Bentonville Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

The primary role of a motorcycle accident lawyer is to ensure that you are rightfully compensated.

Understand that the insurance company representing the negligent party will not be willing to give you the amount of money needed to cover your damages.

In most cases, they will try to adjust this amount to a bare minimum that might only cover your medical expenses and damages to the bike.

For this reason, you need a strong representative on your side who will take on the negligible entity and prove that you should be compensated a fair amount.

This involves collecting evidence to support your claim, talking to witnesses, negotiating with the insurance company, and even representing you in a court of law if the matter cannot be settled.

Most people liken car accidents to motorcycle ones, but they are very different.

The laws that apply to bike riders might not be familiar to many, especially those that define their road usage rights in the presence of other motorists.

Things work differently when it comes to motorcycle accidents, and insurance adjusters will take this chance to shoot down your case altogether.

Your lawyer will assess the case and advise you on the best course of action to take based on the prevailing circumstances.

They will be your guiding hand and allow you to nurse your injuries while they face off with the other parties.

Arkansas has specific laws that apply to motorcyclists.

Here, adults are not required to wear helmets when on a motorbike as the law only requires those aged under 21 to do it.

However, it is advisable to wear your helmet as it can protect your head when in a crash.

Other laws specify that you should not carry a passenger under the age of eight, and for those that are above, the bike in question should have a dedicated passenger seat.

People aged below 16 are not allowed to carry any passengers.

When on the road, daytime headlights are required, and all riders must wear eye protection.

Turn signals are not mandatory, and lane splitting is not referred to in these laws.

Those who are found violating these laws can either be fined or sentenced to a maximum of 30 days in jail.

According to the negligence laws in Arkansas, compensation is awarded in proportion to the plaintiff’s contribution to the accident.

If the plaintiff and defendant both hold equal responsibility, they won’t recover any form of compensation.

For negligence to be assigned, the plaintiff must prove various things, namely:

• The defendant owed a duty to commit or refrain from committing an act
• The defendant breached their duty
• This breach led to the injuries suffered by the plaintiff
• The defendant’s actions or lack thereof were the proximate cause of the injuries
• The plaintiff suffered the actual damages

The total amount of compensation you can receive is a sum of three different types of damages you can be awarded.

The three (3) damages you can be awarded in an Arkansas motorcycle accident claim are:

1. Economic Damages
2. Non-Economic Damages
3. Punitive Damages

1. Economic Damages

These are damages that have a fixed monetary value.

For instance, medical bills, loss of wages, and damages to your bike. These are damages that can be proved, and, in most cases, there is very little contention over them.

2. Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are subjective and have no set monetary value.

They include stress, emotional damage, loss of future earnings, suffering to the family, and others.

3. Punitive Damages

These types of damages are awarded to punish the negligent party.

They are mostly given if they were extraordinarily careless and there is a need to show them that they should not act that way in the future.

Some common reasons include:

• Your fault in the accident exceeded 50%
• The plaintiff’s policy had lapsed
• The driver was not insured under the policy
• There is no proof of the injuries you sustained
• There is no proof that the accident caused the injuries

Arkansas’s statute of limitations states that the time limit for filing personal injury claims is three years from the date of the accident.

If you fail to do it within this window, you will lose your legal right to pursue compensation from the at-fault motorist.