Arizona seatbelt laws are confusing for some of the people who live in the state. Most people understand that in the state of Arizona, the law requires you to wear a seatbelt. Most people also realize that it has been a law in this state as well as most other states in the country, that the driver must wear a seatbelt while driving. Most people also know that they can get a traffic ticket if they are stopped and are not wearing a seatbelt.
When it comes to how failing to wear a seatbelt can affect a personal injury claim, however, the issue is quite a bit more complex.
As knowledgeable Arizona personal injury lawyers, we feel it is worthwhile to state the obvious. You should always wear your seatbelt. Most of us have heard stories about how people who chose not to wear seatbelts were told by medical personnel in the emergency room or by other experts how they were saved by not wearing a seatbelt. We question the accuracy of these hearsay reports, firstly. Secondly, these types of statements, if true, come from medical doctors, body shop workers, or other people who were not at the scene of the accident, and who have not investigated it thoroughly to determine what exactly happened. Many such comments are made by people who are not experts, and who could not determine in any case if a person’s injuries were lessened by not wearing a seatbelt.
If you have been in a car accident that was caused by another driver’s negligence and you were not wearing a seatbelt, you may find it helpful to contact a skilled Chandler auto accident injury lawyer who has years of experience handling such cases. Call the attorneys at Breyer Law Offices, P.C. today for a free, no-obligation consultation and to learn more about your legal rights and options as an auto accident victim.
Should a personal injury case be lost, the Chandler personal injury lawyer does not receive any payment. However, if the case is successful with a win and a contingency fee was agreed upon, the lawyer would get a percentage of the entire amount awarded. In most cases, the contingency fee is one third (33%) of the total amount.
Can I Get a Decreased Fraction Off the Contingency Fee?
At Breyer Law Offices, we take immense pride in what we have done. We have dedicated many years building our reputation, fighting for our clients’ rights both inside and outside the courtroom, and successfully concluding all manner of personal injury claims for the benefit of our clients. We rarely criticize other lawyers, and we understand that there are many good personal injury lawyers who are willing to discount their services.
Breyer Law Offices, however, is not a discount law firm. We fight just as hard as any other Arizona personal injury attorney, and sometimes harder, to make sure that our clients receive the compensation they deserve. We will not sell our clients short nor do we lack dedication, experience, or results. As such, we consider ourselves a full service personal injury law firm. Personally, we would not go to a professional just because he or she discounted their rates, but would instead attempt to find the best possible person for the job. Since you only get one shot in personal injury cases, we will always recommend that you hire the best personal injury lawyer you can find.
There is nothing wrong with someone hiring a discount lawyer, but we do not fit into this category. Should you be looking for the best possible injury lawyer to fight for your rights to the end, we strongly encourage you to call us. We get paid only when money is recovered, either in the form of a settlement or an amount awarded by a jury in court. We earn our fee for our work based on how much we earn for you, in the same manner as we have been doing since the day we opened our practice. We do not get paid for just trying hard, and will not receive anything until we have recovered money for our client.
The only way in which we work with clients at Breyer Law Offices is on a contingency fee basis. Despite all of our accomplishments in Arizona courtrooms and commendations that we have received from our peers, we continue to work this way. We feel it is an honor to help our seriously injured clients receive full and fair compensation after a Chandler car accident or other serious accident in Arizona. We have never had a client pay a single dollar to us out of their own pocket. Rather, every dollar we have earned came through successfully concluding our clients’ cases.
A big advantage to anyone who hires a Chandler personal injury attorney on a contingency fee basis is that the injury lawyer has as much of a stake in the settlement amount as the client who hired him or her. Utilizing lawyers that work for contingency fees does not necessarily mean that a personal injury attorney will try to get the most out of a case, but it does give the lawyer an incentive. There are some personal injury lawyers who do not like to go to trial, and who will attempt to settle the case without fighting for their clients in the courtroom.
In most cases, however, a contingency fee benefits the client, though it is important before hiring a Chandler personal injury lawyer to evaluate his or her previous performance. Any top personal injury lawyer in Arizona will understand the nuances of Arizona personal injury law and have a record in Arizona courtrooms of fighting insurance companies to the end whenever necessary. A contingency fee will help ensure that a seriously injured client will get the best legal representation possible, as the lawyer will not get paid unless they either negotiate a settlement or win the case in an Arizona courtroom.
We understand that people want definite answers and would like to know exactly how long they before they should hire a lawyer. Our response to this is that anyone injured in a Chandler car accident or other accident contact a top personal injury lawyer immediately. An honest Arizona personal injury lawyer will tell you whether you need a lawyer immediately for your personal injury case, or if you even need a lawyer at all. It makes sense to learn the pros and cons of hiring a personal injury attorney in your case before making a final decision.
People often take too long to decide their course of action and thus jeopardize their one chance at recovering full and fair damages, all because they want to avoid hiring a lawyer. As experienced lawyers, we have seen how an injured party can be put at a disadvantage because the liable party has collected evidence early in the case while the person who suffered the injury waited before contacting a lawyer.
In other situations, we tell people injured in accidents that they will need to hire a Chandler personal injury attorney for their case, but not urgently. Sometimes the kind of injury, nature of the accident, and other factors require fast action, and for the injured party to hire a personal injury lawyer without delay in order to ensure that a plaintiff can collect fair compensation in a case. We invite you to contact us at Breyer Law Offices, P.C. for an honest assessment of your personal injury case.
