Have you recently suffered injuries in a car accident in Columbia County, PA? You have rights, but the at-fault party’s insurance company will work hard to stand between you and a meaningful financial recovery. Our Columbia County car accident lawyers can help you fight for the maximum compensation you need and deserve. Call Fellerman & Ciarimboli, Law PC at (570) 714-4878 to schedule a free consultation.
For more than 20 years, crash victims and families in Pennsylvania have turned to Fellerman & Ciarimboli, Law PC for help after life-changing auto accidents. Known for our compassionate and trustworthy representation, we’ve helped clients recover over $150 million in personal injury settlements and jury awards from negligent motorists, insurance companies, vehicle manufacturers, and other powerful defendants.
Now, you can benefit from our team’s 100 years of combined experience as we fight to get you the best results in your car accident case.
How Fellerman & Ciarimboli, Law PC Can Help You After a Car Accident in Columbia County, PA
You may have the right to pursue compensation after a car accident in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, but the claims process can be confusing and stressful. The insurance adjuster will also work hard to find reasons to deny your claim or, if that’s not possible, get you to accept a lowball settlement.
You have one shot at recovering compensation for your car accident injuries, so don’t settle for less than you deserve. Hiring an experienced Columbia County personal injury attorney to handle your motor vehicle accident case gives you a higher chance of getting a favorable outcome.
Fellerman & Ciarimboli, Law PC is a nationally recognized civil litigation law firm dedicated to protecting injury victims’ rights across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We’re recognized by Super Lawyers, the National Board of Trial Advocacy, the National Association of Distinguished Counsel, and The National Trial Lawyers for our unwavering commitment to client success and our multi-million-dollar track record of success.
If you ask for our help, we’ll invest our considerable experience, resources, and knowledge into winning your car accident case and getting you a maximum financial award.
We will:
- Conduct an independent investigation into your car accident
- Gather the evidence needed to build a winning legal claim, which might include cell phone records, vehicle maintenance records, accident reports, witness statements, video footage, photographs, and hospital records
- Consult specialists, experts, and professionals whose insight can be invaluable to your fight for compensation
- Evaluate your damages and determine what your personal injury case is worth
- Determine the best way to fight back against attempts to blame you for your car accident injuries
- Seek a maximum financial award during settlement negotiations with the defense
- Answer your car accident questions and provide the legal advice and support you need to make informed decisions about your case
- Represent your best interests at trial if the insurance company won’t make a fair settlement offer
Focus on getting better. Trust our Pennsylvania car accident lawyers to put you in a position to get the top-dollar financial award you deserve. We offer a free consultation, so reach out to our legal team to discuss your car accident case today.
Why Should I Hire a Car Accident Attorney?
It’s simple – the odds of winning your car accident case and maximizing your recovery are greater when an attorney represents you.
Here’s why:
- The insurance company loses its advantage and must negotiate your case in good faith rather than relying on tactics based on fear and manipulation.
- You’ll be protected against claims of shared fault that could potentially limit your ability to recover compensation.
- The law firm can hire experts to provide insight and guidance, which could be the difference between a nominal settlement and a life-changing monetary award.
- You’ll know whether their settlement offer is an accurate representation of what your car accident case is worth.
Hiring an attorney also gives you time to focus on your physical health and emotional well-being, which can be tough if you’re also trying to stand up to a powerful insurance company.
How Much Money Can I Get From a Car Accident Case?
Many factors can impact how much money you might be able to recover after a car accident in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. Answers to the following questions will determine the value of your case:
- Do you have full tort or limited tort car insurance coverage?
- What types of injuries have you suffered?
- Who’s at fault for your car accident?
- What are the applicable insurance policy limits?
- Do you share responsibility for the crash?
- How old are you?
- Can you still work while you recover from your car accident injuries?
- Have you experienced a change in your earning capacity?
- What out-of-pocket costs have you had?
The more serious your injuries, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to recover a substantial monetary award – either through insurance or a personal injury lawsuit.
Trusting an experienced Columbia County car accident attorney to take the lead on your fight for compensation can help you maximize your recovery.
How Long Do I Have to File a Car Accident Case?
In Pennsylvania, a two-year statute of limitations applies to most car accident cases. This gives you until the second anniversary of your auto accident to request compensation through an insurance claim or lawsuit.
There are some exceptions. The statute of limitations might be different if you file a claim against a negligent government agency or if a child is injured in a car accident.
Don’t assume you have extra time to take action. Once the filing deadline passes, you will forfeit the right to demand compensation from an insurance company or a liable third party.
What Types of Damages Are Available After a Car Accident?
Whether you file a claim with your insurance company, a third-party provider, or another liable party, you’ll usually have the opportunity to recover compensatory damages for your car accident injuries.
In Pennsylvania, compensatory damages can include two different types of awards: economic and non-economic.
