Cherry Hill Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer

You were en route to work, ran to the grocery store, were picking up your kids from school, or had just set off on a trip when someone suddenly struck your vehicle. Now you’re in the hospital being treated for catastrophic injuries or grieving the loss of a loved one gone far too soon.

You’ve had some time to think about things and review evidence that you’ve compiled and have reason to believe that the person who struck you was distracted when they crashed into you. What do you do?

Getting in touch with a Cherry Hill distracted driving accident lawyer should be your priority. Why? We can help you preserve evidence that may be critically important in proving that a distracted driver is responsible for your injuries and assist you in countless other ways.

Your focus needs to be on recovering from your injuries or grieving your loss right now. So, let our firm, Folkman Law, take care of everything else. Contact us for an initial consultation now.

What Qualifies as Distracted Driving in New Jersey?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines distracted driving as any driving behavior that visually, manually, or cognitively distracts a motorist. In other words, anything that may cause a driver to take their eyes off the road, remove their hands off the steering wheel, or mind off the task at hand (driving) could be classified as distracting.

Here at Folkman Law, we find that the following are the most common distractions affecting motorists here in New Jersey:

  • Interacting with passengers
  • Smoking
  • Thinking about something else (daydreaming)
  • Using the GPS
  • Phone conversations
  • Searching for something in the vehicle
  • Texting and driving
  • Eating or drinking

Signs of a Distracted Motorist

Some tell-tale signs your fellow motorist may be while distracted include if they:

  • Start aggressively moving within their lane
  • Repeatedly suddenly apply their brakes
  • You can see them applying makeup, shaving, taking care of other self-grooming in their rearview mirror
  • Fail to maintain a steady speed
  • Venture outside of their lane
  • You see something (i.e., a phone, food, etc.) in their hand

While some of the above may be more obvious signs a driver was distracted, they don’t necessarily have to be to cause a crash. Ask any Cherry Hill distracted driving accident lawyer on our team about factors they identify as being responsible for the collisions that injure our clients. You’ll hear a multitude of answers.

Schedule an Initial Consultation With a Distracted Driving Accident Lawyer

What To Do If You Encounter an Unfocused Motorist

If you see a driver doing the following, the best course of action is to ensure your safety. You can accomplish this by pulling over at a safe location as soon as it’s safe to do so.

If possible, make sure to take down their license plate number, description of the driver, and the general direction in which they were traveling. Consider calling 911 with this information. While you may have been able to narrowly avoid an accident, someone else might not have. Any information regarding what you saw may prove valuable to someone else hurt in another crash.

That being said, if you’re reading this, it’s likely because a distracted driving wreck in New Jersey left you injured. While there’s nothing you can do at this point to reverse fate, if you collected any of the above information, you’ll want to be sure to bring it to the attention of the Cherry Hill distracted driving lawyer you meet with in our office. Doing this is particularly important if you suffered one of the following catastrophic injuries in that collision.

Injuries That Distracted Drivers Often Cause

Much like there isn’t a single factor responsible for these types of collisions, there isn’t one type of injury that can stem from these types of wrecks either.

While some victims are fortunate enough to walk away from these crashes unscathed, others suffer catastrophic injuries such as:

  • Blunt force trauma

Sadly, it’s not uncommon for individuals hurt in accidents with distracted drivers to experience the above injuries together with psychological impacts, like post-traumatic stress disorder.

Also, although many people may survive these crashes, accidents caused by distractions are often fatal.

Damages You Can Recover if a Distracted Driving Accident in Cherry Hill Injured You

If you were hurt or a close family member died due to someone else’s negligence, New Jersey law allows you to recover compensation for your:

  • Economic losses: Medical expenses and lost wages are the most significant examples of damages like these
  • Noneconomic losses: Pain and suffering, mental anguish or emotional distress, disfigurement or disability, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium are these types of damages

Recovering property damage may also be an option after an accident like this. And, if your case goes to trial, a jury may award you punitive damages if they believe the person who harmed you acted particularly negligently.

If a loved one passed away in a distracted driving collision caused by someone else, you, as a surviving family member, may be eligible to file a wrongful death claim. By doing so, you may be able to recover compensation for funeral costs, lost earnings and benefits, loss of counsel, and more.

Recoverable compensation varies depending on the costs you incurred. If you want to know more about how much you may be entitled to in your specific situation, be sure to get in touch with a Cherry Hill distracted driving lawyer in our office to review your records and bills.

