Car Accident Claims

Phone records can help your auto accident attorney prove that the other driver was using their cell phone at the time of your car accident.

The most dreaded result for you and your St. Louis auto accident attorney is to be locked in a “he said, she said” personal injury case. The reason is that these situations rarely yield favorable results unless new evidence comes to light. One example of further proof is cell phone records, which can indicate driver distraction at the time of the accident. This new information can turn the tides of your claim, so pursuing it is worth your consideration.

Fault

The critical factor in personal injury cases is fault. As a result, what you need to do is assess the conditions surrounding your accident. That can mean liability for you, the other driver, a third party, or a combination of the three. Once you calculate rough percentages for each party’s fault, you can craft a strategy for obtaining compensation. The reason that this concept is relevant to the current discussion is that you can argue that texting or talking on the phone is a negligent behavior and that one party could be liable for engaging in it.

Dangerous Phone Use Behaviors

The three most dangerous behaviors people engage in with their phones are talking, texting, and internet browsing. Each of them generally takes people’s attention off the road and their hands off the wheel. The results can be disastrous, as distracted driving is one of the top causes of accidents and fatalities across the country.

Your Word Against Theirs

If another driver is using their phone when they hit you, you may have a case against them. Unfortunately, they might deny their usage despite you clearly seeing that they were. The result will be a “your word against theirs” situation, which rarely gets resolved. You do have one option that can prove the legitimacy of your claim, though.

Using Cell Phone Records

The best way to prove phone use is through company records. If you can get access to them, you can show that the other party was using their phone at the time of the accident, or at least just before it. This will strengthen your case and lead to a more favorable settlement. In the context of a negotiation outside of court, your lawyer will use the records as leverage to sweeten your deal. If you end up at a trial, the judge will take the data into account.

How to Obtain Them

As you might imagine, you can’t just find somebody else’s private information online. What you can do, though, is ask your lawyer to draft a subpoena. This is a legal document that is essentially a request for the data to be released. Your attorney will argue to the cell phone company that the information is needed for your case, and they will often comply.

If your request is denied or the records do not indicate wrongdoing, then you can simply move on. On the other hand, if you prove that another party was using their cell phone, that could be the break you need to shift the case in your favor.

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One of the best pieces of evidence you can collect in a car accident case is witness testimony.

That being said, they are not perfect and are frequently called into question. The primary way lawyers do so is through assessing witness credibility, which we explain below.

Why Witnesses Are so Crucial

The most powerful support you can obtain for your case is physical evidence. If you have a video or a compelling accident reconstruction, you will have an excellent shot at compensation. Unfortunately, physical evidence is sometimes hard to find. Instead, the situation becomes your word against the other drivers, with no practical way to turn the tides in your favor. This is where witnesses come in. When you find another person that tells the story of the accident precisely as you do, you can confirm your legitimacy.

How Reliable Are Witness Accounts?

As compelling as witness accounts are, they are not perfect. The reason is that people are flawed and frequently make mistakes. Your witness may have seen the accident wrong. The result is that legal professionals look at the credibility of witnesses before immediately believing their stories.

Factors That Affect Credibility

The following are some of the factors that a lawyer might look at the assess witness credibility. If that attorney argues well enough, the testimony that person gives will be less powerful.

Being Related to a Driver – The best kind of witness is one that is an impartial third party. These types of people will have less bias than somebody more involved. If your witness is a friend of yours, her testimonies will be worth much less.

Being Distracted – The best case scenario is that your witness is sitting on a park bench watching cars go by when your accident takes place. Of course, this does not usually happen. Instead, witnesses often distracted by driving, walking their dog, or taking part in some other activity.

False Memory – A witness might tell what they think is his side of the story, but is actually something they heard from another person in the aftermath of the accident.

Past Behavior – Past legal troubles can call the character of the witness into question.

Sensory Issues – A witness with poor hearing or eyesight might find that the legal system discounts her testimony.

Intoxication – Witnesses that are not sober will fare worse in the legal process.

Memory Issues – Occasionally, a witness will have a memory issue like Alzheimer’s disease. Opposing lawyers will use this information to discount that testimony.

The job of your St. Louis car accident attorney is the compile every piece of information that can help you in your case, then present it in a way that gets you the compensation you deserve. One kind of evidence that you may use is a witness testimony, but it is important to understand that, depending on the witness, credibility can be an issue. No matter what the conditions of your case might be, it is best to consult with an experienced car accident attorney as soon as possible following an accident.

Eye-witness testimony can be a critical part of getting the full amount of compensation you are entitled to after a St. Louis car accident.

