Car Accident Attorney in Charlottesville

When you get into a car accident, your life can change in an instant. Suddenly, you may have serious injuries that will take a great deal of time and money to treat. Your injuries may also leave you unable to work and enjoy daily activities. Many people, in fact, can never return to work or the way of life that they knew before the crash.

At Marks & Harrison, our Charlottesville car accident lawyers realize the life-altering impact of crashes. If someone else’s negligence caused your crash, we will work quickly and effectively to pursue all compensation that you are due. We will refuse to back down when dealing with insurance companies.

For more than 100 years, we have protected the rights of crash victims and their loved ones in Charlottesville and communities throughout Virginia. We are ready to put our experience and the resources of one of Virginia’s largest personal injury law firms to work for you today. Contact us and get started with a free consultation.

How Can Our Charlottesville Car Accident Lawyers Help You?

When you work with Marks & Harrison on your car accident claim, you can count on getting the highly professional representation and close, personal attention that you need and deserve. Our legal team will provide a wide range of services, including:

• Conducting an immediate investigation of your auto accident
• Getting input from highly qualified professionals in areas such as accident reconstruction, life-care planning, and other fields
• Make sure all paperwork is timely and properly filed
• Seeking a full and fair settlement with the insurance company
• Pursuing a verdict in court (if necessary)
• Working efficiently to collect your settlement or judgment and make sure that you receive the compensation you are due in as timely of a manner as possible.
• You will pay no costs or legal fees unless and until we obtain a financial recovery for you. It all starts with a free and confidential consultation. We can review your case and help you to understand all of your rights and options.

What Are Your Legal Options After a Charlottesville Auto Accident?

If another driver did something careless or reckless to cause your car accident, Marks & Harrison can help you to pursue a claim that seeks compensation through that driver’s auto insurance liability coverage. If the driver is insured, the driver should have coverage that meets at least the minimum amounts that Virginia law requires:

• $25,000 per person in bodily injury coverage
• $50,000 per accident in bodily injury coverage
• $20,000 per accident property damage coverage.
• Many drivers carry liability insurance that exceeds those amounts. At the same, many drivers also lack any insurance at all. Virginia law allows drivers to register their vehicles and take them on the road without insurance coverage as long as they pay a fee.

If the driver who caused your accident in Charlottesville was uninsured, or if the driver’s insurance fails to pay for all of your damages, your Marks & Harrison personal injury attorney will help you to explore all of your other options, which may include filing an uninsured motorist (UM) or underinsured motorist (UIM) claim with your own insurance company. We won’t rest until we explore all possible avenues for securing compensation for you.

What Compensation Can You Seek in a Charlottesville Car Accident Claim?

Our goal at Marks & Harrison will be to recover compensation that makes you as close as possible to being “whole” again after a negligent driver has injured you or a loved one. We can pursue damages on your behalf that may include:

• Past medical expenses
• Costs of future medical treatment
• Loss of past earnings
• Diminishment of your ability to earn future income
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Punitive damages (in exceptional cases)
• Wrongful death damages (if your loved one died in the crash).
• Under Virginia’s pure contributory negligence law, a car accident victim may be barred from recovering any compensation if the victim was even slightly at fault. Insurance companies try to take advantage of this law.
• This is why it is important to work with a car accident lawyer who knows how insurance companies operate and will aggressively protect your rights when dealing with those insurers.

Do Car Accidents Happen Often in Charlottesville?

Even the safest driver can suffer injuries in a car accident in Charlottesville. According to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, more than 500 motor vehicle collisions occur within the Charlottesville city limits each year, on average, while more than 2,000 crashes happen in Albemarle County as a whole.

Whether you are driving on a busy route such as I-64 or US-29, or you are trying to get through congested traffic in areas around Barracks Road Shopping Center, Seminole Square Shopping Center, or Pantops Shopping Center, you can collide with a negligent driver.

A local TV station, CBS 19, reports that “high crash areas” in Charlottesville and surrounding areas in Albemarle County include:

• Northbound lanes of Route 29 and Ashwood Boulevard
• Richmond Road corridor between Rolkin Road and I-64
• Rural routes such as Garth Road, Thomas Jefferson Parkway, and Scottsville Road.

When you work with a car accident attorney at Marks & Harrison, we will put our investigative team to work on your case right away, including going to the scene of your crash to inspect it. We want to compile as much information as possible about why your crash happened in order to seek the compensation you deserve.

What Are Common Causes of Car Crashes in Charlottesville?

Car accidents in Charlottesville are rarely random events. Instead, most crashes directly result from poor decisions that drivers make such as:

• Speeding – Drivers often break the speed limit or go too fast for conditions such as rain, fog, and ice.
• Distracted driving – Many drivers disregard the dangers that come from multi-tasking behind the wheel such as trying to drive while texting or talking on a cell phone.
• Impaired driving – A driver who consumes alcohol or controlled substances before driving puts everyone at risk.
• Tailgating – If a driver follows the car in front too closely, the driver loses the ability to stop or swerve on time in order to avoid a rear-end collision.
• Refusing to yield – Some drivers either fail to recognize when other drivers have the right of way at intersections, or they act aggressively and refuse to yield.
• Making unsafe lane changes – When drivers fail to check their blind spots or signal turns, they can easily cause sideswipe accidents.
• Driving while overly fatigued – Several studies show that drowsy driving can be just as dangerous as driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs.

At Marks & Harrison, we quickly gather and collect evidence to determine the cause of car crashes. By discovering how a car accident happened, we can identify who should be held responsible for it and demand the compensation that our clients are due.

What Are Common Charlottesville Car Accident Injuries?

Our car accident attorneys have experience helping car accident victims who have suffered a wide range of injuries. Many clients we assist in Charlottesville face injuries such as:

Marks & Harrison will review your medical records and consult with your doctors and other knowledgeable medical professionals to determine the full extent of your injuries. We will also listen to you and your loved ones and learn about how your injuries have affected your life. Our goal will be to recover compensation that justly compensates you for the harm you have suffered.

What Should You Do If You Are Hurt in a Charlottesville Car Accident?

If you have been involved in a car accident in Charlottesville, you should take these four steps to protect your right to recover compensation:
See a doctor – You should get checked for injuries as soon as you can after a crash. If you wait too long, you will put your health at risk. Also, an insurance company will try to use any delay in getting medical attention against you.

• Gather and keep everything – Keep any information that you collected at the accident scene such as photos, the other driver’s information, and witness names and contact information. You should also keep all bills, receipts, insurance company letters, and other documents related to your case.
• Report the accident to your insurance company – Your auto insurance policy may require reporting your crash within a certain number of days after a crash. To preserve your right to file a claim, later on, you should make sure to comply with this requirement.
• Avoid talking with other insurance companies – If the other driver’s insurance company contacts you after your crash, you should decline to give a recorded statement or accept a settlement offer until you talk with a lawyer first.

Our Charlottesville Car Accident Attorneys Are Here for You

The most important step that you will take after a car crash in Charlottesville is to get in touch with a Charlottesville injury attorney at Marks & Harrison. We have protected the rights of injury victims throughout Virginia for more than a century. We are ready to go to work for you. Call or reach us online today. Contact our Charlottesville car accident attorney today.