I just had a car accident, what should I do now?
Stop at the scene or as close as safely possible. If anyone was injured, call 911 immediately, and follow their directions, which may involve rendering reasonable assistance to any injured person. Don’t move an injured person unless absolutely necessary, such as to save their life from a vehicle fire or explosion. If there are no apparent injuries, call the police and follow their directions. Remain at the scene until after the police arrive (unless you must leave for immediate medical care). Don’t move the vehicles unless necessary for safety, or if you are directed to do so by the police.
Photograph the vehicles, the other driver’s license, and the scene. Get names and phone numbers of any witnesses. Before you leave the scene, make sure to exchange insurance and other information with the other driver (driver name and address; name and address of vehicle owner; names and addresses of vehicle occupants; vehicle registration number; insurance company name, policy number, and phone number). Then promptly report the collision to your auto insurance company.
What are my legal responsibilities if I am involved in a car accident in Oregon?
A driver involved in a collision is legally obligated to stop their vehicle at the scene or as close as possible, and to remain at the scene until they have exchanged insurance, driver, owner, and vehicle information. A driver is legally required to render reasonable assistance to any person injured in the collision, including arrangements for getting them to medical care, if it is apparent such treatment is necessary or it is requested by an injured person. A driver must otherwise remain at the scene until a police officer has arrived (unless the police say they are not coming). Failure to perform the duties of a driver to injured persons is a Class C felony in Oregon.
If there was injury or death, or a vehicle was towed away, or there was more than $2500 in property damage, the driver must submit a report to the Oregon DMV within 72 hours. The DMV report form may be found here: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/Forms/DMV/32fill.pdf
You are not required to make any statements or provide authorizations to the other party’s insurance company. Remember the other side’s insurance company is not looking out for your interests; only theirs. You should not post anything on social media about the collision, your injuries or medical treatment, or about your activities.
What happens if the at-fault driver has insufficient insurance coverage to compensate for my losses?
Unfortunately, it’s relatively common for an at-fault driver to either have insufficient insurance or no insurance. In Oregon, every policy of auto insurance has “Uninsured motorist” and “Underinsured motorist coverage” to help with that problem. If you have an Oregon auto insurance policy, you have this coverage. Uninsured Motorist (“UM”) insurance applies when the other driver has no insurance, and Underinsured Motorist (“UIM”) insurance applies whenever the at-fault driver’s insurance is insufficient to cover the harms and losses that driver caused. Each person who purchases an Oregon auto insurance decides the level of UM and UIM coverage they want, essentially when they decide the amount of liability coverage they will buy. UIM coverage is in addition to the at-fault driver’s coverage. If the at-fault driver has $25,000 of liability coverage, and you have a $25,000 UIM policy, there is up to a total of $50,000 to help compensate for your losses. (Tip: most people involved in the worlds of law or insurance buy much higher UM and UIM limits, which surprisingly don’t cost that much more than lower limits).
What is an independent medical examination?
There is no such thing as an “independent” medical exam. These are exams done for the benefit of insurance companies, often arranged through corporations that support the insurance industry. An insurance medical exam may be requested by an automobile insurance company in three situations: (1) if the insurer wants to stop paying its insured person Personal Injury Protection benefits; (2) if the insurer is defending a Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist benefits claim made by its own insured person; and (3) in litigation, when the insurance defense lawyer for the adverse party obtains a court order for an exam or the parties agree to an exam. You cannot be forced to go to a Personal Injury Protection (PIP) exam. If you go, the insurance company’s exam will likely hurt your claim, and the insurance company will likely cut off your PIP benefits. If you do not go to a PIP insurance exam, the insurance company will cut off your PIP benefits (but there might be other resources to help pay for treatment). The decision whether or not to attend an insurance medical exam should be carefully considered and discussed with your attorney, if you have one. The terms and conditions for any insurance medical exam should be carefully considered before any exam is done. After the exam, the insurance company’s chosen doctor will prepare a written report, which almost always favors the insurance company’s position.
