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The question of what damages car accident victims can seek is unique to every client’s case. The term “damages” refers the various forms of compensation an accident victim is entitled to after an injury.    Of the many Western North Carolina residents who suffer catastrophic injuries in car accidents every year, everyone’s case is different. In this article, the fourth in our series on catastrophic car accident injuries, we’ll discuss damages commonly sought in personal injury cases.

Thousands of Asheville residents suffer injuries in car accidents every year. Most of these people are able to recover and return to their normal lives after a period of rest. However, many people are not as fortunate, suffering injuries that leave them disabled, unable to work, and rapidly accruing medical debt as a result of their accidents. Injuries that leave victims in such a state are called catastrophic injuries, which means that they are unable to ever lead the life that they led before their accidents.

­­After an Asheville catastrophic car accident, you may feel that for every question your doctors answer, several new ones arise. How do you pay medical bills after a catastrophic injury? How do you get medical care if you can’t afford it? How will your family be affected after your catastrophic accident?

In this article, the second in our personal injury blog series on catastrophic car accident injuries, we’ll talk about the long-term effects of catastrophic injuries on victims’ lives. Important issues in catastrophic accidents include the need for in-home care services, life care planning, and other services to help you adjust and begin building a new life after your accident.

The creator of the Serve Safe, Drink Safe, Do the Right Thing campaign, Asheville Attorney Lakota Denton, is following up on his campaign video by printing and distributing 10,000 coasters to be given for free to bars, breweries, and restaurants in Asheville to help support the message of serving and drinking safely.   The campaign, which was designed to raise awareness and promote safe practices around alcohol service and consumption in Asheville, received more than 40,000 views on social media and urges bartenders and bar owners not to over-serve patrons in Asheville, as well as urging patrons not to overindulge when visiting Beer City USA.    

Broken bones, concussions, whiplash – many Asheville residents have fallen victim to these types of injuries in car accidents. While these injuries are serious and can require physical therapy and surgery, most car accident victims experience a full recovery. But if you or a loved one experienced an injury that will likely result in a permanent disability, you probably have questions about what you should do in both the short term and the long term. Often called catastrophic injuries, this type of injury is the most serious non-fatal injury people can suffer in a car accident.

The Dirty Truth About Insurance Companies and Unfair Settlement Offers.

If you have been the victim of an accident, and have been injured as the result of another person’s negligence or through no fault of your own, you may be in the midst of dealing and negotiating with an insurance company.   As a victim of an accident you did not cause, you are likely entitled to obtain compensation for things like medical bills, property (vehicle) damage, lost wages and pain and suffering. 

Insurance companies often fail to make reasonable offers that clients find acceptable.   There are many reasons for this (some you can probably guess), but at the end of the day, injured persons with legitimate claims for compensation scratch their head at how and why the insurance company can get away with offering so little when they are clearly on the hook. 

Being involved in a car accident is a very stressful experience, particularly if you are injured in the accident, or if someone in your car was injured.  It can be very difficult to think clearly in those early moments when your body is in shock and your brain is flooded with adrenaline.    Simple car accidents can often be handled between you and the insurance company for the at-fault driver, but more complicated accidents involving severe injuries, property damage, permanent injury or questions of fault can require the assistance of an experienced personal injury attorney.   In this article, we’ll attempt to provide you with a guide for what to do after a wreck.

Asheville residents who are considering filing a nursing home abuse lawsuit must consider many factors. What effects will the legal process have on their aging parent? How long will the nursing home malpractice lawsuit take? How much money does a nursing home abuse lawsuit cost? These are among the many questions families typically ask themselves at the beginning of the process.

Families should have an idea of what to expect before even contacting an attorney’s office about filing suit against a nursing home. You can determine what questions to ask once you know about the stages of a nursing home lawsuit, allowing you to decide what is best for your family and your aging loved one and make the most of your consultation and future meetings with your attorney.

Even when families perform due diligence in choosing an Asheville nursing home for an aging parent or relative, abuse can still occur. Many seniors who are abused are victimized over and over again before the abuse is discovered – if it is ever discovered.

One of the most difficult things about discovering elder abuse is that many seniors have mental health problems or physical conditions that make it hard to detect. Abusers know this and often target patients with conditions like Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. These disorders cause confusion, memory loss, paranoia, and other symptoms. The result is that when your parent describes to you an incident of abuse or theft, you may be unsure whether or not to believe their story. Abusers anticipate this kind of reaction, and they often target patients who have these kinds of problems exactly for that reason.

In our last post, we talked about a Western North Carolina residential care facility that, in 2015, received a zero rating by NC Department of Health and Human Services because of numerous, egregious health and safety standard violations that left the facility’s residents at serious risk of harm. Despite this, the facility’s owner successfully sued DHHS to withdraw the dismal rating, along with the fines the agency had levied. Even now, the facility’s rating in state documentation is listed as four stars, with no issues reported or cautions to consumers listed about the home’s past violations.

Many families deciding on a nursing home rely on state ratings to help them make the best choice for their aging parents. The fact that state agency ratings may be untrustworthy has disquieting implications for residents of Asheville seeking nursing home care for a loved one. How can families determine whether a nursing home is right for their aging parent or relative? In this article, we will discuss how you can evaluate a nursing home without relying solely on ratings from government agencies.

Like many residents of Asheville, you may have a family member who needs frequent or even around-the-clock care. However, work and other obligations outside the home keep many seniors’ adult children and relatives from being able to be present all day. Leaving a relative with special needs alone is often not possible, especially if they have Alzheimer’s disease or a mental illness that makes them a danger to themselves or others. This article is the first in a series of four about nursing home abuse in North Carolina and what families can do if they believe a relative has been abused.

Placing an elderly parent or disabled loved one in a nursing or adult care home is one of the most difficult decisions many families make. Some families take months deciding on a facility, taking the time to review state documentation and other metrics of a nursing home’s safety, reliability, cleanliness and other conditions. Above all sources, families should be able to trust government agencies commissioned specifically to look out for a state’s most vulnerable residents. However, a recent investigative report by Carolina Public Press showed that families should even be cautious about trusting state agencies’ reviews of nursing home facilities.

