Car Accident Legal Information

Injured victims of Arizona auto accidents often have to prove who was at fault for the crash in order to receive financial compensation for the injuries they sustained in the crash. This is not always an easy task. In order to prove fault, it is necessary to utilize witness statements, police reports, and other physical evidence at the scene.

Eyewitnesses can be invaluable when it comes to bolstering your Arizona car crash injury claim. If anyone witnessed the crash, it is important that you write down his or her contact information. Insurance companies prefer witnesses who are not connected to the injured victims. In other words, a stranger who witnessed the crash may be considered more credible than a friend or family member of the person filing the claim. Having an eyewitness backing up your claim will lend credibility to your account of the incident.

A police report will not only contain specific details about a crash, but it will also include the police officer’s observations and opinions regarding who caused the crash. All injured victims of Arizona car accidents have the right to request a copy of the police report. This official document can prove to be a useful tool if you are trying to prove fault or liability in an auto accident case.

Many Arizona crashes involve a driver violating a traffic law. Common examples of traffic violations that can lead to an accident include running a red light, speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol. Any citations a driver receives following a crash will also help you prove fault and liability.

The knowledgeable Scottsdale auto accident attorneys at The Breyer Law Offices P.C. know how to hold negligent drivers accountable. If you or a loved one has been injured in an Arizona auto accident, please understand that the actions you take immediately after the incident can have a tremendous impact on your potential claim. For more information about how to exercise your legal rights, please contact our law offices at 602-978-6400.

All injured victims of Arizona car accidents may pursue compensation for their medical bills, time away from work, and any other losses they have suffered. This may especially apply if the accident is the result of someone else’s negligence. This process becomes complicated when the at-fault motorist is the driver of the vehicle in which the passenger was traveling. In such cases, the driver responsible for the victim’s injuries is often the victim’s good friend or family member.

Passengers injured in such accidents as a result of a driver’s recklessness, negligence or wrongdoing may have a number of questions in the aftermath of a crash. Can they receive compensation for their losses even when the at-fault motorist drove the vehicle they were in? What will happen financially and emotionally to their friend who was driving the car? Will a friend or family member suffer because of the victim’s choice to pursue compensation?

Unless an investigation can prove that the passenger somehow caused the accident, an injured passenger should be able to pursue compensation following a serious crash. Victims need to remember that all legal drivers in the state of Arizona must carry auto insurance that provides protection if they are ever involved in a serious accident. Beyond an initial deductible fee and a potential increase in monthly rates, the at-fault driver will not suffer financially for the crash. Bodily injury coverage is meant to protect drivers from having to cover expensive medical bills for the injured victims of a car accident.

An experienced Phoenix accident attorney at The Breyer Law Offices, P.C. helps injured victims understand their legal options. If you or someone you love has been injured in an Arizona auto accident, please contact our law office at 602-978-6400. We always offer free consultations and comprehensive case evaluations to injured victims and their family members.

Passengers involved in Arizona car accidents may pursue compensation for their losses. Injured passengers sometimes worry that filing a claim may result in financial hardships for their friend or family member who was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash. In truth, the circumstances surrounding the accident will determine who was at-fault and if the driver’s insurance will cover the damages sustained by the victims.

Who is held liable for a car crash in Arizona depends upon who is found at-fault or who caused the accident. An investigation may be needed to prove if a driver was negligent or driving distracted. In many cases, multiple drivers may be found partially at-fault for a car accident in Arizona. In such cases, the at-fault parties may be held legally liable for the damages that result from the crash. Injured passengers may pursue compensation from the parties responsible for causing the accident.

If the at-fault driver has adequate insurance, the damages should be covered by their insurance carrier. When the liable driver is an uninsured or underinsured motorist, the victim may pursue compensation by dealing directly with their own insurance company. In either case, it may be in the best interest of the injured victim to call an experienced personal injury attorney to learn about their legal options.

The Peoria car crash attorneys at the Breyer Law Offices P.C. help all injured auto accident victims receive compensation for their losses. We also offer free consultations to anyone injured in a car accident in Arizona. Please call us at 623-930-8064 today to find out how we can help.