When should I hire a lawyer for a car accident?
Especially if there has been any serious personal injury, it is important to start looking for an attorney promptly so that an investigation can begin and important evidence not be lost. A personal injury attorney will then be able to help you to determine if you have a case and what will be needed to win. If the collision caused a brain or spinal cord injury, any broken bones, injuries that required surgery, or a painful injury that may be permanent, you should also seek an attorney’s advice before accepting any offer from an insurance company, corporation, or individual. Some people and corporations do not want to take responsibility for their actions, and insurance companies profit by compensating injured persons as little as possible.
When should I hire a lawyer for a car accident?
When choosing an attorney for your car accident case, it is important that the attorney be well-qualified in that area of law, that they are respected by insurance companies and their lawyers, and that you have a good “chemistry” with them. Feel free to interview several attorneys. Most personal injuries attorneys do not charge for an initial consultation. Consider the following list as a starting point for questions you may want to ask an attorney before you make your decision:
- What are your areas of practice?
- Have you handled cases like mine before? About how many have you actually tried? What were the outcomes?
- Will you be the only attorney who works on the case? If not, who else will work on it?
- Will you refer my case to another attorney or you associate with an attorney outside your firm if you cannot settle the case successfully? If so, why?
- What professional legal organizations do you belong to?
- Have you been honored by any of them?
- What continuing legal education courses have you taken in the past year that are specific to personal injury cases?
- Have you taught any?
- Have you ever been disciplined, or been suspended from the practice of law? If so, why?
- Will you take my case on a contingent fee basis?
- If you are unavailable or on vacation, who can I speak with about my case?
Before you make a decision, you should be confident that the attorney is experienced in car collision personal injury cases, and comfortable placing your trust in that attorney.
How can I prove my losses after a car accident?
Keep copies of your medical bills, payments, and insurance explanation of benefits. Keep your photos of the collision vehicles, and records of repairs or estimates of repairs. If you lose income because of inability to work or limitations on work, your employer should have records of those losses; if you are self-employed, keep good financial records. The most important losses are not the ones a bookkeeper can total, but the human harms and losses. These include physical limitations, pain, inconvenience, inability to do ordinary things, mental suffering, emotional distress, worrying about the future, and disfigurement. These human harms are more difficult to prove. The most important thing you can do to help your case is to work diligently to recover as much of your health and abilities as you can. When human losses are substantial an experienced personal injury attorney can often make a real difference. Different attorneys have different approaches to proving those losses. An injured person should carefully pick an attorney they like and trust and work closely with that attorney so that the human losses can be demonstrated.
How much do car accidents usually settle for?
That’s kind of like asking what a piece of property might sell for, without knowing anything about the property. There is quite a range, depending on multiple factors. The same is true for personal injury claims. There is a world of difference between someone who completely heals up after having had a painful back for 6 months, and someone who is completely paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of their life. More serious injuries usually settle for higher amounts, but there are many other considerations. Those include: how clear is the other driver’s fault? Were there other people who were also at fault? Was the other driver’s fault aggravated (such as a drunk driver), or morally less culpable (like a moment of reduced attention to change a radio station)? How clear is the medical picture? Which county would the case be decided in if it did not settle? How would a jury likely view the other driver and view the injured person? And so on.
In car collision cases, one of the important limiting factors on settlements is the amount of insurance coverage. In Oregon, it is unusual for the injured person to obtain more compensation from an at-fault driver than the amount of that driver’s liability policy. The Oregon statutory minimum for auto liability insurance policies is $25,000 per person (up to a total of $50,000 per incident). At times, that’s all that can reasonably be recovered from the at-fault party, no matter how severe the injuries. In some cases, that doesn’t even cover the first day of the injured person’s medical bills. The injured person will typically also have potential access, if needed, to additional insurance under their own “Underinsured Motorist” coverage, but that, too, will be capped at the amount that was purchased.