Asheville residents see car accidents nearly every day on the city’s streets. Hundreds of car accidents occur each year in Buncombe County and the surrounding areas of Western North Carolina. Many of these accidents cause serious and sometimes fatal injuries.

Recent studies have shown that accident injuries and deaths increased have increased in North Carolina over the past few years. Buncombe County, Haywood, Henderson, and other surrounding counties fit with that trend, with more deaths and more injuries in 2015 than in 2014. What makes Buncombe County such an unsafe place to drive? What can be done about its unsafe roads?

Along with topping lists of best travel destinations, Asheville tops another, less-illustrious list. The city ranks the highest in North Carolina for pedestrian accidents, per person. Over a five-year period,  Asheville’s per-capita rate of pedestrian accidents was 8.1 per 10,000 residents. Charlotte, the most populated city in North Carolina, had a rate of 5.1 accidents per 10,000 residents.

This blog post is one in our series about safety issues in Asheville. We want to look at the factors that contribute to Asheville’s high rate of pedestrian and bicycle accidents and what can be done to make the city’s streets safer for people who choose to walk and bike.

Cycling’s popularity as a sport, leisure activity, and method of transportation has increased in recent years in North Carolina, particularly in cities. Asheville is no exception: bike lanes and ‘share the road’ public outreach campaigns have permeated many areas of the city, and cyclists are a common sight on roadways.

Asheville’s eclectic charms have allowed it to maintain a consistent position at the top of lifestyle lists in recent years. Our city is frequently named one of the best places to visit or live in travel, food, and other publications. Western North Carolina’s rapid population growth is evidence of this interest in our area. But the rise in tourism and new residents has also correlated to an alarmingly high number of Driving While Intoxicated arrests.

If you’ve ever been injured by someone else, whether from a car crash, or from some other kind of negligence, you will know that recovering money for your injuries can be a long, complicated process.  North Carolina law states that when you are injured because of someone else’s negligence, you are entitled to certain “damages”, or money for your injuries.  These include things like payment for any medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.  Making sure you are fairly and fully compensated for these damages is usually the work of a personal injury lawyer.  Whether you are settling a personal injury claim without a lawyer, or with a lawyer, here’s how to maximize your settlement.

Asheville is home to many rental properties where residents live full-time. While landlords and property management companies are frequently responsive to tenants’ issues with broken sidewalks, shaky stairs, or other safety hazards, many landlords drag their feet or ignore tenants’ complaints about dangerous conditions entirely.

Car accidents can be confusing and challenging to sort out, but getting in a car accident involving a driver for a ride-sharing company like Uber or Lyft (either as a passenger, or driver of another vehicle) can add additional confusion to the situation.  The good news is that your task immediately after the accident is the same:  If you are able, document the accident with photos (of the vehicle damage, any injuries, and the surrounding roadway/intersection), talk to and get contact info for witnesses, and obtain the medical care you need, making sure to follow your MD’s orders throughout your treatment.    It is always wise to speak with an Asheville Personal Injury Attorney, to help determine the best course of action, and to ensure that you’re treated fairly by an insurance company. 

In 2015, North Carolina reported approximately 251,638 traffic crashes were reported, of which almost 124,000 people were injured. This was an increase of 11.1% from the previous year,  according to the North Carolina 2015 Traffic Crash Facts, put out by the NCDOT.

Delayed Onset of Symptoms

Drivers and passengers often display obvious signs of injury after severe automobile accidents, but sometimes individuals involved in traffic crashes do not exhibit these symptoms until hours or days later. If you have been involved in a major or minor traffic crash, you should be aware that an injury could have occurred for which you are not yet symptomatic.   It is common that an accident victim thinks they are uninjured at the time of the crash, only to find out later that they have suffered significant injuries with a delayed onset of symptoms.  It is important that you let EMS evaluate you after a crash and go to the ER if you’re having any symptoms within the first couple days, because if you do not, an insurance adjuster can use your lack of treatment to attempt to prove that you were not actually injured, and are faking your injuries to get money.   Having a record of medical treatments dating back to the crash is the best way to prove your injuries are real and legitimate.  

After a severe accident and disabling injury, you will likely have medical bills that need to be paid, as well as damage to your vehicle for which you’ll be seeking compensation for.   If you were employed at the time of the accident, you can also make a lost wage claim to get compensated for the work you missed, due to your inability to perform your normal job.  It is not uncommon for someone to miss a day or even a week of work following an accident, but what if its several weeks, or more?  Some individuals will have sick pay or vacation days to draw from, but an experienced personal injury lawyer can help make sure that those responsible for your crash are held accountable. 

Slip and Fall injuries are some of the most common accidental injuries in the United States.    These types of injuries can be severe in nature and require extensive medical care, rehabilitation, physical therapy and even surgery.  Being injured in a slip and fall accident at a store or other commercial property can be frightening, disorienting, and confusing.   What happened?  Whose fault was it?  Who is responsible for paying for medical bills incurred because of the accident?  We have helped many clients who were injured on commercial property and had a premises liability claim against the owner.    If you have questions about an injury you sustained at a store or other commercial property, call our office today to speak with our team and find out how we can help.   

In 2015, the NCDOT reported that 251,638 traffic accidents occurred in North Carolina, of which 123,589 people were injured.   This is an 11% increase from the previous year.   

In some accidents, injuries sustained by drivers and passengers are obvious, and their symptoms are evident right away.  However, in some cases, notably sprains and strains of the neck and back (classified as soft tissue injuries), symptoms and issues can arise over hours or even days, and may not be evident at the accident scene.   

