Accidents occur. Unfortunately,
all too frequently and never at a convenient
time. You may be injured as a result of an
accident and not even discover your injuries
until a few days later. On the other hand, your
injuries may be immediate which calls for
immediate treatment or hospitalization. Even
though Tennessee law requires it, many people do
not carry insurance. In that situation, you are
left with no choice but to make a claim to your
own insurance carrier under the uninsured
motorist coverage of your policy, or to attempt
to collect directly for yourself against the
party causing the accident.
In an accident situation you should, if possible,
immediately get the name, address and telephone
number(s) of all parties to the accident and
witnesses thereto. You should also collect
additional information, i.e., license number of
vehicles involved and, if practical and available
to you, take photographs of the accident scene,
vehicle damage, and any injuries you or your
passenger(s) may have sustained. Each party
involved in an accident is entitled to the name,
address and insurance information of the other
parties. You should always contact the police so
that an accident report can be made unless the
accident occurs on private property such as a
parking lot where the police department is not
required to make such a report. Even so, any
security officer of that area should be notified.
Your major concern after an accident is the
physical recovery of yourself and any
passenger(s) or other person(s) involved in the
accident. Secondarily, the law entitles you to
compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and
for the pain of your injuries. Unfortunately,
insurance companies are interested in their
bottom line and paying out as little as possible.
It is the job of the insurance adjuster, the
company’s trained representative, to accomplish
just that. You should consider retaining an
attorney to deal with the insurance company, and
have someone working for you who is trained in
the law.
Many attorneys will accept the first offer made
by an insurance company. We do not do that. We
review with you each offer and counter-offer
until your claim is resolved at a point where you
are satisfied that you have been made a whole as
a result of the accident. If no fair offer is
made, we will file a suit for you.
We look forward to receiving your call and
talking with you and assisting you in regard to
any accident in which you have been involved.
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