Our Personal Injury FAQ

Being involved in an accident with a big truck or commercial vehicle is often confusing, especially when it comes to filing an insurance claim.  Sometimes, a police report will list the driver of the truck, the leasing company, the owner of the trailer, and finally, an insurance company you have never heard of.  What do you do?

When we receive a case involving a big truck or commercial vehicle, we immediately get to work researching the parties involved.  One of our first calls is to the at-fault insurance company in order to begin evaluating whether they are taking responsibility for the accident, and for the fault of the truck driver.  At the same time, we may also request information from the owner of the truck and its driver to make sure the information is matching up.  

Ultimately, the insurance claim will be filed with the truck’s insurance company.  However, if the insurance company is denying responsibility for the driver’s actions, further investigation is needed in order to protect our clients’ claims.

Have You Been Injured In A Covington Area Truck Accident?

If you've been hurt in a semi-truck or large vehicle accident you need to speak with an experienced truck accident lawyer as soon as possible. Please contact me online or call my Covington office directly at 985.590.6182 to schedule your free consultation today. I help clients throughout Louisiana including Mandeville, Slidell, Bogalusa, Franklinton, Hammond, New Orleans and Metairie.

Parking lot collisions are common.  It is very unpleasant to walk out of the grocery store to find that your parked car has been hit.  So, what do you do if your car was hit while parked?

The steps to take after your parked car is hit is the same as any other accident.  First, call the police and report the incident.  If anyone was in the car and is injured, report that to the police and if necessary, request emergency assistance.  Note that for minor accidents on private property (like grocery store parking lots or in subdivisions), police may refuse to respond to the incident.  If they do, be sure to note the time of your call and to whom you spoke, so that you can document that you attempted to call the police.  

Second, take as many pictures and videos as possible of the vehicle damage and accident scene.  This will be the only time you can capture that evidence, which may be important, especially if the other person’s insurance company is denying responsibility.  

Third, make sure to collect the other person’s information, including their name, contact information, insurance company, and insurance policy number.  This will allow you to file a claim without having to wait on a police report.  

Other tips include looking around the parking lot for surveillance video and asking for a copy of the video showing the incident.  If the accident happens in a store parking lot, you may even ask the store to document it by filling out an incident report.  

Have You Been Injured In A Covington Area Car Accident?

If you've been hurt in a car accident you need to speak with an experienced car accident attorney as soon as possible. Please contact me online or call my Covington office directly at 985.590.6182 to schedule your free consultation today. I help clients throughout Louisiana including Mandeville, Slidell, Bogalusa, Franklinton, Hammond, New Orleans and Metairie.

We often get phone calls from injury victims who are not satisfied with their current lawyer and are looking to hire another law firm to handle their case.  I always encourage those callers to contact their current attorney and schedule a meeting to discuss their concerns and to get a clear understanding of what is being done in their case.  Most times, a simple meeting with their attorney solves the problem.  

If a person is already represented by another attorney, we cannot discuss the specifics of their case with them unless they have discharged their present attorney.  The primary reason is that doing so may compromise the attorney-client confidentiality they have with their current lawyer.  

A client who fires their attorney should do so in writing.  The client should also request their entire file so that their new lawyer can review it.  It is important to note that firing an attorney does not mean that they will not be owed money at the end of your case.  In fact, a fired attorney may have a claim for repayment of case expenses and for fees, depending on the amount of work they did prior to getting fired.  

Communication with your current attorney is always encouraged prior to making the decision to switch lawyers.

Have You Been Injured In A Covington Area Car Accident?

If you've been hurt in a car accident you need to speak with an experienced car accident attorney as soon as possible. Please contact me online or call my Covington office directly at 985.590.6182 to schedule your free consultation today. I help clients throughout Louisiana including Mandeville, Slidell, Bogalusa, Franklinton, Hammond, New Orleans and Metairie.

Delay is one strategy used by insurance companies, including big truck insurance companies, to deter people from pursuing their claims following an accident.  The longer insurance companies can keep their money, the better for their bottom line.  

