Pedestrian Accident Lawyer in Alabama
Fighting for Maximum Compensation for Those Injured in Pedestrian Accidents
Jacob Maples holds an AV Preeminent Rating, a distinction earned by only ~10% of lawyers.
Injured in a Pedestrian Accident? You May Be Owed Compensation
When a pedestrian and a car collide, it goes without saying that the pedestrian is likely to suffer devastating injury or even death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a pedestrian is killed by a motor vehicle approximately every 75 minutes in the United States. If you’ve been hurt in a pedestrian accident, you deserve to find out if you are owed compensation for your damages.
Verdicts & Settlements
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Having the Right Lawyer Gives You the Gift of Rest and Recovery
When you’ve got the right lawyer handling your claim, you can hand off your claim and get the rest you need, knowing your case is in competent, professional hands. This is crucial when you’re injured because even if you’re normally skilled in handling complex negotiations, right now you need someone to guide you and stand up for you.
The Right Attorney Will Help Protect the Value of Your Claim
By identifying all at-fault parties in your claim through a thorough accident investigation
By finding the proof necessary to connect the responsible party’s negligent behavior and the damages that resulted
By helping you review settlement offers, so you can separate the offers worth considering from those that aren’t worth your time
By accurately valuing your claim to ensure you don’t leave money on the table when requesting compensation for your damages
By handling all communications with the insurance company, to prevent an adjuster from twisting your own words against you to drop the value of your claim
By putting the insurance company on notice that you can’t be taken advantage of through delay tactics and denials
By being capable of winning you the award you deserve in court if an adequate settlement is not possible
How You Can Help Your Claim Succeed
From the moment of your accident, there are steps you can take to help protect the value of that claim.
Seek Treatment from a Medical Professional
Make sure that you get to a doctor, no matter how injured or uninjured you feel. Expect your body to be overloaded with adrenaline right after any traumatic event. This is nature’s way of trying to protect you, but it can be counterproductive if it keeps you from feeling enough pain to realize you need help. If you’ve got internal injuries you are unaware of, such as a head injury or internal bleeding, putting off medical care can put your life at risk. Get checked out no matter how silly you feel for doing so. It can save your life and will protect the value of your claim. If you don’t get an exam and later file a claim, the insurance company is going to point to your failure to seek medical care as proof you weren’t as injured as you claim. If you delay getting checked out, they can suggest any injuries discovered later were from an unrelated injury. Either way, the insurance company ends up with an opportunity to try and lower the value of your claim. Don’t give them the chance; get an exam no matter how you feel after a pedestrian accident.
Make Sure You Stick to Your Treatment Plan
Once you get medical treatment and are released to continue healing as an outpatient, you’ll be given a treatment plan. This is going to consist of all the ways you can help with your recovery. It might involve medication that you must take, such as antibiotics. It might require stretching, icing, or heating the injury. It could involve physical or occupational therapy. Many things may be involved in your treatment plan; likely, it will include a combination of therapies. The important thing is to follow it. Do the things your doctor advises to help you heal, and just as importantly, do not do the things you are advised to hold off on. Avoiding overexertion is very important because it’s one of the main ways insurance companies succeed in devaluing claims. You may not realize that insurance companies still employ investigators. Until you’ve recovered, assume they may follow you out in public to take a video of you doing something you aren’t supposed to be doing. If you’ve got an ankle fracture and they catch you jogging, for example, you’re going to have a problem with your claim. Take your treatment plan very seriously. The insurance company is likely to check up on your social media accounts as well, so even if you end up running that forbidden 5K race in another city, if you put it out on social media, they’ll have proof. Your best bet is to simply stick to the plan. Get the rest you need and don’t overdo it. This will help you recover and maintain the value of your pedestrian accident claim.
