Get Expert Legal Representation After Your Car Accident
If you’ve been injured in a car accident in New Orleans, Smiley Injury Law provides experienced legal representation to help you recover maximum compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Our car accident attorneys handle insurance negotiations and litigation while you focus on healing.
Car accidents in New Orleans can be devastating, leaving victims with serious injuries, mounting medical bills, and uncertainty about their future. Whether you’ve been involved in a collision on I-10, a crash on Canal Street, or an accident anywhere in Orleans Parish, you need a dedicated legal advocate who understands New Orleans’s unique traffic laws and insurance requirements.
At Smiley Injury Law, we’ve helped countless car accident victims throughout New Orleans secure the compensation they deserve. Our team understands the physical, emotional, and financial toll that car accidents take on victims and their families, and we’re committed to fighting for your rights every step of the way.
When you’re facing the aftermath of a car accident, the attorney you choose can make all the difference in your recovery—both physical and financial. Here’s why New Orleans residents trust Smiley Injury Law:
Deep Local Experience: We know New Orleans roads, traffic patterns, and local court systems. Our attorneys understand how Orleans Parish courts operate and have established relationships with local judges, opposing counsel, and insurance adjusters that benefit our clients.
Proven Track Record: We’ve secured millions of dollars in compensation for car accident victims throughout New Orleans. Our case results speak to our commitment to maximizing recovery for every client we represent.
Personalized Attention: You’re not just another case number to us. We provide individualized attention to every client, ensuring you understand your rights, options, and the progress of your case at every stage.
No Upfront Costs: We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay nothing unless we win your case. This allows you to access quality legal representation regardless of your current financial situation.
Comprehensive Investigation: We thoroughly investigate every accident, gathering police reports, medical records, witness statements, accident reconstruction analysis, and other crucial evidence to build the strongest possible case.
Understanding what caused your accident is essential to establishing liability and securing compensation. Our attorneys investigate all common causes of car accidents in New Orleans, including:
Distracted Driving: Texting, phone calls, eating, adjusting the radio, or any activity that takes a driver’s attention from the road. New Orleans law prohibits texting while driving and hands-free device requirements for young drivers under New Orleans Revised Statutes 32:300.5.
Speeding: Excessive speed reduces reaction time and increases crash severity. Speed limits throughout New Orleans are established to protect public safety, and violations can establish negligence.
Drunk Driving: Despite strict DUI laws, impaired driving remains a leading cause of serious and fatal accidents in New Orleans. Drivers with blood alcohol content of 0.08% or higher face criminal penalties, and victims can pursue civil claims against intoxicated drivers.
Running Red Lights and Stop Signs: Intersection accidents often result in severe injuries due to side-impact collisions. Traffic signal violations provide clear evidence of negligence.
Weather Conditions: Rain, fog, and flooding create hazardous driving conditions in New Orleans. While weather may contribute to accidents, drivers still have a duty to adjust their driving to conditions.
Poor Road Maintenance: Potholes, inadequate signage, malfunctioning traffic lights, and other road defects maintained by the New Orleans Department of Transportation and Development or local authorities can cause accidents and create governmental liability.
Aggressive Driving: Tailgating, unsafe lane changes, road rage, and other aggressive behaviors endanger everyone on the road.
Vehicle Defects: Brake failures, tire blowouts, steering malfunctions, and other mechanical problems may indicate manufacturer or maintenance provider liability.
Our New Orleans car accident attorneys have extensive experience with all types of motor vehicle collisions, including:
Rear-End Collisions: The most common type of accident, often causing whiplash, back injuries, and head trauma. The rear driver is typically presumed at fault under New Orleans law.
Head-On Collisions: Among the most dangerous accidents, frequently resulting in catastrophic injuries or fatalities, often caused by wrong-way driving or unsafe passing.
Side-Impact Accidents (T-Bone): Common at intersections, these crashes often cause serious injuries to vehicle occupants on the struck side due to limited protective structure.
Multi-Vehicle Pileups: Complex accidents involving three or more vehicles, requiring thorough investigation to establish each party’s liability and insurance coverage.
Hit-and-Run Accidents: When the at-fault driver flees, we help you pursue compensation through your uninsured motorist coverage and work with law enforcement to identify the responsible party.
Rideshare Accidents: Crashes involving Uber or Lyft vehicles present unique insurance considerations, potentially involving multiple insurance policies.
Commercial Vehicle Accidents: Collisions with delivery trucks, company vehicles, or other commercial vehicles may involve corporate liability and higher insurance policy limits.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Accidents: Vulnerable road users face severe injuries when struck by vehicles, and New Orleans law provides specific protections for pedestrians and cyclists.
