860 236-9350 / Text 860 977-0660
690 Flatbush Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06110-1308
Text 860 977-0660
860 236-9350 / Text 860 977-0660
690 Flatbush Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06110-1308
Text 860 977-0660
Each year about 100,000 traffic accidents occur on Connecticut roads. These crashes cause around 35,000 personal injuries and 300 deaths. Drivers who text, speed, tailgate, make unsafe turns, talk on the phone, and drive drunk cause these accidents. The law allows people who are hurt by careless, distracted and negligent drivers to receive compensation for their injuries.
We have 30 years experience in helping people hurt in car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian accidents recover payment for pain, suffering, disability, and medical, hospital and ambulance bills.
Call us today at 860 236-9350 for a free consultation if you or a family member have been hurt in a motor vehicle crash. We get results.
Our experience negotiating with insurance companies and trying cases in court, coupled with our knowledge of the law, allows us to get our clients the most money possible for injuries to themselves and their family members. From our firm's experience, we know how insurance companies, defense attorneys, courts and juries evaluate automobile accident claims.
Know your rights when you have been injured in a motor vehicle crash. We will take the time to give you the legal information you need. We fight to get justice for victims of negligent drivers. Our reputation and experience allows us to resolve most auto accident cases by settlement but we will not hesitate to file a lawsuit and take your case to trial if necessary to get you the compensation you deserve. We may even be able to help you recover money if the driver who caused your accident fled the scene, did not have insurance, or had too little insurance (uninsured / underinsured motorist).
Having an experienced attorney represent you will maximize the amount you recover after being hurt in an accident case. An attorney with many years of litigation practice will know the best way to present the evidence in your case to the insurance company or to a jury if your case goes to trial.
You are entitled to safety and security. Basic ideas of justice and fairness is why the law allows a person to be compensated — to receive money — for personal injuries caused by another person's negligence or carelessness. This is true for car crashes and other types of accidents (dog bites, falls on ice or unsafe premises, malpractice, nursing home negligence, wrongful death claims, and drug reactions).
The legal system uses the word "damages" to describe what should be paid to an injured person. There are two types of damages, economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages cover financial losses like lost wages and payments for doctor, hospital, surgery and medical expenses. The law allows economic damages to be paid for past financial losses as well as losses that are likely to happen in the future.
Non-economic damages are paid to compensate an injured person for pain, suffering, permanent disability, and psychological harm, both past and future.
Connecticut is a comparative fault state. A person whose own carelessness contributes to the accident will have his or her payment reduced by how much he or she was at fault. If a person is more than fifty percent responsible for the accident, however, then he or she will not receive anything. (Different rules apply when one sues the state or a town for negligence.)
An experienced attorney will:
The rules for traffic safety in Connecticut are mostly in Title 14 of the state's statutes. Other rules governing motor vehicle accidents are in statutes dealing with insurance claims and with the courts. Most traffic safety rules are just common sense — do not follow too closely, do not speed, do not drive drunk. The rules regarding insurance claims and the courts are more complex and often arbitrary, such as the rules about when notice of an accident needs to be given or when a lawsuit must be filed. You may have a very strong case with clear liability and damages that are easily proven, but if you miss a deadline by just one day, you get nothing. Different rules apply for accidents caused by city or state employees, for claims against bars and restaurants that served people who then drove drunk, and for accidents caused by drivers without insurance.
The best advice — talk to an experienced personal injury lawyer as soon as possible after an accident.
Connecticut requires all drivers to carry auto insurance of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. Because many people drive without insurance, Connecticut requires insurance policies to provide Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist (called "UM" for short) to cover you, your family, and your passengers for personal injuries caused by a driver with no insurance or too little insurance. You pay your insurance company for this UM coverage.
The underinsured part protects you, your family and your passengers if the insurance policy of the driver who caused the car accident is not enough to cover the injuries. To use underinsured motorist protection, (1) you must first collect the total liability coverage of the driver who caused the accident and (2) your UM coverage must be higher than that liability coverage.
