Car Accident Lawyer Near Me

Car Accident Lawyer Near Me

When you are injured in a Virginia or West Virginia car accident, you need a car accident lawyer near you to protect the integrity of your claim and fight for the compensation you deserve. At Skinner Accident & Injury Lawyers, our personal injury lawyers have years of experience helping others protect their rights.

If you or a loved one has been hurt in a car accident, let us handle your claim so you can focus on what matters most. Our award-winning team will work tirelessly on your behalf. We treat you like family.

The Role of a Car Accident Lawyer

An attorney wears many hats over the lifecycle of a personal injury case. You hire a car accident lawyer in Martinsburg, WV, for our legal experience, but we offer much more than just representation in the courtroom.

Investigation

Investigation is the first step in any case. As your lawyer, we will investigate the circumstances of your accident. This may include interviewing witnesses, requesting records, or revisiting the scene of the accident. While we may ask you questions to gather more information, much of the investigation is something we handle.

Building Strategy

When we are confident that we have all of the relevant facts, we can solidify our argument for your compensation. Sometimes, this is a relatively simple process. For example, if someone t-boned you while you were waiting at a red light, the case may be pretty straightforward, requiring documentation of your injuries and evidence of what happened.

Negotiation

When we have a strategy for your case, we bring the facts to the insurance company. This often becomes a negotiation. The insurance company will typically take time to review the evidence and submit a counteroffer for compensation. This will often be the minimum they think they can offer you, providing room for negotiating up. It can require someone skilled in law and negotiation to fully understand and utilize leverage in your case, allowing you to recover a higher settlement.

Filing Papers

The legal field is notoriously administrative in nature. Much of your case relies on the timely and accurate completion of documents in order to maximize your potential compensation. While resources exist to help you navigate this process on your own, mistakes can cost you valuable time and money.

Why Choose Skinner Accident and Injury Lawyers

Skinner Accident and Injury Lawyers has a long history of serving the communities of Virginia and West Virginia. Initially founded in 1969 as Nichols & Skinner, our firm has grown and changed with the needs of the area. Keeping it in the family, Stephen and Andrew Skinner took over the firm in 2008 and eventually renamed it Skinner Accident & Injury Lawyers.

Our team offers more than 60 years of combined experience providing legal representation tailored to each client’s needs. We are firmly committed to protecting individuals injured by someone else’s negligence.

We support our community by helping injury victims hold people accountable for violating the rules that keep us safe. We hope that each case resulting in a settlement or verdict in our favor will encourage others to make lawful and responsible decisions.

Common Causes of Car Accidents Near You

Countless factors can contribute to car accidents. However, as a car accident lawyer in Winchester, VA, some of the more common causes we see include:

Many, if not most, accidents are due to driver negligence. However, some accidents can be caused by a manufacturing or mechanical issue beyond the driver’s control. Similarly, some vehicles, like motorcycles, may be particularly vulnerable to road surface or maintenance issues. These may be avenues our car accident attorney near you will choose to investigate.

What to Do After a Car Accident

The immediate aftermath of an accident can be overwhelming, and truthfully, there are many pieces to settling a claim. However, you can focus on just a few post-accident steps that can safeguard your recovery.

Safety

Your first priority should always be your safety. This may mean moving your car out of the middle of the road or calling 911 to help with traffic control or assess injuries. If you have concerns about a significant neck or spinal injury, it may be best to avoid trying to get out of your vehicle or moving it. In this instance, you can simply turn on your hazard lights and call 911.

Report the Accident

You can report the accident by calling 911. As stated above, this can get EMS on the scene to evaluate any injuries and police to help with traffic control or relocating the vehicles. However, this can also be a critical step in documentation. Police will often take witness statements and perform an investigation into the accident, which you may later recover from a police report.

Photos

Photos serve as yet another point of documentation. Witness statements and individual evaluations of the incident may vary. Photos of injuries, damage to vehicles, and the surrounding area may provide valuable insight into what happened and who may be responsible. Additionally, photos can help you document the extent of damage and injuries.

Exchange Information

Following an accident, getting information about the accident is critical. This includes the other driver’s name and insurance information as well as the names and phone numbers of any bystanders and witnesses. If you do not get this information at the scene, you can likely find it on the police report. You can make that process easier by ensuring you get the name of the responding officer and the case number.

Medical Evaluation

Seeking immediate medical care can make or break many cases for a couple of reasons. First, it provides immediate documentation of your injuries to establish that they were caused by the accident. If you wait a few days, you may open yourself up to allegations that your injuries were not caused by the accident but by some other incident.

Additionally, early identification of injuries provides the best opportunity for recovery and decreases your chances of unintentional exacerbation. If you fail to identify the issue until after it worsens, it may again open you up to challenges on the severity of your injuries.