If you end up in a car accident that is not your fault, you’re going to want to obtain compensation. Unfortunately, doing so is not always straightforward. Often, the other driver involved in the crash will see things differently, and they will deny being at fault. What you need to do in this situation is to gather evidence that supports your side of the story. If it is compelling enough, you will be able to prove fault and get the compensation you deserve. One of the best ways to use your evidence correctly is by enlisting the help of a St. Louis car accident attorney. One of the pieces of evidence that your lawyer will want from you is a witness testimony, which can make or break a case.

Your Word Vs. Theirs

One of the factors that commonly cause people to miss out on getting a fair deal is not being able to prove what happened in the crash. Here’s a potential situation: You’re driving responsibility through an intersection when another driver runs a stop sign and collides with you. Now, you may be able to prove that they ran that stop sign through pictures of the accident, but you may not be able to. If the other driver claims that you were the one driving irresponsibly and there is no evidence to back you up, then it could end up being your word against theirs.

Types of Witnesses

There are a few different types of witnesses you can call to support your case. The most common are people in one of the cars involved, other drivers, and nearby pedestrians. In the aftermath of your crash, it is imperative that you take stock of your potential witnesses. If possible, you don’t want somebody who saw the accident to walk away without getting their contact information.

Importance in Your Case

When it’s your word against theirs, you generally need evidence to prove that your recounting of the events is correct. One form of proof that is frequently used in these types of cases is witness testimonies. They provide a third set of eyes that saw the accident and their version of the crash is a compelling piece of evidence.

Credibility

Having a witness testify in your favor is useful, but it does not mean you will automatically win the case. The big reason why is witness credibility, which can be called into question. The following are two of the many situations where that might happen.

Situation #1 – If the witness is a friend of yours who was in your car, your opponent may be able to poke a hole in their testimony. The reason is that they are biased towards you, and that bias could be clouding their memory of the events.

Situation #2 – If the witness’s version of the story is different than it was in a past statement, they could be found too unreliable to use in the case.

If you are ever involved in a car accident case, you need to employ every tool at your disposal. The first should be hiring a St. Louis car accident attorney, who will help guide you through the entire process. Once you do, you will start to collect essential evidence. One of those pieces of evidence might be a witness testimony, which could be a critical factor in getting the compensation you deserve.

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(314) 361-4242

Of all the types of car accidents, side-impact collisions are one of the most dangerous.

They cause considerable vehicle damage, and more importantly, are a significant injury risk. If you ever find yourself in one of them, it is a good idea to speak with a St. Louis car accident attorney to discuss your options.

Causes

The vast majority of side-impact accidents happen at intersections. Here are four primary causes of this type of accident.

Running Stop Signs – When drivers do not make full stops at stop signs, they are in danger of collisions. Usually, the driver that was driving responsibly is the one that takes the side impact.

Running Red Lights – This situation is very similar to stop signs, but with higher stakes. This is because these accidents tend to be at higher speeds and involve more than two vehicles.

Not Looking Both Ways – Sometimes an intersection has a stop sign for only two ways, rather than all four. In this situation, drivers need to look carefully for cars before turning. If they do not, they could be struck.

Aggressively Taking Unprotected Left Turns – Drivers can get too aggressive at stop lights that have unprotected left turns. This frequently leads to side-impact collisions.

Common Injuries

The reason these accidents are so dangerous is lack of protection. In head-on collisions, the front of the car can crumple and absorb a significant amount of the energy of the other vehicle. In a side collision, all of that energy is transmitted directly to them. Though they have airbags, these accidents are still incredibly deadly. Some of the most common damages that come from them are broken bones, back injuries, concussions, and death.

Avoidance Tips

The best way to avoid these types of accidents is to review the common causes and try to avoid them. The following tips do just that.

Follow The Rules – The essential behavioral change you can make is following the rules at all times. Make complete stops at stop signs, never run red lights, and opt for slowing down rather than speeding up when a light turns yellow. You cannot control other drivers, but you can control yourself.

Waiting Before Entering an Intersection – When a light turns green, you might have a habit of hitting the gas right away. Unfortunately, there are often drivers that are still trying to make their light. Though they are a few seconds late, they dangerously run through the intersection anyway. You can avoid them by waiting a couple of seconds after a light turns green to enter the intersection.

Take Left Turns Cautiously – When you take a left turn, you put yourself in a vulnerable position. Because of this, you should be wary of danger. Look both ways and be defensive when you enter an intersection on a left turn.

