Hickory Car Accident Lawyer

Car Accident Attorney in Hickory, NC

Getting into a car accident can be stressful, particularly if you’ve sustained serious injuries. You don’t have to go through this difficult time alone. You can work with a Hickory car accident lawyer to handle the legal side of things and hold the driver who caused your crash liable for the damages they’ve caused.

Trust Butler, Quinn & Hochman, PLLC

At Butler, Quinn & Hochman, PLLC, we treat every case like it’s the only one on our docket. If you want a skilled Hickory car accident attorney to help you file your car accident claim, you can trust our team of legal professionals. We’ve been in practice for years, and in that time, we’ve seen it all. We can help with your case, too.

Why Hire a Car Accident Lawyer?

In 2023, there were 2,037 car accidents in Hickory. Seven of them caused fatalities, and another 711 ended in serious injuries for one or more passengers. Surprisingly, alcohol played a role in only 44 of the crashes, none of which caused any fatalities. This is much better than the national average. Nationally, around 30% of crash fatalities are caused by drunk drivers.

It doesn’t matter what underlying cause was to blame for your accident. Whether the liable driver was drinking, distracted, or driving recklessly, they caused you harm, and you should hire a car accident lawyer to help you hold them accountable. Your lawyer can help you with everything from filing the initial paperwork to gathering and evaluating evidence, engaging witnesses, and negotiating with insurance companies on your behalf to get you a better settlement.

Determining Fault in Car Accident Cases

Determining fault in car accident cases isn’t always easy. In some cases, it’s a straightforward matter of proving that the responsible driver was texting while driving or engaging in another activity that constituted negligent behavior. In others, there may be multiple parties sharing partial blame.

Your Hickory car accident attorney will be able to help you determine who’s to blame for your car accident and whether you’ll be able to file a claim against them. Unfortunately, North Carolina is a pure contributory negligence state, meaning that if your actions or negligence contributed to the accident in any way, even if you’re only 1% at fault, you won’t be able to recover compensation.

Of course, there’s not usually any empirical means of allocating fault. You’ll have to trust your lawyer to construct a coherent narrative of the case that proves you share none of the blame for what happened.

Damages You Can Claim in a Car Accident Case

If you can prove that another person or entity was to blame for the accident, you can file a car accident claim to recover your losses from the crash. The damages you can claim include:

• Medical care. Your settlement should pay for 100% of your past, current, and future medical treatments pertaining to your injuries.
• Property loss. If your car was damaged, the settlement should cover its repair or replacement, depending on the extent of the damage.
• Lost income. If you had to take time off from work to heal from your injuries, you can claim your lost wages as economic damages.
• Pain and suffering. Not all damages are economic. Non-economic damages like mental anguish, pain, and suffering can all be compensated, as well.

There is no limit on economic or non-economic damages. You need to identify 100% of your potential damages if you want to get the highest settlement possible. Insurance companies routinely offer low compensation packages that don’t cover 100% of the losses you’ve suffered in the accident. Your lawyer can help you evaluate any offer made to make sure it truly covers all of your damages.

Common Injuries Caused by Car Accidents

The injuries that result from car accidents range from minor cuts and bruises to catastrophic injuries. How badly you’re hurt often depends on how fast you and the other driver were moving and the circumstances surrounding the crash. Depending on your speed and how you were hit, you might experience:

• Traumatic brain injury. TBIs occur when force is applied to the head. They can be open or closed, and their effects range in severity from minor concussions to long-term brain damage.
• Spinal cord damage. Spinal cord damage can lead to full or partial paralysis, weakness, or numbness in the limbs.
• Back injuries. The symptoms of back injuries may not appear immediately following a car accident, but when they do, the pain can be disabling.
• Burns. If the vehicle catches on fire or your skin comes into contact with heated fluids, you could suffer severe burns.
• Internal damage. Damage to internal organs and internal bleeding aren’t visible, and they are life-threatening. You should always be evaluated by a doctor following a serious car crash to ensure that you don’t have any internal damage.
• Broken bones. Broken bones range in severity from simple breaks that can be fixed with a cast to compound fractures requiring multiple surgeries to repair.
• Disfiguration. Facial injuries caused by impact with the windshield or a hard surface can leave you with permanent scarring and disfigurement.
• Limb loss or amputation. Arms, legs, fingers, and toes can be severed in the crash itself, or they may be damaged enough to require surgical amputation.
• Neck injuries, including whiplash. Whiplash occurs when your neck is rapidly snapped back and forth and can result in injuries to the muscles, ligaments, and tendons. You can get whiplash in an accident even if you were moving at slow speeds.
• Joint injuries. Knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows, and other joints are prone to injury during car accidents. Wounds range from bruises and strains to broken bones and torn tendons.
• Crushing injuries. If any part of your body gets caught between two objects during the crash, you could suffer a crushing injury. These can be very serious and sometimes require the amputation of affected limbs.
• Soft tissue damage. Sprains, strains, and bruising are all very common injuries in even minor auto accidents.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder. Not all injuries sustained in car accidents are physical. PTSD is an ongoing mental health disorder that can make living daily life extremely difficult.

