Information and Insight for Injured Iowans

     There are mistakes that can easily be made when proceeding with a motorcycle accident claim. One such mistake is not hiring a qualified motorcycle accident expert. Because motorcycles are much different to drive and operate than cars or trucks, not everyone has the expertise to understand how they work. That is why it is essential to hire a motorcycle expert to review your case.
     Motorcycles and the techniques used to ride them are very different from cars or trucks. Understanding how motorcycles work requires specialized expertise. In most cases, it is very important to hire an expert who understands motorcycles to review your case. Motorcycle experts can study the following factors that may have caused your crash:

• Measure skid marks to determine the speed you and other vehicles were traveling at the time of the accident.
• Study damage patterns on your motorcycle or on the other vehicles to determine the exact manner the collision occurred in.
• Study the weather conditions on the day of the accident to determine what, if any, factor that would have played in your accident.

     All of this analysis can help prove who was really at fault in an accident and can help you be compensated for the injuries you sustained.
An attorney who specialized in motorcycle accidents knows the importance of performing an extensive investigation of your claim, one that includes expert review. The attorney will collect medical and police records, and interview you and other witnesses to determine whether or not your can be proven in front of a jury. They will have your case reviewed by experts who can provide opinions on either the cause of the crash or the cause of your injuries.
     Avoid other mistakes you can make in a motorcycle related personal injury claim and go to Iowa Motorcycle Accident Facts to download a free 35-page guide.
     If you have any questions or immediate concerns, do not hesitate to contact us
toll-free: 1-888-546-6529.  We will do our best to answer your questions and there is no fee for an initial consultation.

As an Iowa Personal Injury Attorney handling personal injury and auto accident claims and as an old farm boy, I am familiar with the dangers of farm tractors, hay racks, wagons and machinery on the roads.   Many car crashes this time of year are intertwined with the harvest season.  Most involve deer moving about with all the commotion in the fields.  Unfortunately, some involve farmers not obeying the rules of the road – they are after all driving virtual tanks and are rarely hurt when a car collides with them on some rural Iowa road.  They are used to driving in the field where the only traffic is the wildlife scattering to get out of the way.   Some folks seem to forget that they are going to be on the roadways when the workday (or night) is done so in the meantime they have a few beers in the tractor cab.  It is against Iowa law to operate any motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol – even a tractor.  I handled a horrible accident case involving just that.  The farmer had lost his license for drinking violations but didn’t think twice about driving a field tractor and grain wagon home that night – pulling out from the field access directly in front of my client so that my client rear ended the unlit machinery.  All Iowa tractors on the roadways are supposed to have a slow moving triangle facing the rear and at night, an amber flashing light.   The slow moving triangle does no good when covered by field dust and the old lights on the implement are only good if they are converted to fit the new tractor – something not every farmer worries about until its dark outside and too late.  Especially if they have had had a few drinks, are tired and are not concerned about the safety of others.

If you have been hurt by a tractor, combine or some other farm machinery that was not obeying the rules of the road, give us a call and we’ll try to answer you questions.  In the meantime, keep in mind that there could be slow moving machinery around every corner this time of year in Iowa.  Take care and be safe.

Visit our website  www.riccololaw.com to learn what questions to ask your potential  attorney. We have downloadable, free guides on motorcycle, trucking and car accident cases or you can always call without charge or obligation and ask us questions: 1-888- 546-6529.

You’re in downtown Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Davenport or some other Iowa town.  You’re in the middle of the block and want to jump across the street but don’t want to walk to the corner.   Very light traffic – what do you do?  Well, your asking an Iowa personal injury lawyer right now – so, I have lots of horrible accident cases I can give you by example.  Our firm has represented too many pedestrians (or their families) that have been hit by cars in Iowa.  The injuries are devastating – sometimes they are deadly.

According to the Iowa code, “A pedestrian in a crosswalk may rely upon an approaching driver’s duty to yield, but the pedestrian still must exercise ordinary care to avoid being struck by a motor vehicle which was seen or should have been seen. Whenever possible, pedestrians shall walk on the right half of the crosswalk.”  A violation of this law is negligence.  The law also states that “any pedestrian crossing a road at any point other than a crosswalk shall yield the right of way to all vehicles on the road.”
 

Please go to the crosswalk.  Heaven forbid you get hit by a car when you are walking – but if you are in the crosswalk when it happens you should have some redress for your potential medical bills or lost wages.   You are also a lot less likely to get hurt in the first place if you cross at the corner, in the crosswalk.  You want to make sure you adhere to these codes, keeping yourself safe and protected.  As you know, make sure you go over these rules with your children, also. 

