Suffering from an on the job car injury?: time to contact an accident lawyer

Author: Valerie Stout Cyrus
Published: Jul 22 2013

If a vehicle accident occurs during the time that you are driving while performing your job or running an errand for an employer, there is a strong possibility that employer liability exists. Most often, this occurs when truck or commercial drivers cause accidents. However, there are many other cases where employees sustain injuries that are a result of driving while on the job. The following article details steps to take if you are suffering from injuries incurred while driving a company or other vehicle during the course of your employment.

1. Seek Medical Care Immediately

Immediate and continued medical care is imperative to ensure that further damage to the victim does not occur. Victims should never wait to see the doctor, since some injuries may not be immediately apparent. Only a thorough examination will reveal the state of the injured party adequately. Waiting too long to see the doctor not only can cause medical complications, but it could also make it more challenging to receive compensation for injuries.

A website for an accident lawyer NY based provides the following information, "Getting proper medical attention is vital to your health and your case. Even if the injuries don't appear to be serious, you need to get proper attention. Some accident victims don't actually experience pain for over a year after the accident and even minor injuries could cause personal health issues."

2. Record Accident Details

Keep the best records possible of all accident details and witness information. Write down ongoing symptoms, dates of medical visits and doctor recommendations. For instance, how you feel, what has changed since the accident and how much more time is spent to perform routine tasks, as well as those that you can no longer do. The idea is to paint a clear picture of how the accident has affected you in your daily life.

3. Keep All Accident Related Receipts

Be sure to have copies of all expenses that relate to the accident. For instance, medical and treatment costs and anything extra that is spent during the course of treatment. Accident victims are generally entitled to compensation for many things besides medical expenses, such as lost wages, changes to lifestyle, and pain and suffering. Therefore, document missed time from work and other activities, including hiring help to attend to chores, errands and parental or other obligations.

Even after an accident lawyer has been engaged, an insurance adjuster may attempt to settle the claim. Refer them to your attorney. In many cases, the extent of injuries from car accidents are unknown. In fact, many victims of accidents believe that they have only suffered minor injuries. Therefore, they accept faster settlements so that the matter will end quickly. However, when they do this and discover later that their injuries are far worse than first thought, it is too late to pursue compensation from insurance companies.

4. Seek Legal Help

It is extremely important that you seek legal advice immediately. The longer a victim waits to receive legal help, the more difficult it will be to obtain critical evidence, witnesses and other data for a legal case.

Rather than converse with any insurance adjuster, speak with an accident attorney to first determine how best to proceed. This will help you avoid doing anything that can hurt a negligence case, such as providing incorrect statements. Insurance adjusters generally make statements to mislead victims so that they can minimize their client's damages.

Whether or not the employer will be found liable for the injuries incurred will be dependent upon what legal reason exists for assigning employer responsibility. The above are just a few of the steps that workers who have vehicle accidents should take to ensure that they receive all of the medical care and compensation for damages that they are entitled to under the law.

Valerie Stout Cyrus is a professional blogger and a native New Yorker who frequently writes legal articles that are of interest to employees who may be required to drive as part of their employment. If you require the assistance of an accident lawyer, a simple Google search of accident lawyer NY will generate hundreds of relevant search results.

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