Attorney
An accident can happen in seconds, but the decisions you make afterward can affect your health and your ability to pursue compensation for your injuries.
Whether you were injured in a car accident on I-66, hurt on someone else’s property, struck while walking or cycling, or injured because of another person’s negligence, knowing what to do next can help protect you during an otherwise confusing situation.
Your health should always come first. After addressing any immediate medical needs, there are also practical steps you can take to document what happened and protect a potential personal injury claim.
If you have been seriously injured, a Fairfax personal injury lawyer can investigate the circumstances surrounding the accident, explain how Virginia law may apply, and help you understand your options for pursuing compensation.
1. Get Medical Attention for Your Injuries
Your first priority after an accident should be your health.
If you have suffered a serious injury, call 911 or seek emergency medical attention. Even when an injury does not initially appear severe, it may still be worth getting evaluated by a medical professional.
Some injuries are immediately obvious. Others can become more noticeable over the hours or days following an accident.
Seeking appropriate medical care also creates documentation of your injuries, including when you were evaluated, what symptoms you reported, your diagnosis, and what treatment was recommended.
Continue following your medical provider’s instructions after the initial appointment. Attend follow-up visits, complete recommended physical therapy, take medications as prescribed, and report new or worsening symptoms.
These records may eventually become important evidence in a personal injury case.
2. Report the Accident When Appropriate
How an accident should be reported depends on what happened.
After a motor vehicle accident involving an injury, death, or damage to attended property, Virginia law imposes duties on drivers to stop and provide identifying and vehicle information. Depending on the circumstances, law enforcement may also respond to investigate the crash.
If the injury occurs at a business, apartment complex, store, restaurant, construction site, or another property, report the incident to the appropriate owner, manager, employer, or other responsible party.
Ask whether an incident report will be prepared and, when possible, obtain information about how you can request a copy.
Reporting an accident creates a record that the incident occurred and may preserve important information about when, where, and how it happened.
3. Document the Accident Scene
If you can safely do so, document the scene before conditions change.
Photographs and videos can be particularly valuable because physical conditions may disappear quickly.
For example, after a car accident, vehicles may be moved and debris cleared from the roadway. After a slip and fall, a spill may be cleaned or a dangerous condition repaired.
Depending on the type of accident, consider documenting:
- The overall accident scene
- Your visible injuries
- Vehicle damage
- Road and traffic conditions
- Traffic signs and signals
- Skid marks or debris
- A wet or damaged floor
- Broken stairs or handrails
- Poor lighting
- Missing warning signs
- Any other condition that may have contributed to the accident
You do not need to determine exactly who was legally responsible while you are standing at the scene. The goal is simply to preserve information that may help explain what happened later.
4. Get Contact Information From Witnesses
Independent witnesses can become important when the parties disagree about how an accident occurred.
If someone saw what happened, ask for their name and contact information if circumstances allow.
A witness may have observed details you did not see yourself. For example, someone may have seen another driver run a red light, noticed a dangerous property condition before you fell, or witnessed the events immediately leading up to your injury.
Witnesses can become more difficult to locate as time passes, so collecting this information early can be valuable.
5. Be Careful About What You Say About Fault
Immediately after an accident, you may not have enough information to know exactly what happened.
Avoid guessing about the cause or accepting responsibility simply because you feel shaken, embarrassed, or believe you could have reacted differently.
Determining liability after an accident may require reviewing witness statements, photographs, video footage, reports, physical evidence, and other information that was not available to you at the scene.
This issue is especially important in Virginia because arguments about an injured person’s own actions can have a major effect on a personal injury claim.
Let the evidence establish what happened rather than making assumptions immediately after the accident.
6. Preserve Evidence Related to the Accident
The photographs you take at the scene are only one type of evidence that may become important.
Keep documents and records related to both the accident and your injuries.
That may include:
- Medical bills
- Medical records
- Prescription receipts
- Accident or incident reports
- Photographs and videos
- Witness information
- Insurance correspondence
- Repair estimates
- Pay stubs
- Records of missed work
- Receipts for accident-related expenses
It can also be useful to keep notes about your recovery, particularly when an injury affects your daily life.
For example, document significant symptoms, medical appointments, physical limitations, missed work, and activities you are no longer able to perform.
The more clearly the effects of an injury can be documented, the easier it may be to demonstrate the losses caused by the accident.
7. Do Not Assume an Insurance Company Is Evaluating Your Claim for You
After an accident, you may receive calls from an insurance company relatively quickly.
An adjuster may ask you to explain what happened, provide a recorded statement, authorize access to medical information, or discuss resolving the claim.
Remember that an insurance company’s job is to evaluate claims on behalf of the insurer.
Before providing detailed statements or agreeing to a settlement, it is important to understand your injuries, the evidence surrounding the accident, and the potential value of your losses.
This becomes particularly important after a serious injury because the full consequences may not yet be known.
You may still require additional treatment. You may miss more time from work. Doctors may discover that an injury will cause permanent limitations.
