Nashville, TN Motorcycle Accident Attorney

Motorcycle accidents in Nashville often result in major injuries for those involved, particularly the motorcyclists. It is crucial for these individuals to recover compensation when another driver caused the incident. Motorcycle crash injuries could needlessly place a financial strain on victims.

You can count on Larry R. Williams when you need a Nashville motorcycle accident lawyer by your side. Our team has extensive resources that we can use to handle your entire claim. Let us get involved today so we can recover the compensation you are entitled to.

Why Choose Larry R. Williams for Your Motorcycle Accident Claim?

In 2015, our Nashville motorcycle accident attorneys recovered more than $3.4 million in damages for our clients – many of whom were victims of motorcycle crashes. Our law firm won a $600,000 settlement for three people injured in a motorcycle crash in Nashville at an intersection after hiring an expert arborist to prove that trees and brush had been covering the stop sign for a negligent amount of time. In another case, we won $605,000 for an injured motorcyclist who suffered severe leg injuries after a collision.

If you’ve been injured in a motorcycle accident and are ready to fight for the compensation you deserve, our Nashville personal injury lawyers will evaluate your case and start making moves on your behalf immediately. We have the resources you need to prove negligence in a motorcycle crash, and will defend your case to the fullest extent of Tennessee law. With over 35 years of personal injury experience in Nashville, our legal team understands the gravity of motorcycle crashes and responds to them with aggressive representation.

Motorcyclist Rights and Responsibilities

Tennessee law enforcement holds motorcyclists to the same rules of the road as other motor vehicles. Motorcyclists must follow road signs, stoplights, and traffic patterns while on the roadway. They are not allowed to ride next to cars in the same lane, but two motorcycles can ride next to each other in the same lane. Weaving between cars or riding in the emergency lane to avoid traffic is not allowed.

Motorcycle riders, including passengers, must wear helmets at all times in Nashville, TN. The helmets must meet federal standards. Lawmakers put these rules in place for your protection: wearing a helmet decreases your chances of suffering a traumatic head injury and permanent brain damage. However, if you weren’t wearing a helmet during a motorcycle accident, it won’t be admissible as evidence of fault in the event of negligence by a third party. If you suffered a traumatic head injury as a result of another driver’s negligence, contact our Nashville brain injury attorneys.

Nashville Motorcycle Accident Victims Deserve Compensation

Personal injury attorneys handle traffic crashes involving motorcycles the same way as other motor vehicle crashes, although the injuries sustained are generally more severe. Motorcyclists can suffer from serious road rash, spinal cord and neck injuries, head trauma, brain injuries, internal bleeding, and wrongful death. The compensation a motorcyclist can receive in the event of negligence from a third party may include:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional suffering and trauma
• Medical expenses, including rehabilitation
• Lost wages and lost earning capacity
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Property damages

 

Injured motorcyclists regularly sustain life-threatening injuries or permanent disfigurement during a crash. If an accident results in death, the spouse and/or family are eligible for consortium damages. In these cases, the spouse or family can sue for tangible damages as well as intangible damages such as loss of love, attention, education, etc. that the spouse and/or family would have reasonably received had the victim not been killed.

How Much Compensation is Available for a Motorcycle Accident in Nashville?

There is no set amount of compensation paid to motorcycle crash victims. Every case is unique, and the factors related to each particular incident must be thoroughly examined by medical and financial experts. Some of the factors that can change how much compensation a person receives include:

• Severity of injuries
• Amount of work missed due to injuries
• Level of property damage
• Any scarring or disfigurement
• Disabilities
• Shared fault
• Documented level of pain and suffering

We encourage you to speak with your attorney about how much compensation they expect you will receive for your claim. Your lawyer will be responsible for adequately calculating the economic and non-economic damages and then negotiating a fair settlement on your behalf.

How Does Shared Fault Affect a Claim?

There are times when more than one party is responsible for causing a motorcycle crash. In these situations, the Tennessee “modified comparative negligence” system may be used to determine how much compensation each person involved receives – if they receive any compensation at all.