As Arizona car accident injury attorneys, we’re asked the question of “how much money can a case settle for?” all the time. But, despite what some personal injury attorneys say, there is no simple formula for determining this. We’ve heard potential clients say they’ve been told that you multiply the cost of the medical bills by a certain number to find out the worth of a case. This is complete and utter nonsense. There is no formula to calculate the worth of a personal injury case – and if someone says there is, then they are either lying or completely inexperienced.

So why isn’t determining the cost of a personal injury case in Arizona easier? Simply because there are so many factors involved that must first be evaluated. Medical bills are one important aspect of figuring out a case’s worth; but you also have to prove that those medical bills are reasonable, necessary and related to the car accident. Also, will the insurance company contest the medical bills? That’s always a possibility that must be considered.

Other factors that must be carefully evaluated include lost wages, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. Also, is the plaintiff a believable witness? What about the defendant? In addition to these, there are still other factors to be considered.

So if you’d like to know the fair value of your personal injury case, don’t leave it up to a random formula or myths about how cases are settled. Instead, contact an experienced Phoenix injury lawyer that you can direct your questions to about your case – and get honest and accurate answers.

Police officers will often determine when coming across accidents where there were serious injuries or even a wrongful death whether a driver should have been able to avoid the collision by stopping their vehicle. The responsible driver is often cited with ARS 28-701(A). A driver failing to control the speed of the vehicle to avoid a crash is very commonly cited in many Arizona injury cases. It is also important to remember that even though the officer may have issued a citation, it does not end all the questions in a personal injury claim about who caused the accident. A citation does not determine negligence. It only states that a driver violated a very specific law. In fact, the police officer’s judgment is not final either, as only a judge or a jury can determine who was responsible for an accident.

As experienced Phoenix car accident lawyers, we often receive calls from people who did not receive citations and then cannot understand why the other driver’s insurance company fails to take responsibility for the car wreck. The fact is, no insurance company is required to accept that their cited driver may be at fault, though hiring a top Phoenix personal injury attorney is usually a vital first step to easing an insurance company into accepting responsibility in a personal injury claim. We have talked to people who are hesitant to pursue a valid personal injury claim, even when none of the fault was theirs, or much of it belonged to someone else who was cited by the police. Determining fault when someone sustains a serious personal injury usually will require an expert reconstruction or analysis of the personal injury case.

For those who do not know where to turn after being involved in a serious car accident, we invite you to call our Arizona accident attorneys. We will not give you a sales pitch, but will rather offer an honest assessment of your personal injury claim. We will tell you if you have a good case. If we feel it is not a valid claim, we will explain why. If we do think you have a valid personal injury claim, we will let you know whether we will help with your particular injury claim. If we are not, we will offer our opinion as to how best to pursue your personal injury claim so that you will resolve it in the best possible manner.

As a certified specialist in injury and wrongful death litigation by the State Bar of Arizona, I have dealings with insurance companies for at-fault drivers in car accidents on a very regular basis. Many times, people call my office because they feel that they have been left with no other option. They call my office because they did not cause the accident but the insurance company for the other side is either refusing to settle the case, or is refusing to settle the case for anywhere near what the injured person believes would be a fair settlement. One of the things that surprises people is that Arizona insurance companies are not required to settle the case. In fact, it is precisely because of this that hiring a top personal injury Arizona attorney becomes so important even for cases that are not going to go to court.

There are only two ways that a personal injury case will usually be finished. One is by a settlement. This occurs when the insurance company makes an offer that the personal injury client is willing to accept. The other, which usually does not happen but it can at times, occurs when there is never a settlement that is reached and the case goes all the way to trial and the jury tells everybody what the case is worth. In other words, the case either ends by a settlement or it ends because of a jury verdict. There is no way to force the other insurance company to settle the case. Instead, it is the threat of taking the case to a jury and allowing this assortment of people put together as the jury on that case to decide the value of the case that threatens the insurance company into offering a fair settlement. If they are not kept honest by the threat of a jury trial, they will rarely settle the case for a fair value.

