Sandy Springs, GA Car Accident Lawyer

Car accidents are scary and traumatic experiences that often result in severe injuries. Car accident victims can suffer bruises, cuts, scrapes, broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, and many more injuries that need emergency medical care. Sadly, many of these injuries may not ever go away fully, and the victim may be dealing with them in some way for the rest of their life. Worse still, paying for both emergency and long-term care can become a significant financial burden for the victim. All of that can combine to make car accident victims feel particularly bleak about their situation.

That is where we come in. You can fight for justice and get financial compensation after someone injures you in a car collision. Our lawyers have represented countless plaintiffs injured in car accidents, so we have the knowledge, dedication, and professional skills to fight hard for you to get the compensation you are entitled to after someone negligently hurts you in a car accident.

For free case reviews from our team of car accident lawyers, call Rice, Murtha & Psoras at the number (470) 287-3070.

Who Can You Sue in a Sandy Springs, GA Car Accident Case?

When you start building your case with our car accident lawyers, it is important that you file against the right parties. The law only allows you to recover damages from parties that you can prove caused your injuries either intentionally or, more commonly, due to their own negligence. Therefore, it does not make sense to file against parties who had nothing to do with your accident. Instead, you should focus your efforts on suing the right parties, which may include:

Drivers

You should almost always include the driver who hit you in your lawsuit. To show that a driver was negligent, you need to demonstrate either that they violated a traffic law or did not act as a reasonable driver should have under the circumstances.

Companies and Businesses

In some instances, you may be able to sue a driver’s employer for your injuries. However, the catch is that the driver had to be doing something sufficiently related to their job when they hit you. For example, if a pizza delivery driver hits you with their car on the way to deliver an order, you probably can sue their employer because that is related to their job. However, if that same driver is on their way to their friend’s house to skip work, you cannot sue their employer because that is not related to their job.

Another thing you have to keep in mind when considering suing an employer is that you can only sue them for employee conduct. If the person who hit you is an independent contractor, liability may not attach to the entity they are working under.

Government Entities

In some, albeit rare, circumstances, you can file a claim against a state or local government entity for your injuries. The most common reason for this is because the roads they are charged with keeping in good order were not adequately repaired and kept clean.

However, you should know that there are rules for suing government entities that our attorneys must follow, so you should bring up that prospect early on in the legal process.

Damages You Can Seek in Sandy Springs, GA Car Accident Claims

At the end of the day, you are going to court to get justice and financial compensation for your injuries. The court does this through damages, which are court-ordered payments meant to try and “turn back the clock” on events for the plaintiff. Of course, if a plaintiff has very serious, potentially permanent injuries, this is not literally possible, so damages are almost always in the form of financial compensation and not some other thing.

When you request damages in your initial filings, it is good practice to explain to the court what kind of damages you are seeking. Broadly speaking, there are three types of damages you can seek in personal injury cases: economic damages, non-economic damages, and punitive damages.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are based on things that have a demonstratable monetary value. This will include things like medical bills, lost wages, and property damage. Usually, economic damages are proven through evidence like invoices, bills, pay stubs, and other tangible things.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages, on the other hand, are less concrete than economic ones. Things like pain and suffering, mental anguish, and emotional distress fall under this category. Although these things will not have a paper trail like a bill or invoice proving their worth, courts understand that these things have value, so you can still seek damages for them. You just have to demonstrate to the jury that you have experienced these things because of the defendant’s conduct and are entitled to compensation. As an example of how to prove non-economic damages, you could have friends and people who know you testify as to your behavior and overall demeanor before and after you were in a car crash in order to show that you experienced mental anguish because of your injuries. Proving non-economic damages will be different in every case, so you should go over the facts of your claim with our attorneys to see what makes sense for you.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages are different from economic or non-economic damages in that they are not meant to compensate you for your injuries but to punish the defendant. However, courts will not award these damages in every case. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-5.1(b), punitive damages can only be awarded when the plaintiff proves that the defendant acted with “malice” or otherwise was more than merely negligent. Therefore, you should consult with legal counsel to see if seeking punitive damages makes sense for you.

Call Our Car Accident Lawyers from Sandy Springs, GA Right Now

Get in touch with our car accident legal team by calling Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (470) 287-3070.