If you have suffered an injury in a bicycle accident that was caused by someone else, you should expect compensation for your injuries. When you use a bicycle accident attorney, you will not have the added stress of having to go through the compensation process alone. Once you have contacted and met with a bicycle accident lawyer, the amount of contact you have with them after the first meeting will depend on how much involvement you would like to have in the process. If you would like to have a lot of involvement in the process, then it will be helpful to understand more about how it all works.
Build Your Case
After you have hired a bicycle accident attorney, they will begin to find the evidence that they need in order to get you the compensation that you deserve. After they have found all of the evidence they need, they will then write a Letter of Claim to the person that had caused the accident. This is to inform them that a claim for compensation is being made against them.
Finding Fault
Knowing who was at fault when it comes to an accident is not always easy to do. Your bicycle injury lawyer will do what they can to determine this, but if the fault of the accident cannot be determined, there are times when the liability will be split between the two parties involved.
Medical Report
A victim of an accident needs to see a doctor as soon as they are able to after the accident occurs. This allows for a medical report to be written up detailing the extent of the injuries that were received. This information is beneficial in determining the amount of compensation a victim should receive.
Settling Before Court
Most of the individuals that have compensation claims brought against them have insurance. In these cases the Letter of Claim that is made will be passed on to the individual’s insurance company, who will then look over the claim and determine within three months whether or not they will pay the claim and thus settling it before it goes to court. For those that do not have insurance, the Motor Insurers Bureau will hear the claim.
Offers for Settlement
These claims do not have to make it through the court system. If the defendant chooses, they can offer a bicycle accident settlement. The person that had filed the claim can then decide whether or not they want to accept the offer. Your bicycle accident attorney will be able to go through the offer with you and give you advice based on their experience. They will be able to let you know whether they feel the offer is good enough or if you deserve more and will likely get more when going to court.
Court System
If the claim is not settled out of court, the Particulars of Claim will need to be completed and given to the courts. This will give all of the details within the claim and all the evidence. The courts will then use this in order to make a judgment.