Car accidents can cause a wide range of injuries, from minor to catastrophic. Our attorneys represent clients suffering from:
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): Concussions, contusions, and severe brain damage can result from head impacts or violent motion, causing long-term cognitive, emotional, and physical impairments.
Spinal Cord Injuries: Damage to the spinal cord can result in partial or complete paralysis, requiring lifetime medical care and assistance.
Back and Neck Injuries: Herniated discs, fractures, sprains, and soft tissue damage can cause chronic pain and disability.
Broken Bones and Fractures: Arms, legs, ribs, pelvis, and facial bones commonly break in car accidents, often requiring surgery and lengthy rehabilitation.
Internal Injuries: Organ damage, internal bleeding, and abdominal trauma may not be immediately apparent but can be life-threatening.
Burn Injuries: Vehicle fires or chemical exposure can cause severe burns requiring skin grafts and reconstructive surgery.
Lacerations and Scarring: Broken glass, metal, and debris can cause deep cuts and permanent disfigurement.
Psychological Trauma: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions frequently follow serious accidents.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United States, emphasizing the serious nature of car accident injuries.
New Orleans law allows car accident victims to recover various types of damages, including:
Economic Damages: These are quantifiable financial losses with specific dollar amounts:
Non-Economic Damages: These compensate for subjective losses without specific dollar values:
Punitive Damages: In cases involving gross negligence or intentional misconduct, New Orleans courts may award punitive damages to punish the wrongdoer and deter similar behavior.
The value of your case depends on numerous factors, including injury severity, treatment duration, liability clarity, insurance policy limits, and long-term impact on your life and livelihood.
Understanding New Orleans’s specific laws governing car accidents is crucial to protecting your rights:
Comparative Fault Rule: New Orleans follows a “pure comparative fault” system under New Orleans Civil Code Article 2323. This means you can recover damages even if you’re partially at fault, but your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, if you’re found 20% at fault, you can still recover 80% of your damages.
Statute of Limitations: Under New Orleans Civil Code Article 3492, you generally have one year from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. This is one of the shortest timeframes in the nation, making prompt action critical. Missing this deadline typically means losing your right to compensation forever.
Minimum Insurance Requirements: New Orleans requires drivers to carry minimum liability insurance of $15,000 per person for bodily injury, $30,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $25,000 for property damage, as established by New Orleans Revised Statutes 32:900. These minimums are often insufficient to cover serious accident damages.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage: New Orleans law requires insurance companies to offer UM/UIM coverage, which protects you when hit by drivers with no insurance or insufficient coverage. This coverage can be crucial to your recovery.
Direct Action Statute: New Orleans’s unique Direct Action Statute allows accident victims to sue the at-fault driver’s insurance company directly, rather than suing the driver first.
The actions you take immediately following an accident can significantly impact your ability to recover compensation. Follow these critical steps:
When you choose Smiley Injury Law, we manage every aspect of your case so you can focus on recovery:
Free Consultation: We begin with a comprehensive, no-obligation consultation where we listen to your story, review available evidence, explain your rights, and outline your legal options.
Thorough Investigation: We immediately begin investigating your accident, collecting police reports, medical records, witness statements, accident scene photographs, surveillance footage, and expert analysis when needed.
Medical Treatment Coordination: We can help you find qualified medical providers who treat accident victims and understand the importance of proper documentation for your claim.
Insurance Communication: We handle all communications with insurance companies, protecting you from tactics designed to minimize your claim or shift blame to you.
Demand Package Preparation: We compile comprehensive demand packages presenting all evidence of liability and damages, supported by medical documentation and expert opinions.
Aggressive Negotiation: We negotiate firmly with insurance companies to secure fair settlement offers that adequately compensate you for all your losses.
Litigation When Necessary: If insurance companies refuse to offer fair compensation, we’re prepared to take your case to trial and present your case to a jury.
Regular Communication: We keep you informed throughout the process, promptly returning calls and emails and explaining developments in terms you understand.
Insurance companies are for-profit businesses whose interests conflict with yours. Their adjusters employ various tactics to minimize payouts:
Rapid Low Settlement Offers: Adjusters often contact victims quickly after accidents with lowball settlement offers before victims understand the full extent of their injuries and damages.
Requesting Excessive Documentation: Insurers may request unnecessary medical records or other documentation to delay the process and pressure you into accepting less.
Disputing Medical Treatment: Adjusters commonly argue that medical treatment was unnecessary, unrelated to the accident, or excessive to reduce medical expense claims.
Surveillance: Insurance companies may hire investigators to surveil claimants, looking for evidence to dispute injury claims or suggest you’re not as injured as claimed.
Using Your Words Against You: Recorded statements can be manipulated to suggest you were at fault or aren’t seriously injured.
Delaying Tactics: Insurers benefit from delays, hoping you’ll become desperate for money and accept inadequate settlements.
