Florissant Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Florissant Motorcycle Accident Attorney

Motorcycles are popular in the Florissant area and throughout Missouri, and while most people reach their destinations safely, every rider needs to understand the risks. Motorcycle accidents may be less common than other vehicle accidents, but they tend to result in far worse damages. If you have recently experienced such an event, a Florissant motorcycle accident attorney can help recover your damages from the party responsible.

Representing Motorcycle Accident Victims in Florissant, MO

The Cagle Law Firm has successfully represented many clients in motorcycle accident claims in Florissant and surrounding areas. We have a strong reputation as a leading choice for personal injury counsel due to our commitment to client-focused representation and results. Our firm can meet with you, listen to your story, and help determine the optimal path to recovering your damages after any motorcycle accident.

We develop each case strategy based on the individual client’s unique needs and always aim for maximum client recovery in every case we accept. Depending on how and why your motorcycle accident occurred, you may have more than one recovery option available to you. Our goal is to help you make sense of your options for legal recourse and manage your legal case so you can focus on your recovery.

Benefits of Hiring a Florissant Motorcycle Accident Attorney

It is technically possible for you to pursue your recovery from your accident without hiring legal representation. There is no law requiring you to hire an attorney. However, attempting self-representation in an auto insurance claim and/or personal injury suit is risky, frustrating, and unlikely to yield the result you hope to see. Even if you think you know who is to blame, the actual process of proving liability and securing compensation can be difficult.

If you try to handle your case on your own, you will be forced to contend with adjusters frequently and they will have you running around requesting bills and records you must upload for them. Thus, while you are engaging in medical treatment, managing your life, and trying to return to work and a regular life, they will turn you into a courier, so they can evaluate your records to devalue or deny your claim. Then, when they offer you a lowball amount or deny your claim altogether, your only option is to file a suit. Filing a suit on your own is called “per se.” Per se cases are notorious for being unsuccessful.,

Eliminate Risks and Increase Your Chances of Success with a Motorcycle Accident Attorney

Hiring an experienced Florissant motorcycle accident attorney eliminates many risks and significantly betters your chances of being awarded the maximum amount of compensation. Your attorney handles the auto insurance claim filing process, negotiates with the insurance carrier, and assists you in securing maximum compensation for all your damages. The sooner you connect with your legal team, the sooner they get to work. In every case, we much prefer to be involved immediately so that we know the case is done correctly and evidence is gathered immediately.

Even if it has been months since your accident, involving an attorney is a good idea. However, waiting until you have spent many frustrating months giving the insurance carrier detailed information to help them deny or devalue your claim will make an attorney’s work quite a bit harder. Don’t go through that experience. Focus on your physical recovery and let us work up your case the correct way.

Most Common Causes of Motorcycle Accidents in Florissant

Before you can obtain any compensation for your losses through auto insurance or a personal injury suit, you will first need to establish liability for the accident. You will need to prove the exact cause of your accident and identify the party or parties responsible for causing it. Like most other vehicle accidents in Florissant, motorcycle accidents most commonly occur due to various forms of driver negligence, such as:

• Distracted driving. Any time a driver’s focus shifts away from operating their vehicle, they put themselves and all others around them at grave risk. Cell phone use while driving, eating, and other distractions can easily result in an accident. Motorcycles are more vulnerable to distracted drivers because they are smaller and easier to overlook than most passenger vehicles.
• It’s fairly common for drivers to slightly exceed posted speed limits to maintain a flow of traffic, but any level of speeding is inherently dangerous. Speeding reduces the time and distance a driver has to slow down to avoid a collision, and accidents that happen at higher speeds are more likely to result in catastrophic or fatal injuries.
• Moving violations. Running a red light or a stop sign, making illegal turns, failing to yield where appropriate, and all other moving violations can easily cause serious accidents. Drivers who commit moving violations may not notice a motorcycle in their path, and any moving violation has the potential to startle nearby drivers and cause a chain reaction of multiple collisions.
• Mechanical failures. All drivers have a responsibility to keep their vehicles in good working condition all the time and to address any discovered mechanical problems in a timely fashion. If a driver knows about a problem with their vehicle but ignores it and that problem later causes an accident, the driver is responsible for the resulting damages.

If driver negligence is to blame for your recent accident, you must identify the driver who caused the accident, prove they held a duty of care in the situation, breached that duty somehow, and consequently caused your claimed damages. You must also show proof of causation, meaning your damages only resulted from the defendant’s negligence and not some other cause.