Under the modified comparative negligence system in this state, individuals can recover compensation if they are up to 50% responsible for causing their own injuries. Any individual 51% or more responsible for an incident will be unable to recover compensation.

However, the caveat to this modified comparative negligence system is that individuals will receive less compensation depending on their percentage of fault. For example, if a person sustains $1 million worth of damages after sustaining a motorcycle accident spinal cord injury, but a jury determines that the individual was 30% responsible for causing the incident, this will reduce their compensation amount by $300,000. The individual would receive $700,000 instead of the full amount.

If you are facing any allegations of shared fault after a Nashville motorcycle accident, we encourage you to reach out to an attorney as soon as possible. A lawyer will help push back against these allegations and ensure that any comparative negligence claims are backed up by facts.

Causes of Motorcycle Accidents in Tennessee

Motorcycle accidents can be deadly at worst and extremely inconvenient and painful at best. When a motorcycle is in an accident, the rider is more likely to be injured as a result. Sometimes, despite how much care you exercise in operating your motorcycle on Nashville’s winding roads, other drivers make a collision inevitable, especially in an instance where you’re involved in an accident with a truck in Nashville. After a motorcycle accident in Nashville, call an experienced Nashville motorcycle accident lawyer who can help you recover financial losses.

One of the most common causes of motorcycle accidents occurs when vehicles turn left through an intersection. This can result in an accident if the motorcycle is continuing straight from the opposite direction or if the motorcycle was passing the car or attempting to overtake the car. Drivers have a responsibility to ensure that it is safe to perform left-hand turns. However, due to the motorcycle’s smaller size – rendering it less visible, many cars fail to safely execute a left-hand turn.

In almost all cases of this type of accident, the law will find the car driver at fault. However, if the motorcycle was speeding or not in the proper lane, the motorcyclist may be partly responsible for the accident.

Head-On Collision vs. Rear-End Collisions

Head-on collisions are another common source of motorcycle accidents. This can be especially common on some of Tennessee’s two-lane divided roads. They often happen when a vehicle attempting to pass another vehicle fails to notice the oncoming motorcycle and so moves into the motorcycle’s lane to pass. Again, in this situation, the driver is at fault for failing to observe the motorcycle. Many head-on collisions like this are fatal to the motorcyclist, even if he or she is wearing a helmet and other safety gear.

Rear-end collisions involving motorcycles are less common, but they may occur when a motorcycle is stopped at a stop sign or traffic light. Often, the car trailing a motorcycle fails to notice the motorcycle in front and collides with the vehicle.

Motorcycle Accidents and Road Hazards

Road hazards are another significant cause of motorcycle accidents. Weather conditions may contribute to an accident or debris on the road can fly up and strike the motorcycle operator. The condition of the road may also lead to an accident. In this case, it may be possible to collect damages from the government, though these cases are difficult to pursue.

How is Liability Determined After a Motorcycle Crash in Nashville?

Determining liability after a motorcycle crash in Nashville can be challenging, which is why it is important to have a skilled attorney by your side when doing so. The process begins by gathering evidence, some of which will likely have been gathered at the scene of the incident. The most common types of evidence used by an attorney to help determine liability and these situations includes:

• Photographs taken at the scene of the motorcycle crash
• Video surveillance captured on cameras from nearby homes or businesses
• Statements from any eyewitnesses, including bystanders or other drivers and passengers
• Any police or accident report related to the motorcycle crash
• Vehicle incident recording systems
• Mobile device records

In some cases, the evidence is fairly straightforward and paints a clear picture of who may have caused the crash. However, motorcycle accidents are not always straightforward, and fault may not be clear right away.

An attorney may need to speak to eyewitnesses to get their statements about the incident, and it may be necessary to hire an accident reconstruction expert. These individuals will use their knowledge of collision science and examine the evidence that has already been gathered. They will look at the scene of the incident as well as any vehicles involved and then put together 3D computer models so that insurance carriers or juries can see what likely occurred.