After a car accident, it is likely that your vehicle is damaged or totaled and that you find yourself in need of a rental car, so that you can manage your daily obligations.   If your vehicle is unable to be driven, you’re probably wondering who is responsible for paying for your rental car? When is the insurance company is going to pay for your repairs?  If your car is totaled, when are they going to send you a check so you can buy a new car?

They key to making sure you’re properly compensated for an accident claim with an auto insurance is being organized, and having all of the necessary documentation in its place. In order to demonstrate to an insurance adjuster that your accident happened, and that your injuries are legitimate, you will need to provide certain pieces of information and documentation.  Without some of this information, and insurance company can and will poke holes in your claim and find ways to diminish the value of, or deny your claim altogether.   The following are some of the documents you will want to have on hand to submit along with your claim:

In the aftermath of a serious accident, one of the choices you will have to make is whether or not to contact a personal injury lawyer for a free consultation.  Often, clients will meet with several different attorneys to decide which attorney is the best fit for them, and discuss their case.  Here is what you should expect from those initial meetings.

Meeting Your Attorney

If you’ve been in an accident and your vehicle has been damaged or totaled, you’re probably wondering who will pay for the repairs to, or replacement of your vehicle.   The answer is almost always automobile liability insurance.  Property damage and injuries are covered by your car insurance, in the case of an auto accident that is your fault.  The same is true in the case of an accident that was not your fault.  If the accident was another drivers fault, you will likely be dealing with the at fault drivers insurance, unless they have no coverage or insufficient coverage.   In that case, you may have to deal with your own insurance to get money from your uninsured/underinsured coverage on your own policy.   If you’re unsure how to pursue these sources, it is wise to contact an experienced personal injury attorney, who can assist you by evaluating your case and helping you formulate a plan of action.  Most personal injury lawyers don’t charge to talk to you, so it’s almost always a good idea to at least talk to one, before agreeing to, or signing anything from an insurance company.

In the aftermath of an accident, it can be difficult to know how best to proceed . You may be recovering from serious injuries, but you’re also likely facing potentially large financial obligations like medical bills, car repair costs, and lost wages. Due to the overwhelm and mounting financial burdens, many people think that they will be unable to afford to hire a personal injury lawyer.

What Does it Cost to Hire an Attorney to Help with your Injury Claim?

When people consider hiring a personal injury attorney, they often believe that they can’t afford an attorney, due to the common stereotype that attorneys charge expensive hourly rates. In some practice areas this is true, but almost all personal injury attorneys offer free consultations and handle cases on a contingency basis. This means, for example, that your car accident lawyer will not be paid anything unless your case reaches a settlement or positive outcome/judgment.  To put it bluntly, they only get paid if you do.  Most North Carolina injury lawyers charge a contingency fee that will be roughly 1/3 of the final settlement or judgment.  Consulting with a personal injury attorney is not only extremely affordable,  but also is likely to be in your best interest.

If you’ve ever been involved in a car crash, you’ll know that it’s hard to think clearly immediately afterwards, particularly if you’ve been injured in any way.  The trauma and surprise of being in an accident can be overwhelming and disorienting.  As a result, many people fail to document important things that can come back to bite them later when they try to recover money from an insurance company for their medical bills or car damage. 

Here are the 5 most important things to do to properly investigate the accident so you won’t get screwed by the insurance company later on down the road.

Asheville residents who have been bitten by dogs often don’t know what kind of medical treatment they will need for their injuries. Some dog bite victims aren’t even sure they need treatment. However, even seemingly minor dog bite injuries can be a big problem if left untreated. Here are a few things you can expect when seeking treatment for a dog bite:

Medical tests after dog bites

In North Carolina, when you are injured because someone else was negligent, the negligent person is liable for all of the consequences of your injuries.  A typical example is when you are hit by another vehicle on the road.  The person who crashes into you is responsible for your medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering.  The car insurance company for the at fault driver will contact you and evaluate your claim.  Sometimes the insurance adjuster will deny your claim because of “contributory negligence”.  What does that mean?

Many Asheville residents find it difficult to keep up with the lawyerspeak involved in their personal injury claim or lawsuit. Learning a few of the most common legal terms you’re likely to see in the legal process can help you to navigate your claim, because knowledge is the best tool you bring to the table when it comes time to negotiate and settle your claim.   Here are some terms you’re likely to see in the beginning stages of a lawsuit:

Complaint

The complaint is a document that an injured person (the plaintiff) or their personal injury lawyer writes and files with the court. The complaint initiates a lawsuit. It lays out each of the injured person’s grievances, describes how the negligent person (the defendant) caused those grievances, and asks the court to make a decision that compensates them for these grievances. Plaintiffs usually ask the court for money.

When you hire a personal injury lawyer to help you with your case, you should have a reasonable expectation of what that lawyer is going to do.  After all, you’ve just agreed to give them a sizable percentage of whatever money they can obtain for you, not to mention entrusting them with handling your case with care and attention, so that you can be made whole again after being injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault.

In this video, Personal Injury Lawyer Lakota Denton lays out what you can expect from a reputable lawyer, and some of the processes and considerations that will be evaluated as your case is investigated, negotiated and settled (or if a lawsuit needs to be filed if a reasonable agreement can’t be made).    

If you’ve been injured because of someone else’s negligence, your personal injury lawyer can help you recover money you are entitled by law.  These usually include payment for your medical bills, lost wages, and something called “Pain and Suffering“.  Calculations for Medical bills and lost wages are usually very easy – if you have a $5,000 medical bill, the at fault party owes you $5,000 to pay for that bill.  But money damages for physical pain and mental suffering is much more difficult and subjective to calculate. 

Here are some of the factors that help determine the value of physical pain and mental suffering.  Keep in mind that a jury usually makes this valuation, and settlements are usually based on how a jury might value the case.

Asheville Car Accident Lawyer Lakota R. Denton explains what you should do in the immediate aftermath of a car accident, to help ensure that you don’t get taken advantage of by an insurance company.  This video contains some of Lakota’s tips, based on having dealt with hundreds of car accident victims in Western North Carolina.    

