While being involved in a serious Kentucky car accident and suffering significant injuries is stressful and upsetting for most accident victims, this frustration can turn to anger when the insurance company for the other driver refuses to deal reasonably with your claim. It is a very common strategy for insurance companies to attempt to allocate some of all of the blame for a car accident, motorcycle crash, trucking collisions or other motor vehicle mishap to the injury victim. Sometimes this task is made much easier because the law enforcement report may incorrectly conclude that you were at-fault.
The tragic reality is that many parties that attempt to take on large insurance companies without an attorney give up or settle for a low-ball offer in the face of such tactics. However, it is important to understand that the conclusions of an insurance company regarding fault will be guided by their primary motivation which is to reduce cost by denying or minimizing the amounts paid out on insurance claims.
Even if the law enforcement report assigns some or all fault to you in a collision, police officers that investigate an accident scene can and do sometimes make mistakes. If you or someone close to you is injured in a motor vehicle accident in Kentucky, you should always obtain a copy of the police report promptly and analyze the information for inaccuracies. If you defect errors or mistakes in the factual information in the accident report, you should contact the officer that prepared the report and clarify the information as soon as possible. There are many reasons that the police report may be inaccurate in its conclusion regarding fault, including but not limited to the following:
- Failure to identify and interview a relevant witnesses
- Confusion about the information provided by witnesses
- Lies or misrepresentations about the facts provided by occupants of the other vehicle
- Poor transcription of your statements
- Failure to carefully review the accident scene
In any event, someone who is injured in a car accident in Winchester or the surrounding areas of Kentucky should never simply rely on the opinion of the other driver's insurance adjuster or even a law enforcement accident report when assessing one's claim for financial compensation. Our experienced Kentucky car accident attorneys have successfully represented many clients despite claims that they were at-fault, at least in part, for causing an auto accident. We draw on our experience handling hundreds of motor vehicle accident claims as well as the expertise of accident reconstruction experts when using "fresh eyes" to allocate financial responsibility for a Kentucky auto collision.
Even if an insurance adjuster is correct that you were a contributing factor to a motor vehicle collision, this does not necessarily mean you are not entitled to be compensated for your injuries. Because Kentucky is a "pure comparative fault" jurisdiction, you can recover for your injuries suffered in a car accident even if you are more at-fault for causing the collision than the other driver. While the amount you are awarded in damages will be reduced in accordance to the percentage of fault assigned to you, recovery is not barred even if you are 70, 90 or even 99 percent at-fault. When someone suffers catastrophic injuries like a traumatic brain injury, severed limb, or spinal cord injury, the potential damages may justify litigation even if you were 99 percent responsible for the accident.
If you or someone you love has been injured in a Kentucky car accident or a loved one has died, you may have a legal claim for financial compensation. Our experienced Kentucky auto accident injury attorneys at Goeing and Goeing offer a free consultation so that we can evaluate your claim and identify the appropriate parties to hold financially responsible for your injuries or loss of a loved one. Weencourage you to schedule a FREE consultation and contact us at (859) 744-4004 or toll free at 1 (888) 595-2943 or visit our website at www.kylawpractice.com. We look forward to hearing from you and assisting you with your legal needs!