Chattanooga Motorcycle Accident Lawyer: Protecting Your Rights and Pursuing Maximum Compensation

Finding a motorcycle accident lawyer in Chattanooga does not have to be hard. Turn to Wettermark Keith for a free consultation. 

A motorcycle offers very little in the way of protection when it’s involved in an accident. Motorcycle riders (and any passenger) suddenly find themselves skidding or bouncing along the roadway, often into the path of other vehicles, or slamming into solid objects like guardrails, other vehicles, and buildings. Death is common and injuries are often severe, ranging widely: brain injury, spine injury, broken bones, dislocations, soft tissue tears, and painful abrasions.

Many automobile drivers claim that the accident wasn’t their fault, leaving the victim to face a legal battle while trying to recover physically. If that’s the situation facing you or someone you care about, the experienced motorcycle accident lawyers at Wettermark Keith can take much of that burden off the victim. We understand how these accidents tend to occur, the types of injuries they cause, and what the victims will have to go through on the way to recovery—if a full recovery is even possible. The sooner you get help, the easier it will be to find, preserve, and use the evidence that can force the people who caused the accident to at least compensate for your injuries.

Why Hire Us?

• We have more than five decades of combined experience representing motorcycle accident victims throughout Tennessee.
• We realize personal injury claims aren’t always about large settlements against corporations. We also represent clients during thousands of smaller claims each year.
• We are accomplished personal injury attorneys with proven results in and out of the courtroom. We’ve obtained over $800 million collectively for our clients.
• We don’t charge for the services we provide unless we win the case in question. You’ll only ever pay us out of a settlement or verdict won, never out of your pocket.

What Are Common Causes of Chattanooga Motorcycle Accidents?

Identifying who or what caused your crash is one of the first tasks we can complete for you as your personal injury attorneys. This is a necessary step in Tennessee before you can file a request for compensation under the state’s fault-based insurance laws. Your motorcycle accident could point to the fault or negligence of a few different parties:

• A motor vehicle driver. Drivers in larger vehicles can easily overlook smaller motorcycles. They may also cause accidents by running red lights, making unsafe left turns, failing to yield the right-of-way, driving distracted, texting and driving, or driving drunk.
• A motorcycle manufacturer. The manufacturer or distributor of your motorcycle could be at fault if a defective or dangerously designed part contributed to the collision, such as bad brakes or faulty steering components. In most defective product cases, you won’t have to prove negligence to obtain compensation.
• The City of Chattanooga. Motorcyclists are more highly prone to accidents due to defective road conditions. A pothole, uneven shoulder, cracked asphalt, loose gravel, or another type of road defect could cause a serious motorcycle accident. The city is responsible for maintaining safe public roads.

These are just three of many possibilities. The lawyers at Wettermark Keith can look into your specific motorcycle wreck in Chattanooga to search for fault and related evidence. If we can prove someone else’s responsibility for causing your motorcycle accident, that party may owe you financial compensation for many different losses.

Crashes Involving Other Motor Vehicles

While accidents involving only the motorcycle certainly occur, the majority of motorcycle accidents involve another motor vehicle. And in a majority of those accidents, the other vehicle impinges on the motorcycle’s right of way and caused the accident. In fact, two-thirds of motorcycle accidents follow that trend. The typical motorcycle crash involves another vehicle’s driver not seeing the motorcycle until it was too late to avoid a collision.

There are many possible causes for that, including:

• Glare from headlights
• Glare from the sun
• Other vehicles blocking the line of sight
• The vehicle’s “blind spot”
• The distraction of the other vehicle’s driver

It’s very important to get the crash information and witness statements about what happened as soon as possible. Otherwise, important evidence may disappear by the time you or your lawyer investigate. Acting quickly can preserve key evidence and help you win your claim to damages after a motorcycle wreck.

Blaming the Motorcyclist

Not surprisingly, vehicle drivers who crash into motorcyclists that they “never saw” have both a financial and psychological incentive to blame the motorcyclist. The financial incentive is obvious; the psychological incentive comes from the fact that most drivers consider themselves competent and compassionate. It’s psychologically painful to think that they simply didn’t see an object as large as a motorcycle and that the failure caused the injuries they witnessed firsthand. They often search for a reason not to feel guilty and latch onto the idea that the motorcyclist somehow was in the wrong—riding in blind spots, suddenly cutting into their path, and the like.

An experienced motorcycle accident lawyer understands this reaction for what it is and goes about overcoming it. It’s important to know, for example, that motorcyclists have less than two seconds to avoid the crash once they see it coming. Hiring a lawyer with experience in motorcycle accident claims can help you overcome challenges such as common defenses and biases against motorcyclists from the other party.

What Is My Case Worth?

People come to us after serious vehicle collisions so we can maximize their financial recoveries. Obtaining just settlements and verdicts is what we do best at Wettermark Keith. A motorcycle wreck could make you eligible for financial compensation for many different losses, both tangible and intangible. Each case and client is unique.

• Medical expenses. Past and future doctor’s bills associated with your motorcycle accident injury, including any surgeries, medications, medical devices, specialists, tests, x-rays, and rehabilitation.
• Lost wages. All lost income connected to your accident, both in the past as well as your future lost capacity to earn due to a temporary or permanent disability.
• Pain and suffering. Your non-economic, personal damages associated with the accident. These may include physical pain and suffering, emotional distress, psychological trauma, grief, and lost quality of life.
• Property damages. Any money that it will take to repair your damaged motorcycle or to replace a totaled motorcycle, based on price estimates from an approved repair shop.
• Punitive damages. An additional award a judge in Chattanooga might give you to punish the defendant for gross negligence, wrongful acts, intent to harm, or recklessness.

The total value of your motorcycle accident claim can depend on many factors, including how serious your injuries are and how long they will foreseeably impact you. At Wettermark Keith, we can identify the defendant most likely to be able to pay you fair compensation for your damages. Then, we can add up your losses and prove them before a judge and jury for the best possible case outcome.

Chattanooga Motorcycle Accident Attorneys

In some cases, for example, when the motorcyclist has a past speeding ticket, it’s a case of “that was then, this is now.” Past behavior doesn’t prove what happened in this case. In other cases, it’s a matter of establishing that the motorcyclist’s behavior was perfectly legal and reasonable. For example, Tennessee’s Motorcycle Operator’s Manual allows motorcyclists to use either goggles or a windshield; failure to have one isn’t a violation of safety requirements, as long as the other was used.

Obviously, motorcycle accidents are no simple matter, and there is an awful lot at stake. It takes experience simply to reconstruct the events of the accident. At Wettermark Keith, our 95 percent success rate in getting victims the compensation they need and deserve speaks for itself. The earlier we start working with you, the better the results will be, whether that means a fair settlement or a trip to court. For a free consultation on your case, call us now to protect your right to compensation for your injuries.

No Recovery, No Fee Guarantee

When selecting clients to represent in court, our firm operates on a contingency fee basis. What this means to our clients is simple: if we don’t win your case, you won’t pay anything. We choose to operate this way for the sole benefit of our clients, we want to see you obtain a successful recovery so that you can continue to carry on with your life.

Contact us today if you have been the victim of a personal injury or lost a loved one to a wrongful death after a motorcycle accident. Fill out the free case evaluation form on our website and we will get back to you promptly. If you wish to speak to us directly, feel free to call the location closest to you.