Video transcript:

My name is Lakota Denton, and I’m a personal injury lawyer in Asheville, North Carolina. A lot of times I get calls from people who have just been involved in a car accident, and they want to know, “what should I do right away? What should I do immediately after the car accident?” I’m going to talk to you about some important things I tell folks to do right after a car accident to make sure they’re not taken advantage of by an insurance company, particularly if they’re injured in a car accident.

If you’ve been in a crash, the first thing to do is pull over to the side of the road immediately and call the police. Sometimes, if somebody crashes into the back of you and it’s not too bad, they will get out of their car and come over to you and say “hey man, I’m so sorry, it was my fault, here is my insurance information, we don’t need to call the police, I’m in a hurry, I have to go to work, let’s not get the police involved let’s just take care of it, don’t worry.” Now that can be a problem for a number of reasons. 

First of all, if the police don’t show up you will not have a car accident report filled out by a police officer. The accident report is your best proof that this accident took place. It brings in an independent police officer who is a witness to what happened and the damage to both vehicles. The police officer will take statements from both of the people and that’s how you can really prove that this in fact happened. Another reason that’s a problem, is that I’ve heard of that happening with my clients, and a couple hours later, the insurance company calls and they say “hey, this wasn’t our guys’ fault”.  And my client will say “what are you talking about?  He apologized to me, he said let’s just deal with the insurance company, I didn’t mean to hit you”. But unless you’ve gotten that from a witness, or you’ve recorded it, or you’ve gotten a statement from them, they can change their story, and they do change their story sometimes when they realize what’s involved. So make sure the police come and fill out a crash report and take statements.

When the police do arrive, don’t rely on the police do everything to investigate your crash. Take photographs with your cell phone of the damage, not just to your vehicle, but the other vehicle as well. A lot of times, even if the other person says it’s their own fault, the amount of damage to the vehicle can help the insurance company evaluate your injuries. You can imagine that if you have a broken leg or something really serious from a car accident.  If an insurance company looks and they see only a little bit of damage to your vehicle, they’re going to say “how could you break your leg in such a small crash?”.  So you want to document the severity of the crash, and that involves taking photographs of both vehicles involved. If your bumper looks fine, you might take a photograph underneath your bumper and see if there’s some damage under there.  What you’re trying to do is document how hard was the collision.

You may also want to take photographs of any apparent injuries that you might have. Sometimes, you bang your knee into the dashboard, or you pull your shoulder with the seatbelt, and there’s immediate swelling. Or, you hit your head on the console or on the windshield, and you have bruising or blood coming out your forehead or a black eye. Take photographs of that because further down the line, I’ve seen insurance companies say “you weren’t hurt because you went to the hospital and they said you looked fine, you didn’t break any bones”. Well, you need to use those photographs to be able to say “no, I did have some injuries, here is a picture of the injury. 

Another thing you should do, after you’ve pulled over to the side of the road is find out if there are any eyewitnesses.  So a lot of times, other people will pull over and come check on you and ask if you’re OK. Get their name and phone number, because if they leave the scene and take off because they think you’re OK, you’re never going to find them again.  So get names and phone numbers of anyone that saw what happened and anyone that is checking on you to see if you’re OK. 

The reason it’s so important to do all these steps immediately after the crash is that you’re going to be dealing with an insurance company, for a person that crashed into you. And that insurance company will happily tell you that it was a minor crash and that you were not hurt. And I’ve seen clients who don’t think they’re hurt after the crash because they’re still in shock. And then 2 days later, they go to the hospital, and they’ve torn their rotator cuff. Or they’ve torn their meniscus, or they have a really bad concussion.   And the insurance company says: “hey, we don’t even think that this crash happened”, or “we think you were fine in this crash because we don’t see any photographs of the crash, we don’t even know how bad the crash was.

So, investigate the crash. After you’ve done all those steps, immediately contact a personal injury lawyer, they will talk to you for free.  I always talk to people for free. Don’t wait 2 weeks. All kinds of problems can happen with your case if you wait after a car crash.

So if you’ve been in a car accident: take photographs, get the names of witnesses and make sure the police come and fill out an accident report, and then call a personal injury lawyer.  

Contact Us

If you have questions about your car accident or would like some assistance with your insurance claim, don’t hesitate to contact our office today.  Our consultations are always free and we’re here to help. 

As an Asheville personal injury lawyer, it is common that someone comes into my office asking if I can represent them in a minor car accident claim.   When a car accident is minor and the details are simple, I often advise the potential client that they handle the claim on their own, armed with some basic knowledge and know-how.   Occasionally, these clients return to my office down the road looking for help resolving the claim, if they are unable to reach an agreement with the insurance company or adjuster. 

When can you handle a claim by yourself?

You can attempt to settle a claim by yourself, and avoid paying your personal injury attorney the 33% fee (that most all injury lawyers charge), potentially saving you thousands of dollars.  For example, if you are able to settle your case for $10,000, you will not have to pay your attorney the $3,333 that they charge for representing you.   

In part 3 of our “Asheville’s most dangerous roads” series, Attorney Lakota R. Denton examines Asheville’s most dangerous roads and intersections, as outlined by data from the NC DOT.    Attorney Denton urges drivers in Asheville to Slow Down, to help us keep Asheville safe and walkable for our citizens, children and pets.

Video transcript:

Hi, I’m attorney Lakota Denton, creator of the Slow Down Asheville campaign. And as part of our series of “Asheville’s most dangerous roads”, I want to talk to you about an intersection at South Tunnel Rd. and Swannanoa River Rd. And this is a very dangerous intersection for a number reasons. There is a high incidence of pedestrian accidents here according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation. And one of the reasons that we can see, just from looking at it, is that there are no pedestrian crosswalks, and there is no lighted pedestrian signal.

