Giving the Insurance Provider a Recorded Statement
Fairly soon after a bicycle accident, you can expect a call from the insurance company of the person who caused your accident. This insurance company representative is going to try to get you to provide a recorded statement. Do not do this. As rude as it may sound to you, the best thing you can do for yourself in this situation is politely decline to talk and hang up. Insurance companies are businesses that make money by taking in as many premiums as possible and paying out as few claims as possible. This is crucial to remember because, despite what they say to you, they aren’t calling because they care. They are trying to get you on record saying something — anything— they can use to devalue your claim. The best thing you can do for the strength of your case is hire an attorney to communicate for you. Don’t worry about getting “in trouble.” The insurance company may sound intimidating when they aren’t getting what they want, but you have absolutely no obligation to speak with them. Call our Kansas bus accident attorneys today to find out how we can handle communications like this for you in your case. Waiting Too Long to Hire a Lawyer
With the pain, stress of accident injuries, and worries about paying bills you are experiencing during recovery, it’s understandable to put off hiring a lawyer. You may feel as though you have lots of time to get a case started, too. Even if there were no statute of limitations on filing, however, putting it off is a big mistake. Not only does evidence invariably disappear over time, but so does witness recall. In the state of Kansas, you only have two years to file your claim. You may have even less time if the liable party is a government entity. Don’t help the insurance company get out of compensating you by missing your filing deadline. This is one mistake you absolutely can and should avoid. Don’t Hire the Wrong Lawyer
Hiring the wrong lawyer can destroy your chances of winning your case. There are dozens of practice areas in the law, and specializations even within personal injury. Each of these comes with its own rules and regulations. Don’t endanger your case by hiring a lawyer who is not familiar with personal injury. A real estate lawyer might be highly recommended by a friend, but that doesn’t help you build a strong bus accident case. Our Kansas bus accident attorneys have experience winning bus accident cases, both in and out of court. This brings us to another mistake. Not all attorneys are experienced at winning before a jury. Your case might settle before it goes that far, but if it doesn’t, you need an attorney who is confident in the courtroom. This helps on two fronts. The first is that a skilled trial lawyer knows how to win at trial and has done so in the past. The second is the insurance companies know who these attorneys are, and they do not want to face them in court. This can get the insurance company to come to the bargaining table with an offer that is more than you’d thought possible. It may very likely be a higher offer than you could have received without a trial lawyer by your side. Don’t give the insurance company leverage over your case by hiring the wrong attorney. Our Kansas bus accident attorneys have helped others in situations like yours, and will prepare your case from the start as if it were going to trial. Kansas Bus Accident Injury Client Story
Read this story through to the end to learn more about bus accident injury cases. We’ve included answers to some of the most common questions we get on this topic. The participants names and details of this story have been changed to protect client privacy. A couple of years ago, a Wichita woman, Louise Carter, stepped onto an MTA bus on her way to her part-time job in the hospital gift shop. It was a beautiful day, and the bus was almost full of people going about their lives. As Louise boarded the bus, a young man, Albert Johnson, got up and gave her his seat behind the driver. Louise thanked Albert, telling him he reminded her of her grandson. He smiled, laughed, and said she reminded him of his granny. Albert remained standing in the aisle a couple of feet behind Louise’s seat, holding onto one of the metal rails as the bus moved on. The driver made a few more stops, but it soon became apparent that he was driving erratically. The passengers became alarmed when the driver failed to make a regular stop on the route and didn’t respond to their attempts to get his attention. After a second missed stop, the bus rolled through an intersection against the traffic light, striking a car that had the right-of-way. At the moment of impact, Louise was thrown out of her seat toward the stairwell of the bus. She would have gone headfirst down the stairs, but Albert managed to grab hold of her coat and stop her trajectory. Several passengers were injured in the accident, including Louise. She suffered a broken wrist and three bruised ribs. She also struck her head and suffered a laceration on her forehead. The accident scene was chaotic, but emergency responders arrived quickly and Louise was taken to the hospital. Albert stayed with Louise until the ambulance arrived, using his phone to call Louise’s grandson, who left work to meet her at the hospital. Albert also called the hospital to let them know that on this day, Louise would be a patient, not an employee. Louise was shaken up and cried on the way to the hospital. It wasn’t the pain, she said. She was worried about the little rescue dog waiting for her at home. She was also worried about missing her shift at the gift shop. Louise spent three days in the hospital. She received five stitches on her forehead, and her wrist was set and put into a cast. Her ribs were wrapped for support while they healed. During Louise’s hospital stay, her grandson Christopher stayed at her apartment and took care of her dog. He also visited her in the hospital, where he called us to ask about a bus accident claim for Louise. The day after Louise’s release from the hospital, we met with her and Christopher for a free consultation to answer her questions about her case. From the moment we met, we could see Louise was full of love, giving to all she encountered. Her eyes truly sparkled. She is the kind of person who leaves everyone better for having known her. It was clear from the beginning of our meeting that Christopher adored his grandmother and felt very protective of her. He sat in on our meeting and asked many questions on her behalf that the two of them had discussed during her stay in the hospital. The three main questions they had were: (1) How much would this cost? (2) How much could Louise be awarded? (3) How long would it take for the case to wrap up? If you have been injured in a bus accident, you probably have similar questions. Read on to find out what we told her.