Accidents can be a nightmare for everyone involved—emotionally draining and legally complex.
Injury accidents can be especially devastating. Some insurance companies rush to get injured people to record a statement and accept a small amount of money. Be cautious and don’t sign or record a statement before knowing your rights and the extent of your injuries.
What should you do after an accident? Watch this short video. We help accident victims across Kentucky and Indiana. If you need help or have questions, call and speak to one of lawyers today. With our no fee promise, you won’t pay a fee unless we win or settle your case. Call today at (800) 937-8443.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:
JOHN RAMSEY: Auto accidents are serious business and can have long-term ramifications. Let’s talk about that a little bit with Kaufman & Stigger. The attorneys from Kaufman & Stigger with me today: I have Jimmy, Matt, and Marshall Kaufman. Marshall, welcome back to the show!
MARSHALL KAUFMAN: Thanks, John, good to see you again. Thanks for having us.
JOHN RAMSEY: You have to be proud of your sons; part of the business now, right?
MARSHALL KAUFMAN: Very proud.
JOHN RAMSEY: I don’t blame you at all. Congratulations, Gentlemen.
JIMMY KAUFMAN: Thank you.
MATT KAUFMAN: Thank you.
JOHN RAMSEY: So it’s been a couple of years now. Let’s talk a little bit about auto accidents. Okay, I want to cut to the chase here: advice. Everyone at one time or another, sadly, is probably going to be in an auto accident. So let me go to you, Jimmy. What kind of advice would you give? Let’s say you have a pretty serious fender-bender. Okay, you’re getting out of the car, what’s the first order of business?
JIMMY KAUFMAN: Well, there are three things I like to tell people if they’re involved in an accident. The first is to make sure that you protect yourself and your passengers. The second is to make sure that you remain calm, and the third is to make sure you document as much of the accident as you can. As far as protecting yourself and your passengers, use your best judgment. If you’re in a wreck on the highway, it’s better to pull off in the emergency lane. If you’re in a wreck on a side street, you may be okay leaving your car where it is. Then you want to turn off your car and turn on your flashers because the flashers allow other drivers to see you, especially if it’s dark and rainy. Next thing I would advise is to check on your passengers and the driver of the other vehicle, and make sure that everybody’s okay, and then call 911.
JOHN RAMSEY: I like the way you’re thinking. So safety first, that’s number one?
JIMMY KAUFMAN: Yes.
JOHN RAMSEY: I can understand that. Okay, Matt was talking about kind of like recording or remembering—how can you do that? Do you write things down, pictures, exactly how does that work?
MATT KAUFMAN: A lot of times what you want to do is take photographs of what happened. Pictures are a lot more significant showing both how the accident happened. They can use those later to show skid marks, gouge marks, as well as where the property damage occurred. Special investigators who we work with are able to go out to the scene and also use the photos to help best show who is at fault and why the accident occurred.
JOHN RAMSEY: Okay. My question to you, Marshall, is: How soon, or when do you know, when to call an attorney? When do you know to call Kaufman & Stigger?
MARSHALL KAUFMAN: Well, the best time to call, John, is after you get your medical treatment and you’re back either from the hospital or the doctor; or right after the accident if you’re not sure if you need medical treatment or not and you’re trying to decide what to do, you can give us a call. We would give you advice as to how to proceed at that point in time, and then we can start getting the documentation we need to try and help you prove your case as time goes on.
JOHN RAMSEY: Marshall, what kind of information do you need from the other driver; assuming there is someone at fault or someone else in the accident, what kind of information should you try to gather?
MARSHALL KAUFMAN: There’s two different scenarios. Sometimes, people are in an accident and the other side will say, “I don’t want to call the police.” And you should always try and get them to call the police or you call the police. If not, you need to get their driver’s license information. I would suggest if you have a camera to take a photograph of that, take a photograph of their license number so that you are later able to document—also, a photograph of them—to document who was driving. Through their license, through the photograph of them, and through the car.
JOHN RAMSEY: Alright, it makes perfect sense. Let’s put the information up on the screen. Once again, Kaufman & Stigger. Give them a call if you’re in an auto accident. Sadly, it’s going to happen to all of us. Make sure that you do—the procedures are great, Guys, thanks. It’s an educational moment for me; I love this. Thank you very much. Try to keep it together; I know it’s hard to do when you’re in an accident, but when you do finally gather yourself, give them a call at Kaufman & Stigger. We’ll be right back on WAVE 3 Listens.
