Belleville, NJ Motorcycle Accident Lawyer
If you were injured in a motorcycle accident, you could be left with serious injuries and disabilities that make it difficult to move forward with your life. The expenses you face for medical bills and the lost income at work could put a huge weight on you and your family.
For help getting compensation for your injuries, consider working with one of our Belleville motorcycle accident lawyers. We can deal with insurance companies and argue your case in court to fight for the damages you deserve while you focus on your recovery.
Contact our Belleville, NJ motorcycle accident lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm today. For a free case review, call our law offices at (718) 841-0083.
Getting Compensation for a Motorcycle Accident in Belleville, NJ
If you also drive a car, you may be familiar with no-fault insurance rules in New Jersey. These rules typically limit drivers and passengers, forcing them to file through the driver’s no-fault PIP coverage to get compensation for their injuries and lost wages. However, these rules do not apply to motorcyclists, allowing injured motorcycle riders to file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver in most accident cases.
When you file a lawsuit against the driver who caused your crash, you could be entitled to additional compensation that no-fault insurance would typically block. This includes the ability to claim full damages for medical bills and lost wages instead of having to pay deductibles and facing limits that pay you only a percentage of the damages you faced. Additionally, you should be entitled to claim compensation for non-economic damages like pain and suffering. However, you do need to prove fault before these damages can be paid in court – which is something our Belleville motorcycle accident lawyers are equipped to help you with.
These damages are ultimately paid by the at-fault driver’s insurance company in most cases. Drivers throughout NJ typically carry liability insurance, with “standard” policies covering $15,000 per person at a minimum. However, “basic” policies might not include liability coverage. In any case, you can also reach beyond the driver’s insurance and hold them personally liable for damages. If you have other first-party benefits like MedPay, you could also be able to get some of your damages paid through claims with those policies.
Make sure to talk to your Belleville motorcycle accident lawyers about what damages you are entitled to and what routes to compensation are available in your case. Especially if your injuries were serious, you should not trust that any insurance company has your best interests in mind or that they have properly valued your case.
Proving Fault in a Belleville, NJ Motorcycle Accident
To get damages in a court case, you need to prove that the other driver was at fault. Technically, multiple drivers can be held at fault for a crash, and each is required to pay their fair share of damages according to their share of fault. If you are found partially at fault yourself, your damages will be reduced by your share of fault, but you can still get compensation as long as you were 50% or less at fault for the accident. How you actually prove a driver was at fault will depend heavily on the facts of your case.
Elements of Fault
Drivers can typically be held responsible for an accident where the court finds they committed negligence. Negligence, by its legal definition, is when someone fails to meet some legal duty that they owe the victim, causing the victim damages. In most motorcycle accident cases, this means proving that the other driver violated some traffic law or other reasonable safe-driving requirement, and that that mistake resulted in your injuries.
Examples of Negligence
When looking at the facts of how your accident occurred, our Belleville motorcycle accident lawyers will look for mistakes such as the following:
- Running a red light or stop sign
- Speeding
- Drunk driving
- Failing to signal before changing lanes or merging
- Failing to adjust speed for inclement weather
- Distracted driving/texting while driving
- Tailgating
All of these constitute violations of traffic rules that are meant to keep people safe. Proving that such a violation caused your accident is typically enough to prove that a driver was at fault for a crash.
Specifically with motorcycle accidents, there are some other safety issues that often lead to crashes. One common issue is that drivers fail to look out for vehicles that are smaller than cars, which often leads them to ignore motorcycles, mopeds, and bikes. Drivers who are inexperienced with driving around motorcycles might also fail to give them a proper following distance or might not give them the same space that they would another car. No matter how your accident happened, talk to our Belleville motorcycle accident lawyers for help.
When to Call a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer in Belleville, NJ
Many people fear that their accident case is not serious enough to call a lawyer, or that they are jumping the gun and calling an attorney too early in their case. Neither of these issues are something you should worry about.
Any accident case where you faced injury is certainly serious enough that you should seek compensation for your injuries. Moreover, our Belleville motorcycle accident lawyers offer free case consultations to analyze your case and help you determine how much it might be worth and how our attorneys can help with your claim. There is no risk to calling.
As for when in the process you should call, it is truly never too early. Even if your injuries just happened, having a lawyer on your side can be helpful. As soon as you retain us as counsel, we can start requesting police reports, collecting evidence, and tracking the expenses related to your recovery. Call us as soon as you can for your free case review.
Call Our Belleville Motorcycle Accident Attorneys Today
If you were hurt in a motorcycle accident, call our Belleville motorcycle accident lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm today. Our phone number is (718) 841-0083.