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Motor Vehicle Crashes

A vehicle crash can occur within seconds, but the serious injuries, pain, disability, and financial losses can last a lifetime. Vehicle crashes also can result in a decline in your health, loss of your time and income, and a significant loss to the quality of your life. Every year, innocent victims are severely injured and sometimes killed in vehicle crashes caused by negligent and reckless drivers. Our attorneys work with our firm Investigator and a network of recognized experts to determine the cause of your crash, review medical records, assess your injuries and develop a solid case to protect your rights.

After completing our initial investigation and inspections, our firm maintains vehicles and other material evidence at our evidence warehouse, where we preserve and store evidence in order to conduct ongoing investigations while preparing our cases for settlement or trial.

We have the legal, financial, technical and expert witness resources needed to challenge doctors and other experts hired by insurance companies to limit their financial responsibility. Our experience in complex and highly technical products liability and highway engineering litigation allows our attorneys to successfully pursue and prove our clients' claims for injuries resulting from any type of automobile accident.

Our firm’s experience, reputation, trial skills and complete commitment to our clients levels the playing field for accident victims. Our legal team fights throughout the course of your case to ensure that you are compensated now and for the future.

DOs And DON’Ts For Victims Of Trucking Or Automobile Accidents

The moments after an accident are often overwhelming and confusing. There are certain key things you must do, if possible, to protect yourself. These include taking pictures of the accident, noting the time/weather and not signing your rights away to an insurance adjuster, no matter how much pressure is brought to bear. If you wait, important evidence can be washed away or lost.

You might want to print and keep a copy of these helpful tips with you for quick reference.

DOs:

• Immediately call for medical help if someone is injured.
• Call the police. They will document the accident and gather facts for legal purposes. If you don’t call the police, it is your word against another person.
• Report the accident to your insurance agent as soon as possible.
• Exchange information with the other parties involved, such as address and phone number. In a car accident, get the license plate number; make, model and year of the vehicle; driver’s insurance information; car registration number; driver’s license number.
• Get the names, addresses, and phone numbers of any witnesses.
• Use your mobile phone to take pictures of the accident, damage to the vehicle, and the area around the accident.
• Collect any physical evidence that could have caused the accident.
• Gather details from the accident: draw a diagram of the accident; note the date and time; the type of weather; the location of the accident, including any landmarks.

DON’Ts:

• Don’t panic. Remain calm and call for help.
• Don’t leave the scene of the accident.
• Don’t discuss the accident with anyone or verbally blame anyone (including you).
• Don’t forget to document and take pictures of all damages, especially your vehicle, if in a car accident.
• Don’t wait. The longer you wait to get medical care or legal advice, the harder it is to prove your case.
• Don’t speak to anybody from the at-fault person's insurance company before consulting a lawyer. If you give a statement, it may be used against you in the future.
• Don’t sign any papers given to you by an insurance company or agree to a settlement of your case until you get legal advice.

Roadway Construction Accidents

An accident at a roadwork site may not only be caused by the construction site itself; it could be caused by a street that requires repairs. Either way, these hazards can lead to one-car accidents, traffic collisions, and rolling your truck or SUV. This may result in serious head injuries, facial injuries, brain trauma, or other types of severe injury.

The clock starts ticking when you’re injured in a construction zone crash. Whether you were hurt by human error, poor road design, or confusing signs, you must act fast before your rights to compensation disappear. Investigation into your accident must start immediately. Evidence disappears quickly – roadwork is completed and signs are removed. If that happens, your accident case could be over before it even begins. Coker, Schickel, Sorenson & Posgay attorneys have experience representing people hurt in roadwork accidents. Since these cases are complex, we have the skill and resources to do what it takes to prove your case, including hiring engineers or accident reconstruction experts.

The moment you become our client, our entire legal team goes to work for you:

• In the office, attorneys and legal staff will talk to the insurance company and take the worries off your hands – so you can focus on getting treatment and beginning to recover from your injuries.
• In the field, our Investigator takes pictures at the scene of the roadwork site, talks to witnesses, and uses whatever legal means possible to gather evidence for your car crash road construction case.

Drunk-Driver Accidents

Pedestrian Injuries

Every year in the United States, there are thousands of accidents on our roads. Over 100,000 of them involve pedestrians who suffer serious injury or death. Victims range from children at school crossings to adults walking through parking lots of stores and shopping centers. The majority of these injuries and deaths are the result of careless drivers of cars, trucks or even motorcycles. This carelessness can take many forms, including speeding, failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, failure to observe other traffic signals. Drunk drivers also cause a large number of pedestrian accidents.