Anytime you’re on the road you should drive carefully and defensively. This is especially true when you are at risk of a side-impact collision. Still, even the safest driver sometimes get hit. If this happens, it is a good idea to speak with a St. Louis car accident lawyer to assist you through the process.

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Though St. Louis parking lot accidents happen at much lower speeds and are almost never fatal, there is still a high chance of financial damage and injuries.

When you imagine an auto accident, you probably think of the worst case scenario: A high-speed collision. While these types of accidents happen all the time, it is just as likely that you will get into an accident under 10 MPH. This may come in the form of a parking lot accident. Though St. Louis parking lot accidents happen at much lower speeds and are almost never fatal, there is still a high chance of financial damage and injuries. Because of this, it is best to understand liability in parking lot accidents and follow safety tips to avoid them. No matter how careful you are, you might end up in a parking lot accident anyways. If this is the case, don’t hesitate to contact a St. Louis auto accident attorney.

Right of Way

This concept is essential in assessing liability because ignoring it is one of the most common forms of negligence in parking lots. In a parking lot, the driver that is driving in the lane has the right of way, while the driver that is pulling out of their spot does not. If a car pulls out of their spot aggressively and gets into an accident with a car driving through a lane, the car pulling out will likely be found liable.

Pulling out Simultaneously

Sometimes two cars will be pulling out of their spots at the same time. In this case, the driver who starts first has the right of way and the driver who pulls out second will likely be found liable. Who went first can be a tough thing to assess, though, so this situation may yield both drivers being assigned equal fault.

Reckless Driving

Another way to assign negligence is if a driver is reckless and aggressive. This is often the case when a driver is driving too fast, fighting other drivers for spots, driving in the middle of the lane instead of their side, or driving distracted.

Pedestrians

While an accident between two cars often does not often yield serious injuries, when there is a pedestrian involved, the stakes are raised. This situation can lead to severe injury for the pedestrian and a significant amount of liability for the driver.

Safety Tips

First, make sure you follow general safe driving tips like avoiding distractions, driving below the speed limit, following right of way rules, using your turn signals, making full stops at stop signs, and driving defensively. Next, you can follow some parking lot specific tips like carefully looking around before backing out, listening for pedestrians passing by, and never racing for a spot.

Though they are generally not often fatal, a parking lot accident still costs you in repairs and time wasted. You’ll want to do everything you can to avoid one. When you are in a parking lot, be sure to drive slowly and defensively. If you still end up in an accident, discuss your options with an experienced St. Louis car accident attorney.

A car accident is a stressful enough situation. If you’ve ever been in a fender-bender or a single-car accident, you know that to be the truth. But what about serious car accidents that involve 2, 3, or even more cars, such as a pile-up on the highway?

It’s hard to know what to do to stay safe in these situations, so we’ve put together these tips to help you deal with even the most difficult multi-car accidents.

1. Don’t Move Your Car After The Accident (And Don’t Get Out)

While there are some rare exceptions to this rule, the police usually must determine who was at fault and caused a “chain reaction” leading to the accident.

This is the reason that you generally shouldn’t move your car after an accident without police permission unless it is necessary to do so for safety reasons. It is generally best not get out of the car until emergency services personnel like EMTs, the police, or fire department have secured the scene, and informed you that it is safe to do so.

2. Take Photos And Video Of The Scene

Determining fault and liability in a multi-car accident can be nightmarishly complex. Because of this, we recommend taking photos and video of the scene, if possible. If you have a smartphone, take it out and take photos of your car from every angle, and take photos of all other cars involved in the accident, as well as a video of the scene, if possible and safe to do so.

3. Get Insurance Information From All Other Available Parties (And Provide Your Own)

The majority of work determining fault will be done by your respective insurance agencies. Get the insurance information of all other involved parties, so that you will be able to report the incident and the details of the accident.

4. Give a Report to the Police

Once the police arrive, give them a report of the accident, and be honest and truthful about the circumstances surrounding the incident. However, you do not have to admit fault.

They should give you information about how to get a police report when it is finalized.

5. Contact a Car Accident Lawyer

You must report your accident to your insurance adjuster as soon as you can. Doing so will help speed up the process, particularly if multiple insurance companies are involved. Additionally, you should speak with an experienced car accident attorney ASAP. Despite what you may think, the insurance companies are not looking out for your best interests. Insurance companies are looking to minimize the amount they pay out to injury victims. Speaking with a St. Louis car accident attorney will go a long way in ensuring your legal right to compensation is protected after an accident.

Follow These Tips To Get Through An Accident!

A multiple-car accident can be very stressful, but with these tips, you can stay safe, and ensure that you do everything you can to streamline the process of reporting and filing an insurance claim.