Bicycle Accident Attorney Washington DC
Going for a bike ride can be invigorating and great for exercise, whether you are commuting to and from work, going grocery shopping, meeting a friend across town, or simply going for a ride to get some fresh air and a workout. However, riding a bike comes with risks — especially when riding in a busy metropolitan area like Washington, DC. Cities across the country are working to improve safety features for cyclists, including protected bike lanes, traffic laws meant to give cyclists better legal protections, information campaigns about sharing roads with riders, and more, but until bicycle accidents are reduced to zero nationwide, there will always be a risk of an accident.
The relationship between cyclists and motor vehicles can be tense, and many accidents stem from drivers’ ignorance of traffic laws designed to protect cyclists, such as allowing a rider to take a full lane in the absence of a bike lane. An issue like road rage adds to the risks that cyclists face on the Washington DC roads each day and is just one of many possible ways for them to be either hurt or killed in a bicycle accident. Fortunately, victims of bicycle accidents (and their surviving family members, in the event of a fatal crash) can seek compensation in the event that someone else caused the accident. No amount of money can undo the pain and trauma of a cycling accident, but it can provide victims financial stability as they work to get their lives back on track.
Contact Balkin & Mausner Today To Connect With an Attorney
After a cycling accident in Washington DC, taking time to reach out to law firms while juggling doctors’ appointments, missed days at work, and excruciating pain can feel like an impossible task. Contacting the team at Balkin & Mausner is a simple process, and we will schedule a free initial consultation so we can discuss the specifics of your accident. During your consultation, you will be able to speak directly with an experienced bicycle accident lawyer in Washington DC about your unique situation. That allows you to better understand their perspective and how they would move forward as your legal representation.
Knowing that there is someone who can help you get the money you deserve can take an enormous emotional burden off of your shoulders and help you stay focused on your recovery. As you will learn below, insurance claims are often designed to work against a claimant’s best interests. That is why fighting for what you are owed can feel nearly impossible while trying to get your life back on track after an accident that someone else caused.
Contact us as soon as possible to connect with a proven personal injury lawyer today.
The Importance of Working With a Lawyer Through an Insurance Claim
Filing an insurance claim can seem like a fairly straightforward process, and in a way, it is. If you follow the adjuster’s lead throughout the entirety of the claim, you can count on getting a settlement offer for a one-time payment in a fairly short period of time. The problem is that this offer is rarely representative of the actual damages you have suffered. The reason is that insurance companies are generally focused on protecting their own bottom line, not on paying victims what they deserve.
This goal is achieved through a number of practices, including inundating a victim with legal documents that can confuse or intimidate them, ignoring very real, very important issues like pain and suffering and other “non-economic” damages, and working to pin fault on a victim to avoid paying at all (Washington DC uses an outdated law known as contributory negligence that bars a victim from seeking compensation if they contributed any fault to the accident). At the same time, victims watch their medical bills mount, their wages decline, and other financial issues get increasingly alarming. A one-time payment is an attractive way to alleviate these short-term financial issues, but there is typically much more compensation that a victim is owed.
Get The Money You Deserve
When the insurance company makes its initial settlement offer, your attorney will be ready to make a counter-offer after performing their own investigation and calculations regarding the impacts you have experienced. Personal injury damages go far beyond the medical bills, repair or replacement costs, and lost wages that a victim experiences, and include things like long-term loss of quality of life, pain and suffering, emotional impacts, and more. Insurance companies will work to avoid these types of abstract damages, relying on a claimant’s inexperience with these real costs to be able to avoid even discussing them.
Your attorney will submit a counter-offer that includes a wide range of damages, both economic and non-economic, with clear proof and supporting evidence about why you are owed the requested amount. This will be the start of negotiations meant to close the gap between the two figures in an attempt to reach a settlement agreement. If they are unable to reach an agreement on a settlement, the next step may be to take the case to the District of Columbia courts.
Focus On Your Recovery Without the Stress
Aside from the technical aspects of handling a claim properly, there is the unavoidable fact that this is a stressful process that can be overwhelming to someone inexperienced with the world of tort law. This stress can have a negative impact on your recovery process, and the insurance company can leverage your stress and anxieties to settle your claim for far less than what you deserve. When you are able to work with an experienced and proven legal professional throughout this process, you can rely on their leadership through the legal issues while you stay focused on getting the care and rest that you need to make a successful recovery.
Knowing that you can get specific answers to your important questions about your case can help alleviate a lot of stress and keep you focused on the long-term success of your personal injury claim or lawsuit without succumbing to short-term fears about your financial stability. Your attorney may even be able to help you identify different ways to work with creditors in order to wait to repay debts until your settlement or lawsuit is resolved.