Having an experienced car accident attorney levels the playing field. We understand these tactics and protect you from them while pursuing maximum compensation for your injuries and losses.
RECENTLY ASKED TOPICS
While not legally required, hiring an experienced car accident attorney significantly increases your compensation. Studies show represented claimants receive substantially higher settlements than those who negotiate alone, even after attorney fees—plus you avoid insurance company tactics and legal mistakes.
Insurance companies have teams of adjusters, lawyers, and investigators working to minimize what they pay you. They use this experience and resources against unrepresented claimants. Attorneys understand Louisiana law, insurance policy interpretation, evidence gathering, medical documentation requirements, and negotiation strategies. We handle all communication with insurers, meet critical deadlines, accurately value your claim including future damages, and aren’t afraid to take cases to trial when necessary. Most car accident attorneys work on contingency fees, meaning you pay nothing unless you win.
Louisiana requires uninsured motorist (UM) coverage as part of auto insurance policies. This coverage compensates you when hit by uninsured drivers. Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage applies when the at-fault driver’s insurance is insufficient to cover your damages.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, approximately 12% of Louisiana drivers are uninsured despite legal requirements. Your UM/UIM coverage steps in as if it were the at-fault driver’s insurance. If you rejected this coverage in writing, you may still have options including pursuing the at-fault driver personally, though collecting can be difficult if they lack assets. This is one reason why carrying adequate UM/UIM coverage is crucial.
Most car accident cases settle within three to eighteen months, but timelines vary significantly based on injury severity, treatment duration, liability disputes, insurance company cooperation, and whether litigation becomes necessary. Complex cases involving catastrophic injuries may take longer.
Simple cases with clear liability, minor injuries, and cooperative insurance companies may settle in a few months. However, you shouldn’t settle until you’ve completed treatment or reached maximum medical improvement, so your attorney can accurately value all damages including future medical needs. Cases requiring litigation generally take longer, as the court system has its own timeline for discovery, motions, and trial scheduling. Your attorney balances the need for fair compensation against the desire for quick resolution.
No. Initial settlement offers are typically far below your claim’s true value, made before you know the full extent of your injuries and future medical needs. Never accept an offer without consulting an experienced car accident attorney first.
Insurance adjusters contact victims quickly, often within days of accidents, with settlement offers that seem substantial. These quick offers serve the insurance company’s interests, not yours. They’re designed to close your claim before you understand your injuries’ full impact, need for future treatment, or total financial losses. Once you accept and sign a release, you cannot pursue additional compensation even if your injuries worsen or require more treatment than anticipated.
Louisiana’s pure comparative fault system allows you to recover damages even if you’re partially at fault, but your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you’re 30% at fault, you recover 70% of total damages.
For example, if your total damages are $100,000 and you’re found 20% at fault, you would recover $80,000. This differs from some states that bar recovery if you’re more than 50% at fault. Louisiana’s system means almost every injured person has a potential claim worth pursuing. Insurance companies often try to shift more blame to victims to reduce payouts. An experienced attorney protects you from unfair fault allocation by gathering evidence proving the other driver’s negligence.
Louisiana’s statute of limitations gives you one year from the accident date to file a personal injury lawsuit under Louisiana Civil Code Article 3492. This is one of the shortest deadlines in the United States, making immediate legal consultation critical to protecting your rights.
This one-year deadline is strictly enforced. If you miss it, you’ll typically lose your right to pursue compensation through the courts forever, regardless of how strong your case might be. Limited exceptions exist for cases involving minors, mental incapacity, or when the at-fault party leaves Louisiana. Additionally, property damage claims have a different deadline. Don’t risk your rights—contact an attorney as soon as possible after your accident.
Case value depends on injury severity, medical treatment costs, lost income, pain and suffering, permanent impairment, liability clarity, available insurance coverage, and your attorney’s negotiation skills. Each case is unique—contact Smiley Injury Law for a free evaluation of your specific situation and potential compensation.
Average settlements vary widely from a few thousand dollars for minor soft tissue injuries to millions for catastrophic injuries involving permanent disability. Factors affecting your case value include the extent and permanence of your injuries, total medical expenses (past and future), amount of lost wages and diminished earning capacity, degree of pain and suffering, impact on daily life and relationships, strength of liability evidence, and insurance policy limits available.
Seth Smiley – New Orleans Car Accident Attorney
You don’t have to face the aftermath of a car accident alone. Smiley Law Firm is here to help you hold negligent drivers accountable and seek the compensation you deserve. Call us today at (504) 822-2222 for a free consultation. Let us handle the legal side while you focus on recovering.
201 St Charles Ave Ste 2500
New Orleans LA, 70170
Phone: (504) 822-2222
Hours: M-F, 9AM-5PM
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