I was involved in a serious personal injury accident. Mr. Grossman's experience and aggressiveness in handling my case resulted in a great settlement!
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E. McClure
Commercial Vehicle Accident Case
Fatal Automobile Accidents
Michael Grossman Explains Your Legal Options After Losing a Loved One in a Fatal Car Wreck
Auto accidents happen all of the time. No matter how good a driver you are, eventually you will get into some form of wreck. However, when the accidents turn tragic, you don’t have to accept the death of a loved one meekly.
After losing a family member in a fatal auto accident, you may have the right to pursue compensation through a wrongful death lawsuit. However, in order to succeed with such a suit, someone must have caused the fatality with unjustifiable action or inaction. Proving that this is the case is complex and challenging – generally beyond the scope of understanding of someone without significant legal experience.
In wrongful death cases, there is usually a great deal of money on the line, giving the insurance company increased incentive for contesting the claim. Moreover, insurance adjusters figure out ways to deny claims for a living, so, unlike you, they know what they’re doing. You need to seek the counsel of an experienced fatal auto accident attorney in order to counter the experience of the insurance adjusters. At Grossman Law Offices, Michael Grossman and his team of associates have been helping grieving Texans and Arkansans cope with the fallout of their loved one’s deaths for 20 years. We know how to negotiate with insurance adjusters and how to use legal action to get the compensation a grieving family deserves after a loved one’s life is snatched away in an untimely auto accident. Not only can we help you get your hands on the compensation you deserve, but we will also do whatever we can to bring the party who caused your loved one’s death to justice.
What Makes a Death in an Auto Accident Wrongful?
Just because your loved one died in an auto accident doesn’t mean you necessarily have the right to pursue compensation from the other party who was involved. In order to be able to recover restitution for the loss of your loved one, you must prove that the circumstances of the accident contained three necessary elements:
- Duty: that a party had a legal duty to take reasonable action to provide for the safety of others. While interactions may differ, people always have a legal responsibility not to harm others. When it comes to driving, the duty is to adhere to the rules of the road and not operate your vehicle in such a way as to harm others.
- Breach: that a party violated the required legal duty. Generally, when it comes to car wrecks, this breach involves someone driving unsafely. Now, this can mean standard negligence like speeding or accidentally running a stop sign, or it can mean gross negligence like drinking and driving. Moreover, the breach doesn’t have to involve either driver. If a tire defect led to the fatal auto accident, then the manufacturer of the tire is likely liable for the fatal accident.
- Causation: that the breach of duty directly lead to the fatal auto accident, causing the death of the victim and measurable financial, as well as, emotional harm done to his or her loved ones. If a driver ran a stop sign and slammed into another car killing the driver, then clearly the breach of duty resulted in the fatality.
Determining Fault
In many fatal auto accidents, on the other hand, determining who was responsible for the accident won’t be so easy. Only rarely does the responsible party step forward, own up to what he or she has done, and accept fiscal responsibility. This is why you need a fatal auto accident attorney in your corner, so that you have a professional investigator you can rely upon to thoroughly investigate the accident and determine it’s true cause. Many auto accidents turn into he said, she said affairs in which each driver claims the other caused the accident. When your loved one was killed in the accident, then you are at a disadvantage when it comes to collecting evidence. You need someone to race to the scene and find the evidence you’ll need to secure the compensation you deserve: eye witnesses, video or photo documentation, police reports, and physical proof at the scene like the distance between skid marks and the point of impact. The other party is highly likely to point the finger of blame at your loved one. All the defendants need to do is prove that your loved one was more than 50 percent responsible for the accident, and then they can escape financial accountability for the death. You will need a clever, trial-tested fatal auto accident attorney to protect your loved one’s good name and your right to be compensated fairly.
Damages you Can Pursue in a Wrongful Death Lawsuit
After dealing with hundreds of wrongful death cases in the past 20 years, our attorneys at Grossman Law Offices know all too well that it often seems distasteful and tacky to be thinking about money so soon after your loved one has died. However, we also understand the emotional and financial toll inflicted upon a family when a loved one is wrongfully killed, especially if the decedent was the family’s primary wage-earner. We know that it’s often impossible for a family to recover emotionally when it is still reeling financially. While we can’t eliminate your pain, we can help relieve the financial pressure by helping you secure the compensation you deserve following the death of your beloved family member. Moreover, in most fatal auto accident cases, no criminal charges will be filed, so a civil lawsuit is the only means you have of holding the responsible party to justice.
The family will file one comprehensive lawsuit seeking both wrongful death damages and survival damages. Although, it should be noted that in Arkansas the family must also name a personal representative of the estate before proceeding with any legal action. Spouses, children and parents all may pursue wrongful death damages to compensate them each for the financial and emotional damage they’ve sustained as a result of the death of their family member. Wrongful death damages may include compensation for:
- Funeral bills.
- Loss of financial backing provided to the family by the deceased before dying.
- Emotional and mental distress suffered by the surviving loved ones.
- Loss of the irreplaceable familial love supplied by the deceased.
