Call Stephen Burg as soon as possible if you are the victim of a personal injury for a free case consultation.
Early legal action helps preserve evidence, strengthens the case, and can lead to better outcomes for all types of personal injury cases.
Truck Accidents
Commercial truck accidents are vastly different from normal car crashes and require immediate action to protect your rights.
Immediate Steps to Take
- Get medical help: See a doctor right away, even if you feel fine, because serious injuries like internal trauma or brain injuries can show up days later.
- Protect evidence: Trucking companies send rapid-response investigators to the scene immediately. Your lawyer needs to send a letter quickly to stop the trucking company from legally destroying electronic “black box” data, driver logs, GPS records, and dashcam footage.
- Avoid talking to insurers: Do not give a recorded statement, apologize, or sign any documents for the trucking company’s insurance adjuster before talking to a lawyer. Insurers use these tactics to lower or deny your claim.
Why Truck Accidents Are More Complex
- Multiple liable parties: Responsibility might fall on the driver, the trucking company, cargo loaders, or parts manufacturers—not just one person.
- Strict federal rules: Commercial trucks must follow strict Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations on hours of service, maintenance, and weight limits. Violating these rules proves negligence.
- Higher insurance limits: Commercial policies are much larger than standard auto policies (often starting at $750,000 or more), meaning insurance companies will fight much harder to avoid paying out large settlements.
Catastrophic
Personal Injury
Act quickly to protect your health, preserve evidence, and safeguard your legal rights in the case of a catastrophic injury.
Immediate Steps to Take
- Seek prompt, thorough medical care: Your priority is emergency treatment — call 911 and get to a hospital or qualified medical provider immediately, even if you feel “okay.” Adrenaline can mask serious injuries like spinal fractures or internal damage.
- Request and keep the following items to create an indisputable link between the accident and your injuries:
- ER and ambulance records
- Diagnostic imaging (X rays, CT, MRI)
- Physician notes on injury type, severity, and prognosis
- Treatment plans and specialist referrals
- Pharmacy records for all prescriptions
- Preserve and document the scene: Evidence disappears quickly. If safe, photograph or video the accident scene, visible injuries, property damage, and environmental conditions.
- Collect:
- Date, time, location, and circumstances of the incident
- Witness names and contact info
- Your own written account while memories are fresh
- Keep detailed medical and expense records: Maintain a centralized file of all medical visits, bills, prescriptions, and related expenses. This supports calculations of lifetime care costs and lost income.
- Report the incident appropriately: Notify your employer, property owner, or other responsible parties as soon as possible, following their protocols. Inform your insurance company only with factual details; avoid admitting fault.
- Limit direct communications with insurers: Do not discuss the case with insurers or parties at fault without legal advice. Early attorney involvement ensures all communications are handled strategically.
The real cost of care makes catastrophic injury cases complicated.
The real cost of care includes:
- Future care: Severe injuries often require years of medical treatment, personal care, or home modifications.
- Lost earnings: A permanent disability can stop someone from earning a living for their family.
- Full value: Insurance companies try to settle fast for less money before the true long-term costs are known. A strong legal team relies on life-care planners and medical specialists to prove future costs.
Product Liability
There are three general categories for defects: design, manufacturing, or failure-to-warn.
Examples of defect products include:
- Manufacturing equipment
- Medical devices
- Defective pressure cookers
- Pharmaceutical products
- Motor vehicles
- Farming equipment
- Construction equipment
- Children’s products
- Tools
- Household products
- Appliances
- Building products
Saving the defective product and acting quickly within the state’s strict time limits are essential to winning a case.
Immediate Steps to Protect Your Claim
- Save the product: Keep the broken item, box, packaging, and instructions in a safe container without fixing or changing it.
- Get medical help fast: Go to the doctor right away and tell them a product caused your injury, so it is written in your medical records.
- Note the time limit: Many states, including Colorado, have a strict two-year statute of limitations from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit.
Understanding the Legal Process for Product Liability Cases
- Strict liability: In many places, you do not have to prove the company meant to be careless; you only need to show the product had a defect that caused harm during normal use.
- Corporate defense: Large companies and manufacturers have teams of lawyers ready to fight claims, meaning you need strong physical evidence and expert witnesses.
- Recoverable damages: You can seek money for medical bills, future care, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Wrongful Death
The most important thing for a family member to know in the event of a wrongful death is that strict time limits apply for filing a claim, and preserving evidence must begin immediately.
Immediate Steps to Take
- Know the state statute of limitations: Every state sets a strict deadline (often one to two years from the date of death) to file a lawsuit. Missing this window means losing the right to seek justice. The earlier you can secure legal counsel, the better.
- Determine who can file the case: Not every relative has legal standing. State laws typically prioritize spouses, children, or a designated personal representative of an estate.
- Early preservation: Evidence disappears quickly, and memories fade. Work with an attorney to secure accident reports, surveillance footage, and obtain witness statements before they are lost.
Compensation and Costs
Families can recover both economic losses (like medical bills and lost income) and non-economic losses (like emotional pain or loss of companionship) in wrongful death cases.
Wrongful death cases may compensate family members for:
- Medical expenses
- Funeral expenses
- Loss of income
- Loss of benefits
- Care of a child
- Pain and suffering of the survivors
- Punitive damages
Success in a wrongful death case requires showing that another party’s careless or wrongful action directly caused the death, supported by medical and expert records.
Auto Accidents
Car crash victims should know that insurance adjusters are not on their side and recorded statements should be avoided before getting legal advice.
Personal injury car crashes include any of the following:
- Rear-end collisions
- Side-impact crashes
- Drunk driving accidents
- Rollover accidents
- Single-vehicle crashes
- Uninsured motorist accidents
- Sideswipe crashes
- Head-on collisions
- Multi-car pile ups
- Autonomous vehicle accidents
Immediate Steps to Take
- Protect Your Claim Early:
- Do not give a recorded statement. Insurance companies for the at-fault driver often call quickly to get you to say something that devalues your claim.
- Do not admit fault. Never apologize or speculate about who caused the crash at the scene or to an insurance agent.
- Stay off social media. Insurance adjusters scour platforms like Facebook and Instagram for photos or posts that contradict your injury claims.
- Handle Medical Care and Evidence:
- See a doctor right away. A gap in medical treatment allow insurance companies to argue that your injuries were not caused by the crash.
- Keep detailed records. Save every medical bill, repair estimate, prescription receipt, and missed work note.
- Follow medical advice. Skipping appointments or stopping treatment early signals to the insurance company that you are healed.
Main Types of Compensation for Car Crash Cases
- Economic Damages:
- Medical bills: Covers emergency room care, surgeries, and ongoing rehabilitation.
- Lost wages: Reimburses income missed during recovery time.
- Earning capacity: Accounts for future income loss due to long-term disability.
- Property damage: Pays to repair or replace the damaged vehicle.
- Non-Economic Damages:
- Pain and suffering: Compensates for physical discomfort and ongoing agony.
- Emotional distress: Addresses anxiety, depression, or PTSD resulting from the crash.
- Loss of enjoyment: Accounts for an inability to participate in normal daily activities or hobbies.
- Punitive Damages
- Punishment: Awarded in rare cases involving extreme recklessness, like drunk driving.
- Deterrence: Intended to discourage the at-fault party from repeating dangerous behavior.