Auto Accidents

Over the last 30+ years David has handled over 1,000 automobile accidents. The cases have included everything from property damage in magistrate court to recovering hundreds of thousands of dollars for serious injuries or wrongful death. While the majority of the cases are in northwest Georgia, he has traveled throughout Georgia and into other states for larger cases. No matter if the damages are small or great, automobile accident cases invariably revolve around three issues.

1. Who was at fault: In the majority of cases, fault is obvious; however, many times fault is hotly disputed. When the issue of fault (that is liability) is contested, it is important to have an attorney with the experience and dedication to investigate the facts throughly. There is no substitute for on-scene personal investigation by the attorney. Many “high volume” law firms rarely, if ever, take the time to actually see where the wreck happened. When fault can not be conclusively established by investigation (i.e. photographs of the scene, witness interviews, physical evidence) lawyers should consider hiring an accident reconstruction expert.

2. Extent of the injury: Even in cases of clear liability, insurance companies do their best to minimize the injury. Often they scour the medical records in the hope that they can make a jury believe that the injury suffered by the plaintiff pre-existed the accident. In order to effectively represent plaintiffs, it is imperative that the lawyer be willing to take time to understand the medical records. A lawyer must ask questions of the medical providers and, if need be, hire a medical expert to fully and completely establish the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries. David has worked with clients with many different types of injuries and has the sympathy and persistence required to effectively present a plaintiff’s injuries.

3. Compensation for injury (collecting the insurance): Almost every automobile collision, large or small, involves an effort to collect some type of automobile insurance. Most obvious is the defendant’s liability coverage. In addition, many cases include issues of self insurance, sovereign immunity (when a government is the defendant), uninsured motorist coverage or medical payments coverage. Once the attorney has identified applicable insurance coverages, he must coordinate those coverages with health insurance, ERISA plans, medicare, medicaid, CHAMPUS or workers compensation. The legal issues surrounding coordination of different types of coverage are very complex. Without substantial experience in the area, it is almost impossible to adequately represent a person injured in a car wreck. David has worked with these issues for over 30 years. He has written an article which appeared in the Georgia Bar Journal concerning automobile insurance. The most recent one may be found at (see published works on Meet David Blevins page).

 

For more information, please see Personal Injury.