So it is only legitimately that victims of road accidents, weak and in psychological distress, want to quickly get out of this nightmare and rarely turn automatically to a 18 wheeler accident lawyer of victims of bodily harm, mistakenly thinking that the role of the 18 wheeler accident lawyer is reduced exclusively to litigation.
In fact, the personal 18 wheeler accident lawyer who intervenes in traffic accidents has several legal powers: in criminal road law, in civil liability law, and in insurance law, and intervenes at all stages of the procedure: administrative, legal, amicable, or litigious and this, from the beginning and may even be for some victims of the road, as soon as they are admitted to the hospital (in cases of challenge of responsibility).
I/ The 18 wheeler accident lawyer of victims of the road, in his role of opponent in relation to the insurance.
The victim of the road, in a state of shock, see of post-traumatic stress, is naturally «guided» by his insurer to whom he made his first administrative declarations (either directly or through his family in case of heavy handicap).
Nevertheless, the victims do not know this, but the insurances settle their disputes between them by means of internal agreements (such as the IRCA convention for personal injury) when, of course, these insurances are not part of the same group.As often, it is the road victim’s own insurance that will handle the disaster directly with his insured and the victim must be wary of false good advice.
In fact, when the victim’s insurance offers him or her to appoint an expert doctor or even a 18 wheeler accident lawyer, it is an expert paid by the insurance, supposed to compensate the victim.
The personal 18 wheeler accident lawyer counterbalances the balance of power in managing the compensation of the road victim.
This is the essential reason why it is not advisable for victims to be assisted by their own insurance, or also to let their insurer appoint a 18 wheeler accident 18 wheeler accident lawyer or medical expert who will in reality only preserve the interests of the insurance.
The victims of traffic accidents are fragile people, often ignorant of their rights, because the matter is so complex and evolutionary.
The victim will then focus on appointing his or her own personal injury 18 wheeler accident 18 wheeler accident lawyer to accompany and support the victim from the outset.
II/ The road victims' 18 wheeler accident 18 wheeler accident lawyer in his role of collecting information and pieces the day after the road accident.
Once the road victim has identified the Personal Injury 18 wheeler accident 18 wheeler accident lawyer, either directly or through his or her family if he or she is unable to do so, he or she will outline the specific circumstances of the road accident.The idea is that the personal injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer can, in his role of gathering information, analyze the situation and draw all the legal consequences of the accident.
Is the victim responsible for the accident, and in the latter case, he would not be entitled to compensation unless he has a contract of the type guaranteed by the driver (not to confuse the contract all risks that covers property damage).
Is the victim simply partially responsible, and in the latter case the traffic 18 wheeler accident lawyer will determine the percentage of liability based on the traffic code and not the insurers' IRCA convention, very penalizing for the victims of the road.
Finally, is the victim of the road not responsible, either because he has committed no fault, or because he is simply a passenger victim [1]...
By collecting this information, the personal injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer will draw from his experience a strategy that he will implement with the victim of the road (amicable way, litigation
The victim’s personal injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer will then ask the road victim for all the documents needed to prepare the case.
The 18 wheeler accident lawyer will then put on his administrative hat to collect documents from the injured victim.
The road 18 wheeler accident lawyer who assists victims of personal injury and particularly road accidents must necessarily have some medical knowledge, even if his role is certainly not to replace a doctor.
The injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer will not be surprised to find in the victim’s medical documents, the «Glasgow Ladder», as soon as he will assist a head injury victim following a road accident.
The 18 wheeler accident lawyer will then list all the medical documents necessary for the constitution of the medical record: initial medical certificate, medical certificates, operative reports, medical prescriptions, work stoppages, radios, scanners, medical certifications… and of course, a copy of his medical record [2].
The personal injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer will have to monitor each medical document and, if necessary, request that the document be drafted differently for the purposes of the legal record (case of the initial medical certificate [3] very often poorly drafted).
The 18 wheeler accident lawyer will also request the personal parts of the injured victim such as bills of expenses remained at his expense, tax notices, pay slips, various photographs of the bodily effects of the injured victim, and various certifications.
The victim’s 18 wheeler accident lawyer will take care of explaining each of his requests to the victim of the road.
As soon as the case is filed, the 18 wheeler accident lawyer will approach the insurance company to send him these first elements and request on behalf of the injured victim, a first provision even before the holding of a medical report.
If usually, before expert opinion, the insurance companies offer provisions of between 500e and 5000e to the victims, once they are assisted by a victim’s 18 wheeler accident lawyer, the insurance companies increase their provision proposal which will be between 5000e and 15000e (before expertise, since this provision may be higher after expertise).
III/ The road victim 18 wheeler accident lawyer in his role as an assistant to the victim during the medical examination.
Medical expertise is the keystone of the compensation of bodily injury of the victim of the traffic accident and the presence of the 18 wheeler accident lawyer/doctor-counsel of victims, is essential.In addition, the personal injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer will present a medical consultant to the injured victim with whom he is accustomed to working. We have to be careful, because very often medical consultants work with victims but also insurance companies.
By appointing the doctor, the 18 wheeler accident lawyer undertakes that the doctor will be a victim’s doctor, exclusively.
