Piering Law Firm
Practice Areas and Legal Definitions

Automobile Accidents

A car accident is a collision involving an automobile and anything that causes damage to the automobile, including other automobiles, telephone poles, buildings and trees. Sometimes a car accident may also refer to an automobile striking a human or animal. Car accidents — also called traffic collisions, auto accidents, road accidents, personal injury collisions, motor vehicle accidents and crashes — kill an estimated 1.2 million people worldwide each year, and injure about forty times this number.

Automobile accidents injure millions of Americans each year. Car accidents are also the leading cause of brain and spinal cord injury in the United States, as well as a leading cause of neck and back injuries, orthopaedic injuries and neurologic injuries. Because of the devastating impact an injury has on a person's life, car accidents are often the subject of personal injury claims and lawsuits. In many cases, automobile accidents involve complex insurance claims which normally involve two or more insurance companies. The insurance companies have experienced adjusters and attorneys looking out for them. An injured accident victim should have an experienced attorney look out for him or her as well.

Insurance claims can be overwhelming, time-consuming and confusing. Injury victims may face lost wages, high medical bills, repair bills and other out of pocket expenses. It is important to have a qualified car accident attorney in your corner, making sure the proper investigation is completed, the insurance benefits are coordinated and that you, as the accident victim, are properly compensated.

Generally speaking, those who have suffered personal injury in automobile cases are entitled to recover damages for pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, wrongful death, emotional distress, scarring, loss of enjoyment of life, interference with marital and/or parental relationships, and other types of what are known as “general damages.” In addition, accident victims may be entitled to recover for "special" or "economic" damages related to items such as past, present and future medical bills, lost wages and future earnings and earning capacity, and other out-of-pocket expenses. Some cases also require that certain "no-fault" benefits be paid following a traffic accident. Additional issues involve payment of health insurance benefits and subrogation or right of repayment claims by health insurers at the time the personal injury recovery is achieved.

Crash Worthiness Cases

Crash-worthiness refers to the ability of a vehicle to protect its occupants during a collision, rollover, or other impact. Aspects of the vehicle contributing to its crash worthiness include the structural design, passenger restraints such as seat belts and air bags, locks, suspension, tires, and many other structural elements.

Car manufacturers around the world subject new vehicles in development to extensive testing to determine their safety for passengers in the vehicles. In the United States consumers have frequently seen televised enactments of crash-test dummies placed in vehicles that are then placed in crash simulations, such as a rear-end collision, or sideways collision, or a vehicle rollover. In each of these test scenarios, instruments are attached which record the type of impact and its force. This testing allows automotive engineers to evaluate the nature of impacts, and the severity of potential injuries.

For years, actions have been filed against manufacturers of vehicles when seatbelts did not hold, or when poor and unsafe designs within the vehicle made collision injuries far worse than they should have been. This type of litigation is often referred to as crash-worthiness litigation. Sometimes in a collision the seatbelt will break causing a person’s body to catapult in a way that results in a serious injury. Had the seatbelt not broken, the injury would have been relatively minor. Sometimes there will be an implosion in the vehicle that causes part of the vehicle to intrude on the passenger space, causing massive injuries to passengers or driver. Statistical research may show that in better designed vehicles such intrusion injuries simply do not occur.

Contact the Piering Law Firm to schedule your free and confidential initial consultation. We are available to speak with you 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, with home and weekend appointments when necessary. All cases are handled on a contingent fee basis, meaning there is no legal fee charged until we recover for you.