If You Were in a Bad Accident, You Need a Trial Attorney

If you were in a car accident, you may need a trial attorney to help protect your rights.  This is especially true if your accident was complicated, involved multiple vehicles, or involved a business, such as a trucking company or shipping company.  The more complicated your case is, the more likely you will benefit from an experienced attorney on your side if a settlement cannot be reached and your case goes before a jury. 

Many people are unaware that only certain lawyers handle litigation (i.e. argue a person’s case to a jury in court).  Movies and television shows can lead a person to think most lawyers argue cases to a jury in the courtroom.  This is not true.  In fact, there are more lawyers that do not argue cases in court than lawyers that do. As trial attorneys, we are able to handle your case whether through negotiating a settlement or if a settlement cannot be reached, by arguing your case to a jury in court.

Regardless of which direction your case takes, we can help to protect your rights and work towards a favorable outcome.  In the event that you are in a bad accident, we will start by gathering information about what happened leading up to the accident, during the accident, and afterward.  We will ask questions to find out what other vehicles were doing, how fast they were going, what the weather was like, where it happened, who was around, what was said, and more.  All of these details give us important information that we can use during settlement negotiations, and more importantly – at trial.  In the event that your case does go to trial, we will need to call witnesses to testify and explain what happened and why the other party (the defendant) party is to blame.  These early conversations and evidence gathering are important for doing so. 

If you know of any eye witnesses to your accident, let us know right away. We will want to interview them quickly while the details are fresh in their mind. We may even ask them to provide a written or recorded statement. The challenge is that if we don’t start building the case right away, witnesses may have forgotten some of the details by the time we get to speak with them. 

As trial attorneys, we will also start to gather evidence beginning with the police report and photographs of the scene and, perhaps, attempting to download information – “crash data” – from your or the other party’s vehicle.  If you possess any other evidence, let us know so that we can include it in our trial preparation.  Keep in mind that the other party will probably hire a lawyer and come prepared with their own evidence and witnesses.  Gathering information to confirm your side of the story is essential for receiving a positive outcome in court.  To learn more or to schedule a consultation, give us a call. 

As car accident attorneys, we understand the importance of filing a lawsuit timely.  Many people make the mistake of thinking that they have a long time to file a lawsuit and can do so many years after the fact.  This is simply not the case.  Every state has various statutes of limitations that set forth the time within which a lawsuit much be commenced. These laws exist to ensure that a suit cannot be brought many years down the road when evidence has been lost, destroyed, or gone stale.  Statutes of limitation also benefit the other party in that they don’t have to worry about forever living with the fear of a lawsuit hanging over their heads.

In South Dakota, there are statutes of limitations of differing lengths, depending upon the nature of the claim.  This means that if you were hurt in a car wreck, you only have a specific amount of time in which to file a lawsuit or your claim may be barred.  In a typical car accident case, this time limit begins to run not from the date from when you sought treatment, but when you were in the wreck.  

There are a few advantages to filing your lawsuit timely:

• The evidence is fresh.  It is often difficult for witnesses to remember every detail of an accident years later.  Most peoples’ memories of events are better closer in time to the event.  Things like the weather, how fast cars were going, etc. are more likely to be clearer. As car accident attorneys, we want to know about these little details as soon as possible. 
• Locating evidence.  Not only do you need to remember what happened, but we need to gather evidence in order to prove it.  If you wait too long, evidence may lost or destroyed forever.  For example, a traffic sign may have been added or removed, or a retailer may have replaced the sidewalk or floor where you tripped.  Getting to the evidence early and documenting it is important.

• Speaking with witnesses.  Whenever possible, we will also interview witnesses.  Over time, their memory may fade and even if they remember being there, they may not recall as many details of what happened.  We want to speak with them as soon as possible in order to learn what they observed.