Were you injured in a car accident that was caused by another driver in Northern Nevada? Don’t let someone else’s negligence ruin your financial future. Reno car accident lawyer Stephen H. Osborne can help you demand payment for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Fighting for car accident victims since 1992, Stephen has the knowledge, experience, and skill to help you win your personal injury claim.
Call Today. No Fee Unless We Win.
(775) 789-4944
Why Hire a Reno Car Accident Lawyer?
Insurance companies are in the business of making money. They frequently have teams of experienced attorneys on their side waiting to defend personal injury claims. Even if they are quick to offer you a settlement, things aren’t always as they appear. In most cases, victims who file claims without an attorney are lucky to receive enough compensation to pay for their medical bills. They are left to shoulder the remaining financial burdens that accompany a crash, like lost wages, future medical treatments, and pain and suffering.
When victims hire a local car accident lawyer to represent them, insurance companies tend to take claims more seriously. Research has revealed that victims who hire a car accident attorney to handle their personal injury claims receive, on average, three times more compensation than people who handle their cases alone.
What Sets Car Accident Lawyer
Stephen Osborne Apart?
Choosing the right car accident attorney in Reno is critical. Hiring a lawyer who is inexperienced, overloaded with cases, or doesn’t have your best interests in mind can be detrimental to your case. When you hire car accident lawyer Stephen Osborne to handle your case, you’ll benefit from:
Strategy
Resources
Accessibility
Results
What Damages Are Available in Car
Accident Cases?
The damages that are available to car accident victims depend on a wide range of factors. To inform you of the damages that may be available and provide you with an estimate of how much your case is worth, your car accident lawyer will need to consider many factors. He or she will evaluate the severity of your injuries, how the car accident happened, whether multiple parties were involved in causing the crash, and the amount of insurance coverage that is available. In Nevada, damages are divided into three categories.
Economic Damages in Car Accident Cases
Economic damages, also referred to as “special damages”, describe the financial losses you have suffered because of your car accident. They are usually easy to quantify, since you will likely have bills and statements that tally your costs. Examples of economic damages include, but are not limited to:
Current and future medical bills
Non-Economic Damages
Also known as “general damages”, non-economic damages are more difficult to measure. In most cases, your non-economic damages will be calculated based on the amount of economic damages you are awarded. These types of damages include:
Emotional trauma
Pain and suffering
Punitive Damages
If the at-fault party is grossly negligent or the acts that injured you were intentional, the court may award punitive damages. Common scenarios where punitive damages may be awarded include car accident claims involving:
Hit-and-run accidents
Find Out How Much You Can Recover
What to Do After a Car Accident in Reno
Over 7,000 car accidents occur in Washoe County each year. These crashes cause hundreds of serious injuries and dozens of wrongful deaths. Understanding what to do after a car accident can help ensure you and other victims get the medical treatment and legal help necessary to recover physically, emotionally, and financially.
+7000
Car accidents occur in Washoe
County each year
Call Emergency Responders
Gather Evidence at the Car Accident Scene
Be Mindful of Your Words After a Car Accident
Continue Getting Medical Treatment
Call a Car Accident Lawyer
No Fee Unless We Win. Call: (775) 789-4944
How to File a Car Accident Claim in Reno
If you believe that another driver or vehicle manufacturer contributed to your car accident in Reno, you have the right to file a car accident claim and recover compensation for your losses. Liability insurance policies are intended to ensure that accident victims are compensated by the at-fault driver’s insurance company for their medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. While the claims process is designed to be fairly simple, and recovery should be straightforward, that isn’t usually how car accident claims play out. Following these steps can help ensure your car accident claim proceeds smoothly, and that you receive fair compensation for your losses.
01
Determine Whether You Have a Viable Car Accident Claim
The first step in filing a car accident claim in Reno is to determine whether you have a viable case. Before taking your case, your car accident lawyer will likely consider whether the other driver:
Owed you a duty of care
Duty of care is generally the easiest element to prove in a car accident case. All drivers owe a duty of care to other motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians to operate their vehicles safely. They are expected to abide by speed limits, obey traffic signals and signs, avoid driving while impaired, and avoid distractions while behind the wheel, among other things.
Breached that duty of care
To demonstrate breach of duty, your car accident attorney will use evidence from the accident scene, eyewitness statements, surveillance camera footage, and other evidence to prove that the other driver was speeding, distracted, impaired, swerving, or cutting you off, etc. Even minor breaches of care can cause serious car accident injuries.
Caused your injuries
It is critical for a medical professional to document your injuries as soon as possible after a crash. Your medical records, photographs of bruises, broken bones, lacerations, etc. may be used to help prove causation. Additionally, statements from accident reconstructionists and medical experts can help demonstrate how the car accident caused your injuries.
02
Filing a Car Accident Claim with the Insurance Company
As your car accident lawyer, if we determine that you have a viable claim, we will help you file a claim with the insurance company. The insurer will likely respond with an initial settlement offer soon after your claim is filed. Although it might be tempting to accept the amount offered by the insurance company at first, doing so is usually not going to be in your best interest. In most cases, insurance companies start by offering the lowest amount they think you will accept. They may even deny your claim completely.