Don’t Try and Navigate the Interview with the Insurance Company without Your Lawyer
When the accident report is filed, you should expect a call from the insurance company asking to provide a recorded statement. They may tell you it’s routine and lead you to believe the purpose of the interview is to speed your claim along. The truth is that yes, this interview is “routine;” it’s a routine tactic used by the insurance company to try and obtain damaging information from you that they can use against your claim. It’s not going to help your claim, but it may help the insurance company save money. You are not required to take this call without the guidance of your attorney. Remember that anything you say in this conversation will be turned against the value of your claim, if possible. Your best course of action is to turn over all communications to your Huntsville pedestrian accident attorney. This will ensure that the case is communicated through one consistent voice and that you don’t accidentally provide contradictory or confusing input that can damage your claim.
Don’t Wait to Look for an Attorney
You may not feel up to looking for an attorney. This is understandable, as you’re likely dealing with serious injuries. But the fact remains that you still need to find the right attorney as quickly as possible. Long before you’re at risk of missing the deadline for filing a pedestrian accident claim, you’ve got to be careful not to lose out on critical evidence to support your case. Accident scenes are temporary, and when they get cleared away, evidence can be accidentally misplaced or overlooked. Witnesses will forget details over time, or they may move and become impossible to find. Make sure your attorney can build the strongest possible foundation for your case by beginning their investigation as quickly as possible. The good news is, that finding a lawyer is something you can ask a loved one to help with. They can search online, reviewing websites to find Alabama lawyers with expertise in handling pedestrian accidents. They can then read reviews check ratings and come back to you with recommendations. You can decide whom they should call to request a free legal consultation on your behalf. Chances are the friend or family member you turn to for help with this will be happy to have a way to help you with your recovery.
Hire the Right Attorney for Your Claim
It’s not enough to hire “an” attorney for your claim. You’ve got to make sure you hire the right attorney. You wouldn’t indiscriminately pick a doctor to perform surgery without making sure that the doctor had the right experience to succeed, would you? Though people don’t make this mistake with doctors, they sometimes make the mistake of hiring the first lawyer who’s recommended to them, without regard for whether their experience matches their needs. The fact that all pedestrian accident attorneys are lawyers doesn’t mean all lawyers are pedestrian accident attorneys. Make sure the person you hire is a personal trial injury attorney with experience handling pedestrian accident claims. In addition, trial experience is important. Even though most claims settle before they reach the courtroom, some of them settle because they are being handled by a trial attorney. When the insurance companies see that a claim is being handled by an experienced trial attorney, it’s not uncommon for them to reconsider refusing to settle. No matter which way your claim goes, it’s in your best interests to make sure you’ve got a skilled trial attorney handling your claim. The last thing you want is to be forced into a lowball settlement because you’ve hired a lawyer at a “settlement mill.” Attorneys in settlement mills don’t do trials. Instead, they accept lowball settlement offers and make their money through the sheer volume of transactions, at the expense of accident victims. Attorney Jacob Maples is on a mission to protect accident victims from insurance company abuses. He’s got the experience to know what you’re up against and to help you succeed in your claim.
Jacob A. Maples
Your Alabama Injury Attorney
Jacob Fights For You.
He handled my case with speed and efficiency. I couldn’t be happier with his services. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication.
Tori Rhodes
My experience with Jacob Maples was great! I appreciate him and his paralegal Lisa! They are easy to talk to, explain detail for detail, and will keep you updated on everything. Hands down great experience!
Autumn Coleman
ABOUT INJURY ATTORNEY
Jacob A. Maples
Alabama injury lawyer Jacob Maples holds an AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell; a distinction only held by approximately 10% of all attorneys. His focus is on representing individuals with personal injury claims and insurance carrier disputes. Jacob’s career began in Birmingham, Alabama, serving as an associate in an insurance defense law practice. There he gained valuable litigation experience, honing his skills across the state of Alabama. He became frustrated, however, by the treatment accident victims received and made the decision to switch sides. Jacob now represents individual clients victimized by personal injury accidents and insurance company abuses. His passion is standing up for the rights of people facing these challenges.