This is a busy, busy intersection, with 4-5 lanes of traffic at each road, there is a pharmacy right behind you, there is a pizza place, Walmart is right down here, there is a shopping center right over there, and there are a lot of people walking around here. There is no safe way to cross this intersection. Another problem is that it’s confusing for not just pedestrians, but for drivers. You can see I’m standing on a sidewalk here, and this sidewalk enters the intersection, and the same sidewalk goes along that bridge on the other side of this road. Now according to North Carolina Law, if there’s a sidewalk that comes into the intersection here, and continues over there, then it is called an “unmarked crosswalk”. And that is important because pedestrians have the right of way in an unmarked crosswalk.

So technically, there is an unmarked crosswalk right here, where I could cross at any time, and I have the right of way. But there’s a light system here for the cars, and these cars are going to go when that turns green, probably regardless of whether they see me or not. So it’s confusing for pedestrians, it’s confusing for drivers. How should you cross this road safely? And if you’re a driver, what do you have to look for? Because there are no painted crosswalk signs, there are no lighted crosswalk signs, but there are pedestrians and there is this unmarked crosswalk. We’re pointing this intersection out to you, as a reminder to Slow Down, look for pedestrians in the intersection, look for pedestrians crossing streets where there are no crosswalks, and just slow down in these high congested areas.   Thanks.

Many people involved in car accidents are in shock immediately after the crash.  As a result, people often feel like they are fine, don’t feel any pain, or assume that what little pain they have will go away soon.  These people usually refuse to allow EMS to treat them or to go to a hospital.  This can have serious consequences when trying to recover from injuries that manifest hours or days afterward.

our law firm deals with auto insurers on a daily basis.  A large part of what we do involves helping clients recover compensation from other peoples insurance or their own insurance.  We often have to delve into a client’s policy to determine their coverage for liability, underinsurance, uninsurance, medical payments, excess coverage, property coverage, and other forms of coverage, in order to help our clients obtain the fair compensation they are owed as a result of their accident.   Here are some tips from our office to help you make sure that you’re getting the most out of your North Carolina auto insurance policy, based on my experience as an Asheville personal injury lawyer. 

Asheville residents who have ever walked in our city know the dangers of being a pedestrian in a growing region. Some of the most pedestrian-heavy areas in Asheville are also the most dangerous for people walking or bicycling. This phenomenon is not specific to Asheville; dozens of growing cities across the country are experiencing similar growing pains that are hazardous or even deadly to pedestrians. The need for more pedestrian-friendly city planning is evident here and in other cities with rising populations.

Asheville’s Street Design

A recent study by the Governors’ Highway Safety Association noted a dramatic rise in the number of pedestrian deaths from 2015 to 2016. Nearly 6,000 pedestrians were killed in 2016. Last year’s increase reflects a trend of rising numbers of pedestrian deaths overall; pedestrian fatalities also rose from 2014 to 2015.

Slip and fall accidents injure countless people every year. Broken bones or injuries to the neck, back, and joints can leave fall victims in chronic pain for years. The confusion and shock of a fall that causes injury often leaves victims at a loss for what to do after they’ve fallen in a store or other public place.

Like many Asheville families, you may have struggled with the decision of whether to place your aging loved one in a nursing home or other long-term care facility. These facilities are often the safest place for seniors with aging-related medical conditions. However, many nursing homes fall short of fulfilling their obligations to patients, often leading to negligent or intentional harm by the employees of these facilities.

Negligence in nursing homes

Accidents do happen even in the best care facilities. Residents’ physical and mental conditions often cause them to fall, wander, or put themselves into other dangerous situations. However, if your loved one seems to have frequent accidents, nursing home negligence may be the real culprit.

As part of our Slow Down Asheville program which aims to ensure the safety of Asheville’s children, pedestrians and pets, we sat down with Brother Wolf Animal Rescue’s Mike Stiles, to discuss what he sees as the biggest threats and challenges to pet safety in Asheville.    Lakota R. Denton is a proud business sponsor of Brother Wolf and No-Kill Asheville.    Thanks, Mike Stiles for your time and insight, and thanks to Brother Wolf for their support of Slow Down Asheville!  

In this series, Asheville Car Accident Lawyer Lakota R. Denton examines Asheville’s most dangerous roads and intersections, as outlined by data from the NC DOT.    Attorney Denton urges drivers in Asheville to Slow Down, to help reduce the number of pedestrian accidents, ands keep Asheville safe and walkable for our citizens, children and pets and .

In this series, Asheville Personal Injury Lawyer Lakota R. Denton examines some of Asheville’s most dangerous intersections, as outlined by data from the NC DOT.     Attorney Denton urges drivers in Asheville to Slow Down, to help us keep Asheville safe and walkable for our citizens, children and pets.  

Thousands of drunk driving accidents occur in North Carolina each year, many of which are fatal. If you were injured by a drunk driver, you may deal with the injuries from your accident for the rest of your life. Victims and their families often feel uncertainty about their futures after a car accident, and one involving a drunk driver can bring with it a lot more questions and uncertainty. Here are some common questions injured people have after a drunk driving collision.

What happens to my claim if a drunk driver is underinsured?

Drunk drivers often cause damages that far exceed what their insurance policies will pay for. The minimum coverage limits for insurance policies in North Carolina is:

• $30,000 of bodily injury coverage per person
• $60,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident
• $25,000 of property damage coverage per accident

Because of the high speeds, erratic behavior, and delayed response time involved in drunk driving accidents, injuries tend to be more severe than accidents that do not involve alcohol. Severe injuries may require life-saving treatment, emergency surgery, intensive care, and weeks or months of physical therapy – all of which can quickly exceed the drunk driver’s insurance policy limits. This leaves many injured people asking how they can pay their remaining medical bills after an accident.

Asheville car accident lawyer Lakota R. Denton, P.A. is proud to announce the newest community partner for their Slow Down Asheville pedestrian safety campaign, Brother Wolf Animal Rescue.  

Individuals visiting Brother Wolf’s adoption center in Asheville can pick up their free Slow Down Asheville yard sign in their retail store, to help keep their neighborhood safe for children and pets.  