Big truck insurance companies are different than the typical car insurance companies with which you may be familiar.  Oftentimes, they are from out of state and unfamiliar with Louisiana’s laws concerning property damage adjustment, timely claims handling, and third-party bad faith law.  

At Grady J. Flattmann, Attorneys at Law, we help our clients through all aspects of their big truck cases, including their claims for property damage.  If the insurance company is delaying the process, we find out the reason, make sure the insurance company has satisfactory proof of our client’s loss, and put them on notice as to Louisiana’s laws on timely claims handling.  

Have You Been Injured In A Covington Area Truck Accident?

If you've been hurt in a semi-truck or large vehicle accident you need to speak with an experienced truck accident lawyer as soon as possible. Please contact me online or call my Covington office directly at 985.590.6182 to schedule your free consultation today. I help clients throughout Louisiana including Mandeville, Slidell, Bogalusa, Franklinton, Hammond, New Orleans and Metairie.

In Louisiana, the statute of limitations (also known as the prescriptive period) to file a lawsuit for car and truck accidents is one year from the date of the injury or damage sustained.  This means that if a lawsuit is not properly filed within that period, the injured person’s claims are no longer valid.  

To be clear, filing an insurance claim with a big truck’s insurance company following a wreck is NOT the same as filing a lawsuit.  An insurance claim is the process of notifying the at-fault insurance company of the wreck and your damages and injuries and pursuing compensation for those injuries.  Filing an insurance claim does not require filing a lawsuit if the claim can be resolved within that year period discussed above.  Sometimes, if a claim cannot be resolved, a lawsuit must be filed to preserve and pursue our client’s claims.

Have You Been Injured In A Covington Area Truck Accident?

If you've been hurt in a semi-truck or large vehicle accident you need to speak with an experienced truck accident lawyer as soon as possible. Please contact me online or call my Covington office directly at 985.590.6182 to schedule your free consultation today. I help clients throughout Louisiana including Mandeville, Slidell, Bogalusa, Franklinton, Hammond, New Orleans and Metairie.

It is important to understand that liability (fault) for a pedestrian versus car accident is not determined simply based on whether someone was in a crosswalk when they were hit by a car.  Rather, whether you were in a crosswalk is just one of many factors to consider in determining liability. 

For instance, if a person disobeys a traffic signal and runs out into a crosswalk right in front of a moving car with the right-of-way, the pedestrian would likely be at fault for causing their own accident.  

Alternatively, if someone is walking in the street (even without a crosswalk) and is struck by a motorist who is not paying attention, driving too fast, or could have avoided the accident, then the motorist may be at fault for causing the accident.  

In Louisiana, fault can be assessed to more than one person.  This is called “comparative fault.”  That means that even if a pedestrian is found to be partially at fault for causing an accident, the other driver can still be found negligent.  

Have You Been Injured In A Covington Area Bicycle Or Pedestrian Accident?

If you've been hurt in a pedestrian or bicycle accident you need to speak with an experienced pedestrian injury lawyer as soon as  possible. Please contact me online or call my Covington office directly at 985.590.6182 to schedule your free consultation today. I help families throughout Louisiana including Mandeville, Slidell, Bogalusa, Franklinton, Hammond, New Orleans and Metairie.

Determining whether your accident qualifies under the Jones Act or falls under another law makes a huge difference in terms of your right to pursue certain claims, including for life-long disability.  

In other articles, we discussed the several factors to consider in determining whether one qualifies as a Jones Act seaman and if their case qualifies under the Jones Act.  If it does, the Jones Act allows an injured seaman to pursue many claims which are not available under other laws.  These include claims for permanent disability and future lost wages, among others.  

The Jones Act is unique and provides greatly different rights than other laws, such as the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA), general maritime law, or state worker’s compensation law.  It is very important to consult with an experienced Jones Act attorney as soon as possible after an incident in order to understand your rights.  