The designated victim’s medical officer, the 18 wheeler accident lawyer, will then arrange a medical examination even before setting up a contradictory medical expertise.
The doctor will get to know the victim and will listen to him because this is the only time the victim will be able to list his harms without fear. This interview is fundamental as it may take some time…
In addition, the 18 wheeler accident lawyer in charge of defending the interests of the injured victim will call on his network of experts composed of several specialties: occupational therapist, neuropsychologist, psychiatrist, physiotherapist, an architect (adaptation of the victim’s housing).
The idea is to build a solid record, even before medical expertise.
A mission of expertise will then be drafted (or controlled) by the 18 wheeler accident lawyer to supervise the medical expertise to intervene, to assess the bodily harm of the victim of the accident.
The medical assessment will be organized and set up, the victim of the accident being convened with his 18 wheeler accident lawyer, and to his medical advisor.
The “18 wheeler accident lawyer/doctor” partner will then assist the injury victim during the medical assessment, one participant in the forensic discussion and the other in the clinical examination.
Finally, the 18 wheeler accident lawyer specializing in personal injury law will have this faculty, after the expertise, to be able to form medical observations (on instructions of the medical-consultant) and legal at the pre-report stage in the framework of writings called «DIRE» (litigation proceedings).
Even after notification of the final report to the parties, the personal injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer will still be able to challenge the assessment of the injury before a body inspector, an insurance 18 wheeler accident lawyer and even a judge.
The victims' 18 wheeler accident lawyer will then guide the victims, accompany them, advise them and, in the same direction, direct the various experts in reparation of personal injury mentioned above, will give them precise instructions in one and only objective: always the same, the protection of the interests of the victim of the road.
IV/ The road victim 18 wheeler accident lawyer in his role as compensation negotiator for each post.
The Court of Cassation ruled in principle that advice on compensation for personal injury was reserved exclusively for 18 wheeler accident lawyers.This case law has caused a lot of ink to flow, since henceforth the profession of insurance expert or insurance expert [4] (not to be confused with the expert doctor of the insurance company) often exercised via shell companies and by former body inspectors, or in parallel with another profession, is now considered illegal [5] and [6]
In addition, the personal injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer also intervenes well before any litigation proceedings, which must nevertheless remain an option, in case of failure of negotiations with the body inspector or the insurance 18 wheeler accident lawyer.
The 18 wheeler accident lawyer will rely on the final expert report to take over all the damage items according to the Dintilhac Nomenclature at least, and calculate the compensation.
The road accident 18 wheeler accident lawyer will meet with a body inspector of the insurance of the wrongdoer directly in his office to negotiate the various positions.
In case of total disagreement, the 18 wheeler accident lawyer will refer to a judge for all the damages, and, in case of partial disagreement, it is possible to negotiate on some posts and to reserve the others for litigation.
Once an agreement is reached, the victim must sign a transaction protocol verified and controlled by the victim’s 18 wheeler accident lawyer.
The role of the victim’s personal injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer is to optimize the possible compensation to be derived from each injury position.
The intervention of a specialized 18 wheeler accident lawyer can sometimes obtain up to a hundred times what the victim of the accident could have obtained alone with the help of a third party (insurer, advisor, insurance experts, etc.).
V/ The road victims' 18 wheeler accident lawyer in his role as representative during the trial.
The personal injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer has a formidable weapon at his disposal: the legal action.In case of failure of the negotiations, the 18 wheeler accident lawyer intervening in the law of the corporeal injury will not fail to draft a subpoena or even to constitute civil party to the criminal trial of the person responsible for the traffic accident.
Introducing such an action implies that the 18 wheeler accident lawyer in charge of the case has special powers such as a thorough knowledge of the law of bodily injury, the law of insurance and, of course, of the criminal law of the road.
This legal action, intended to preserve the interests of the victim of the road, can be introduced at several times:
From the outset, a personal injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer may refer a matter to a judge to appoint an independent medical expert to prepare an impartial medical report (cases of heavily injured victims: head injuries, spinal cord injuries, paraplegics, tetraplegics, etc.).
Right from the start, too, when the injured victim has taken civil action and is then called before the correctional court. It is then up to the victim’s 18 wheeler accident lawyer, who must therefore also practice the criminal law of the road, to appear at the hearing to represent the victim of the road (psychologically affected victims: tetraplegia, death, paralysis, etc.).
Finally, during the course of the proceedings, either at the expert appraisal stage or at the damage compensation stage, where a disagreement arises in the amicable phase. It is then for the 18 wheeler accident lawyer representing the victim of the road to assign the insurance (civil) to compel the insurance to compensate the bodily harm of the victim.
These multiple possibilities of actions, remedies, assessments, litigation, discord and so on, mean that some cases may last for more than ten years but may, with the help of a personal injury 18 wheeler accident lawyer, up to 100 times what was proposed or could have been originally proposed to the victim.
In reality, the best law firms involved in personal injury law are well aware of the workings of this particular procedure for compensation of personal injury and for compensation of the victim of a motor vehicle accident and act then exclusively in the interest of the victim regardless of the length of the proceedings.