Understanding Car Accident Scenarios in Atlanta, Georgia

One thing about car accidents you should understand is that various states handle them differently. You might have to take certain actions after a car accident in one state that you wouldn't in another.

In this article, we'll focus on some car accident scenarios in Georgia. In particular, we'll answer the question of whether you can sue someone in Georgia if they run their vehicle into yours, but they don't injure you. These scenarios happen pretty often, so this is good information for you if you live in GA.

Car Crashes with No Injuries Are Relatively Rare

Before we answer the question of whether you can sue someone in Georgia if their car hits yours, but you sustain no injuries, you should understand that it's pretty rare and fortunate to walk away from a car wreck without a scratch on you. Vehicles can go very fast, and if someone hits yours at a decent rate of speed, they might injure you in all kinds of ways.

Broken bones are common if that occurs. You might sustain a neck or back injury. You might sustain a concussion, whiplash, or you may have internal organ damage that won't be immediately apparent in some cases.

If you want to survive a car wreck, one thing you can do is to look for vehicles that have excellent traffic safety ratings. You can check out the IIHS website, for instance, if you want to see the latest models that have the best safety features, such as highly-rated airbags, lane departure alerts, backup cameras, and so forth.

Can You Sue Someone After a Georgia Car Wreck if They Don't Injure You?

As far as whether you can bring a lawsuit against another driver in Georgia if they hit you or your vehicle and you sustain no injuries, the answer is yes. In fact, you can sue someone for just about any reason. The real question is whether your lawsuit has validity or not.

Some people in Georgia are very litigious, and they will sue other individuals or entities for little reason. These lawsuits are frivolous, though, and a court will recognize that pretty quickly. A judge is liable to throw such a lawsuit out if they can see there is no valid legal reason for it.

If someone hits your vehicle with their car, and you decide to sue them, that's not frivolous, even if you sustained no injuries. These wrecks can cost thousands of dollars if you need to repair your vehicle, and maybe your car insurance policy will not cover everything for one reason or another.

That often happens since auto insurance companies are for-profit entities. If they can come up with any reason why they shouldn't pay you for your claim, they will try to get away with it. Despite what some car insurance commercials will tell you, these business entities are not your friends.

Did Negligence Occur?

If you do elect to bring a suit against another driver in Georgia, even if they did not necessarily injure you, you have a good chance of winning and collecting damages if you can establish that the other motorist was negligent. There are different ways to do that, but the most obvious way is to gather as much evidence about the crash as you can.

That will probably mean hiring an excellent lawyer who has prior experience with this type of case. They will know how to collect evidence and what kinds will paint a negligence picture that a jury will understand.

Negligence in this instance means that the other driver did not act as society and traffic laws dictated they should. If the other driver was negligent, that might have caused the crash, but that does not mean they did so intentionally.

If they hit your car intentionally, that's not negligence. That's willful property destruction, and the other driver could face all kinds of criminal charges, not just the civil ones you're bringing against them.

It will be the police's job to charge the other driver if they hit your vehicle intentionally for some reason. You don't have to worry about that, though. If the evidence shows that's what happened, the police should get justice for you.

Situations Where You're Liable to Win Your Case

Let's say you brought a case against another driver in Georgia who hit your vehicle. They did not hurt you, and you're thankful for that, but you still want them to pay for your car damages.

You might also need them to pay for things like emotional pain and suffering. That's not a physical injury, but you should not discount it.

If you can firmly establish that the other driver ingested alcohol before they drove, you're more likely to win your lawsuit. If you can prove they consumed drugs and then drove, that would help you as well.

If the other driver was speeding egregiously, you can prove that and most likely win your case. Maybe you can get traffic cam footage that shows the other driver allowed their smartphone to distract them at a critical moment. That's distracted driving, and that should help you win your negligence claim against the careless driver who plowed into you.

Georgia drivers should now understand that they don't need an injury to sue someone who hit their vehicle. If they feel that they need financial compensation that is not forthcoming from a car insurance company, that's probably when they have to hire a lawyer and try to hold the other driver accountable in court.

Few Georgia residents like appearing in court, but you might have to do it in this instance. If you don't, the other driver will get away with what they did, and you may feel like that isn't fair.

Georgia drivers should pay attention to the road. If they let something distract them or consumed mind-altering substances before they drove, you're perfectly right to try and get money and satisfaction from them.