As an attorney who handles Asheville car accident claims every day, I want to help people stay informed and know their rights.  It’s important to understand the legal landscape of an auto accident claim, but also how certain factors specific to Asheville and Western NC, in general, can affect your claim.  

Follow your physician’s medical advice

If you’ve been in an accident and have been injured, it is imperative that you allow medical personnel such as Buncombe EMS to treat you at the accident scene, and transport you to the hospital if they deem it necessary.   If the doctor in the ER says to follow up with your primary care doctor in 5-7 days, I recommend you follow this.  If their office cannot see you in that timeframe for any reason, go back to the ER or an Urgent Care facility within that window.  Why? Because “Gaps in Treatment” are viewed as proof of a minor or no injury at all. As far as an insurance adjuster is concerned, people who have serious injuries follow the medical advice of their doctor. Period.  

Drunk driving kills 30 people every single day in the United States. 

Law enforcement, education, and punishment are all helpful ways to reduce drunk driving and save lives.  However, bars and restaurants also have a responsibility to help prevent drunk driving.  How?  It is against the law for a bar or restaurant to serve alcohol to someone that they know, or should know is drunk.  Bars and restaurants that follow the law help protect us all from drunk drivers on our roads.

Every State in the country has a law that says if you sell alcohol, you cannot sell alcohol to someone that you know or should know is intoxicated.  The purpose of these laws is to protect everyone from drunk drivers. 

Car accident victims often jeopardize their personal injury claims by not seeking medical attention. Soft tissue injuries like whiplash frequently present no symptoms immediately after an accident. Days or even weeks could pass before the severity of your injuries becomes obvious. Knowing the symptoms of whiplash could help you determine whether you should visit a doctor after your Asheville car accident.

What is whiplash?

Whiplash is a type of neck injury that occurs when the head and neck move rapidly backward and forward. Car accidents are the most common cause of whiplash, typically in the form of rear-end collisions. The force of these collisions results in severe strain to the muscles and tendons in the neck and spine, causing pain, stiffness, and decreased range of motion in the neck and back.

What Insurance Coverage You’ll Need After an Accident

Many people don’t start asking questions about their car accident insurance coverage until they’ve been in an accident. This is when it’s most important that you have the coverage you need – but if you don’t have good coverage, then it’s too late to change it. Here are some coverage options you’ll probably need if you’ve been in an accident. Some types of coverage are required by North Carolina state law, while others are merely a very good idea. You may want to familiarize yourself with some common legal terminology, to get the most out of this article. 

This is part one of a two-part series on what to expect when you’re handling a small claims auto accident case. The first post covers the first steps in dealing with your case, from collecting evidence at the scene of the accident to documenting your injuries and treatment. The second post will cover writing your demand letter and negotiating with the insurance adjuster.

How to Handle a Small Claims Car Accident

Occasionally, potential clients come in to my Asheville personal injury law firm asking for advice on a car accident claim that they could easily handle on their own. It often surprises people when I recommend dealing with small claims auto accident cases without an attorney. This is usually a complex process, but it can be done.

The truth is that going it alone is often the best thing for people with small claims, who can recover compensation for car accident bills without having to hand over a major part of it to a lawyer for legal fees. The typical attorney’s fee for personal injury case settlements is 33% of whatever is recovered, so a settlement of $5,000 would result in $1,650 in legal fees. That leaves only $3,350 for you to cover your bills, lost wages and other expenses.

Settling your own auto injury claim is not always a good idea. In very few cases do I recommend a person handle a personal injury case without an attorney. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Has the other driver admitted fault?
• Did your medical bills and property damage bills come to less than $5,000 altogether?
• Did you visit an emergency room, urgent care or primary care doctor immediately after your accident?
• Do your doctors believe that your injuries were caused by your auto accident instead of being pre-existing injuries?

When Will My Personal Injury Case Settle?

One of the most pressing issues Asheville car accident victims face is how long it takes to settle a claim. If you’ve been injured in an accident, you probably have a lot of expenses and debt already, especially if your injuries were severe. There is no specific answer to how long a case will take to resolve, but there are a variety of factors that could extend the amount of time you’ll have to spend on your claim. Here are a few of these factors.

You’re still healing from your injuries

Long recovery periods might be one reason your personal injury suit is taking so long to settle. Some accident victims take years to reach maximum medical improvement (MMI), a term that means that their doctors expect that they’ve recovered from their injury as much as they possibly can. Attorneys generally advise clients to wait until they’ve reached MMI to settle to make sure they’ve received all their bills. Settling before you have a complete picture of all of your bills could leave you high and dry later on if you aren’t finished with your treatment and you owe thousands more to a provider.

What to Do About North Carolina Car Accident Medical Bills

Asheville residents who have been involved in car accidents are faced with many problems once they’ve been discharged from the hospital. The question that plagues everyone is about how to pay medical bills after a car accident. The at-fault driver’s insurance company will not pay for any of your treatment costs until there is a settlement agreement, which could leave you on the hook for your bills – for now.

Ideally, you will obtain a settlement from the at-fault driver’s insurance company to compensate for all your medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses you had to pay because of your accident. However, you generally won’t be able to reach a settlement until you have completed all your treatment. This makes sense because you can’t specify what all your monetary damages were until you know the total of all your bills. However, it’s frustrating because someone’s going to get stuck with the bill, and for a while that someone is you.

The good news is that there are several different methods of paying medical bills after a car accident. The bad news is that, even though there may be several resources available to you, it can still be confusing. Here are the most common ways people pay their medical bills after an accident.

If you’ve been in a car accident, you’ll eventually start thinking about how to maximize your personal injury settlement in order to cover your bills. There are a few tried-and-true tactics that lawyers recommend when settling or litigating car accident claims. Here are 8 tips on getting the most money from your car accident claim.