Economic Damages
Car accidents can be costly – and too expensive for you to handle the burdens on your own. Economic damages are designed to help you cope with the costs and losses associated with your car accident.
Awards can include money for:
- Present medical bills
- Future medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Disability
- Diminished earning capacity
- Rehabilitation
- Nursing care
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Property damage
- Funeral costs if a car accident is fatal
You can receive economic damages for your verified expenses and losses, as supported by evidence.
Non-Economic Damages
Some of the consequences of a car accident don’t have a specific financial value. Instead, they’re much more personal. Non-economic damages are intended to help you cope with these types of harder-to-value losses.
These damages can include money for:
- Disfigurement and scarring
- Reduced quality of life
- Loss of consortium
- Chronic physical pain
- Mental anguish
- Embarrassment
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Since these experiences are subjective, the value of related damages can vary significantly from one case to the next. Our car accident attorneys in Columbia County will bring in experts to help us understand the full impact the collision has had on your life. The more we understand the way your life has been affected, the better positioned we’ll be to argue passionately for a maximum financial award on your behalf.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Car Accident Attorney?
You know that hiring an attorney is the best move you can make, but you might be afraid that you can’t afford it. It’s not the case when you choose Fellerman & Ciarimboli, Law PC. We represent clients on a contingency fee basis.
We’re so confident that we can make a difference in your fight for compensation that we’re willing to stake our fees on your case results. There’s no cost to hire our law firm until we’ve won compensation for your car accident claim. We’ll also take care of the litigation costs, so you’ll pay nothing upfront.
When we win, our fees and other case-related costs are simply deducted from your financial recovery. Most often, you can expect to pay a car accident attorney between 30 and 40 percent of your damages.
Call our Columbia County law office to learn more about our fee structure and discover the benefits of working with our top-rated litigators.
Can I Get Money If I Was Partly At Fault For My Pennsylvania Car Accident?
Yes, but only if you’re not primarily responsible for the car accident in which you were injured. Pennsylvania follows a modified comparative fault rule with a 51 percent bar to recovery. So, damages can be awarded on a reduced basis as long as your shared fault doesn’t exceed 50 percent.
Let’s say you were hurt in a crash at a busy intersection in Columbia County and sustained damages worth $200,000. However, you’re assigned half of the blame for the car crash. As a result, your maximum financial recovery will now be limited to $100,000 – half the value of your personal injury case. If you were assigned 10 percent of the blame, your maximum recovery would be $180,000.
An insurance adjuster will jump at the opportunity to blame you for your car accident. If they’re successful, they can potentially limit how much money you’re able to recover or deny your claim in full.
Our legal team will actively fight these claims from the start of your car accident case. We’ll do our best to disprove their allegations and protect your opportunity to get a substantial financial award for your crash-related injuries.
Will My Car Accident Case Go to Trial?
It’s possible. However, statistically speaking, only a small fraction of personal injury cases go to trial. Most often, a car accident lawsuit will go to trial if:
- There’s a genuine dispute regarding liability
- The insurance company handles the claim in bad faith
- The parties can’t come to terms on a settlement agreement because each has valued the claim differently
Truthfully, the insurance company will want to avoid taking your car accident lawsuit to court. The longer it takes to resolve your claim, the more it costs them. So, they’ll engage in trickery and try to manipulate you during a difficult time to get you to accept an early settlement. However, you can set the stage for better results and still reduce the chances that your car accident case goes to trial by hiring an experienced civil litigator to represent you.
Hiring a respected trial attorney makes it clear that you won’t be manipulated and that you’re willing to be patient to get the case results you deserve.
What Should I Do After a Car Accident in Columbia County?
Once you’ve been involved in a car accident in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, it’s important to:
- Call 911 and report the car crash to the local police department.
- Remain near the scene of the collision until the police and other first responders have arrived.
- Exchange insurance information with other parties.
- Determine if anyone is in need of emergency medical attention.
- Document damage to your vehicle, property at the scene, tire tracks, and other evidence.
- Get the names and contact information of any eyewitnesses.
- Resist the urge to apologize for the crash, even if you think you might be at fault.
- Seek timely medical attention once you’ve spoken to police at the scene (unless you’re transported to the closest hospital in an ambulance).
- Direct any requests for information or to discuss your car accident to your personal injury attorney.
The insurance company might offer a settlement shortly after your car accident. However, it’s important to know that accepting a settlement means giving up the right to pursue additional compensation in the future. So, it’s best to wait to resolve your legal claim until you really understand what your damages are worth. The best thing you can do is reach out to an experienced attorney near you in Columbia County to help you navigate the days, weeks, and months that follow a crash.
Types of Car Accident Claims We Handle
Don’t just hire a personal injury law firm to represent you after a car accident in Columbia County. Hire a law firm with a proven track record of taking on and winning complex car accident cases like yours.
