Where Can I Find the Best Car Accident Lawyer in Pittsburgh?

From a squirrel darting across a road to a patch of ice causing a spin-out, car accidents come in all shapes and sizes. However, five types of car accidents occur more often than the other types of vehicle collisions.

Rear End

The NHTSA released a report that stated nearly 30 percent of all vehicle collisions on United States roads and highways stem from a rear-end accident. This type of auto accident is often caused by one driver following too close to the car in front. Another reason for the high rate of rear-end collisions is distracted drivers fail to react in time to stop at a red light. Rear-end accidents can trigger whiplash and back spasms.

Direct Side Impact

This common type of car accident often happens at intersections when one driver blows through a red light while a second driver attempts to make a left turn on a green arrow. Side-swipe accidents account for a large percentage of vehicle crash deaths because of the physical vulnerability drivers and passengers face. Serious injuries such as spinal damage and severe brain trauma can take years to heal, if the injuries heal at all.

Head-On

Intoxication is the primary reason why we see head-on crashes. Even at a slower speed, you can receive life-threatening injuries or injuries that leave you fully or partially incapacitated. Drivers going the wrong way constitute the majority of head-on vehicle collisions. Another cause of this type of vehicle crash is the lack of proper traffic signs.

Multiple Vehicles

Also referred to as a chain-link accident, multiple vehicle crashes unfold most often on congested roads and highways. One driver makes a mistake that leads to several other cars crashing into each other. The impacts come from all angles, including the front, side, and rear. Drivers that encounter the sandwich effect can suffer multiple severe injuries that require emergency medical care.

Merging

This type of auto accident forces one car to side-swipe a second vehicle. While trying to merge into traffic, one driver fails to check blind spots for approaching vehicles. Because of the slow speed at which a merging car usually travels, the impact of a merging accident is not as serious as the other four most common types of vehicle crashes.

Knowing the type of car accident that you were involved in can help our Pittsburgh car accident lawyer determine legal liability.

Each state has enacted a series of auto accident laws that cover issues such as comparative negligence and the statute of limitations. After a car collision, contact one of our car accident lawyers in Pittsburgh to ensure you comply with every Pennsylvania auto accident statute.

The statute of limitations represents the amount of time you have to file a personal injury lawsuit. In Pennsylvania, you have two years to initiate litigation against another party. The clock typically starts ticking on the date of the auto accident. However, there are two circumstances that change the deadline. First, if a car crash results in the death of the plaintiff, the family must file a wrongful death lawsuit. The clock starts ticking on a wrongful death case on the day the plaintiff died. Second, some injuries do not develop symptoms immediately following a car collision. An example of a delayed symptoms response is if you suffered a concussion. The clock starts ticking on your personal injury lawsuit on the day when you first noticed symptoms.

Pennsylvania follows the modified comparative negligence model for calculating legal judgments. When a driver assumes 100 percent of the blame for causing an auto accident, the judgment reflects that by awarding the plaintiff 100 percent of the monetary damages. Most vehicle crashes involve some form of comparative fault, which means both drivers must shoulder some of the blame for causing the crash.

Let’s say you are 20 percent responsible for causing an accident and the other driver assumes the other 80 percent of the responsibility. If the judge hearing your lawsuit awards you $50,000 in monetary damages, you receive only 80 percent of the judgment ($40,000). Because of the Pennsylvania modified comparative fault model, a Pittsburgh car accident lawyer conducts a thorough investigation to discover whether any of your actions contributed to the collision. 

Since Pennsylvania follows the modified comparative fault model, having no-fault car insurance determines how you should proceed when filing an insurance claim. If you purchase no-fault car insurance, you must use your personal injury protection auto insurance to receive compensation for economic damages. Eventually, you can file a civil lawsuit that seeks compensatory damages for lost income and medical bills. However, you first must turn to your insurance no-fault insurance coverage to receive financial assistance.

Here is some more information concerning Pennsylvania’s no-fault car insurance rules.

A Pittsburgh car accident lawyer works hard to get you the compensation you deserve for suffering injuries caused by a car accident. You have the right to recover the cost of medical bills and the money spent on auto repairs. If the accident forced you off the job, you can recover lost wages as well. A common non-economic damage is called pain and suffering, which refers to difficult to quantify issues such as mental anguish and emotional distress.
A car accident lawyer in Pittsburgh PA also provides the following legal services:

• Explains your rights
• Offers legal advice
• Conducts a detailed investigation
• Gathers and organizes evidence
• Interviews witnesses
• Calculates a value for monetary damages
• Tries to negotiate a favorable settlement
• Represents you in court

With dozens of personal injury attorneys practicing law in Pittsburgh, how do you find the best one to represent you? The answer is understanding the factors that determine the quality and professionalism of any attorney on your shortlist.

Experience Matters

Many lawyers practice in more than one area of law. For example, you might come across an attorney who claims to specialize in personal injury law, but you discover the lawyer also practices family and immigration laws. The legal counsel you get to represent you must specialize in just one area of law: Personal injury law. Even better, you should search for legal representation that focuses on car accident cases. Each type of personal injury law introduces unique legal issues.

When we say experience matters, we mean experience winning legal judgments and negotiating favorable settlements matter.

Responsive Communication

Yes, the personal injury attorney you hire will be juggling several cases while handling your case. Nonetheless, this does not mean your legal counsel can go days without responding to your questions and concerns. When you leave a voicemail, you should get a response from the attorney within the same business day. The same applies to an email or text message. At Morgan & Morgan, our team of personal injury attorneys receives support from clerks and paralegals that allows us to get back to you quickly.

Contingency Fee

When you file a personal injury lawsuit, you seek compensation to cover the cost of economic and non-economic damages. Any lawyer on your shortlist of candidates must charge you on a contingency fee basis. This means you do not pay any upfront legal fees. Your lawyer gets paid when you get paid. Another advantage of a contingency fee arrangement is it typically motivates a lawyer to work as hard as possible for a lucrative judgment or settlement.

With the clock ticking on your lawsuit, you should act with a sense of urgency by contacting Morgan & Morgan for legal support. The faster you act, the quicker we can resolve your insurance claim, as well as a civil lawsuit.

We will conduct an exhaustive investigation to determine the cause of the car accident, as well as which party should assume most, if not all of the responsibility for causing the collision. We will also interview every witness as quickly as possible after the accident to ensure we receive the most accurate version of what transpired.

Schedule a free case evaluation today to learn more about our expertise when it comes to litigating personal injury cases.