for your safety and health.
FIRST. Safety. Ensure you are safe. Then proceed to help others in the rear-end car accident. Make sure the scene is safe. Pull to the side of the road if possible to clear traffic.
SECOND. Call the police. Call 911. Cooperate with police.
THIRD. Take pictures. Exchange insurance information. Obtain witness phone numbers and names.
FOURTH. Seek appropriate medical care.
FIFTH. Call a Utah car accident attorney. You are now entering the unknown world of insurance.
SIXTH. Get better. The most important part of your car accident case is getting better. Any legal case you may have is a far, far second.
COMMON INSURANCE DEFENSES TO REAR-END CAR ACCIDENTS AND HOW TO AVOID THEM.
Liability is usually a given in a rear-end car accident in Utah. Meaning the person who hit your from behind is nearly presumed under the law to be liable for all damages they cause. The reason is because that person who rear-ends you is in the best position avoid the car accident.
Yet, here are some very, very common insurance tactics in defending rear-end car collisions:
(1). We admit liability. You were just not hurt. This insurance defense tactic admits liability but claims that you are just not hurt at all from the car collision. They will offer to pay some, or most of your medical bills, but refuse to pay any more than that.
An experienced Utah car accident attorney who regularly practices car accident law can make a tremendous difference in these cases.
(2). Pre-Existing Injury. The at-fault insurance company of the person who rear-ended you admits fault and liability. But states you are not hurt nearly as bad as your claim because you already had pre-existing injuries.
(3). Value Dispute. The person’s insurance company who hurt your (that at-fault carrier) admits liability but completely disagrees on how much compensation is due for your injuries sustained.
(4). Unreasonable Medical Bills. Here the liability carrier admits fault, but disagrees with how much medical treatment your received. They will
hire a doctor to conduct a paper review of your medical records and conclude that some, or all of your medical bills were unnecessary. The at-fault insurance company believes they are in a better position to know what your medical care should have been, even though their doctor’s never treated you.
Example, Chiropractor. You are in a car accident on I-15 near Lehi, Utah. You are rear-ended. You incur only chiropractic care around $8,000. The insurance company agrees to pay only $4,500 of the chiropractic care, claiming it is unreasonable and not medically caused or needed by the car accident.
(5). Low Speed. Limited Property Damage Defense. Here the at-fault insurance carrier agrees you were rear-ended, but disagrees that your injuries were caused by car accident because the collision was at such a low speed. They will further claim that the limited property damage is proof that you couldn’t have been injured as much as you say because there was limited car damage.
(6). Surgery Not Connected. The big cousin of the low speed defense is where the insurance carrier denies that the surgery could possible have been caused by the car accident because of the low impact forces involved.
Example. Provo Center Street rear-end collision. The speed limit there is 15 miles per hours max. There is limited to only scratching on bot car involved in the car accident. Three months later you need shoulder surgery where the seatbelt hit you. The insurance company defends that the forces could not possible of caused your shoulder surgery.
(7). Gap in Medical Treatment Defense. You are in a rear-end car collision in Lehi, Utah. You are a great, tough American and decide not to see your doctor, or go to the ER. You wait three weeks trying to tough it out rather then seek medical care. The insurance company will defend this case stating if you were really hurt, you would have sought immediate medical care.
Another example is where you are in physical therapy for three months and you decide to stop to see if the treatment will “hold.” You go a month without physical therapy and your injuries resume, requiring you to start back up with PT. The defense is that you were better, and you didn’t need to incur more treatment and to cut your off at that point.
(8). Intervening Cause Defense. Imagine being in recover, treating with physical therapy and you fall down your stairs. If that stair fall caused additional injuries, the insurance company is not responsible for them. That is reasonable. But sometime any intervening fall or accident is made out to be a huge intervening traumatic event that truncates and cuts off all damages from the prior rear-end car accident.