If you’ve been hurt in a pedestrian accident, give us a call and we’ll try to answer you questions and address you concerns.  A claim is not barred if the injured person was not in the crosswalk, especially if the person was a child —  you just need to talk to a personal injury lawyer right way to make sure you handle the case appropriately.  Take care and be safe.
Visit our website  www.riccololaw.com to learn what questions to ask your potential  attorney. We have downloadable, free guides on motorcycle, trucking and car accident cases or you can always call without charge or obligation and ask us questions 1-888- 546-6529.

     Don’t you hate it when you underestimate your expenses? Not only can this happen to your monthly budget, but also in your motorcycle accident claim. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, we have seen insurance companies try to settle claims with offers that barely cover a motorcycle accident victim’s expenses. We want to protect these injured bikers from losing money that should be theirs.

Insurance company representatives will sometimes try to convince an injured biker to quickly settle his or her personal injury claim by throwing out a settlement figure that – at first glance—might seem fair. What they often do not mention is that the motorcycle accident victim may not be entitled to keep all of that money.

     Often an injured biker has had medical bills or lost wages paid by his or her:

·         Health insurance company

·         Auto insurance company (“medical payment coverage”)

·         Short-term disability insurance company

·         Employer’s  worker’s compensation company

     Almost all of the insurance policies described above require an injured biker to pay back any amounts received if the injured biker receives a settlement with the negligent driver or his or her insurance company. This legal obligation which is known as “subrogation” can leave an injured biker with little or nothing after a settlement. We protect our clients from the shock of subrogation by always advising out clients about how much of any settlement offer they will actually be able to put in their pockets. We also work to reduce our client’s subrogation obligations whenever possible before a settlement is reached.

To learn other ways to protect your rights as a motorcycle accident victim, go to Iowa Motorcycle Accident Facts to download a free 35-page guide. 

Have you ever spoken too soon and then regretted it later? In our experience as Cedar Rapids, Iowa motorcycle accident attorneys, we have seen many motorcycle accident victims make the mistake of giving a recorded statement to an insurance agency before speaking with an experienced motorcycle lawyer.

Giving a recorded statement is not likely to make the other driver’s insurance company pay your medical bills any sooner. Not only is there usually no benefit to giving a recorded statement to an insurance company on your own but there is also a serious risk.  Insurance company representatives are professionals trained to take recorded statements that can be used against you in court. They ask specific questions designed to get damaging admissions for you that will reduce the value of your motorcycle accident claim. If the other driver’s insurance company calls you after a motorcycle accident, we recommend that you politely tell them you will be happy to speak to them—after you speak to your attorney. Our firm protects our clients from the danger of recorded statements by only allowing them to be taken when one of our attorneys is present.

To protect yourself against other tactics the insurance company may use, go to Iowa Motorcycle Accident Facts to download a free 35-page guide.

  Failing To Keep Your Bike In Good Working Condition Can Damage Your Motorcycle Accident Claim
 There are mistakes that can be made after a motorcycle accident, for example, talking to an insurance adjuster before you get independent legal advice from a motorcycle lawyer-but there are some mistakes that can be made before the accident even occurs. One such mistake is driving a motorcycle that has a known defect and not repairing it.  This can impact your case negatively and there isn’t a way to fix that mistake after a motorcycle accident.  One thing many drivers claim after they hit a motorcycle is that they “couldn’t see” the motorcycle coming.  In these cases, the insurance company may try to claim that your headlight was not working, or that some other defect on the motorcycle actually caused the accident, instead of their driver.  Sometimes, insurance companies try to blame the biker for having inadequate or poorly maintained tires or brakes.  While you might be comfortable on your bike in the condition it is and while the so-called problems my having nothing actually to do with how or why the accident occurred, you don’t want to have to explain anything to an adjuster or jury about the poor condition of your bike. 

The easiest way to prevent these types of claims form the insurance company is to perform routine maintenance on your bike, to make sure you have all of the safety features the law requires, and that they are in working condition.  Also, be sure to keep good records of all tune-ups and repairs.  Do not let a small mechanical problem ruin your ability to collect for your injuries.

For more ways to protect oneself in case of a motorcycle accident, go to Iowa Motorcycle Accident Facts to download a free 35-page guide.

     Most car accident victims will receive a request from an insurance company to sign a medical release form.  Often, an insurance company representative will suggest that his or her company cannot start paying medical bills until it receives a signed medical release. Do not be bullied into signing one of these forms.
     The first thing to realize is that the other driver’s insurance company is not likely to pay any medical bills until you are willing to settle your case once and for all. Signing a medical release or any other insurance company document is not likely to change that. An insurance company is eventually entitled to review records of any medical treatment for which you ask to be reimbursed. In our experience, however, most medical release forms are written in such a way that they give the insurance company access to all of your medical records – even records that are unrelated to your accident injuries.