How Insurance Determines Fault

Because of how the courts determine fault, the representatives for the insurance company will attempt to show you played a role in causing the accident. In this way, they attempt to reduce the amount of compensation they owe you or perhaps avoid paying you completely. Often, insurance companies use the possible reduction in compensation to lower any settlement offers they make.

While you may have partly contributed to your motorcycle accident, you are still able to receive compensation if the other party was more than 50% at fault for the accident. Our Nashville motorcycle accident attorneys will establish your case and help ensure no one assigns more fault to you than is fair.

Do Not Give a Recorded Statement to Insurance Carriers

Soon after a motorcycle accident occurs, you will likely be contacted by insurance carriers from the other party. Regardless of which insurance carrier you are speaking to, you should not give a recorded statement. Insurance carriers will look for ways to limit how much compensation they payout for a claim, and this includes examining all statements you have given for inconsistencies.

When the insurance carriers ask for a reported statement, they are doing this so they will have proof if your statement deviates from any previous statements given related to the motorcycle crash in Nashville. We suggest that you refer the insurance carriers to your attorney if you have one or, at the very least, refuse to give a recorded statement. Tennessee law does not require you to give a recorded statement to insurance carriers.

Motorcycle Accident Injuries in Nashville

When a motorcyclist is in an accident, injuries to the rider are almost guaranteed. Because of the vulnerability of a motorcycle, those injuries tend to be more severe than they would be in a passenger automobile accident.

Some of the more common motorcycle injuries are:

Head injuries

Wearing a helmet greatly reduces the odds of suffering a head injury in an impact; however, it is no guarantee of safety. Head injuries are often debilitating and require expensive medical treatment and rehabilitation that can last for years. A brain injury can lead to change in lifestyle, loss of earnings, and can impact relationships. A traumatic brain injury may cause a concussion or permanent brain damage.

Neck and back injuries

The force of an impact can cause neck injuries, including whiplash, damage to ligaments around the neck or back, damage to the vertebrae, and damage to the spinal cord itself. Neck and back injuries can be as minor as a back sprain requiring a few days of rest or result in temporary or permanent paralysis.

Bone fractures

Fractured bones are much more common in motorcycle wrecks than in automobile accidents. Broken bones in the hands, feel, arms, or legs, can take weeks to mend, and you may be unable to return to work until they are fully mended.

Amputation

Having fingers or limbs amputated in an accident or requiring surgical amputation afterward is unfortunately common in motorcycle accidents. The loss of an arm or leg may require specialized medical equipment such as a wheelchair and modifications to your home or car.

Disfigurement

In many cases, a motorcycle accident may leave the victim with terrible scars or other disfiguring injuries. Road rash is common, and deep lacerations to the face, a broken nose, or having teeth knocked out can leave you with a disfigurement that may require expensive surgery.

How Much Does a Nashville Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Cost?

The team at Larry R. Williams, PLLC handles Nashville motorcycle accident claims on a contingency fee basis. This means a few things for our clients. Before beginning work on the case, we work with the client to determine an agreed-upon percentage of the final settlement or jury verdict that will be paid towards legal fees. However, while the case is ongoing, clients do not have to pay anything out-of-pocket. They will not have to pay court costs or legal fees, and they will not have to cover the expenses related to any investigation into the motorcycle accident.

Our clients only pay legal fees after we successfully recover compensation for their losses. If we do not win the case, clients pay nothing at all. This type of fee arrangement helps ensure that individuals, regardless of their income level, are able to hold at-fault parties accountable after a motorcycle accident occurs in Nashville.

Talk to Experienced Nashville Motorcycle Accident Attorneys

We’ve provided legal representation for many injury victims and taken due care to document all injuries and evidence of negligence. Our Nashville accident attorneys understand the severity of most motorcycle accidents, and knows how difficult these crashes can be on victims and their families.

Our expert Nashville motorcycle accident lawyers will take care of all your legal matters so you can focus on recovering. From securing proper medical attention to answering calls from insurance companies, your needs are our responsibility. If someone’s negligence has caused your injury or the death of a loved one, contact the Nashville law firm of Larry R. Williams today to discuss your options.