Protecting You & Your Familyi From A Motorcycle Accident

In the last ten years, the fatality rate of motorcycle riders has nearly doubled. In 1999, there were 22.75 fatalities per 100,000,000 miles traveled by motorcycles in the United States. In a recent study in 2009 the numbers are around 40 per 1 million miles traveled by riders!

Not only have the number of deaths gone up in the US, the number of motorcycles on the road has gone up too, which makes sense. The increase in motorcycle sales has alarmed some people as the more motorcycles on the road, the more accidents that will occur involving motorcycles. This is a scary thought as a motorcyclist is 35 times more likely to be killed than automobile drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, if you ride a motorcycle you have nearly a 50% chance of being involved in a motorcycle accident in your lifetime. Given this information all motorcycle drivers need to make sure they do the following:

1.) Make sure to get motorcycle insurance that will cover your medical bills should you get in an accident. Most state laws only require drivers to carry only $20,000 in insurance coverage for injuries and medical bills. If you think about how much medical bills has increased over the past few years, this number is not nearly enough to cover a motorcycle accident.

2.) It is always a good idea to have a Denver motorcycle injury lawyer in your contact list. If you happen to get in a motorcycle accident, you do not want to have to worry about finding a motorcycle attorney when you are dealing with police, insurance companies and doctors. If you contact a motorcycle injury lawyer when you start riding you will always have someone to call if something happens to you while you ride.

With the increase in motorcycles on the road today and the number of accidents makes riding motorcycles very dangerous. Not only do you need the proper insurance, but you also need to have a Denver motorcycle injury lawyer who you can count on if you happen to get in a motorcycle accident.

When a Lawyer Can Help With a Personal Injury Case

There are many legal cases that can be handled by citizens without the help of a lawyer. For small claims in civil court, the cost of hiring a lawyer is often higher than the cost of the claim. If you are lucky and the other party behaved maliciously, you might get the court to pay for all your legal costs. If you have been sued however, the only way to recover any court costs is to sue them back, which leads to a drawn out legal process. Personal injury cases complicate the matter, especially if your health is in a state where it would be hard to represent yourself.

If you were severely injured, it is best to hire a Denver injury attorney because the cost of your medical bills will probably be significant. Not to mention that you want to spend your time recuperating and not talking to witnesses and dealing with the insurance company.

The first thing the injury lawyer will do after talking to witnesses is start recording all your losses from the accident. These may be medical bills, lost work or personal distress. The higher the possible compensation, the larger the possible range and things like negotiating with the insurance company start to kick in. The insurance company's job is to pay as little as possible, so it is better to have a Denver personal injury lawyer to represent your interests.

If you were sued for an injury someone is claiming you are responsible for, it is also a good idea to have legal representation. If the charge is ridiculous you can move to have it dropped, but it is important to not ignore any lawsuit or the other party can ask the judge to rule for a default judgement. This means if you never respond to the lawsuit, the plaintiff automatically gets whatever they asked for.

Other cases where having a Denver personal injury attorney represent you is important are ones where the other side is sure to have an insurance company and a high power legal team on their side. This may be a doctor or hospital in medical malpractice cases or a corporation in negligence cases that led to injury. Injuries from toxic products are also hard to get paid because these conglomerate corporations have both the best legal teams and defenses set up through their legislative lobbying. Proving a toxic chemical injured you often requires expert scientific witnesses.

The last case where it would be prudent to hire a lawyer is if the insurance company for the defendant refuses to pay. Insurance company lawyers are even more well versed than the average corporation at dodging their legal responsibilities. You may have to hire a lawyer to get anything at all, although you will have to pay the cost of hiring. For large cases that the law firm judges could be quite lucrative, the firm may offer to take the cost of their services out of the settlement if they win.

Can you collect on your suit?

The cardinal rule to all civil lawsuits: Don't sue unless you can collect the award. Unlike criminal law where the government can take your freedom or even your life, in civil law the only thing you can collect is property or cash, and the courts need to be able to access those tangible goods. So even if you win a million dollars in a damage liability suit with a homeless man, you will not see anything except his smiling face. People and business who are broke or can hide their assets are essentially impossible to collect from.

Good signs that you can collect your judgement from someone are a job, money in the bank, and real estate property. Wages can be garnished, so the employer pays a percentage to you before the employee. In most states, you can garnish up to a quarter of a person's wages. Government payments, pensions and disability are exempt, so the person must make money on some non-exempt way for you to collect. Most people in the united states do not have significant assets in the form of property or cash. So in most Denver motorcycle injury cases, this is where you would be receiving your payment.

Collecting from a legitimate business is usually relatively easy. If the company refuses to pay but is still collecting income, you can have the sheriff or other court agent go to the bank and physically take out the money owed. If the business is cash only, or doesn't have any real location you may be out of luck.

The next thing that can be seized by the court is property. In many Denver personal injury cases you may be able to claim some of the defendant's property. However some possessions are exempt, especially those that the defendant uses for his business. A defendant in bankruptcy is also exempt from any claims. Denver accident attorneys are therefore more leery of suing someone without extra property outside the home.

So the key factors that indicate a person will be able to pay that you should check before suing are: Personal or future income and business income. Licensed professionals may lose their license if they do not pay, and recent bankruptcies cannot file for bankruptcy again for a long time, so people in both these situations may be compelled to pay.