Car accidents can cause a wide range of financial losses including property damage, emergency medical treatment, disability requiring long-term medical care, and both temporary and permanent loss of income. While most drivers dutifully pay their auto insurance premiums believing they will be covered in the event of an accident, the sad truth is that due to policy limits, exclusions, and denied claims, the full financial loss of a serious car accident is rarely reimbursed by insurance.
Receiving Compensation for a Car Accident
When insurance doesn’t provide full compensation, it may be possible to recover through a car accident lawsuit. It’s important to understand that, in court, car accidents aren’t resolved based on common notions of “accident” vs. “on-purpose” but rather, on legal fault. The idea of legal fault is that a driver who commits a careless, negligent, or reckless act that leads to an accident is legally responsible even if it was “just an accident.” This could include actions like checking a phone while driving, traveling too fast for conditions, following too closely, or not looking carefully before changing lanes.
A driver who is legally responsible for causing an accident is responsible for reimbursing any other parties who were involved for any foreseeable financial losses that they suffered from the accident. In Illinois, a lawsuit will be filed against the liable driver, even though the insurance company will ultimately pay for the insured driver’s negligence.
Proving fault in court requires a careful reconstruction of police reports, witness statements, and other available evidence. To avoid not receiving the full value of a claim due to lack of knowledge of what you were entitled to or not knowing the appropriate legal procedures, talk to an experienced car accident attorney at Bennett Law Offices.