Once a personal injury claim is fully settled, you generally cannot reopen it simply because your injuries eventually turn out to be more serious or expensive than expected.
8. Keep Track of Your Financial Losses
An injury can create expenses well beyond the initial emergency room bill.
Keep records of financial losses related to the accident, including:
- Hospital and medical bills
- Rehabilitation expenses
- Prescription costs
- Lost wages
- Transportation for medical care
- Medical equipment
- Other accident-related expenses
Serious injuries can also create future losses.
Someone who cannot return to the same job may suffer reduced earning capacity. Another person may require ongoing physical therapy, future surgery, medication, or long-term assistance.
These losses can become important when a Fairfax personal injury attorney evaluates what compensation may be appropriate.
9. Consider the Full Effect of Your Injuries Before Accepting a Settlement
Medical bills and lost wages are important, but they do not necessarily represent the complete impact of an injury.
A serious accident can also affect mobility, independence, family responsibilities, hobbies, sleep, emotional well-being, and overall quality of life.
Before resolving a claim, it is important to have a reasonable understanding of both your current losses and what the injury may mean for your future.
This is one reason an early settlement offer should be considered carefully.
An offer that appears substantial shortly after an accident may look very different after months of medical treatment, missed work, or a diagnosis involving permanent limitations.
10. Understand Virginia’s Deadline for Personal Injury Lawsuits
You should not wait indefinitely to investigate your legal options after an accident.
Virginia generally requires personal injury actions to be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues. Different rules and exceptions may apply depending on the circumstances, so you should not assume that every claim has exactly the same deadline.
Waiting can create practical problems as well.
Surveillance footage may be deleted. Witnesses may become difficult to locate. Physical conditions can change. Documents may be lost. Memories can fade.
Understanding personal injury filing deadlines early gives you more time to preserve evidence and determine whether you have a viable claim.
What If You Were Partially Responsible for the Accident?
This is an especially important question for people injured in Virginia.
Virginia follows a strict contributory negligence rule. In many negligence cases, an injured person who is found to have contributed to causing the accident can be barred from recovering damages.
That makes disputes over fault particularly significant.
Insurance companies may attempt to argue that an injured person was distracted, failed to notice a hazard, was driving too fast, or otherwise contributed to the accident.
But an allegation of fault from an insurance company is not the same as a legal determination that you were responsible.
Evidence may tell a different story.
If there is any disagreement about who caused your accident, speak with a personal injury lawyer in Fairfax, Virginia before assuming that you cannot pursue a claim.
What Types of Accidents Can Lead to Personal Injury Claims in Fairfax?
Personal injury law covers many different circumstances in which someone’s negligence causes another person to be injured.
Cases may arise from:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Dangerous property conditions
- Dog bites
- Construction accidents
- Medical negligence
- Defective products
- Other preventable accidents
Although the circumstances vary, the central question is often similar: did another person or organization fail to act with reasonable care, and did that failure cause an injury?
Understanding what is considered negligence in personal injury law can help explain why some accidents create a valid claim while others do not.
What If the Accident Happened Somewhere Else in Northern Virginia?
You do not have to be injured within the City of Fairfax itself for a Fairfax-based personal injury attorney to be relevant to your case.
Accidents occur throughout Fairfax County and Northern Virginia, including communities such as Arlington, Alexandria, Reston, Herndon, Vienna, McLean, Falls Church, Springfield, and Centreville.
The specific location of the accident can affect where a case may be filed and which laws apply, so it is important to tell your attorney exactly where the injury occurred.
For people living and working throughout Northern Virginia, Koonz McKenney Johnson & DePaolis LLP’s Fairfax office provides a local resource for understanding the personal injury process and the legal options that may be available after an accident.
When Should You Contact a Fairfax Personal Injury Lawyer?
You do not necessarily need to wait until your medical treatment is complete or an insurance company denies your claim before speaking with an attorney.
Getting legal advice early can be especially valuable when:
- Your injuries are serious
- You may require long-term medical treatment
- You have missed significant time from work
- Fault is disputed
- The insurance company is blaming you
- Several parties may be responsible
- You are being asked to provide a recorded statement
- You have received a settlement offer
- Important evidence may disappear
- You are unsure about the filing deadline
An attorney can begin investigating the accident while evidence is still available and help you avoid decisions that could unnecessarily complicate your claim.
Injured in an Accident in Fairfax? Know Your Options
The days and weeks after an accident can be overwhelming. You may be trying to recover physically while dealing with medical appointments, insurance companies, missed work, and uncertainty about what comes next.
You do not have to determine the legal side of the situation on your own.
Koonz McKenney Johnson & DePaolis LLP has represented injured people throughout Fairfax and Northern Virginia for decades. Our attorneys investigate accidents, gather evidence, identify responsible parties, evaluate damages, negotiate with insurance companies, and pursue litigation when necessary.
If another person’s negligence caused your injuries, our Fairfax personal injury lawyers can review what happened and help you understand your options for pursuing compensation.
Contact Koonz McKenney Johnson & DePaolis LLP to discuss your case and learn more about the next steps.