In the vast majority of motor vehicle collisions, the at-fault driver does not intentionally hit another vehicle. Fault is often initially described in the police incident report. However, officers do not have the ability to assign “fault.” Always call the police after a crash so that an incident report can be done. Officers complete the report based on conditions, evidence, and statements at the crash site.

Another common cause of motorcycle accidents throughout the Florissant area is intoxicated driving. It is illegal for any driver to operate a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol but driving under the influence (DUI) continues to be one of the most commonly prosecuted crimes in the state and a leading cause of motorcycle accidents. The driver at fault for this type of crash may face criminal charges alongside their civil liability for the victim’s damages.

Unique Safety Concerns with Motorcycles

Any vehicle accident has the potential to cause severe or even life-threatening injuries to those involved, but this risk is greater in motorcycle accidents. A motorcycle offers very little physical protection in a crash, and during any type of motorcycle accident, the rider is likely to be thrown from their bike. They can suffer injuries from the primary crash impact of the other vehicle as well as the secondary impact of hitting the ground.

Motorcycles are also more vulnerable to the actions of other drivers in certain traffic situations due to their size. A motorcycle is much smaller than most other passenger vehicles, making it easier for a motorcycle to slip inside another driver’s blind spot. Drivers who are careless while merging, turning, or changing lanes can easily strike a motorcyclist they did not notice.

It’s important for all motorcyclists to invest in appropriate safety equipment, such as heavy-duty boots, riding leathers, and a Department of Transportation-approved helmet. Full-face helmets offer the greatest level of protection, but it is important to remember that these devices may only mitigate the severity of a head injury; they cannot prevent them entirely.

How to Prove Fault for a Motorcycle Accident

After your motorcycle accident, you may recall exactly how the incident occurred, or you may have little to no recollection of the event due to your injuries. In either situation, an experienced Florissant motorcycle accident attorney can help gather various forms of evidence to firmly establish fault for your accident. Your attorney will want to gather as much evidence as possible, including an incident report to support your injury claim.

Your attorney takes these actions in the beginning of the case while you are seeking medical treatment. You should not wait to contact an attorney until you have proven fault or even completed your medical treatment. The time that you wait to contact an attorney can directly impact their ability to successfully build your case correctly.

Proving fault can require multiple forms of evidence. Your Florissant motorcycle accident attorney can help obtain physical evidence from the scene of the crash as well as various forms of digital evidence. Cell phone records, vehicle computer data, and traffic camera recordings are often helpful in motor vehicle accident claims. It will also be vital to obtain statements from any witnesses who saw the accident happen.

As an injured party, you cannot personally obtain statements from witnesses in a way that can be eventually used as evidence. Logically, this makes sense in that a witness may want to give you the best statement possible simply because you are speaking with them. Attorneys hire investigators skilled in obtaining statements that the attorney can later use to support your claim.

In some cases, attorneys can consult with various professionals who can provide expert witness testimony in support of a case. For example, an accident reconstruction expert may be helpful in investigating the crash site, incident report, vehicle damage, and video footage, among other resources, to scientifically reconstruct how the crash occurred.

These expert opinions often assist in establishing liability. A medical expert may support a plaintiff’s claim for compensation by evaluating medical records and the injured party. These medical experts assist in establishing permanency and the need for future care. Obviously, treating physicians are experts and most intimately familiar with your care and prognosis.

Medical experts, including treating doctors, provide support for the severity of the injury. Pain and suffering compensation is directly related to the level of medical care the victim required for their injuries and the scope of long-term or permanent effects they face from them.

Comparative Fault in Motorcycle Accident Claims

One of the most important legal issues to consider if you believe you bear partial responsibility for your recent accident is Missouri’s pure comparative fault rule. Under this rule, it is possible for multiple parties to share liability for an accident, and each liable party will have a fault percentage assigned to them, indicating their respective degree of responsibility for causing the damages.

Depending on the facts of the incident, it is possible for more than one defendant to bear fault for your damages. It is also possible for a plaintiff to be found partially liable. If a jury or judge finds the plaintiff partially at fault for the collision, it can result in decreased compensation.

There is no fault threshold that bars plaintiff recovery under the pure comparative fault statute. Whatever percentage of fault a plaintiff holds is the percentage of their case award they will lose to reflect this. 10% fault means losing 10% of the case award, 30% fault would result in losing 30%, and so on. If you have any concerns about bearing fault for your accident, your Florissant motorcycle accident attorney can explain how this may impact your recovery efforts.