The simple answer to this question is yes. A lawsuit can still be filed for injuries suffered even if the person who was hurt was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
The person who is injured must prove that the other driver was negligent and that the at-fault driver caused a serious injury as a result of the accident at the outset of the case. But after this is established, the at fault driver is very likely to hire an expert witness to find and develop any evidence to argue that the wounded driver’s injuries would have been less severe had a seatbelt been worn. The judge in the case will then determine the degree to which it can be proven that the injuries would have been minimized by a seatbelt. According to the judge’s decision, the at-fault party will not have to pay expenses beyond injuries that would have been caused while a seatbelt was worn.
For example, if the accident would have resulted in two days in the hospital and a broken leg had a seatbelt been worn, the at-fault driver is liable for that injury. However, if the accident would have caused the broken leg, but resulted in the same broken leg and a serious brain injury because the seatbelt was not worn, the at fault driver does not have to pay for the brain injury.
Obviously, as Peoria auto accident lawyers, we understand that many times people come to us after the fact. They wish they would have worn their seatbelt, but they did not. And they would still like to make a claim. There is a slim chance of winning limited damages in this situation. Since the burden of proof rests upon the at fault driver to show the damage that could have been prevented, the claim may still be viable.
For more information regarding your legal options and rights as an auto accident injury victim, whether you were wearing your seatbelt or not, please feel free to contact a Arizona personal injury attorney at Breyer Law Offices, P.C. We always provide free, no-obligation consultations to injury victims and may be able to help you with your potential case.
One way to ensure that more people are not hurt in the future is to encourage claims to be made when appropriate, and to hold construction workers accountable for unsafe work practices when they lead to injuries to others.
If nobody is held accountable for a construction accident or work-related incident, workers are less likely to act in a safe manner in the future. Therefore, finding a top Peoria construction accident lawyer to help an injured worker bring a personal injury claim not only benefits that worker, but may have a deterrent effect to help prevent injuries to other people.
This fact only becomes more important as Peoria continues to grow and more and more people are employed on construction sites throughout Peoria, Maricopa County, and the state of Arizona.
If you have been injured while at work, a skilled Arizona personal injury attorney at Breyer Law Offices, P.C. may be able to help. We understand that there is much to consider after being injured as the result of another person’s negligence. Please contact us today for a no-obligation, free consultation.
As Phoenix personal injury lawyers, we have seen cases in which there was no working or available seatbelt in a person’s automobile, leading to that person’s driving the car without wearing one. There are rare situations where the failure to wear a seatbelt because there was none available can be excused under the law.
Also, as a matter of practical concern, a jury is much more likely to have some sympathy for a person who simply did not have a working seatbelt – particularly if they were a passenger in someone else’s car – than for a person who simply chose not to wear a seatbelt when one was readily available.
There is much to take into account after being involved in a car accident, especially when issues arise regarding seatbelt functionality and use. Time is of the essence when pursuing a personal injury claim after an auto accident. At Breyer Law Offices, P.C., our skilled Peoria car accident injury lawyers offer free, no-obligation consultations for auto accident injury victims. If you have any questions about your auto accident, please call us today.
Pedestrians are some of the most vulnerable travelers on our roads. Many drivers simply aren’t paying attention and don’t notice a pedestrian crossing the street; other drivers may be ignoring the law requiring them to yield to pedestrians. Whatever the cause, pedestrian accidents can result in serious injuries and even death.
If you or a loved one has been injured in an Arizona pedestrian accident, please contact one of our personal injury lawyers right away. Due to the statutes of limitations in such cases, it is critical that our attorneys begin working on the case immediately. If possible, you should also try to get witnesses who can verify your account of the accident.
If you’re not sure if you have a claim, then it’s still important to contact an Arizona personal injury attorney experienced with pedestrian injuries who can effectively evaluate the situation to see if you have a case.
I cannot count how many times I have heard about people who complained that other lawyers that they have had in the past failed to keep the lines of communication open. Complaints regularly arose about the lack of communication between themselves and the law office, though often they would not even have contact with their lawyer.
At Breyer Law Offices, we feel our clients have the right to access us as their legal representatives. Our clients have the right to speak to their lawyer, and not just to leave a message on voice mail or talk to a receptionist. People hire us as lawyers to provide the advice and knowledge that only personal injury lawyers in Arizona can provide. If someone hires a lawyer but then does not get answers to their legal questions directly from the lawyer they have hired, how can they trust the information they are getting is truly being answered truthfully by a professional attorney?
We do understand some of these lawyers’ perspective when it comes to dealing with their clients. As personal injury lawyers, we are extraordinarily busy handling extremely important work concerning serious injuries for every one of our clients. We go to court, we work on briefs, and we do everything possible to move a case forward. Because of this, we know that simply giving out our number would be a failure on our part. There are times when we are in the courtroom or office for long trials that take weeks and, in such times, we barely have time to check our voice mail let alone return all phone calls immediately. There are times when we are busy throughout the day and night and are unable to get a full night’s sleep for weeks on end. It was for this reason that we came up with a policy to address such concerns, as we understood the importance our clients placed on being able to access our lawyers.
For more information regarding how we make sure that our clients’ needs are met, please refer to tomorrow’s post.
