Everyone on the road owes Crown Point bicyclists a duty of care. If you find yourself in an accident, you can investigate your crash to determine whether or not you have the right to hold someone financially accountable for your recovery. Crown Point bicycle accident lawyers can make your investigation simpler.
Vaughan & Vaughan has helped Hoosiers recover from serious accidents since 1913. Our personal injury lawyers in Crown Point want to help you fight for the compensation you deserve. Contact us today to learn more about your right to recover from a bicycle accident.
Can You File an Insurance Claim After a Bicycle Accident?
You may have the right to file a bicycle accident claim with an insurance company after an accident. Your right to do so depends on a few different factors, including the following:
- The type of insurance the party liable for your losses has
- The severity of your losses
- The evidence you have assigning accident fault
For example, if your losses come in below an insurance policy’s deductible, it may be easier for a liable party to pay for your recovery out of pocket. However, there are other obstacles standing between you and your recovery, including insurance companies’ greed.
Insurance companies will often take as many steps as possible to avoid paying for your recovery. They may refuse to discuss your accident, delay your paperwork, or hide evidence from you. If you want to fight back against an insurance company’s bad faith tactics, we recommend working with a bicycle accident attorney in Crown Point.
Your Case Will Get
The Attention It Deserves
Can You File a Personal Injury Claim After a Bicycle Accident?
Personal injury lawyers can help you file an insurance claim and defend your right to compensation. However, there’s a chance that an insurance company will still refuse to recognize your right to recover. In these cases, you may file a personal injury claim directly against the party responsible for your losses.
Be warned, though – you have a limited amount of time to compile and file a bicycle accident claim. Crown Point attorneys need to bring your claim forward before Indiana’s personal injury statute of limitations expires. That statute gives you two years and no longer to make your move.
There are a lot of benefits to filing a bicycle accident claim that make the tight timeline worth it. Bicycle accident claims allow you to recover damages based on your economic and non-economic losses, whereas insurance claims only allow you to recover from economic expenses. You also have more of a say in how settlement conversations progress.
There is no fee
unless you win
How Do You Hold Someone Responsible for a Bicycle Accident?
Before you can file a bicycle accident claim with Indiana’s civil judges, you need to gather enough evidence to meet the state’s burden of proof. The burden of proof requires you to have enough concrete data to argue that:
- A liable party owed you a duty of care at the time of your accident
- A liable party’s negligence saw them violate the duty they owed you
- You suffered economic losses as a result of that negligence
The evidence you bring forward to make these points should be varied. You can build a strong claim on witness statements, video footage, electronic data, and expert witness testimony. Moreover, you don’t have to gather this data on your own. Our Crown Point, IN, bicycle accident attorneys lead an investigation on your behalf, allowing you to prioritize your health.
What Damages Can Crown Point Bicycle Accident Lawyers Win You?
As mentioned, you have the right to include your economic and non-economic bicycle accident losses in your request for accident support. Before you bring your claim forward, you need to calculate the total value of those losses. Our team can do the math for you, all the while accounting for losses like the following:
- Emotional distress
- Reduced quality of life
- Pain and suffering
- Emergency medical care
- Temporary and/or permanent disability
- Lost wages
- Property damage and restoration
We want you to recover as much money as possible after a bicycle accident. You can count on our team to maximize your request for support and then defend our estimate with concrete data.
Do You Have to Go to Trial to Win Bicycle Accident Damages?
You are not obligated to take a bicycle accident claim to civil trial if you want to financially recover from an accident. Many liable parties will instead want to meet with you to negotiate your desired settlement. Our attorneys can arrange private settlement negotiations between you and a defendant after you file your claim.
We can represent you throughout these negotiations. Our influence can minimize the bad faith tactics the defendant uses to minimize your losses. We can also ensure that conversations remain focused on your recovery and not bad-faith blame games.
If it turns out that the defense requested negotiations in bad faith, we can remove you from those conversations. We can then prepare you to go to trial while leaving the door open for genuine settlement negotiations in the future.
Can Negligent Drivers Face Criminal Charges After Bicycle Accidents?
There’s a chance that the party responsible for your losses may face criminal consequences for your bicycle accident. However, you cannot open a criminal investigation into their behavior. You can only take action in civil court.
Our bicycle accident attorneys in Crown Point, IN, can keep an ear out for developments in the criminal system. If it sounds like the state intends to open a case against your liable party, we can integrate that case’s verdict into your request for support. While a guilty criminal verdict won’t win your civil case outright, it does make it easier to assign blame for your losses.
Vaughan & Vaughan Represents Hoosiers in Need
Crown Point bicyclists have the right to share the road with commercial and private drivers under state law. This means you have the right to take action against the driver – or mechanic, manufacturer, or construction crew – who caused your recent bicycle accident. Crown Point attorneys can help you file a personal injury claim before your statute of limitations expires.
You can contact our team today to book a free case evaluation. Use your time to get to know our staff, learn more about our case results, and discuss the path to recovery that best suits your interests.