When cars collide with pedestrians, there is a high potential for serious injury. Pedestrian/motor vehicle accidents are a serious problem throughout the world. The United States has a particular problem with pedestrian deaths and injuries. About 5,000 pedestrians are killed and another 64,000 are injured in motor vehicle accidents every year in this country.
What Are The Major Causes of Pedestrian Injuries?

Pedestrian injuries occur most frequently in urban areas because pedestrian activity and traffic volumes are greater compared to rural areas. The following represents pedestrian accident statistics for the United States according to 2008 research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that was based on analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS):

• 4,378 pedestrian deaths occurred in 2008.
• Pedestrian deaths declined by 7 percent from 2007 to 2008, compared to a decline of 10 percent for all other crash deaths.
• Pedestrian motor vehicle crash deaths account for 12 percent of crash deaths.
• The rates of pedestrian deaths in motor vehicle crashes per 100,000 people are highest for people ages 70 and older.

Many pedestrians are killed on crosswalks, sidewalks, median strips, and traffic islands. Physical separations such as overpasses, underpasses, and barriers can reduce the problem. Increased illumination and improved signal timing at intersections also can be effective. Because traffic speeds affect the risk and severity of pedestrian crashes, reducing speeds can reduce pedestrian deaths.

Vehicle factors are important too, because the most serious injuries often result from pedestrians being thrown onto the hoods, windshields, or tops of vehicles. Serious head, pelvis, and leg injuries are common, and the severity of such injuries could be mitigated by improving vehicle designs and changing materials.

When pedestrians are injured by cars and trucks or other motor vehicles, the attorneys at Coker, Schickel, Sorenson & Posgay have the experience, skills and resources to take action against the drivers of those vehicles that cause these injuries. Unlike insurance companies that look only to protect their own interests, our firm is dedicated to doing what is right. Our legal team will thoroughly investigate the accident, examine and preserve the evidence, obtain witness statements, and take the steps necessary to overcome the insurance company's tactics.

Coker, Schickel, Sorenson & Posgay is ready to help you obtain justice - the full, fair and complete compensation you need for your past and future pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, medical expenses, lost income and pain and suffering.

Federal Government Cases

When serious injury or loss is due to the actions or negligence of a federal employee or government organization, the case will be handled in federal court. One of the most common liability situations occurs when a member of the public is injured by a defect on a public sidewalk or roadway. In these cases, it would seem clear that the governmental unit responsible for maintaining the road or walkway should be held legally responsible for the person's injuries.

Traditionally, however, governmental entities enjoy protection from suit under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, which provides the government complete immunity from suit. State and federal governments have reduced this broad sovereign immunity over the years by passing laws that limit or reduce the immunity of government entities in certain situations. These laws vary from state to state, but most are modeled on the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), which is a federal law that waives the sovereign immunity of the federal government under certain circumstances and allows it to be sued.

The Federal Tort Claims Act waives the immunity of the United States from tort liability for the acts of its officers and employees. Generally, a person who is hurt by a dangerous condition on federal property can recover damages from the United States in a premises liability suit if he or she can establish that the US's negligence was caused by a government employee acting within the scope of his or her authority; that a duty was owed to the injured party; and that the duty was breached by a hazardous condition about which the government knew or should have known.

The Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C.A. §1346, 2674 et seq.) waives the immunity of the United States from tort liability for the acts of its officers and employees. Generally, a person who is hurt by a dangerous condition on federal property can recover damages from the United States in a premises liability suit if he or she can establish that the US's negligence was caused by a government employee acting within the scope of his or her authority; that a duty was owed to the injured party; and that the duty was breached by a hazardous condition about which the government knew or should have known.

Coker, Schickel, Sorenson & Posgay attorneys have experience in handling cases against the federal government. We understand how to work successfully within the strict guidelines set by the Federal Tort Claims Act. Our firm is prepared and ready to take on the challenges of these complex cases with the dedication and skill required to obtain maximum recovery for our clients.

Cases against the government must be handled in accordance with a rigorous set of specific rules and procedures. An administrative claim or pre-suit notice has to be filed before a lawsuit can be filed. The government and its representatives then have up to six months to respond to this initial claim. It is possible they will take action related to the case, possibly with a settlement offer during this period. If the government has not responded within six months from the initial claim, the lawsuit can proceed and may be resolved by federal trial or settlement. A two-year statute of limitations applies to claims brought against the U.S. Government. To clarify, the two years is calculated from the discovery/diagnosis time, not from the initial time that you may have noticed pain from your injuries. In addition, the formula for calculating the time tolled can vary by state. In some cases, the statute of limitations can be extended.

Our attorneys will be happy to consult with you on your injuries, its causes and the timing in which they occurred, to determine if you have a legitimate claim against the U.S. Government.

To view representative Personal Injury and Wrongful Death cases our firm has handled, please click here.