Whenever someone is in a bad motorcycle accident, the first thing that most of them think is… do I need a motorcycle attorney? Or, do I really want to bring a motorcycle lawsuit against the individual responsible for my injuries?
The answer to the first part is, yes, you need an attorney.
The answer to the second part is, you don’t need to decide about bringing a motorcycle accident lawsuit, because that is a last resort. The insurance company’s willingness to negotiate a motorcycle accident settlement will determine whether a lawsuit is required to take care of your expenses.
Call Lee Gaber at 888-292-5352 to find out why.
I can tell you with over 27 years of motorcycle law experience to back me up, a a motorcycle attorney will make it easier and allow you to recover more money. All my clients will be able to confirm that!
It may seem like a tough decision to make a call to a motorcycle lawyer for advice. But you truly have nothing to lose.
Making the Decision to File a Lawsuit
If a friend is standing right next to you giving you the extra little push to make the no obligation call to me at 888-292-5352, take their advice, because chances are they are seeing things from a different perspective than you are after a crash.
You should not have any reservations about calling me. It’s just a conversation about what happened to you. I receive calls like this all day and am happy to help however I can. I never pressure you to hire me. The decision is totally up to you and your family.
After I listen to calls about a client’s version of events, I go on to explain that at this point we are not filing a motorcycle lawsuit against anyone, and actually our goal is to never have to file an accident lawsuit, period.
In virtually every situation, the filing of a motorcycle accident lawsuit in Pennsylvania is the option of last resort, after we have tried our best to amicably resolve your motorcycle insurance claim with a settlement.
Motorcycle Lawsuit Evaluation
Even if we arrive at the point where we absolutely cannot reach a settlement with the insurance company for your motorcycle claim, we have a number of options other than filing a motorcycle accident lawsuit. This does lengthen the process but rarely ever makes the time period as long as many people assume.
Generally speaking, the only time we will file a motorcycle injury lawsuit immediately is when the insurance company responsible for handling the personal injury claim unreasonably denies your motorcycle accident claim.
This does happen on rare occasion, but only when the responsible party is being totally unreasonable with regard to how the accident happened.
In those limited cases, not only will we file your motorcycle accident lawsuit but we will “fast-track” it by sending out our written discovery requests at the same time we file the lawsuit and also will schedule the depositions (questioning under oath) as soon as possible.
So if you are hesitating on calling a motorcycle lawyer for a property damage claim, or to recover lost wages, or for pain and suffering, please don’t hesitate simply because you may believe it takes a long time to resolve a claim.
Good motorcycle attorneys can force an accident settlement in a matter of weeks, if not days.
The alternative? An insurance company can drag out negotiations until you are drowning in medical bills and are forced to take a lesser settlement just to keep afloat financially. It is one of their typical tactics.
Call 888-292-5352 for a free consultation
If your claim does got to trial I have found that by pushing the motorcycle lawsuit through the system, and getting the responsible party in a room, under oath, I can usually shred their version of events, resulting in a settlement for my client.
Although I have had many clients insist they do not want a motorcycle lawsuit, even after negotiations have stalled, many quickly change their mind once the entire situation is discussed and explained, and rarely has a client ever regretted taking my advice.
Collecting the Evidence You Need
One of the most common questions my clients ask me during our free initial consultation is some variation on “What kind of evidence do we need for a lawsuit?” and “How do we go about collecting it?”
I’m happy to get this question because it demonstrates that my clients are thinking rationally about how to win their case, and that they understand that they cannot count on the insurance companies to take care of the matter with their best interests at heart.
It also shows that they understand that their word against the other driver’s word is not going to cut it, and that they need to take some initiative themselves.
Motorcycle accident lawyers are tasked with protecting your rights, and a prompt, thorough motorcycle accident investigation is one of the first steps we’ll take after you contact me.
We start the motorcycle accident investigation right away
If possible, you should start gathering some types of basic evidence even before contacting an attorney. This will help me hit the ground running as I handle your claim.
Evidence you can easily collect on your own includes:
Photos or video of the crash site – Sometimes included with the police report.
Medical reports if you sustained injuries – Also available upon your request and will help your motorcycle injury lawyer in recovering medical expenses.
Once we’ve gone over any items that you may already have, we will get a more in-depth motorcycle accident investigation under way.
Possible avenues of investigation our team may explore:
- A forensic inspection of the accident scene – This could involve measuring any skidmarks left by the crash, taking impressions of tire tracks, examining blood stains, and looking for damage to the pavement itself.
- Accident reconstruction – Sometimes it will be necessary to work with accident reconstruction experts to take the forensic evidence described above, and use it to recreate the exact sequence of events leading to the accident.
- Witness interviews – You or your attorney will want to interview any witnesses as soon as possible after the accident, so that their memories will be fresh and can be used to corroborate the physical evidence. Some information to glean from them includes when they arrived at the scene, where they were headed, their location at the time of the accident, and whether or not they had a clear view.
- Clothing samples and photos – If injuries were sustained blood-stained clothing and fibers can help to establish their severity.
- Close inspection of the vehicles involved – An in-depth inspection of the vehicles can help to determine if they were mechanically sound and safe to drive at the time of the crash. For example, faulty brakes or bald tires on the other vehicle can be evidence that the other driver was at fault.
Remember, you are more than just a passive victim in your Pennsylvania motorcycle accident investigation
To help build a strong case, take photos at the scene if you can. Gather contact information of other victims and witnesses. Write down everything you can remember about the crash as soon as you can.
During your recovery, and as we work your claim, additional pieces of evidence will continue to come in. Medical bills and correspondence with the insurance companies and hospitals will help establish the severity of your injuries and their impact on your life, so keep them organized and easily accessible.
Keep a journal of your recovery with both narrative and photos to establish how the injury has affected your life.
Settlement v. The Jury – Which is Best?
As your motorcycle accident attorney, it is our job to collect all of the evidence of your damages, preparing for the possibility of going before a the jury for a verdict from the onset.
The evidence of damages includes your lost wages, damages to your motorcycle and any personal property, evidence of permanent disability, records documenting your medical treatment and rehabilitation, and certainly evidence of your present and future pain and suffering, as well as photos depicting the injuries and any resulting scars.
For this reason, pictures of all injuries, and scars should be saved.
Once we have collected and summarized all of your motorcycle accident related damages, we then send a demand package to the insurance company in hopes of a motorcycle accident settlement.
Settlements and Verdicts
If you are ever involved in a motorcycle accident and are searching for a motorcycle accident law firm, the first question you should ask the injury attorney is, “what percentage of your files are litigated v. settled?”
It is our belief that a large portion of the motorcycle accident cases should settle at some point prior to trial; if the motorcycle attorney is committed to putting forth the time and effort required to keep your case moving toward settlement, as opposed to ending up in front of a judge or jury.
The benefits of settling a case are clear:
- the injured client ends up with their money quicker, and
- the doctors are reimbursed faster, especially if there is no health insurance
We have come to realize that the quicker a case can be resolved, assuming a happy client, then the more likely referrals will follow.
Settlements and verdicts vary, but you can be confident that we will always be looking out for your best interests no matter which direction your case takes us.
Hire an Experienced Motorcycle Attorney
If you have questions about motorcycle lawyers and how we can help you with a PA motorcycle crash, please feel free to call an attorney with over 27 years of experience at 888-292-5352 (888-cycle-law). I’m available 24/7!
You can send a message online for Pennsylvania motorcycle accident attorney Lee D. Gaber, or call and I promise to explain every detail about resolving your claim, from start to finish.