With Purdue University just a few miles away, Lafayette, IN, plays host to an ever-rotating array of locals, students, and professionals throughout the year. The local views can tempt folks from all walks of life into a leisurely bicycle ride or even daily rides to and from the office. Unfortunately, not every driver on the road keeps an eye out for bicyclists when they should.
There are ways to hold a negligent party liable for your losses should you or someone you know find yourselves involved in a bike crash. You can meet with our bicycle accident lawyers in Lafayette to discuss how you might fight for compensation after your crash. Vaughan & Vaughan can help you bring your concerns to court while advocating for your fair treatment.
Taking Action After a Bicycle Accident
In the hours and days immediately following a bicycle accident, it’s in your best interest to cooperate with emergency responders, insurance representatives, and concerned loved ones. You or a personal representative can also work with law enforcement to begin determining who bears the fault for your accident and what evidence you have of the fault on hand.
In many cases, you’ll only have 24 hours after your accident to reach out to your insurance provider and discuss the extent of your losses. If you’re not in the position to make that phone call, you can elect a loved one or personal representative to do that work for you. In the meanwhile, you should focus on addressing your injuries and evaluating your losses.
Contending with all of this post-accident hubbub can be challenging for even the most organized of people. Instead of tackling post-accident management on your own, consider calling in an attorney. An attorney can protect your right to legal action, keep you on top of your insurance-related responsibilities, and begin assessing the nature of your losses.
You Have a Limited Amount of Time to File Your Bicycle Accident Claim
Specifically, calling in an attorney within hours of your accident allows you to more effectively survey the scene of your accident for fault. An attorney can more readily gather bystander statements and contact information to later use in damage negotiations. Similarly, we can gain access to essential case information before a liable party has the chance to obscure it.
The faster a bicycle accident attorney in Lafayette can act on your behalf, the better off you may be. Our team can pursue compensation for your bicycle accident losses more readily with the evidence found on the same day or week that your accident occurred. In turn, you can bring a legal claim to the attention of a county clerk in Lafayette more quickly than you might otherwise.
You do need to make the most of the days, weeks, and months following your bicycle accident if you want to take legal action against the person liable for your accident. Indiana Code §34-11-2-4 gives you no more than two years to present your claim to a county clerk. Courts can waive your right to compensation if you try to file outside of this deadline.
Your Bicycle Accident Losses Have Value
At first glance, the losses you’ve endured in your bicycle accident may seem obvious. If you’ve been injured by someone else’s negligence, it makes sense to try and hold that liable party responsible for your medical expenses. Your bicycle accident may have more value than you anticipate, though.
When you file a bicycle accident complaint with a Lafayette civil court, you have the right to list the economic and non-economic losses you can tie to your accident. So long as you can provide evidence tying these losses to someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation matching or exceeding their value. These losses can include:
- Property damage, repair, and replacement
- Lost wages
- Lost opportunities for alternative employment
- At-home care and assistance
- Emotional distress
- Stress
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium, if applicable
- Loss of companionship and income, if applicable
- Wrongful death, if applicable
Together with a Vaughan & Vaughan attorney, you can calculate your case’s maximum compensation. Once we bring your complaint to a county clerk’s attention, we can advocate for your right to the damages you deserve after your bicycle crash.
Filing a Bicycle Accident Claim With an Attorney
You’re under no obligation to gather essential information about your bicycle accident on your own. Doing so may even be a physical impossibility, depending on the commitments you’ve made at work or the injuries your accident caused. Instead of trying to both reinvestigate the scene of your accident and understand civil law, you can let an attorney advocate for you.
Personal injury attorneys in Indiana are specifically trained to understand the statutes that may apply to your case and how to wield them in your favor. When you bring a bicycle accident case to the right attorney, you can trust that attorney to:
- Accurately assess the value of your losses
- Challenge an insurance provider’s attempts to undersell your case’s value
- Bring forward evidence to establish duty of care and a breach thereof
- Communicate with a liable party and related bystanders as your case progresses
- Keep you up to date on new developments in your case
Bicycle accident attorneys in Lafayette are specifically here after a bicycle accident to make your recovery as straightforward as possible. We want to get the funds you need to restore your health into your hands without someone else’s negligence or reluctance further delaying your return to normal.
You Control How Your Case Proceeds
Our attorneys understand that bicycle accidents can feel as though they’ve robbed you of control over your day-to-day life. This, however, does not have to be the case, particularly not as you move to take legal action against a liable party. Provided that a county clerk moves your bicycle accident claim forward, you have a say in how your case proceeds.
Bicycle crash victims can decide to what degree they want to consider settlement offers after filing a complaint. If you feel comfortable negotiating for the financial support you deserve after an accident, you can do so. Your attorney can set out-of-court appointments and help you defend your right to accident damages.
If, however, you want a judge to have a direct hand in your case, you can forgo bicycle accident settlement negotiations in favor of a trial. You may even jump back and forth between these two options – pursuing discovery, for example, while still discussing a settlement that a liable party brings forward. You can discuss how best to proceed in your case with an attending lawyer.
Consult a Bicycle Accident Lawyer About Your Right to Compensation ASAP
Lafayette and West Lafayette, IN, offer thousands of bicycling students a place to rest their heads on an annual basis. Locals, too, have plenty of opportunities to take advantage of the bike lanes and amazing views. Whether you’re in Lafayette for the school year or make it your home all year round, you deserve to feel safe on local roads.
Victims of bicycle accidents in Lafayette have the right to bring their concerns forward to a personal injury attorney. Specifically, injured parties can consult with Lafayette, IN, bicycle accident attorneys to determine their path to post-accident compensation. You can schedule a bike crash consultation with Vaughan and Vaughan online or over the phone today.
