Car Accident Attorney in Birmingham
Birmingham car crashes impact thousands of lives every year, leading to painful injuries, expensive medical bills, and long absences from work. If you sustained injuries in a Birmingham, AL, auto accident, Attorney April H. Collins and the team at Collins Law can help you recover fair compensation.
Attorney Collins is a Birmingham car accident lawyer with over 10 years of experience, which she uses to help people like you rebuild their lives after a motor vehicle accident. She also has a reputation for negotiating accident-related medical bills and doing whatever she can to help car crash victims keep more settlement money.
While you treat your injuries, our law firm can investigate the crash to identify the liable parties and document your losses. From there, we can file a car accident claim or lawsuit on your behalf while protecting your rights at every step of the legal process.
Let a
What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Birmingham, AL Car Accident Attorney?
Hiring a car accident attorney in Birmingham makes the legal process easier on you while increasing your chances of recovering maximum compensation. First, working with an Alabama car accident law firm like Collins Law means you can take advantage of your legal team’s knowledge and experience. If you don’t hire a lawyer, you must handle the entire case yourself, adding significant stress to an already difficult moment.
Putting Collins Law in your corner for a car accident lawsuit means we can help ensure that any settlement offer you receive accounts for all your losses from the car wreck. For instance, people often don’t consider a vehicle accident’s potential long-term effects on their life and ability to work. Attorney Collins can use your medical records and other evidence to show why you should receive compensation for your reduced earning potential or diminished quality of life.
What Should You Do After a Car Accident?
Here are the steps to take after a Birmingham auto collision to protect your health and right to car accident compensation:
- Document the Crash Scene – If your injuries allow, take a moment before seeking medical treatment to document the crash scene. Take pictures of all the vehicles involved, their relative positions, your injuries, and any visible hazards in the vicinity. Ask the other drivers involved for their names, phone numbers, addresses, vehicle registration numbers, and insurance information. The pictures you take can help show how the accident happened and who’s liable for your injuries, while the other drivers’ information is vital for filing a claim.
- Seek Medical Attention – See a doctor as soon as possible after an auto wreck, no matter how severe (or not) your injuries seem. Make sure you have no internal injuries, which are not always immediately obvious and can lead to life-threatening complications. Seeing a doctor right away establishes a written record of your injuries, which you’ll need for a personal injury claim. Once you see a doctor, follow their orders precisely and attend all your follow-up appointments.
Save Your Medical Records and Receipts – Your medical records and any receipts for your vehicle repair/replacement expenses are hard evidence of the accident’s impact on your life. Save these records. - Report the Accident to Your Insurance Company – Your insurance company likely requires you to report a crash within a few days or weeks, so don’t wait to make your report. If you wait too long, it could affect your ability to recover compensation for your losses. When you make the report, stick to the basic facts, avoid discussing fault for the collision, and do not agree to give a recorded statement.
- Don’t Discuss the Crash – Anything you say or post on social media about the accident could hurt your claim. Let an attorney talk to the insurance companies for you and protect you from saying something that might harm your case.
- Hire a Car Accident Lawyer – The sooner you speak to a car accident attorney, the more they can do to protect your rights and help you recover maximum compensation. Hiring Collins Law is a smart move. Our law firm will help keep money in your pocket because we don’t charge high attorneys’ fees like some personal injury lawyers.
How Does a Lawyer Investigate Auto Accident Cases?
In Alabama, the party whose actions caused the crash is liable for your injuries. Car accident lawyers investigate these cases by examining the available evidence and looking for signs of possible negligence. In a car accident claim, “negligence” refers to someone’s failure to take reasonable steps to prevent a collision and the resulting injuries.
Some common types of evidence lawyers look at in a car accident case include the following:
- The Police Report – While generally not admissible in court, a police accident report provides a neutral account of how the crash happened, so insurance companies usually ask for them. The responding officer may also have noted factors that contributed to the crash, such as if one of the drivers was impaired.
- Photos and Videos from the Scene – Images from the scene of a car accident can show the angle and speed of impact, which may indicate whether one of the drivers was distracted or impaired.
- Surveillance Footage – Footage from traffic cameras or nearby businesses may have recorded a driver’s actions, showing how they caused an accident. For example, the footage may show a driver looking at their phone or something in the car instead of the road.
- Eyewitness Accounts – Eyewitnesses sometimes catch drivers acting negligently in the moments leading up to a crash, making their statements valuable evidence in a car accident claim. For instance, an eyewitness may have seen that a driver was speeding or following too closely, indicating possible negligence.
- Medical Records – Your medical records can connect your injuries to the accident and illustrate the nature and severity of your injuries, which is crucial for maximizing your compensation.
What Compensation Could You Recover in a Car Accident Claim?
Working with an experienced car accident attorney gives you the best chance of recovering appropriate compensation for your losses, including money for:
- Lost income
- Current and future medical expenses
- Reduced future earnings
- Pain and suffering
- Diminished quality of life
- Damaged personal property, such as vehicle repair/replacement
At Collins Law, LLC, we fight aggressively to maximize your financial recovery.
People Also Asked – FAQs
Multiple parties could share the blame for a Birmingham car accident, depending on how the crash happened. The other driver may be responsible if they broke traffic laws by speeding, driving while impaired, following too closely, and so on. Employers are sometimes liable for the actions of their employees if someone causes a collision while they’re on the job. If a defective car part contributed to the crash, such as faulty brakes or defective tires, the company responsible for the defect could be liable.
In addition, local or state government agencies responsible for road design and maintenance are sometimes liable for a collision if they didn’t don’t do their jobs properly. For example, if a local government agency didn’t fix or replace a damaged road sign, they could be liable for any resulting collision.
A Birmingham car accident attorney from Collins Law can identify everyone who may be liable for your injuries.
Due to Alabama’s strict contributory negligence laws, you can’t recover any compensation if you’re partly at fault for a collision. Even if the other driver bears most of the blame, playing any role in the crash means you lose your right to pursue compensation. This harsh law underscores the importance of hiring a capable lawyer, as they can help you show why the other driver is solely responsible for the accident.
Alabama law gives you two years from the date of a car accident to file a lawsuit. If you miss this deadline, you lose your right to compensation, so don’t wait to talk to an attorney about your case.
Some of the most common types and causes of car accidents in Birmingham include:
- Speeding
- Distracted driving
- Impaired driving
- Driver fatigue
- Faulty car parts
- Poor road design or maintenance
- Following too closely
- Road rage
- Unsafe merges and lane changes
- Drivers not yielding the right-of-way at intersections
- Rear-end collisions
- Head-on collisions
- Side-impact/T-Bone collisions
- Sideswipe accidents
- Uninsured accidents
- Uber/Lyft accidents
- Hit-and-run accidents
Birmingham car accidents frequently cause catastrophic injuries, including:
- Concussions and other traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries, including full or partial paralysis
- Internal bleeding
- Internal organ injuries
- Whiplash and other neck injuries
- Slipped discs and other back injuries
- Broken bones
- Soft-tissue injuries
- Severe cuts and bruises
- Burns
- PTSD and other mental health conditions
Contact a Birmingham, AL, Car Accident Lawyer Today
At Collins Law, we understand the devastating impact of a Birmingham car accident and how you may face many challenges for years to come. We’re here to provide the caring and thorough legal representation you need, and we do so affordably. You pay nothing upfront, with attorney fees only applying if we obtain an insurance settlement or a jury verdict on your behalf.
Call Attorney Collins and our team today or complete our contact form for a free, no-obligation consultation.