We're Proud of Our Results

  • $100,250,000
    Survival Claim

    We obtained one of the largest personal injury judgments in New Jersey through a survival claim arising from the tragic beating death of a husband and wife.

  • $11,482,000
    Wrongful Death

    Our firm secured substantial compensation in a wrongful death claim resulting from the murder of a man by his ex-girlfriend.

  • $5,200,000
    Medical Malpractice

    We successfully obtained a verdict against an obstetrician/gynecologist for failure to monitor a patient, deviation from accepted practices, and injury during a procedure.

  • $3,300,000
    Medical Malpractice

    Our firm achieved a substantial award in a medical malpractice case involving a failure to timely diagnose and treat a neurological condition.

  • $3,000,000
    Survival Claim
    Wrongful Death

    Our diligent representation led to a significant award in a case involving the death of a child struck by his own school bus.

  • $2,000,000
    Legal Malpractice

    We negotiated a complex settlement, representing the entire insurance policy available, in a case involving legal malpractice.

  • $1,900,000
    International Commercial

    Our firm achieved a substantial award in an international commercial case arbitrated before the International Chamber of Commerce, addressing non-payment of sales commissions.

  • $1,800,000
    Condominium Association

    We successfully represented a condominium association in a matter against a Superstorm Sandy general contractor who failed to properly repair common areas, securing a significant settlement.

  • $1,600,000
    Whistleblower/Employment Discrimination

    Our firm obtained a present value settlement in a case where a police officer blew the whistle on their former employer, a police department, and the chief of police, alleging employment discrimination.

  • $1,250,000
    Oppressed Shareholder

    We secured a substantial settlement in a case involving an oppressed shareholder claim.

Ways in Which a Cherry Hill Distracted Driving Lawyer Can Assist With Your Case

Many auto accident injury victims initially file an insurance claim on their own. However, making such a choice isn’t ideal in every situation. Doing so after a distracted driving accident in Camden County is a particularly bad idea. Why?

It has to do with how complex cases like these tend to be. Take, for example, the following aspects of cases like these:

Securing Evidence To Prove Liability

Sorting out whether the driver who struck and injured you was indeed distracted isn’t straightforward, but instead may require requesting their phone records, surveillance video footage, and having eyewitnesses provide depositions.

A lot of legal know-how and “legwork” may be required to secure this information. This is one area where it can be extremely helpful to work closely with a Cherry Hill distracted driving accident lawyer who has experience securing this evidence.

Adhering to Case Filing Deadlines

Also, as you may be aware, there’s no open-ended timeline for filing a legal claim. Instead, a statute of limitations applies. It’s generally two years from the date of the injury incident here in New Jersey, but there are some exceptions that apply. Once this date passes, crash victims often lose their right to recover any compensation for their losses.

Any attorney you work with in our office will know the deadlines that apply to cases like these and whether you qualify for an exception to the general rule.

Negotiating a Settlement

Once insurance adjusters find out that you’ve filed a claim and that you have serious injuries, you can expect them to become pretty aggressive in attempting to get you to settle matters with them. This is why our lawyers often advise our clients to let us handle all communication with insurance companies. It minimizes the chances of you doing or saying something that could affect your ability to secure a settlement in your case.

Provided you get our distracted driving lawyers in Cherry Hill involved in time, we can build a strong case and send it off to insurers for their review. Should they offer a settlement, we can discuss it with you and potentially make a counteroffer with the goal of securing you fair and adequate compensation for your crash-related losses.

Fight Until We Secure Compensation for You

While most cases like these get wrapped up through behind-the-door negotiations, some insurance companies don’t want to play ball and do everything in their capacity to not make a payout. Our work for distracted driving accident victims doesn’t stop there. Instead, we take those cases to trial to secure the compensation they deserve.

There are, of course, other ways in which attorneys can be of great assistance to crash victims like you, but the examples above give you an idea of some of the most vital ways in which a Cherry Hill distracted driving accident lawyer like ours can help.

Let Folkman Law Help You Seek Justice After Your Wreck

New Jersey law gives crash victims the right to hold those who injured them accountable for their actions. The way it allows you to do that is by filing an insurance claim or civil lawsuit against the party who harmed you to recover a monetary award.

Let’s meet for an initial consultation to discuss your distracted driving wreck and the losses you suffered because of it. Meeting with our lawyers comes with no risk or obligation. So, call or contact us online to speak with one of our Cherry Hill distracted driving accident lawyers now.