In most claims, the other party’s insurance carrier does argue about some type of comparative fault. That is not a conversation where you want to involve yourself with an adjuster on your own. Honestly, an adjuster may not even mention it to you until it comes time to deny or devalue your claim. Contact an attorney so we can anticipate these types of issues and address them as we build the case.

Filing Your Auto Insurance Claim for a Motorcycle Accident in Florissant

After establishing liability for your accident, your first option for recovering your losses will be to file an auto insurance claim against the party you believe to be responsible for causing the accident. Every driver in the state is required by law to have auto insurance meeting basic coverage requirements. At a minimum, a personal auto insurance policy must include:

• $25,000 or more for bodily injury liability for a single person injured in an accident the policyholder caused.
• $50,000 or more for bodily injury liability coverage for injuries to more than one victim of the same accident.
• $25,000 or more for property damage liability coverage.

These coverage amounts are usually enough to resolve minor fender-benders, but not all drivers in Florissant have appropriate insurance coverage. Additionally, if you suffered any severe injuries, minimum insurance policy limits may only compensate a fraction of your total losses and not begin to cover your medical expenses. It is also possible to encounter unexpected difficulties in your interactions with an auto insurance carrier, such as bad-faith handling of your claim or unfair denial of compensation.

A good addition to your auto policy is underinsured coverage. Generally, your insurance sales agent does not mention this coverage. It is specifically in case you are struck by another driver with the state minimum of $25K. If you are hurt, the costs can easily exceed the minimum state policy limit coverage. However, if you have increased your underinsured coverage you can make an under-insured claim with your own auto insurance policy.

This addition to your policy is often just dollars a month to add $100K of under-insured coverage to your policy and helps protect you if someone hits you with only a minimum policy. As we all know, $25,000 does not go far in paying for medical treatment. Your Florissant motorcycle accident attorney is the ideal resource to learn all your options regarding insurance coverage.

An experienced Florissant motorcycle accident attorney can help resolve any problems you encounter with the insurance claim filing process. They can help you gather any supporting documentation needed to submit with your claim and submit that supported claim. Once you receive a response from the insurer your attorney can verify that it is fair and reasonable under the terms of their policy and evaluate whether it is a fair settlement offer. Your attorney will chart your course forward.

Recovering With a Personal Injury Claim in Florissant

If an insurance company does not make a suitable settlement offer to your claim, you can file a personal injury suit against the insurer. Success with a personal injury claim requires clear proof that a defendant is liable for causing the damages cited in the claim.

It is important to remember about filing a personal injury claim is the statute of limitations, or the time limit for filing your claim. Missouri’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims is five years, starting on the date an injury occurred. It’s vital to begin gathering evidence to build your case after your accident.

Proving causation of your damages will be an essential part of your case. You must prove the cause of the accident and prove that your damages solely resulted from the accident and not from any other cause.

It is possible to resolve a personal injury claim through settlement, If a settlement is not reached, a lawsuit is filed. Most lawsuits in Missouri are resolved by jury trial. The jury will examine the evidence and arguments presented by both sides of the case. The burden of proof in a civil claim for damages is a “preponderance of the evidence.” Your attorney gather all available evidence needed to make a compelling argument in court.

When a civil claim for damages goes to trial, the judge or jury will have the final say regarding fault for the damages and the compensation owed to the plaintiff. Each party will have the opportunity to present evidence, witness testimony, and make their arguments. Litigation requires expertise, time and energy. On your own, it is unlikely that you will be successful. A plaintiff has the greatest chance of reaching a positive conclusion when they are represented by an experienced trial lawyer.

Damages Available in a Personal Injury Claim in Florissant

If you can successfully prove fault for your personal injury, you have the right to claim full compensation for all the damages you suffered because of the defendant’s negligence or illegal misconduct. You may have a firm grasp of the immediate economic losses you can cite as damages in your claim, but the full scope of your claimable losses includes the projected future financial impact of the accident.