What to Expect in Your Car Accident Case

You may avoid contacting a car accident attorney in Charles Town, WV, because of the unknown. At Skinner Accident & Injury Lawyers, we’re here to debunk myths about personal injury law and court cases, and prepare you for what you can really expect in a car accident case. Some of the common components of a case include:

  • We investigate the accident and gather evidence.
  • We negotiate with the insurance company to reach an agreed settlement amount.
  • If you are unable to agree on a settlement amount and pursue a lawsuit through the court system, discovery and depositions may begin.
  • Both parties present evidence at a court hearing.
  • The case ends with either a  verdict from the judge/jury or an accepted settlement offer outside of court.

Many car accident cases are resolved outside the courts because most insurance companies are heavily incentivized to avoid going before a judge. They often try to avoid this due to the risks of losing control over the amounts paid, incurring more legal fees, and being ordered to pay more damages than you initially requested. However, they may be less inclined to settle if they are confident of a win.

What You Should Know About the Insurance Company

The insurance company’s primary goal is to minimize its payout while avoiding a lawsuit for bad faith practices like offering unreasonably low settlement amounts. They may employ a variety of tactics to do this, but working with a car accident lawyer near you can help you identify, avoid, or challenge some of the common strategies.

Discrediting Your Claims

Discrediting your claims is one of the most common ways an insurance company may fight your claim. They may try to argue that you were at fault for the accident or that your injuries are not as bad as you say. A significant source of “evidence” for this can come from social media. You may know that your participation in a family vacation was limited and that your injuries made you miss out on valuable family time. Still, when you post on social media about how much fun you had, this can be what the insurance company needs to instill doubt about how much your injuries really affect your quality of life.

Unnecessary Delays

Especially when you are unrepresented, insurance companies may drag their feet in responding to e-mails, returning calls, reviewing information, or processing your claim. They know that whether you are a Virginia or West Virginia resident, injury victims are up against the statute of limitations. When they drag out the claim process, they may rely on you to accept a lower settlement offer to avoid going to court. Working with a Winchester, VA, car accident lawyer can help them take you seriously and move your claim through with appropriate timing.

Liability in a Car Accident Case

In most situations, liability in a car accident case is determined by which driver is at fault or caused the accident. When police respond to the scene, they may cite a driver, which can clarify the question of liability. However, in situations where both drivers are cited as at fault, this can make a dramatic difference in the outcome of your case.

Contributory Negligence

Contributory negligence refers to a negligence model in which you lose the ability to recover damages if you are, in any way, responsible for the accident. This is established in 8.01-34 of The Code of Virginia. In the few states operating on this model, contacting an attorney immediately to reduce your risk of liability can be essential.

Comparative Negligence

Most states operate on a pure or modified comparative negligence model. In West Virginia, fault in an accident operates on modified comparative negligence, according to 55-7-13 of the state code. This modified comparative negligence statute allows you to recover proportionate compensation as long as your apportionment of fault is less than the combined fault of all parties per 55-7-13c.

Under this model, your award is decreased proportionate to your liability. For example, if the awarded damages are $100,000, but you are considered 10% guilty, your award is reduced by 10%, leaving you with $90,000.

Common Injuries in Car Accidents

Car accidents can cause significant, life-altering injuries, whether for a period of a few weeks or the rest of your life. Some of the more common injuries we see include:

  • Broken bones
  • Internal bleeding
  • Crush injuries
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Soft tissue injury
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Debilitating or catastrophic injuries

The types and severity of injuries can vary dramatically depending on the type of accident. For example, injuries resulting from a truck accident may be more severe than those from another car.

A Car Accident Attorney Near You May Help Recover Compensation for Your Injuries

If you want to maximize your compensation, contacting a car accident attorney in Charles Town early on may be integral. They can advise you on your rights to compensation and help you get the appropriate treatment and gather the right documents to substantiate your claim for damages. The details of every case are different, but some of the damages you may be eligible to claim include:

Unfortunately, we know all too well that accidents can be fatal. If you are looking for a personal injury attorney near you for support in a wrongful death claim, we can also help you navigate the claim process for those damages. No amount of money will make up for the loss of a loved one in your life, but we aim to help you hold the other person accountable and fight for compensation that may give you financial room to grieve while still providing for your family.

Our Car Accident Lawyer Near Me Law Firm Can Help You Fight For Your Rights to Compensation

Managing an insurance claim process can feel overwhelming on the best days, and impossible if you are also trying to recover from injuries. At Skinner Accident &

 Injury Lawyers, our car accident lawyer near you is dedicated to helping our clients fight for the right to compensation. We take the lead in the settlement process, allowing you to focus on your well-being and recovery.

With three offices across Virginia and West Virginia, you can choose a location that works best for you. Call us today to schedule a case consultation and discuss your legal options.