03
Negotiating with the Insurance Company
Car accident lawyer Stephen Osborne will evaluate the insurance company’s offer and compare it to the losses you have endured. After gathering documentation to demonstrate the value of your losses and submitting evidence to support your claim, negotiations with the insurance company will begin. Most of the time, the insurance company will begin increasing settlement offers at this stage. These negotiations will continue until your claim is settled, or the jury reaches a verdict in court.
04
Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit After a Car Accident
At some point during the negotiations process, your car accident lawyer and the insurance company will appear to have reached a stalemate. If the insurance company fails to offer a fair settlement to pay for your losses, we will file a personal injury lawsuit in civil court. If the insurance company continues to dispute the claim at this stage, you can expect the insurer’s side to begin investigating more deeply. They will request your medical records. They may follow you whenever you leave your home. They might even monitor your social media accounts to gather evidence showing that you aren’t injured.
05
Taking Your Car Accident Case to Court
Approximately 90% of car accident cases settle out of court. If your personal injury case goes to trial, however, your car accident lawyer and the attorneys who represent the other side will present evidence to the jury. Expert witnesses may be brought to the stand to help support each side. The jury will then deliberate to determine who was at fault for the accident, the percentage of fault that each party is responsible for, and the amount of damages that should be awarded, if any.
How to Pay for Medical Bills After a Car Accident
Paying your medical bills after a car accident can be quite the challenge, even if your injuries are minor. When injuries are severe, figuring out how to pay for your accident-related medical costs while you wait for your settlement check can be a financial nightmare.
The cost of car accident injuries often go far beyond what you pay for the ambulance, the emergency room, or the initial hospital treatment you receive. Treatments, medications, and special equipment may be necessary for months after you are released from the hospital. You may even need ongoing medical treatment, in-home medical care, prescription medications, and medical devices and equipment for the rest of your life. Add in physical therapy, surgeries, and specialist care, and your medical bills can quickly soar to hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars.
Depending on the severity and the needs of the victim, the lifetime cost of medical treatment for traumatic brain injuries can cost more than $3 million.
Spinal cord injuries can cost victims between $1.3 and $4.5 million over the course of a lifetime.
Victims who suffer severe burn injuries in car accidents can expect to pay up to $10 million in treatment costs.
Using MedPay to Pay for Your Medical Bills After a Car Accident
If you have Medical Payment coverage on your own auto insurance policy, it will pay for your car accident injuries up to your policy limits. You should exhaust this coverage first. There is generally no deductible, and you won’t have to reimburse your auto insurance company for the money it pays towards your car accident-related medical bills.
Medical/Hospital Liens
If you do not have MedPay, MedPay is exceeded, there is no health insurance, or you are unable to pay your deductible and co-pay, other options may be available. We may be able to help you make arrangements with the doctor or hospital to provide medical care to you in exchange for allowing them to place a lien on your eventual personal injury settlement or verdict. While you won’t need to pay for your medical treatment up front, we will need to pay your medical providers for their services once you are paid.
Using Health Insurance to Pay for Car Accident Injuries
If you have private health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid, your health insurance company should cover the cost of your medical bills. However, deductibles, co-pays, and other policy limitations will apply. Also, some procedures may not be covered by your health insurance. Additionally, we will need to reimburse your health insurance company for the money it paid towards your medical bills that are related to the accident once we receive your car accident settlement.
Find Out How Much You Can Recover
Types of Car Accident Cases Our Law Firm Handles
Car accident lawyer Stephen Osborne handles all types of car accident cases. These include, but are not limited to:
- 9Rear-end collisions
- 9Drugged and drunk driving accidents
- 9Distracted driving accidents
- 9Road rage accidents
- 9Hit-and-run accidents
- 9Uninsured/underinsured motorist accidents
- 9Speeding accidents
- 9Side-impact collisions
- 9Left-turn accidents
- 9Rollover accidents
- 9Head-on collisions
- 9Multi-vehicle accidents
- 9Commercial vehicle accidents
- 9Fatigued driving accidents
See What People Are Saying About Us
~ Craig Hunsberger
Ready to Speak with a Car Accident Lawyer in Reno?
If you were injured because of the negligence of someone else, you have the right to compensation. To speak directly with Reno car accident lawyer Stephen Osborne for free, you can:
FAQs About Car Accidents in Reno
Why Do Insurance Companies Take So Long to Pay Out?
Insurance companies are notorious for delaying accident claims. One of the main reasons car insurance companies take so long to pay out is that the longer they take to make you a settlement offer, the more eager you will likely be to accept a lower payment. Usually, hiring a car accident lawyer to negotiate with the insurance company can help speed the claims process along, getting you a larger settlement faster.
Can I Still Recover Compensation if the At-Fault Driver Was Uninsured?
How Long Do I Have to File a Car Accident Lawsuit in Reno?
What Type of Injury Lawyer Do You Need?