When you choose The Cagle Law Firm to represent you in a motorcycle accident claim in Florissant, our goal will be to help you recover as much compensation as possible. You can trust our team to uncover every available avenue of compensation that you can seek with your claim. Your claimable economic damages are likely to include:

• Compensation for all medical expenses. You have the right to claim compensation for the cost of all the medical care you will need to achieve maximum medical improvement from your injuries. This includes both immediate medical expenses as well as projected future medical expenses if you require ongoing rehabilitative care.
• Lost income. When your injuries from a motorcycle accident prevent you from working, you have the right to pursue compensation for the wages you were unable to earn during your recovery.
• Lost future income. Unfortunately, many motorcycle accident victims suffer extreme injuries that result in permanent disability and diminished ability to work and earn income. If your earning power has been negatively impacted by your accident, the defendant is liable for the future income you are no longer able to earn.

Your Florissant motorcycle accident attorney can help accurately calculate future losses like long-term medical expenses and projected lost future earnings. For example, if you have been permanently disabled, your attorney can argue suitable compensation for lost earning power with consideration to your age, how long you would have otherwise continued working, and future cost of living and inflation adjustments.

Calculating Pain and Suffering Compensation in Your Personal Injury Case

Beyond your economic damages, the state’s personal injury statutes enable you to seek compensation for your intangible damages as well. Pain and suffering may sound abstract and nebulous, but your attorney can provide valuable guidance for determining suitable compensation for these intangible damages.

If your accident resulted in physical pain, psychological trauma, emotional distress, and diminished quality of life, you could seek financial compensation from the defendant. Missouri law does not enforce a cap or limit on pain and suffering compensation in vehicle accident cases, nor is there a strict formula used to calculate these damages. Some attorneys generally calculate pain and suffering in two different ways: the multiplier method and the per diem method. In reality, each client and each crash is unique, so our attorneys evaluate injuries, medical treatment and coverage to ascertain pain and suffering.

The multiplier method is commonly used for plaintiffs who suffered catastrophic harm from their accidents. The attorney adds all of their claimable economic damages and then multiplies the result by a factor that reflects the severity of their condition, usually one to five. If you have been permanently disabled by your injuries, it’s likely that your attorney will use a similar method for calculating appropriate pain and suffering compensation to include in your claim. When an injured person suffers life-changing injuries, expert life planners are most often involved in predicting future costs and economic changes.

The per diem method is often used for victims who expect to completely recover from their injuries with little to no lasting medical complications. The attorney determines a fair amount of compensation per day during their recovery and then multiplies this amount by the number of days it takes the plaintiff to reach maximum medical improvement from their injury. For example, $300 per day for a 100-day recovery time would amount to $30,000.

Our attorneys do not prescribe to either of these methods. Each person is unique and there is not a hard, fast formula for calculating the worth of one’s injury or life.

For many personal injury victims in Florissant, pain and suffering may account for a sizeable portion of their total recovery. The more severe a plaintiff’s injuries are and the greater the extent of the long-term or permanent complications they face because of them, the more likely they are to secure pain and suffering compensation.

What to Expect From Your Florissant Motorcycle Accident Attorney

The team at The Cagle Law Firm strives to help each of our clients recover as fully as possible from their injuries. If another party is responsible for causing your recent motorcycle accident, our firm will do everything we can to help maximize the compensation you obtain for your damages. If the fault is initially unclear, or if you are unsure of the full scope of your claimable damages, you can trust our firm to provide the guidance you need as your case unfolds.

We excel at resolving complex civil suits and getting excellent results for our clients. We work to gather all evidence to support the argument for liability and damages following your motorcycle accident. We investigate the full extent of your claimable damages and potentially uncover avenues of coverage/compensation you did not know were available to you. When it comes to dealing with auto insurance carriers, we can ensure your claim is handled in your best physical and financial interest.

If you have concerns about the cost of hiring legal counsel, do not make the mistake of assuming that hiring an attorney would be prohibitively expensive. The Cagle Law Firm accepts personal injury cases on a contingency fee, so we only get paid if and when we succeed. You will pay no upfront or ongoing legal fees and pay nothing if we are unable to secure compensation for you. If we win your case, our fee is a percentage of the final compensation amount.

Find Legal Counsel in Florissant Today

You could face various challenges and opportunities when it comes to recovering from your recent motorcycle accident in Florissant, and the sooner you reach out to experienced legal counsel, the more likely you will be to fully recover your damages. You must file your claim within the statute of limitations, but it is always crucial to start gathering evidence immediately following an accident. The sooner you contact our team, the sooner we can get started on your case.

If you would like to learn what an experienced team of Florissant motorcycle accident attorneys can do for your recovery, contact The Cagle Law Firm today and schedule a free consultation with our team. We can listen to your story, explain the legal services we can provide, and help you prepare for the legal proceedings between you and the compensation you deserve.