1. Follow Up with Medical Treatment Immediately

In order to have a high-value car accident case, you must lay the foundation for your claim. Even though you might feel fine at the scene of the accident, it’s crucial to get care as soon as possible. If you do not seek treatment within 72 hours of your accident, the insurance adjuster will most likely deny your claim outright.

What Makes Personal Injury Settlements Taxable?

The vague feelings of dread that accompany tax season might be especially intense if you’re wondering if your personal injury settlement is taxable. Federal tax laws specifically address what circumstances make personal injury settlements taxable.

The good news is that you may not have to pay taxes on a personal injury settlement. However, the bad news is that there are a few circumstances where the IRS may be entitled to some of what you receive from the insurance company. The IRS website has more information on personal injury settlements and federal taxes.

What are the right questions to ask a personal injury attorney?

Finding the right personal injury lawyer for your case involves asking the right questions. You probably want answers to your big questions like “How much is my case worth?” Such questions usually don’t have specific answers, only estimates. Other questions, like “Will my personal injury case go to trial?” might have concrete answers. Discussing these issues with your attorney at your initial consultation can give you an idea of how your case might go and what results you can reasonably expect. Here’s a list of 5 questions to ask a personal injury attorney.

Have you handled cases like mine before? What was the result? 

This is one of the most important questions to ask a personal injury attorney. You want to make sure that your lawyer has the experience needed to handle your case, especially if you have a unique or uncommon case. If they have been successful in the past with cases that are similar to yours, it’s a good indicator that they are competent and diligent, although it does not guarantee that your results will be the same.

Getting in a car accident is an overwhelming experience, to say the least.   Even if you’re not injured, the chances are good that you can be shaken up and disoriented in the moments immediately following, and in that state it’s easy to forget information that you need to remember at a later date.  Luckily for you, you likely have one of the most powerful tools available for collecting the evidence that you may need down the road:  your smartphone. With your phone, you can take pictures, write notes with names and contact info, record statements,  and possibly even contact your insurance carrier, if they offer a smartphone app (which many now do).    Its important to collect information at the time of the crash for several reasons: 

Most people want to do the right thing and be of assistance when they witness an accident. However, it’s easy to get confused in the chaos of a crash scene, and doing the wrong thing can even result in someone getting hurt. If you’re unsure of how to help, here’s what you should do if you witness an accident.  

Get to safety

It’s important to get yourself out of the way of any potential hazards first. Make sure your car is out of the wat by stopping on the shoulder at least 100 feet away from where the accident took place. This will keep you away from any flames, broken glass, fuel leaks, or other dangers. It will also leave room for emergency vehicles so they don’t have to maneuver around your car to get to the injured victims.

Many accidents occur when people park their cars and get out to respond to another accident. Make sure other drivers can see you in the minutes before first responders arrive. Keep your hazard lights on. Wear reflective gear if you have any in your car emergency preparedness kit.  Stay out of the roadway if you possibly can.

One of the first questions most people have about filing a personal injury claim is how much their car accident case is worth. After all, no one wants to talk to an insurance adjuster or go to court unless they know they have a case worth pursuing. Unfortunately, attorneys don’t have a magic equation to determine what your case is worth. The value of a claim depends on many variables. All of these variables determine how much a jury would award you, if your case went to court.

The insurance company’s goal is to keep your case out of court, and to minimize the amount they have to pay you. Because of this, they constantly consider what a jury’s opinion of you and your injuries might be. The adjuster will make an offer based on how they think a jury would react to your case based on the evidence. Keep these variables in mind if you’re trying to settle a car accident case without a lawyer.

If you’ve been in an accident, one of the first phone calls you get will probably be from an insurance adjuster. They have a reputation for calling car accident victims immediately after a crash, in many cases when the victim is still being treated in the ER.   While they may frame their call as though they are concerned and just want to check on you and see if you’re OK, they are generally looking for info they can use to minimize the severity of your claim.  It is their job to do all they can, to make sure they pay out as little as possible for insurance claims.

This may be a (slight) exaggeration, but the truth is that insurance adjusters are difficult to deal with by design. They are overworked, underpaid, and given one mission: to save the insurance company money, not to compensate you fairly for your injuries, and your pain and suffering. 

As an Asheville personal injury attorney, I’ve dealt with many insurance adjusters from a variety of different companies, big and small. Not everyone needs a lawyer to handle their accident claim. However, even if you don’t, keeping a few tips in mind may help you recover as much as you can from the insurance adjuster in charge of your case.

When You Can Handle Your Car Accident Case Alone?

Mention a personal injury lawyer to the average person and you’ll get a reaction that is, to put it mildly, negative. (Don’t worry, we don’t take it too personally.) However, if you’ve been injured in a crash, you may have considered calling an attorney for advice about whether or not you should settle a car accident with the insurance company.

In many cases, accident victims can work directly with insurance adjusters to reach settlements on their own. It’s usually more cost-effective to negotiate simple claims yourself. Here are a few circumstances where you probably don’t need to call a lawyer about your accident.

5 Things to Know Before Filing a Negligence Claim

Asheville car accident victims frequently contact me asking, “Do I have a car accident claim?” People are often surprised to learn that just because they were involved in a crash does not mean they have a claim for damages. Here is a checklist of requirements you must satisfy to have a personal injury case.

You Must Have Suffered Damages

Keep track of any medical or other bills you incur because of your car accident.

Whether it’s physical or mental injuries or property damage, you must be able to prove that your accident damaged you in some way. Out-of-pocket expenses like medical bills, psychiatric treatment bills, car repair bills, lost wages and other documents are the only way of demonstrating that you really were affected by your accident. Without them, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to collect money.

5 Ways to Use Your Phone to Collect Car Accident Evidence

Although the police will respond to the scene of your car accident, you can also gather some details yourself. Smartphones make it much easier to investigate a car accident at the scene. Your phone probably has all of the tools you need to collect important accident information just after it happens. Here are some accident investigation techniques you can perform with your phone.

Do North Carolina insurance companies offer post-concussion syndrome settlements?