Having an experienced Arizona personal injury lawyer helping on your car accident claim is vital because it forces the insurance company to recognize that if they don’t settle the case the case is going to go to trial. In fact, this is why it is so important to not just hire any personal injury lawyer, but to hire a personal injury trial lawyer – one that actually takes cases to trial if the insurance company does not offer a fair settlement. Most people do not want to go to trial and they would prefer to settle the case. But having a lawyer on your side that the insurance company knows is going to take the case to trial if they don’t settle the case is vital to protecting your rights.

If you have any questions about a settlement that is not being offered or one that you believe is not fair, please feel free to give us a call. We are happy to answer any questions which you may have to allow you to make the best decision for you and your family during this difficult time. No doubt, it is an important decision.

Phoenix personal injury lawyers are asked this question on a regular basis. Not just from clients who want to know how much the case may settle for, but by potential clients and others who wonder how personal injury cases are evaluated. However, there is no simple formula. I have heard it said that one can simply multiply the medical bills by a certain number and that will let you know how much your personal injury case is worth. This is nonsense and it is untrue. There is no such formula. There is no way by which one can determine the correct settlement value without talking to a top Arizona personal injury lawyer.

In fact, there are just so many factors involved that they could not all be listed. Sure, the medical bills are one important aspect. However, what are those medical bills? Can they all be proven to be reasonable, necessary, and causally related to the car accident? Will the insurance company contest the medical bills? Even if they should not be contested, is there any way by which, without a lawyer, the insurance company on the other side will try to contest the medical bills? What about lost wages? What about medical bills that might be incurred for treatment in the future that is not yet known? What about diminished earning capacity and future wage loss that has not yet been incurred? What about pain? Suffering? Loss of enjoyment of life? Inability to participate in activities of daily living like before the accident? How good of a witness is the plaintiff and will the jury believe him or her? What about the defendant? Is there a corporation involved?

All of these questions are just the tip of the iceberg. If you need to know the fair value of your personal injury case, do not leave it up to random numbers and myths about how these cases are settled. Get in touch with the best Phoenix auto accident lawyer that you can find and ask the questions that you need to ask so that you can have the information that you deserve to decide how you should best pursue a settlement in your case.

ARS section 28 772 controls and governs those making a left turn at an intersection. Many serious personal injury victims suffer their injury in a car accident that took place when one party or the other was making a left-hand turn. Finding an attorney that handles Arizona personal injury claims in relation to left-turn accidents is very important.

First, consider that under ARS 28-772 the person who is making a left turn will very often be found responsible by the police officer who shows up at the scene for executing that left turn when another vehicle was so close to the intersection so as to constitute an immediate hazard. However, the question as to who was at fault in the personal injury case does not end there. Far too many people are swayed by the traffic citation given by the police officer in trying to determine whether or not there is a valid personal injury claim.

First, under Arizona personal injury laws, even if somebody is found to be partially at fault, the other driver may also be partially at fault. On top of that, the police officer’s citation is not even admissible into evidence. Therefore, the fact that the other person may have been given a ticket does not, in and of itself, guarantee that the other insurance company will fully compensate the person who has been injured. Many times, they will still deny all or partial fault. The same holds true in the other direction. In other words, the fact that a police officer gave somebody who is seriously injured a ticket does not, in and of itself, eliminate the very real possibility that there may be a personal injury claim that can be pursued.

Determining whether or not somebody has a right to bring a personal injury claim after a left turn intersection accident will often require the evaluation of an experienced and top level Arizona personal injury accident lawyer. If you have questions whatsoever about your claim or any claim involving a close loved one, please do not hesitate to contact us at Breyer Law Offices, P.C. We are happy to answer questions and provide information. We are also happy to give you the details that you may need so that you can decide how best to pursue your situation. If we believe there is no claim to be pursued, you can count on an honest answer to that question as well. If you are looking for honest answers and clear advice, please contact us. We are here to help.