Every Wednesday we provide five legal tips based on questions from readers. This week has to do with Illinois personal injury cases and five things you should do if you are in a car accident:
1. If you are hurt, go get medical attention right away. If you don’t do it right away, but are in pain the next day, head to the doctor. The longer you wait, the harder it is to prove any injury is related to the initial accident.
2. Call the police. Even if the other person says they will work things out with you, you need to have a police report. Nine out of ten times when people don’t do this it comes back to haunt them.
3. Document what happened. When you are home, write in a journal everything that happened in case you ever need to refresh your memory for a deposition or trial.
4. Report the accident to your insurance company. In case you are at fault, if you don’t report the accident right away you might lose coverage.
5. Talk to an attorney. You might need one, you might not. But by calling a lawyer you should be able to make an educated decision. Also, it’s possible that witness statements need to be secured or evidence from the accident has to be preserved. If you wait to long to get with a car accident law firm, you may end up losing the case.