So, another question I get all the time is when should I call a lawyer after I’ve been in a car accident. So first off, I’m Bill Beadle with Tolbert Beadle. I’m a partner in the firm. Terry and I have been practicing for over 23 years, and my default answer is always as soon as possible. However, first, make sure you’re safe. And what I mean by that is, number one, if you’re in a car accident, get law enforcement on the scene. Make sure that if you’re healthy enough, the vehicle is going to be moved to a safe location such as a tow lot or your residence. And then get to the emergency room. Even if you don’t think that you were injured at the scene, a lot of times your nerves are really riled up, and you don’t feel it. And then later, I hear clients say all the time, two to three days later, they can feel it. So I think just for a practical matter, get checked out, whether it be emergency room, urgent care, or your primary care physician.
Once all that’s taken care of, call us. The reason I say it is because, number one, you don’t want to talk to any insurance company, yours or the other driver’s, about what happened if you’re going to hire counsel because that’s something that we do for you. Number two, there are a lot of little things such as evidence at the scene, vehicle damage, personal property damage, things of that nature that we really want to get and secure as soon as possible. Case in point, we have a lot of cases where there are skid marks. We can get an investigator out and get photographs of those. There’s going to be gouge marks in the concrete. There’s going to be vehicle markings. So those are things that really I want to be involved with immediately so we can get out there and preserve the evidence.
A lot of times, the emergency room is just going to look you over and make sure nothing’s broken and send you home. That’s not always the best care. So we work with a lot of physicians that if you don’t have a primary care physician or you don’t have someone who really knows how to look for injuries you might have in a car accident, we can give you lots of suggestions. We’re not doctors, but certainly, we work with physicians all over this area. And there are a lot of little injuries that you may not realize you have that certainly we’d have some recommendations for physicians.
Lastly, an important issue is if your car’s totaled, you don’t have anything to drive. Get us involved soon so we can get the insurance claim set up and work on getting a rental car vehicle to help you get around, whether it be to work, to medical appointments, or, you know, a lot of my clients getting their kids to and from school and whatnot. So that’s really something to get us involved early. We can help facilitate and make that process smoother. So yes, if you’re in a car wreck, once you’re safe and secure, give us a call.
