When an accident flips or tips over a vehicle on its side or roof, it's a rollover accident. If you suffer an injury in a rollover accident that is not your fault, arrange at once to discuss your rights – and particularly your right to compensation – with an Austin car accident attorney.
What types of injuries can rollover accident victims sustain? What are your rights if another party's negligence caused your injury in a rollover accident? Can you receive compensation for your medical expenses, lost earnings, and other damages? What steps will you need to take?
What Are the Facts About Rollover Accidents?
Each year, over 275,000 rollover accidents cause more than 10,000 traffic fatalities, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Drivers who are negligent, distracted, reckless, fatigued, or intoxicated are the leading cause of rollovers. A rollover accident may happen when a vehicle:
- is sideswiped by another vehicle
- runs over an obstacle like a curb or guardrail
- turns too rapidly or sharply
Vehicles with a high center of gravity are at a higher risk for rollovers caused by rapid or sharp turns.
What Can Happen to You in a Rollover Accident?
In rollover accidents, you can be tossed around and impacted from several angles. A driver or passenger may be thrown out of a vehicle and injured landing on or near the roadway. Rollovers often cause catastrophic injuries, including but not limited to:
- brain injuries, including concussions
- chest, neck, and head injuries
- injuries that require amputations
- internal injuries
- multiple broken bones, fractures, and contusions
- spinal cord injuries
Collapsed lungs, broken ribs, and whiplash are also frequently sustained in rollover accidents. Many victims require extensive medical treatment and care for years or, in some cases, for life.
Take These Steps After a Rollover Accident
No Austin car accident lawyer will be at the scene of a rollover accident to offer advice, so you must take the appropriate steps to protect yourself. The immediate priority after a rollover accident is summoning medical attention for yourself and anyone who's injured.
The next priority is summoning police assistance. Making that call means a police investigation will probably be conducted and a written police accident report made available. If another driver was involved, exchange personal contact and insurance details with that driver.
Take photos – or ask someone to take photos – of the damage to your vehicle, the scene, and your injuries. Ask any witnesses for their names and contact details. Photos and statements from strangers in support of an injury claim can often be decisive evidence in personal injury cases.
How Will a Car Accident Lawyer Help You?
If you sustain injuries in a rollover accident because someone else was negligent – another driver, a vehicle or vehicle part manufacturer, or the agency responsible for maintaining the roadway – you are entitled under Texas law to recover monetary compensation.
You may pursue compensation for your accident-related medical costs, lost earnings, pain, suffering, and other related damages. You should be represented by an Austin car accident attorney who will hold the at-fault party accountable and fight for the justice you need.
If you move forward with a personal injury claim, your attorney will gather and examine the evidence in your case, speak with the witnesses, identify the party or parties at fault, and seek to negotiate for a settlement that compensates you fairly and covers your losses and damages.
How Are Rollover Accident Claims Resolved?
Most personal injury and product liability cases based on rollover accidents are resolved when the lawyers for both sides negotiate privately and out-of-court. Most accident victims don't have to appear in a courtroom.
But if no reasonable settlement offer is forthcoming, or if liability for a rollover accident is in dispute, your attorney will take your case to court, explain to a jury how (and how seriously) you were injured, and ask jurors to find in your favor and award your compensation.
After a rollover accident, and as soon as a medical provider has examined and treated you, schedule a consultation with an Austin car accident lawyer. If you've been injured because another party was negligent, your first legal consultation is provided with no obligation or cost.
What Are the Deadlines for Filing Rollover Accident Claims?
If you are bringing a personal injury lawsuit against a business or an individual, or if you are bringing a product liability lawsuit against a consumer product manufacturer, the statute of limitations in Texas is two years from the date of the injury or the injury's discovery.
If you take action against a government agency – and claim that a rollover accident was caused by a faulty road design or inadequate road maintenance – you have only six months to provide that government agency with a formal written notice of your intention to file a lawsuit.
But you can't wait two years or even six months to put an attorney on your case. Over time, witnesses forget details, and evidence can be lost, changed, or contaminated. After a doctor has treated you, promptly get the legal assistance you need.
If We Don't Recover Your Compensation, You Owe Us No Lawyer's Fee
If you are injured in a rollover accident because another party was negligent, let the injury team at DJC Law fight for the justice – and the compensation – you need and deserve. For over thirty years, DJC Law has successfully represented the injured victims of negligence.
After a rollover accident, if you're injured, DJC Law will identify any party with liability and take every appropriate legal step to recover your compensation. If you submit an injury claim to an auto insurance company, and that claim is rejected, let us advise you about your legal options.
The personal injury lawyers at DJC Law have recovered over $400 million of compensation for the injured victims of negligence. If you're injured in a rollover accident, now or in the future, call DJC Law at 888-853-8169 to schedule a free review of your case with no obligation.