Example: You are hurt by a driver who carries the minimal insurance of $25,000 per person. Your UM coverage is $50,000. Your case is worth $40,000. After collecting the $25,000 available from the other driver’s insurance policy, you can collect $15,000 from the Underinsured Motorist coverage of your policy.
Our firm often obtains money for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians injured in an accident in which they got a traffic ticket. Police officers are trained to investigate auto accidents but they sometimes make mistakes. The following situations often cause officers to make mistakes:
If there is a question as to who is at fault for an auto accident, it is extremely important to contact an an experienced personal injury attorney immediately to preserve important evidence. Cars are fixed, witnesses move or forget, skid marks fade, debris from the car accident scatters or is moved.
And even if you are partially at fault, Connecticut law allows you to recover for your injuries as long as you are not more than 50% responsible for the motor vehicle accident.
Your health insurance usually pays your medical bills following an accident. Some health insurance plans, including Medicare, Medicaid and union health insurance plans, require that you pay them back from the money you receive for your accident. Depending on the circumstances, our firm may be able to negotiate the amount you have to pay back.
Our firm also may be able to help you get the medical attention you need if health insurance coverage is an issue. Our law firm's reputation among the medical community often lets us make agreements with doctors for them to treat you after your car accident in exchange for our promise to pay the medical bills when we resolve your case.
One way to protect yourself against unexpected medical bills from a car accident is to ask your insurance agent to add Medical Payment benefits to your auto insurance policy. This type of coverage is relatively inexpensive and can help you pay your medical bills after an auto accident if you have no health insurance or if your health insurance does not fully pay your bills.
An automobile accident is a terrifying experience. Tires screech, metal smashes, glass shatters, people scream. Sometimes there is blood and broken bones.
Many times, however, car accident injuries are not obvious. After the immediate terror and shock of an accident, people are often relieved to see that they have no cuts or fractures. They tell the police officer that they are okay.
Later that day or next morning they can hardly move. They have neck pain, back pain and headaches. Their arms or hands feel numb and tingly. They feel dizzy. This is a very common experience. Doctors, insurance companies, lawyers and judges are aware that this often happens. The National Institute of Health says that symptoms after a car accident, including whiplash injuries, may be present directly after the injury or may be delayed for several days.
Sometimes, these types of delayed injuries include a traumatic brain injury. The impact from the accident makes the brain stretch or collide against the inside of the skull, causing the brain to bruise, bleed and swell.
Connecticut motor vehicle law requires that drivers involved in a car accident stop, give help and provide identification. People sometimes break this law, maybe because they have been drinking, have no license or insurance, are driving a stolen car, or sometimes just panic.
If you, your passenger, or a family member living in your household, has an automobile insurance policy, that policy most likely will cover your hit and run car accident. This insurance coverage is provided under the policy’s Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist ("UM") provisions.
We had a case where someone stole our client's car and while driving away hit and seriously injured our client. Our client's insurance company did not want to cover his injuries. Our client in fact had gone to another attorney and was told he did not have a case. Because our instincts told us this did not seem right, and certainly was unfair, we fought and won money for our client. We sued the insurance company. We pointed out that if the car thief had hit a complete stranger, that person's automobile policy UM provisions would cover the accident. Why should our own client's policy not cover him when his own stolen car injures him? The insurance company gave in and compensated our client in full for his injuries.
You frequently see the same lawyers advertising over and over on TV and billboards. It may surprise you that the one place you almost never see these lawyers is in court. Their business relies on settling as many cases as possible. The Serrano Law Firm has a different approach. If the insurance company refuses to pay what your case is worth, we file suit and prepare you and your case for trial.
Insurance cases respect our approach. They often pay the true value of a case when they see we are determined and ready to take the case to court instead of just hoping for a quick settlement.
When you've been injured by a careless driver, you deserve justice. Our mission is to see that you get it.
Si usted o un miembro de su familia se lesionó en un accidente automovilístico, llámenos para hablar con un abogado que hable su idioma. No hay costo a menos que obtengamos dinero para usted.
Se você ou um membro da sua família foi ferido em um acidente de carro, ligue-nos para falar com um advogado que fale a sua língua. Não há custo a menos que obtenhamos dinheiro para você.
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