The purpose of survival damages is much different: the closest living relative of the deceased has the right to serve as the victim’s stand-in, pursuing the damages for the victim’s losses and suffering. The right to pursue survival damages falls to the spouse first, followed by the children, then the parents, and finally siblings. Survival damages may include:
- Property damage.
- Medical expenses incurred by the deceased prior to dying.
- Physical pain and suffering.
- Mental and emotional distress.
While some of these damages are easy to prove just by producing the bills, others are far more subjective and require the skilled touch of an experienced fatal auto accident attorney to ensure accuracy and maximum compensation. You can’t calculate lost economic support just by your loved one’s current salary but must account for how their economic input would be affected by inflation, promotions, and raises for the rest of their lives. To do so calls for experience with similar cases. Additionally, there are often multiple liable parties when it comes to fatal auto accidents, and you need a lawyer capable of not only seeking compensation from all liable parties but also dividing liability accurately among those responsible. At Grossman Law Offices, we have been calculating and proving up damages for two decades, so we know how to get your family what it deserves.
Why You Need the Help of a Fatal Auto Accident Attorney
As we’ve already suggested, fatal auto accidents can often be very complex and assigning fault very challenging. In many instances, you will be seeking compensation from an insurance company which will do whatever it can to protect its assets. The good news is that the victim’s family will usually be tipped off that their case will be more challenging by any of a number of red flags, including:
- One of the drivers involved in the accident refuses to cooperate and doesn’t want to answer any questions.
- One of the drivers involved in the accident has no insurance.
- One of the drivers involved in the accident claims to be covered by an insurance company of which you have never heard.
- Insurance adjusters want to record your statements regarding your loved one’s death.
- Pushy insurance adjusters berate your family members with a confusing litany of questions in an effort to get you to mistakenly admit your loved one’s culpability for the accident.
- Before you hire an attorney, the insurance company offers you a settlement if you will agree to waive your right to sue. In all likelihood, this offer is designed to get you to accept less than you are owed, so you shouldn’t sign anything provided to you by the insurance company until it has been reviewed by an attorney of your choosing.
- The settlement offered to you by the insurance company appears to be less than your family should receive for a fatal auto accident.
- The way your insurance claim is being handled gives you a bad feeling in your gut.
If you don’t have a crafty and clever fatal auto accident lawyer protecting your right to compensation, the insurance adjusters pose a significant threat to your ability to obtain adequate compensation. Insurance adjusters manhandle grieving families for a living, and they know that you’re in a state of shock at the moment and are susceptible to being manipulated. They will approach you at the funeral or in the hospital and attempt to get you to surrender your right to sue in exchange for a settlement. Consumed by grief, many people fall for this ploy only to accept a settlement that is far less than they are entitled, but by then it’s too late for even the most highly-skilled fatal auto accident attorney to help. At Grossman Law Offices, we will protect you from the insurance adjusters’ tricks.
In a perfect world, the insurance company will make an accurate estimate of the value of your loved one’s wrongful death and then pay you what you deserve for the loss you’ve suffered. If you didn’t know, however, this world is far from perfect. Insurance are out to make money, not friends, so insurance adjusters will do whatever they can to short-change the amount they owe grieving families, especially with so much money at stake. Many people only attempt to hire an attorney once their claim has gone bad, when they could have saved themselves thousands by finding competent representation immediately. Don’t let this happen to you.
Grossman Law Offices Knows How to Help You
All too often, grieving families think all they have to do to get a fair shake from an insurance company is to threaten a lawsuit. In reality, insurance companies do not fear a lawsuit filed by a non-attorney. They keep defense lawyers on staff just waiting to deal with lawsuits, and they know a non-lawyer can be easily confused and defeated with procedural hurdles and loopholes. If you do not know how to submit a demand packet, respond to list of admissions, or prove up damages, then you will not prevail with your claim no matter how much the facts of the accident warrant compensation. The number of grieving families who’ve been left empty-handed after trying to handle their own cases is too long to list.
On the contrary, by hiring a skilled and experienced fatal auto accident attorney like ours at Grossman Law Offices, you provide yourself with the opportunity to have a fair trial. Moreover, since we’ve won hundreds of cases throughout Texas and Arkansas and settled claims with every major insurance company in the country, our reputation is well known among both defense lawyers and insurance adjusters. Thus, our track record often encourages insurance companies to offer our clients fair settlements in order to avoid ending up in court against our firm. Whether we’re working toward a settlement or a trial, we conduct a thorough investigation into every fatal auto accident case we handle. We will identify the responsible party for your loved one’s death, whether it’s the other driver, the manufacturer of a defective tire, or the city for not fixing a broken stoplight. If one party or several parties caused or contributed to the cause of your loved one’s death, then we will make sure they are all held accountable according to the degree of their liability. Not only will we ably handle your case, but we will make sure you understand what is going on and feel comfortable about the legal process. Above all else, we will make sure the party who negligently caused your loved one’s death is made to pay for the harm caused to your family member and your family. If you’ve lost a loved one in a fatal auto accident, call Grossman Law Offices any time for a free consultation at 1-855-589-5645. We will answer all of your questions and tell you how we can help you start rebuilding your life.
