If you’re involved in an injury accident you should immediately contact law enforcement. And you should cooperate fully and be truthful to any responding law enforcement officers. After calling law enforcement, your next step should be to call lawyer who specializes in cases involving personal injury accidents.
Following an injury accident, the first issue that needs to be determined is who was at fault in causing the accident. In order to determine who is at fault in causing the accident, a complete investigation needs to occur. That requires obtaining the police reports and interviewing any and all potential witnesses while their memories are fresh. It also often requires retaining an Accident Reconstruction expert to visit the scene to take measurements and pictures. And in many cases a private investigator needs to be retained to make contact with witnesses and to take their statements.
Determining you were not at fault soon after an accident is very important because in South Dakota, if your injured in an accident and you are found to be more than “slightly” negligent in contributing to the accident you can be considered to be Contributorily Negligent and denied any and all recovery. Because our law in South Dakota is so strict, an immediate investigation needs to be performed in order to obtain witness statements and to preserve any and all evidence which may shed light on who is at fault in the accident.
At Alvine Weidenaar, LLP all we do is fight for the injured. Following an injury accident, we will immediately go to work for you to protect your rights and to get you compensated for your personal injury. We will immediately compile the accident report, make contact with witnesses and take their statements while their memory is fresh, make sure evidence is preserved, take pictures of the automobile damage, document your injuries and begin calculating your damages. These steps are very important to do from the first moment possible following the accident.
At Alvine Weidenaar, LLP we are always passionately “Fighting for the Injured”. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in an automobile or motorcycle accident contact Alvine Weidenaar, LLP as soon as possible.