Have You Been Injured On Your Louisiana Maritime Job?

If you've been injured at your maritime job or at sea, you need to speak with an experienced Jones Act attorney as soon as possible. Please contact me online or call my Covington office directly at 985.590.6182 to schedule your free consultation today. I help clients throughout Louisiana including Mandeville, Slidell, Bogalusa, Franklinton, Hammond, New Orleans and Metairie.

The term “commercial truck” typically refers to a truck owned by a company, and not by an individual.  Commercial trucks can mean anything from 18-wheelers to dump trucks, and even pickup trucks being used by a construction company.  If a truck, or any vehicle for that matter, is owned by a company and being used by that company’s employees, it would be considered a commercial vehicle. 

Just like a personal vehicle, a commercial vehicle must be insured in order to be legally driven in Louisiana.  However, a commercial vehicle will typically be covered by commercial liability insurance, under the company’s policy of insurance, and not necessarily by the driver’s personal liability insurance.  

When we represent someone injured by a commercial truck, it is important that we identify the business who owns the vehicle and the proper insurance company with whom to file an injury claim.  Sometimes, a commercial insurance company has a different claims process than a personal insurer, so that will also be determined in order to ensure that a claim is handled properly.  

Have You Been Injured In A Covington Area Truck Accident?

If you've been hurt in a semi-truck or large vehicle accident you need to speak with an experienced truck accident lawyer as soon as possible. Please contact me online or call my Covington office directly at 985.590.6182 to schedule your free consultation today. I help clients throughout Louisiana including Mandeville, Slidell, Bogalusa, Franklinton, Hammond, New Orleans and Metairie.

Sometimes insurance companies deny car accident claims based on a lack of evidence to show which party was at fault for causing the accident.  When liability (fault) is an issue in a car accident case, it is important to quickly identify and gather evidence to piece together how the accident occurred.  

One of the first things we do when we are hired for a car accident case is to identify the evidence available.  While the police report is not itself evidence, it typically contains very useful information, including a description of the accident, the identification of witnesses, and even diagrams of the wreck.  

When we need more information as to how the accident occurred, we may visit the accident scene and take photos of the scene, and of any tire marks or debris.  We also consider the damage to the vehicles and sometimes use an expert to download “black box” data from the vehicles.  

Witness statements are also very important, and we may contact witnesses to better understand what they saw.  In this day and age of modern technology, we also assess if there is any video of the accident, such as from a dash cam or other surveillance nearby.  

Have You Been Injured In A Covington Area Car Accident?

If you've been hurt in a car accident you need to speak with an experienced car accident attorney as soon as possible. Please contact me online or call my Covington office directly at 985.590.6182 to schedule your free consultation today. I help clients throughout Louisiana including Mandeville, Slidell, Bogalusa, Franklinton, Hammond, New Orleans and Metairie.

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Pedestrian versus car accidents can lead to very serious injuries or even death.  For an injured pedestrian, medical bills can quickly pile up.  But who pays them?  

Even if the driver is at fault for causing the accident, their insurance company is not legally required to pay for your medical expenses as the bills come in.  Instead, the insurance company will want to settle for one lump sum which includes not only your medical bills, but also your other damages, such as pain and suffering, emotional trauma, and lost wages.  Typically, a settlement occurs when the injured person has finished medical treatment. 

So, what do you do with the medical bills piling up?  If you have health insurance, the best option is to use it.  If you do get compensated for medical bills from the at-fault insurance company, your health insurer will likely request reimbursement for the bills it paid.  

Have You Been Injured In A Covington Area Bicycle Or Pedestrian Accident?

If you've been hurt in a pedestrian or bicycle accident you need to speak with an experienced pedestrian injury lawyer as soon as  possible. Please contact me online or call my Covington office directly at 985.590.6182 to schedule your free consultation today. I help families throughout Louisiana including Mandeville, Slidell, Bogalusa, Franklinton, Hammond, New Orleans and Metairie.