Recovered for client who was rear-ended by an 18-wheeler resulting in soft tissue injuries and chiropractic treatment.
$60,000.00
$20,000.00
$1,050.00
(policy limits) A young mother was killed in an accident involving two commercial vehicles, one an 18-wheeler. The accident occurred as the young woman was a passenger in a vehicle that was traveling down a highway in the early morning hours. Without warning, the vehicle in which she was a passenger collided with a stalled 18-wheeler that parked in the right of way, resulting in catastrophic injuries that claimed the young woman's life soon thereafter.
The authorities initially faulted the driver of the vehicle in which the victim was a passenger, stating that he was using an electronic device rather than paying full attention to the roadway. However, the 18-wheeler was indeed blocking the roadway and plaintiff alleged that the vehicle did not follow the requirements of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act in regard to providing adequate reflective or laminated warning at specific intervals. Further, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendant failed to remove his vehicle from the roadway when he first noticed signs of mechanical failure.
Had he simply moved to the shoulder of the road, plaintiffs argued, his lack of adequate warning signs would have been inconsequential. An initial settlement has been obtained in this case, yet litigation has commenced in full against the remaining defendant, and is currently ongoing.
$250,000.00
$78,000.00
$370.00
Recovery for homemaker injured in car wreck.
$125,000.00
$50,000.00
$1,261.00
Our client, a middle-aged woman, was injured when an 18-wheeler rear-ended her vehicle. As a consequence of the wreck, she sustained a back injury which required surgery to remedy. Naturally, the defendants denied liability and argued that the accident was unavoidable. Our attorneys filed suit. The defendant driver initially claimed that our client suddenly changed lanes in front of his tractor-trailer and then inexplicably slammed onto her brakes. When confronted with eye-witness testimony and other physical evidence that reflected an entirely different scenario, the truck driver ultimately recanted. The case was successfully resolved through litigation.
$350,000.00
$140,000.00
$8,188.00
(policy limits) A husband and father of three was killed when the driver of an 18-wheeler veered into oncoming traffic, striking the young man's vehicle and several others. The defendant was employed by a small construction company that operated only a single 18-wheeler. As such, the defendants were largely underinsured and were not financially solvent.
Furthermore, the defendants had an eroding insurance policy and numerous other parties were intent upon filing claims of their own since the 18-wheeler struck multiple other vehicles. This created the need for an aggressive and rapid response before the other claimants could erode the policy.
Defense counsel made it clear that they wished to litigate the case despite the insurmountable liability arguments that our attorneys presented. They intended to designate a third party as a responsible defendant since the accident happened in a construction zone, even though it was abundantly clear that the construction zone played no role in the crash.
Additonally, the defendants made it clear that they wished to downplay the extent of the damages by virtue of a character assasination on the decedent. Fortunately for our clients, our firm has successfully litigated against the defendant's insurer in nearly a dozen cases, so the carrier was quite aware of our courtroom capabilities. We presented a sample lawsuit to the defendant's insurance carrier and informed them that the lawsuit was to be filed the moment that they refused to settle.
Additionally, our attorneys submitted a Stowers' Demand with a brief window of time for the defendants to respond. We made it abundantly clear that we intended to seek punitive damages and that we would assert the full limits of the carrier's exposure under the Stowers' Demand should the carrier not offer policy limits.
The defendant's attorney adamantly persuaded the carrier to litigate, however, our attorney's threats of litigation, past track record, and incredibly aggressive pre-litigation actions convinced the insurance carrier to disregard their own attorney's advice and to settle the case, lest they face our attorneys in court.
Had our clients been represented by virtually any other firm who did not have our specific track record or who would have not recognized that this case required special and immediate attention coupled with an abnormally aggressive stance, the client's would have certainly been tied up in litigation for years, with the limited supply of funds rapidly depleting since the other claimants who did not need to litigate would have essentially had right of first refusal.
$1,000,000.00
$333,333.00
$0.00
(policy limits) An incredibly intoxicated driver drove head-on into a vehicle, killing several of the vehicle's occupants. The defendants had limited assets, yet an alternative policy was uncovered, which the defendants argued was non applicable. Under threat of litigation, our attorneys negotiated a settlement for the policy limits.
$300,000.00
$132,000.00
$0.00
Recovery for accident victim who suffered soft-tissue back injury caused by rear-end collision.
$75,000.00
$30,000.00
$2,700.00
Facility sued for negligent contribution to the death of an innocent bystander. A fatal shooting occurred on the property after the facility failed to appropriately respond to outbursts of violence & gang activity. Following the young man's death, his parents hired our firm to pursue the facility for their negligent actions including failure to provide adequate security. The case was successfully resolved through litigation.
Confidential
Confidential
Confidential
Recovery for the driver of car that was side-swiped by an 18-wheeler. Plaintiff suffered muscle aches, pains & dizziness.
$30,000.00
$10,000.00
$500.00
Recovered for client suffered soft-tissue injuries when her car was side-swiped by a dump truck.
$41,000.00
$13,666.00
$50.00