NFL concussions are on everybody’s mind with the convergence of the Super Bowl and an Oscar-bait film about the topic. But football players aren’t the only people susceptible to concussions. Car accident victims suffer concussions at an alarming rate. According to a recent CDC study on traumatic brain injury, more than 230,000 people visited emergency rooms over a four-year period for concussions caused by car accidents.

Concussions are called “hidden” injuries because it’s not always obvious when a person has experienced one. The effects of these traumatic brain injuries can last the rest of a person’s life.

What is Concussion?

Concussions are mild traumatic brain injuries. They occur when the brain shifts inside the skull and collides with the bone.

If you’ve been in a car accident, and sustained injuries that have required medical treatment, one question you probably have is:  who is responsible for handling the payments for my medical bills, health insurance (medicare/medicaid) and car insurance?   Is the other driver responsible for paying? Will my I get a decent offer to settle?  Medical bills can become very confusing following a car accident because there are multiple ways that providers get paid and reimbursed for treatment rendered.  This is a basic overview to help explain who should pay for outstanding bills after a car crash that was not your fault.  A good personal injury lawyer will help you get answers for these questions, and will fight to ensure that you are properly compensated for your injuries.

The other driver’s auto insurance:

The at fault driver is the one who is responsible for your medical bills and treatments related to the accident at the end of the day.  Typically, this means that their auto insurance is on the hook for these expenses.  However, the other party’s insurance will not render payment for any medical bills and treatments until both sides agree on a settlement amount, once (ideally) all related treatment has been completed.  Medical providers deal with this all the time, and they often will simply send a bill for all their treatment and wait for the settlement to be paid.  This is called third party billing.

Things can get tricky when a medical provider does NOT do third party billing and requires some sort of payment at the time services are rendered.  If you have been injured, you will have to either pay for the services up front, find another provider that will do third party billing, or pay for the treatments in one of the following ways:

Following a car accident, EMS (Emergency Medical Services) often arrive in an ambulance to assess if anyone is seriously injured, and needs to be transported to a hospital for evaluation or treatment. I often hear clients report that they ‘felt fine’ at the time of the accident and declined to be evaluated by EMS at the scene, since they weren’t experiencing any pain or symptoms, or their minor aches and pains were not concerning.   While this seems like a reasonable and logical course of action at the time, declining medical evaluation can cause problems down the line, if your injuries progress or develop, which they often do in car crashes. Immediately following a crash, our adrenaline is spiking, our fight-or-flight response kicks in, not to mention the tendency for sprain/strain symptoms to ramp up over the first 24-72 hours. I’m not saying that you should go to the hospital for every minor fender bender, but it is wise to take the time to be evaluated at the accident scene by medical personnel. Here’s why:

As an Asheville personal injury lawyer, I deal with insurance companies all day, every day. I know which companies are reasonable and easy to deal with, and which ones are a nightmare and should be avoided at all costs. Insurance companies will assign an adjuster to your claim if you have been injured as a result of another person’s negligence. Insurance adjusters are not inherently bad people, but the fact remains that their employers are concerned about one thing: profit. So no, Nationwide is not “on your side”, and you are not “in good hands” with Allstate. As a result, your insurance adjuster cannot be trusted to look out for you, if you’ve been injured as a result of a car crash or accident. Here some ways to avoid getting taken advantage of by an adjuster.

Car accident victims who have been injured due to someone else’s negligence are often entitled to compensation from an insurance company.   The fact is that most cases settle outside of the courtroom, due to the time and expense involved for both sides in bringing a court to trial.   It is often in the best interest of both parties to settle on a reasonable amount of compensation to settle the claim without being dragged into court.  This being said, there are particular situations and circumstances that prohibit some cases from settling, and require the court to resolve.     So, what are the reasons that some cases fail to settle?

I’m often contacted by potential clients a few days after they’ve been involved in a car crash.  As an experienced personal injury attorney, once I get involved in a case, I talk with the insurance companies and advise my client on how best to proceed.  I always urge my clients not to discuss their case with anyone, especially insurance adjusters.  I explain what it means to have a “gap in treatment” and how that can affect your case and damage your claim.  Clients are always advised to follow up on prescribed medical treatments, follow doctors advice, and be clear and upfront with medical providers about their symptoms and issues, as these notes will end up in their medical records, and can be used to bolster a claim.  

If you’ve been involved in a car crash, it is important to perform your own investigation of what happened, regardless of whether or not the police perform their own investigation. If you do not, you can be at the mercy of an insurance company’s investigation that may find you at fault, even if you were not. If you’ve been injured, you have even more reason to investigate the accident, so you can recover personal injury damages from the at fault driver. Here’s how to perform a proper investigation:

1. Take photographs

Immediately after the crash, take photographs of all the vehicles involved (not just yours) and the area where the crash occurred. If you are too injured to take photos, have a friend or a witness take them. Your camera phone is perfectly high enough quality to get good photographs. Take close up pictures of any vehicle damage, as well as further away pictures of the entire crash scene. You can use these later on in your personal injury claim to prove exactly what happened, and exactly what your injuries are.

Searching for a good lawyer to handle your personal injury claim? Like any other profession, there are good lawyers, bad lawyers, and a few horrible and great ones as well. Personal injury lawyers come in all forms – from the stereotypical lawyer who wants to get some money quick – to the victim advocate who will fight hard for your right to be compensated from an injury that was not your fault.   Here’s how to tell the difference:

Hire a local personal injury lawyer.

Many, many lawyers will advertise that they can handle your personal injury claim and that they have offices all over the state, including your town. Do not accept this at face value. Check and see if that firm has an attorney in your town, or if its just an office space and an empty desk so that they can claim they have an office. Hiring a lawyer in your town or in the closest city to you is very important because that attorney will know the juries, judges, and insurance adjusters who will determine your case. If you live in Asheville, and hire a Charlotte lawyer, you will not receive the kind of representation you deserve.