At Fellerman & Ciarimboli, Law PC, we have extensive experience representing clients in all types of car accident cases, including:
Head-On Collisions
Head-on collisions occur when two vehicles traveling in opposite directions collide. They often occur when a motorist drives the wrong way down the road, often while attempting to overtake a slower-moving vehicle in front of them.
Rear-End Collisions
Rear-end collisions are the most common type of car accident in the nation. Most happen at or approaching an intersection or in slow-moving traffic. Drivers who are distracted, impaired by drugs or alcohol, or tailgating the vehicle in front of them are most likely to cause rear-end collisions.
Rollovers
Any vehicle can potentially flip on its side or turn over under the right circumstances. However, most rollover car accidents involve vehicles with high centers of gravity – like SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans. The most common causes of rollovers are taking turns without slowing down or “tripping” over an object in the roadway.
Side Impact Collisions
Side impact collisions – including sideswipes and T-bone accidents – can be catastrophic for vehicle occupants. The sides of a vehicle aren’t designed to absorb impact or offer much protection in a collision. So, passengers and vehicle drivers can suffer debilitating and deadly injuries in side-impact crashes, including crush injuries, internal organ damage, and spinal cord trauma.
Who Could Be Liable For My Car Accident Injuries?
Pennsylvania operates under a no-fault system for car insurance. So, following a collision, you’ll have to file a claim for benefits with your insurance company. You can recover benefits up to your policy limits, which include at least $5,000 in Personal Injury Protection (PIP), $15,000/$30,000 in bodily injury coverage, and $5,000 in property damage coverage.
Once you exhaust your policy limits, you may have the right to seek additional compensation from a liable third party – but that can depend on the extent of your injuries and whether you purchased full tort or limited tort coverage.
A liable third party can include anyone who contributed to your car accident, such as a:
- Driver of another car
- Commercial vehicle operator
- Uber or Lyft rideshare driver
- Bicyclist
- Pedestrian
- Motorcyclist
- Vehicle passenger
- Vehicle manufacturer
- Property owner
- Negligent party’s employee
- Government agency
Don’t worry about how to get compensation or from whom. Count on our car accident injury lawyers to handle these details on your behalf. You focus on moving forward and finding better days ahead.
Common Types of Car Accident Injuries
Several factors can influence the injuries you’re most likely to suffer in a car crash – where you’re seated in the vehicle, the speed of the vehicles at the time of impact, and the type of crash you’re involved in.
However, generally speaking, some of the most commonly reported car accident injuries include:
- Broken bones
- Soft tissue injuries
- Whiplash
- Neck injuries
- Back injuries
- Herniated discs
- Spinal cord injuries
- Thoracic injuries
- Paralysis injuries
- Leg injuries
- Nerve damage
- Burn injuries
- Amputation injuries
- Degloving injuries
- Concussion injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Crush injuries
- Chest injuries
- Catastrophic injuries
- Wrongful death
Get to the closest hospital to you in Columbia County after a car accident. Immediate medical attention can make a huge difference – both in your road to recovery and your ability to win a personal injury claim in the future.
What Are the Most Common Causes of Car Accidents?
Leading causes of car accidents in Columbia County, PA, include:
- Speeding
- Driver distraction
- Drunk driving
- Drugged driving
- Drowsy driving
- Road rage
- Aggressive driving
- Tailgating
- Unsafe lane changes
- Blind spot errors
- Merging errors
- Illegal turns
- Braking errors
- Failing to yield the right of way
- Vehicle defects
- Negligent vehicle maintenance
- Road defects
- Limited visibility
- Bad weather conditions
Most car accidents happen because someone is negligent. When you’re the victim of a crash because someone else is careless, prioritize exploring your legal rights. You may be entitled to compensation, and working with a top-rated Pennsylvania car accident lawyer can put you in a position to maximize your recovery.
Columbia County Car Accident Statistics
Every year, hundreds of car accidents are reported in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. State crash data reveals that there were 560 traffic accidents in Columbia County in 2023.
However, based on this data, there are still, on average, 1.5 car accidents every day in Bloomsburg, Columbia, Berwick, Scott Township, Briar Creek Township, Ashland, and other cities throughout Columbia County.
Call Our Columbia County Car Accident Lawyers Today to Schedule a Free Consultation
Fellerman & Ciarimboli, Law PC offers high-quality, trustworthy, effective legal representation to car accident victims and families across Columbia County. When your life has been turned upside down because of a traffic accident, don’t hesitate to contact us to discover how we might be able to help you demand justice for your car accident injuries and suffering.
Our Columbia County car accident lawyers have over 100 years of collective experience litigating tough injury cases like yours and have established an undeniable ability to win top case results. We’ve won more than $150 million for our clients.
Call our law office today to schedule a free consultation.
