Car Crash Cases

Kacy Hagerty: Have you been hurt in a car, truck or motorcycle accident and need to make a claim for an injury? Well, we’re visiting The Higgins Firm to get some insight on the best way to navigate the process so you have the best chance of being successful. Take a look.

Today, we’re at The Higgins Firm with Attorney Jim Higgins and today we’re talking about what to do if you’re involved in a car accident. You had to really walk us through the process. What are some key things we need to know?

Jim Higgins: Yes. Well, you know, a lot of it, I guess, would say it’s somewhat common sense but it’s hard to go through it when you’re actually in the accident or just had accident. But, of course, you know, not so much from a legal perspective, but initially, you want to do the safety things to make sure everybody’s OK, you get to go to the doctor if you need to.

But from our perspective, what’s been important to us when we have a case is that a person gets all the information necessary at the time of the accident. So, you want to make sure you get the names and addresses and phone numbers of any witnesses.

Kacy Hagerty: Right.

Jim Higgins: And what’s interesting nowadays, if you can get an e-mail, that’s great, because people change their addresses and phone numbers but they seldom change their e-mails so that – we’ve…

Kacy Hagerty: Exactly.

Jim Higgins: …we’ve tracked people down that way when it’s become important to find a witness. Everybody now tends to have a cellphone with a camera on it or a video on it, those things have helped us tremendously in cases. It will have photographs of where the car was when it happened. The layout of the damage of the vehicles and we can use that information a lot of times to put together who may have been responsible for the accident.

It also shows what type of trauma our clients went through and how severe the damage was to the vehicle, so taking a photograph of something at the scene is just so much easier to show that to a jury than having to come in and say, well, let me tell you what it looks like, you know, pictures worth a thousand words is so true in our business.

Kacy Hagerty: Exactly, really helping the long run. Another thing that people may be wondering is when shall I bring a lawyer into my case? Should they start as early as when the car wreck happens?

Jim Higgins: It all depends on how serious the accident is. I mean, that’s really what it comes down to. The – if it is a accident where you’ve got severe injuries or life-changing injuries. If it’s an accident where there’s a dispute as to whose fault it is, then those are cases where you’re going to need somebody.

And if you’ve got a case where you’re going to need an attorney, then you should call our office right after the accident happen as opposed to six months or a year from then when all of a sudden I’m trying to go back and say, OK, where are the witnesses? Do we have recorded statements?

So, all of the information is much easier for my office to get together when the accident happen for a serious accident, it’s much easier when that person calls me pretty close to when it happens.

Kacy Hagerty: Right. Makes sense. And actually, you’re going to be back in the next segment that you do with us and you’re going to be talking about more in depth about that, right?

Jim Higgins: Right. There – you know, there are cases where you don’t need our office. And probably half the calls of people who’ll call me, I can tell them, you know, you really don’t need a lawyer or you don’t need a lawyer like our office that does serious tragic accidents. A lot of times, if it’s just small damages, they can handle that on their own and I – we don’t mind talking to people and explaining that process to them.

Kacy Hagerty: All right. We look forward to hearing more about that. Thank you so much, Attorney Higgins. Good to have you.

Jim Higgins: Thank you.

Female: The Higgins Firm is serving Tennessee. Give them a call at 800.705.2121 or for more information and a link to their website, higginsfirm.com, just go to our website, that’s betternashville.com.