When a dangerous highway accident devastates your life, it may leave you wondering if you will ever recover from the crash. Ongoing doctor visits to treat your injuries and mounting debt because of your inability to work may put a strain on your finances. If someone else caused your crash in Tennessee, you may be able to recover compensation for your losses.

Rather than suffer alone, let the Law Offices of Ogle, Elrod & Baril, PLLC, help you get monetary compensation for your injuries and other damages. Contact us now at 865-546-1111 to schedule a free consultation with a dangerous highway accident lawyer in Knoxville. If you have a viable claim, you can recover a financial settlement to pay for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages. Give us a call today so we can review your case.

Common Causes of Dangerous Highway Accidents

While thousands of vehicles travel Tennessee’s highways each day, serious and fatal crashes do not always involve other vehicles. Accidents can happen because of such road hazards as:

Uneven or broken pavement;
Unmarked lanes;
Debris from a vehicle;
Poorly designed roads and intersections;
Inadequate warning signs in construction zones; and
Hazardous road conditions due to snow, ice, or sleet.

Missing or defective guard rails and barriers can also lead to deadly consequences. For instance, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) plans to remove over 1,000 Lindsay X-LITE guardrail ends after learning the defective model impales vehicles traveling at speeds greater than 62.2 mph. These guardrail ends penetrated three vehicles and killed four people since June 2016.

If your car accident occurred because of dangerous conditions on a highway, our attorneys can help you file a claim for compensation.

What If My Crash Occurred Due to a Pothole?

Without repair, potholes grow larger and can cause major damage to a vehicle’s suspension system. Potholes can lead to dangerous highway accidents, too, because drivers can hit a pothole, lose control of their car, and hit another car or swerve off the road.

Our attorneys can help you file a claim for vehicle damage against the city, county, or state government responsible for maintaining that particular highway. We can prepare the claim for you and file it with the appropriate transportation department.

How Do I File a Claim Against a State or Local Government for My Accident?

Filing a claim on your own against a city, county, or state government presents difficulties. These entities have sovereign immunity, which protects them from lawsuits in many cases. Additionally, state law places the burden on you to prove that a government knew about dangerous highway conditions but failed to make repairs.

Our law firm has ample knowledge on how to remove immunity and hold a government liable for certain damages caused by their negligence.

What If a Private Entity Caused the Accident?

A private entity, such as a trucking company or the driver of a passenger vehicle, can also face liability for a dangerous highway accident. For instance, a shift in the cargo of an overloaded truck may cause the vehicle to rollover, collide with other cars, block the highway, and cause serious or fatal injuries and significant vehicle damage. In this instance, we can hold the trucking company liable for the truck accident.

Investigating Your Claim

Before we file a claim against the at-fault party, we thoroughly investigate your case to determine how the accident happened and who was at fault for the crash. Because Tennessee is a fault state, the party at fault for causing an accident pays for damages. To hold a government agency at fault for a highway accident, we will get answers to such questions as:

Did the government agency know about the poor road conditions?
How many complaints did the government agency receive about the highway hazard?
How many accidents occurred because the government agency failed to rectify the problem?

With private companies or individuals, we would also examine how the driver’s actions caused the accident. For instance, the driver may have been:

Speeding;
Fatigued or drowsy;
Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs;
Texting while driving;
Talking on the phone;
Ignoring warning signs of traffic shifts, reduced speed zones, upcoming sharp curves, or construction zones; or
Failing to drive according to deteriorating weather conditions.

The type of investigation we conduct depends on the facts of your accident.

What Evidence Will Help Win My Case?

To strengthen your claim and increase your chances of getting compensation for your damages, we gather evidence to support your claim. We obtain information such as:

Police reports of the accident;
Previously filed complaints against a government or private entity;
Eyewitness statements of the accident;
Highway traffic video footage; and
Engineer reports on problems with road designs.

Depending on the case, we may have an accident reconstruction specialist recreate the accident to determine which factors contributed to your crash and draw conclusions about the accident.

We Will Negotiate Your Claim.

Insurance companies often make low settlement offers, delay settlements, or blame the claimant for the accident to reduce or deny a payout. With decades of combined legal experience, our attorneys have expertise in negotiating claims with insurance companies that play hardball in settlement discussions.

We know how to present a strong case on your behalf and counter the tactics insurance adjusters use when they review a case. Should an insurer fail to offer full and fair compensation, we will not hesitate to take the case to court. We will advise you of this possibility if we see that the insurer refuses to cooperate so you can make an informed decision about going to trial.

How Can I Schedule a Free Consultation?

Call the Law Offices of Ogle, Elrod & Baril, PLLC, today to arrange a free case evaluation with a dangerous highway accident lawyer in Knoxville. It is essential not to delay your call, because Tennessee only gives you one year from the date of your accident to take legal action.

We will take your case on a contingency basis. You do not pay for our services unless we recover compensation for you. Call us today at 865-546-1111.