Some of these injuries are easier to prove than others. It will be clear that you’ve sustained serious harm if you must have a leg surgically amputated following a crushing injury. If you sustain a TBI, it will be harder to prove the extent of the damage. In either case, your lawyer can use a combination of medical records, witnesses, and personal accounts to show the extent of your suffering.

Common Causes of Car Accidents

From fender benders to major T-bone collisions, car accidents happen all the time, for all kinds of different reasons. Unfortunately, most of those reasons can be traced back to human error. It’s rare for vehicles to be involved in collisions due to mechanical failures. More common causes of accidents include:

• Distracted driving. Distracted driving can involve anything that takes your attention away from the road. It includes obvious things like texting and making phone calls on your cell phone, but also activities like reaching for objects in the back seat, using a GPS system, or attending to children and pets.
• Speeding. Speed limits are there for a reason. Driving faster than the speed limit will give you less time to respond to anything happening on the road ahead of you, making it more likely that you’ll get into a crash.
• Drunk driving. Driving under the influence causes serious impairments in judgment and reaction times. You should never operate a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol or any recreational drugs.
• Tailgating. When you tailgate another car, you remove the buffer zone between the two vehicles that would otherwise allow you to stop safely should they slam on the brakes. Tailgating is always dangerous, and you’ll almost always be held liable for any rear-end collision it causes.
• Failure to obey traffic laws. Failing to adhere to traffic laws, such as stopping at stop signs and red lights, making proper turns using signals, and yielding the right of way, can create dangerous situations.
• Driver inexperience. New drivers who haven’t yet had enough time behind the wheel to know how to deal with stressful situations are more likely to get into accidents.

Of course, not all accidents are caused by the drivers. Road conditions can also be a large contributing factor. In some cases, you may even be able to file a claim against the municipality responsible for maintaining the road safely if it is in a state of serious disrepair with no warnings, and that causes a crash.

Statute of Limitations for Car Accident Claims

You should begin the process of collecting evidence for your claim and discussing your case with a lawyer as soon as possible after the accident. However, North Carolina law gives you three years from the date of your injuries to file a claim against the responsible party. In the sad event that the claim you need to file is actually a wrongful death claim, the filing deadline is two years from your loved one’s death.

Reporting Requirements for Car Accidents in North Carolina

You should report any accident you get into, no matter how inconsequential it seems, for the simple reason that a police report can act as valuable evidence should you need to file a claim later down the line. There are also circumstances under which you’re legally obligated to report a crash to law enforcement. You must report any crash that results in:

• A death or injury
• Cumulative property damage of $1,000 or more
• Damage to a vehicle belonging to someone who has been accused of DWI

If the accident occurred within Hickory city limits, you should report it to the Hickory Police Department. If it occurred outside of town, you’ll need to report the accident to the county sheriff or the State Highway Patrol.

FAQs

Does a Small Fender Bender Count as an Accident?

A small fender bender counts as an accident in North Carolina because it involves the potential for injuries or property damage. You’re required to stop the car, treat it seriously, exchange information, and call the police if necessary. You should report the accident to your insurance company immediately to avoid issues with any hidden damages.

What Is the Law for Car Accidents in North Carolina?

The law for car accidents in North Carolina is at-fault with strict contributory negligence rules. What that means is that the at-fault driver pays for any damages incurred as a result of the accident, but if you were deemed even 1% to blame, you won’t get any compensation. You’re also required to report the accident and render aid.

What Is the Fender Bender Law in North Carolina?

The fender bender law in North Carolina is NC General Statute 20-161. This law requires drivers who have been in minor crashes without injury to move their vehicles to the side of the road or to another safe location to prevent further accidents and to avoid disrupting traffic. It is important for accident victims to be aware of this law.

Why Should You Never Admit Fault in a Car Accident?

You should never admit fault in a car accident because the other driver can use your admission of fault against you in court or settlement negotiations. In North Carolina, you are barred from receiving compensation from the liable driver if you are assigned even 1% responsibility for the crash, so it’s exceptionally important to avoid admitting fault or apologizing at the scene.

Your Hickory Car Accident Lawyer

If you’re looking for a skilled Hickory car accident lawyer, look no further than Butler, Quinn & Hochman, PLLC. Our team has been practicing personal injury law for years. In that time, we’ve become intimately familiar with car accident laws. We know what it takes to determine who’s at fault and hold them accountable for the pain they’ve caused. Contact us to schedule an initial consultation today.

Hickory, NC Car Accident Resources

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