Missouri requires car accident victims seeking compensation for property damage and injury expenses to file a claim against the at-fault party. Then, the insurance company investigating the accident assigns percentages of fault to the parties involved. But is it worthwhile to hire an attorney if the car accident was minor?
Because of Missouri’s fault-based injury laws, hiring a car accident lawyer is a wise choice to protect against an insurance company that may attempt to assign undue fault to you under Missouri 537.765, which states the following: “Any fault chargeable to the plaintiff shall diminish proportionately the amount awarded as compensatory damages but shall not bar recovery.”
Examples of Minor Car Accidents In Missouri
Minor car accidents can be frightening, but typically end in minor property damage to one or both involved vehicles. Even a minor car accident can cause injuries, such as whiplash, bruises, sprains, lacerations, contusions, and abrasions. The most common examples of minor car accidents are as follows:
- Low-speed rear-end collisions
- Sideswipes
- Reversing accidents
- Low-speed tire blowouts
- Low-speed collisions with obstacles
- Tire blowouts
- Parking lot accidents
- Roadway departures
Sometimes, minor car accidents do not result from driver negligence but are due to the negligence of other parties, such as a road maintenance crew that failed to repair a dangerous pothole or because of a defective car part or tire. An experienced car accident lawyer can pursue compensation even if your physical injuries and economic damages are minor.
Why Might I Need a Car Accident Lawyer After a Minor Crash?
Even if you’ve suffered only minor scrapes and bruises and minimal property damage in a car accident, it’s beneficial to hire a car accident lawyer to prevent the other driver’s insurance company from assigning you an undue percentage of fault, leaving you liable for the other motorist’s damages, like medical expenses, lost wages, or compensation for pain and suffering. Liability for another motorist’s damages could increase your insurance costs.
In addition, you may feel that your injuries are minor during the aftermath of the accident, but even low-speed accidents can cause whiplash. Whiplash injury symptoms are often unnoticeable immediately after the accident, but painful, debilitating symptoms develop during the days following the accident. Whiplash typically heals but requires medical care such as a cervical collar, steroid injections, and anti-inflammatory medication. Rear-end collisions are the most common cause of whiplash injury, even when collisions are little more than fender-benders.
What Does a Car Accident Lawyer Do to Help My Case?
By hiring a car accident attorney, your lawyer handles all communications with the insurance company and also does the following:
- Conducts an independent investigation into the accident to determine the cause of the crash and the negligence that led to it
- Documents compelling evidence of liability and protects you against an insurance company assigning you an undue percentage of fault or shifting liability for the other party’s damages to you
- Carefully calculate your damages if you suffered minor injuries to maximize the amount you can recover in your case. For instance, if you went to the emergency room for scrapes and bruises, if you suffered whiplash and had injury treatment, or if you had a few days of lost income during your recovery. You may also claim compensation for pain and suffering
If you suffered economic losses from the accident, you can recover those losses with the help of a car accident lawyer, even after a minor accident.