     Often insurance companies will then turn around and use your pre-accident health history as justification for making a low settlement offer. Our firm protects our clients from this tactic in a number of ways:

·         We advise our clients to avoid giving an insurance company a signed medical release until we have reviewed your medical records first

·         If our review uncovers items in your medical history that may impact your claim, we make sure that you know about them before the insurance company does

·         When we do provide the insurance company with a signed medical release, we make sure that the release only applies to relevant medical treatment

     To learn more ways to protect yourself from unfair insurance company tactics, go to Iowa Car Accident Facts to download a free 35-page guide.

On hot summer days like this I remember the good ol’ days riding my 50cc minibike down the ditches, jumping the culverts.   Thank God there were no cars turning in front of me then.  My biker clients now don’t ride in the relative safety of a grassy ditch along a gravel road.  Unfornately, they face bad drivers on the roads - seems like more and more of them.  

Mistakes can easily be made throughout the process of a motorcycle accident claim. A critical thing to remember to prevent mistakes is that motorcycle accidents are very different than other car accidents. Hiring an attorney without expertise in motorcycle accidents is unwise and can cause you to fall victim to an insurance companies’ tricks of trade - at least we have seen some of this happen here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

There are many specialized factors that affect motorcycle accidents in Iowa and throughout the United States. In order to represent you properly, an attorney must have knowledge of the dangers bikers face on the road, the special injuries bikers face and how those factors affect your ability to recover damages. Not every attorney has the experience you need. Even those attorneys who advertise their expertise in “Personal Injury” or even “Motorcycle Accident” law do not all have the same level of experience with motorcycle accident cases.

For instance, one injury that is common in motorcycle accidents, but which is not widely understood is a “Close Head Injury.” This condition is caused by the sudden trauma that can occur to the brain during a motorcycle accident. It can also be very difficult to diagnose because in a closed head injury, there is no fracture to the skull and the damage often does not appear on medical tests like a CT scan or MRI. A closed head injury often times severely impacts a person’s ability to live or work normally and such an injury caused by another person entitles the victim to damages. The biggest mistake bikers make immediately after they have been involved in a crash is that they think their claim is just like any other ordinary traffic accident claim. IT’S NOT. An experienced motorcycle accident attorney understands closed brain injuries and knows what steps to take to help a victim receive compensation for this debilitating condition.

Insurance companies know which attorneys have experience with motorcycle accident claims and know that if you have one of these attorneys they will not be able to use their unfair tactics against you. Unfortunately, it is not easy to tell which attorneys have the experience you need. 

To learn about other mistakes to avoid in a motorcycle accident claim and how to find an experienced motorcycle accident attorney, go to Iowa Motorcycle Accident Facts to download a free 35-page guide.

I read an obituary the other day; another biker down – at age 36.  The related article detailing the accident made it clear that the motorcycle had the right-of-way and once again a car negligently invaded the biker’s space and now a young, family man is dead. 

We all hear the argument (and it’s getting louder and louder as the insurance industry revs up for another mandatory helmet law crusade):  “motorcycles are dangerous”.    This mantra is really the insurance industry’s crafty way of saying:  “they asked for it”.   You better believe they try to sell this to the juries.  They are smart and do so with subtle, careful words built upon prejudice and propaganda against bikers.   

You have to admit, if a bike goes down the question isn’t:  “are they hurt?”  - rather, the question is “how bad are they hurt?”   But this does not mean that bikers are huge risk takers or that they are assuming and accepting the risk of bad drivers that might be out and about at the same time.   A biker’s choice to cruise the road is not an invitation to run them off of that road.    Most bikers I know and represent simply want to go from Point A to Point B safely and with the freedom and enjoyment only a motorcycle can deliver.  They follow the rules of the road getting there.  If cars and trucks were respectful of other all vehicle’s right-of-way (including motorcycles) so many tragedies could be avoided.    

Some folks drive cars without airbags.  I’ve seen some cars that are held together with coat hangers and a prayer. There are other cars that weigh only as much as a full dressed hog…yet, nobody argues that because these drivers are in vehicles that are more likely to result in harm to the passengers, in the event of an accident, that “they asked for it”.

I just settled a case in which a tractor trailer turned left in front of my biker client.   His head hit the last set of trailer wheels.  He died instantly upon impact but the loss will remain forever.  He was simply going to work – been riding bikes for 20 years. We’ll never know if he would have survived or in what condition if he had been in a car.   But this “what-if” shouldn’t matter.  What matters is that he did nothing wrong and his surviving family deserves fair compensation without any discount just because he was on a motorcycle.

So, if you find yourself adopting the insurance industry mantra, and repeating: “motorcycles are dangerous”  please take a moment to remind yourself – often it’s not the bike, it’s the other vehicles on the road that are dangerous.