New Hampshire and Massachusetts Car Accident Lawyers

Our team of New Hampshire and Massachusetts car accident lawyers and attorneys specialize in handling all types of car accident cases throughout Nashua, Manchester, and southern New Hampshire and Massachusetts. An illustration of these include:

• Rear end car accidents
• T-bone car accidents
• Head-on collisions
• Roll-over car accidents
• Drunk driving car accidents
• Single car accidents with a passenger injury
• Car accidents with ride-share apps
• Commercial vehicle accidents
• Truck accidents
• Motorcycle accidents

Notably, to successfully win a car accident case, our car accident lawyers have to prove that the defendant driver was negligent. Some examples of driver negligence include:

• Following too closely
• Failure to keep a proper look out
• Distracted driving
• Texting while driving
• Running a stop light
• Running a stop sign
• Failure to yield
• Unsafe lane change
• Unsafe overtaking
• Speeding
• Driving while intoxicated

Evidently, an injured party is entitled to a number of different damages associated with a car accident. These include:

• Reimbursement for medical bills and expenses
• Lost wages
• Lost earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Future pain and suffering
• Future medical bills and expenses
• Psychological harm including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Permanent impairment

Bodily Injury Coverage – Who Pays First:

According to our team of experienced New Hampshire and Massachusetts auto accident attorneys and car accident lawyers, vehicular accident cases require an intricate understanding of insurance coverage. All things considered, the available bodily injury (BI) coverage on the vehicle that caused the crash limits a claimant’s recovery. An insurance company is never going to pay more than their policy limits. A point most overlooked it that most people believe that the defendant should immediately cover the claimant’s property damage and medical bills. While that is logical, it is not the case. As it turns out, the client’s own insurance company covers property damage. After which point, the BI reimburses them in a process called subrogation. So, with that being said, the client’s own Medpay coverage (if available) and their own health insurance (if available) covers medical bills.

Lack of Health Insurance:

If a claimant does not have their own health insurance or Medpay coverage, consequentially, they have to go out of pocket to cover their medical bills for medical treatment associated with the motor vehicle accident. This scenario puts the car accident victim in a very difficult catch 22. On one hand, they do not want to go into debt because another driver caused their car accident injuries. On the other hand, without significant medical treatment, there is no way to prove the extent of the injuries when it comes time to prove their car accident claim.

It is crucial that a claimant has a paper trial of medical records and bills to submit to the insurance company when it comes time to negotiate their claim. The insurance companies are not going to take your word for it unless there’s sufficient documentation.

Ask a Car Accident Lawyer – 1 | Nashua Personal Injury Blog | (granite-law-group.com)

Health Insurance Liens:

It is important to realize that health insurance may have a lien for the claimant’s medical treatment. Evidently, these liens get reimbursed from a settlement. Public health insurance, such as Medicare or Medicaid, have an automatic lien on the potential car accident settlement. Whereas, private health insurance may assert a lien on a potential car accident settlement. It is the responsibility of the private health insurance company to perfect their lien. Sometimes they fail to do that. In either case, the lien is for the “adjusted down” rate of what they spent to cover the medical bills. Under the “Collateral Source Rule,” the BI must credit the claimant for the gross amount of the bills. Cyr v. J.I. Case Co., 139 NH 193 (1994). In other words, the claimant gets the benefit of the gross amount of the bills minus the lien.

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Underinsured Motorist Coverage:

With that being said, the BI coverage only comes into play when the claimant is ready to settle their car accident case. Sometimes the BI policy is not enough. Under those circumstances, the car accident attorney can tap into the claimant’s underinsured motorist (UM) coverage. It is crucial that the car accident attorney must have an intricate understanding of UM insurance to maximize recovery.

For example, you cannot stack the UM coverage on top of the BI coverage. You are only entitled to the remaining UM coverage after a BI offset. So, if there’s $100,000 in UM coverage and you have already exhausted the $25,000 BI policy, there would only be $75,000 in remaining UM.

This brings us to another point. A claimant must get written consent from the UM carrier to accept a tender of the full BI policy before seeking UM recovery. If the claimant does not get written consent, they waive their right to any remaining UM.

In truck cases, we typically see commercial policies that have $1,000,000 in coverage. After that, there can be layers of excess insurance coverage. Thus, UM does not typically come into play.

Difference Maker:

All things considered, car accident cases can be very straightforward. With that being said, a seasoned, and experienced New Hampshire auto accident attorney and car accident lawyer can make a substantial difference in the outcome of a case when a personal injury claim is involved. As an illustration, if there is a discrepancy between how the crash occurred, the claimant needs to come up with some objective proof to tip the scales in his favor.

An experienced auto collision attorney is going to go the extra mile. In our firm, we compare property damage photographs which reveal the point of impact. We track down eyewitnesses by ordering 911 calls. Welcome to the NH Division of Emergency Services and Communications (New Hampshire 911) | New Hampshire Emergency Services and Communications. And we also review police reports kept by the NH State Police Mission Statement: | NH State Police.

A good New Hampshire car accident lawyer will even perform calculations of speed and distance utilizing Google Earth measurements when there’s a car crash. https://earth.google.com/web/. They will subpoena the defendant’s cellphone records to see if he was distracted. Maybe they will even pull municipal surveillance footage. All these extra pieces of evidence will point to whose version of events is more credible than the others. Our Nashua car accident lawyers have been able to work with the Nashua and Manchester police departments on several high-profile cases.

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Working with Expert Accident Reconstructionists:

Sometimes, it is necessary to retain an accident reconstruction expert who can re-create the car crash through scientific analysis. These methods include taking measurements of skid marks and calculating the rate of speed. Our team of New Hampshire car accident lawyers have worked with renowned accident reconstruction experts. Undeniably, these experts possess extensive training with the Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstruction (ACTAR). ACTAR.org Many of these reconstruction experts have backgrounds in law enforcement which lends to their credibility and impartiality.

Furthermore, when the NH State Police Crash Analysis Reconstruction (CAR) Unit is involved in a case, we know how to coordinate with these law enforcement experts and use them in our case. Our Nashua car accident lawyers and auto accident attorneys have been successful in doing that in cases throughout Nashua, Manchester, and southern New Hampshire.

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Comparative Fault:

Most importantly, not every collision is cut and dry. Oftentimes, both motorists bear some degree responsibility for how the motor vehicle crash occurred. Evidently, New Hampshire is a comparative fault jurisdiction. Section 507:7-d Comparative Fault. (state.nh.us). What this means is that if the plaintiff is comparatively at fault his recovery is diminished by a percentage of his fault. So, for example, assume a jury finds the plaintiff 25% at fault and the defendant 75%. A verdict of $100,000 gets reduced to $75,000. If the plaintiff is found to be 51% or more at fault they are entitled to no recovery at all.

Therefore, it’s crucial that the plaintiff fight for full recovery in a “he said, she said” case when the car accident victim suffers injuries. An experienced car accident attorney is going to do everything in their power to obtain full recovery for his client. Our Nashua auto accident attorneys and car accident lawyers do just that throughout Nashua, Manchester, and southern New Hampshire for car accident victims who suffer injuries.

Links:

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Uninsured Motorist Coverage: Are You Really Protected? | Nashua Personal Injury Lawyers Blog | September 12, 2023 (granite-law-group.com)

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