After a car accident, hiring a car wreck lawyer may not be at the top of the list of things you need to do as many times you are busy getting the proper medical care to recover from the accident. Also you are thinking about how to deal with your own insurance company’s adjuster, getting your car fixed, or even thinking about buying a new one if your vehicle was totaled. Families of victims who were killed in an auto accident have their lives turned upside down. Talking to an experienced attorney often doesn’t cross people’s minds after the wreck until medical bills, repair costs, and/or funeral expenses to pile up.

Working with an attorney can help you take care of these hurdles after an auto accident. Your lawyer can help get your life back on track after a serious injury or death of a loved one. Allowing your attorney to advocate with the adjuster on your behalf gives you the time you need to get back on your feet after an accident. Working with an attorney can also help you seek compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, and other financial burdens you’ve faced because of your accident.

At Emerson Firm, PLLC, our team of experienced car wreck lawyers help our clients recover after a car wreck by advocating with insurance adjusters or defense attorneys on their behalf. We work to find out what happened, find out who was responsible to hold them accountable, and seek full compensation to cover costs and lost income after an accident.

When should you hire a car wreck lawyer?

Within a few days after your accident, you’ll likely be contacted by your auto insurance adjuster and/or the other driver’s adjuster. This is a tactic used by insurance adjusters try to take a statement from victims that may be a statement against their interest in order to deny the claim or pay less money on the claim. Having an attorney you can refer the insurance adjusters to when they come calling can not only reduce stress and allow you to recover, it can help you navigate through the intense process insurance adjusters make you go through after an accident. Don’t make any statements to adjusters without talking to us first.

Because insurance adjusters are in the business of trying to avoid paying out following an accident, they have a team whose goal is to deny claims or pay lesser amounts. Instead of dealing with an adjuster alone, victims can have lawyers on their side whose goal is to get the victim as much financial compensation as possible.

The more severe the injury, the higher the stakes for both you, your family, and insurance companies. One study performed in 1999 by the Insurance Research Council found that 85% of all money paid out by insurance companies for bodily injuries was paid to victims who hired attorneys to represent them. In addition, the researchers discovered that the amount victims with attorneys received was 3.7 times higher than those without attorneys.

How soon after your accident should you speak with an attorney?

Adjusters for insurance companies try to speak with all parties involved in a car accident as soon as they can. You can likely expect to be contacted by your auto insurance adjuster or by the adjuster for the other party within just a few days after the accident. If you’re trying to recover in the first few days after an accident, you’re likely in a state of mind where it’s really difficult to think two steps ahead of an experienced insurance adjuster. And all of your injuries may not have even manifested yet. In other words, you may not know what all of your injuries even are so soon after the accident.

Speaking with an attorney before insurance adjusters begin to contact you is a vital step in protecting your ability to make a claim. While it’s not the first thing on your mind, finding an attorney who can represent you is one of the first things you should do after taking care of immediate medical needs.

How do you find the right attorney for your case?

You may also be inundated with letters from so-called “ambulance chasers” who have pulled the police report on your accident to get your contact information so that they can solicit your business. Don’t call them after getting their solicitation letters, call the experienced car wreck lawyers at Emerson Firm, PLLC at (501) 286-4622.

With so many car wreck lawyers advertising their services for victims of auto accidents, it can be hard to find the right attorney. The best way to find an experienced car wreck lawyer is to speak with them to make sure you feel comfortable with them. Ask them the hard questions and find out their level of experience. As your lawyer, they’re going to work closely with you to help you recover.

At Emerson Firm, PLLC, we offer free initial consultations to help you make a decision about the right car wreck attorney to work with. We take the role of advocating for our clients seriously and would be happy to speak with you about your case. Contact us today at (501) 286-4622 to get started. We get results!

Yes, trucks make wide turns. But is that really an excuse for taking someone else’s life when the driver doesn’t take the appropriate steps to ensure the safety of other drivers?

Imagine this scenario: you’re waiting in the middle of your lane at a red light and a semi is making a left hand turn. Despite that the truck driver can clearly see there isn’t enough space to make the turn, the driver proceeds forward rushed by trying to make a left at a busy intersection.

While the truck driver is closely watching on-coming traffic, oftentimes he’s not paying attention to how far the end of the trailer will come into your lane. And next thing, you’re in an accident with a truck, even though you were in your lane, not moving and obeying the traffic signal.

This isn’t an unlikely scenario. 61% of all accidents that occur while turning or when crossing intersections are left turns while just 3.1% are right turns. Yet unlike UPS that focuses on eliminating left turns as much as possible, truck drivers make left turns often.

Right hand turns can be just as dangerous although they may occur with less frequency.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has a handy graphic and guide on their website to help vehicle drivers understand how to drive around tractor trailer trucks. The graphic shows that semi rigs often have to enter the other lane of traffic to make right hand turns because the trailer requires them to turn further into the intersection for clearance.

A truck driver could easily be focused on his mirrors, watching for clearance for the back of his truck. Rather than being focused on just how far forward he’s pulling into your lane as you’re stopped at a light or driving with the flow of traffic and obeying the law, that truck driver could easily cause an accident if he’s not careful.

The fact alone that trucks must often drive into oncoming traffic to make turns is troubling but what’s more is that truck drivers, trucking companies, and even the FMCSA place blame on vehicle drivers. Anyone reading the information on the FMCSA’s guide can easily see it’s crafted in a way to place blame on drivers of vehicles, rather than the truck drivers.

“Pay particular attention when trucks are turning right so you don’t get caught in the ‘right turn squeeze,’” the guide indicates, insinuating that it’s a vehicle driver’s fault for not getting out of a truck’s way.

If you’ve been in a truck accident, being told it was your fault because you didn’t get out of the truck’s way may have been something you heard. Whether you were waiting at a light or driving with the regular flow of traffic and obeying the law, being told you needed to move for a truck is likely a sign that you weren’t at fault for the accident.

In Arkansas, trucking accidents not only occur at intersections but also on our narrow and winding roads. Logging trucks in particular pose the most threats for vehicles as they often cross the line around turns to maintain speed. On blind corners or hairpin turns not uncommon in Arkansas, being told you should have moved over in your lane for a truck you couldn’t see coming is not the solution.

Instead, holding the truck driver accountable and reminding the trucking industry that they must obey traffic laws is the answer and can help you reestablish your life or family after a trucking accident. We help clients send a message to the trucking industry by actively pursuing cases where truckers expected vehicles to move out of their way and want to talk to you if you were told the accident occurred because your vehicle was in the way or any other major trucking accident.