Auto Accident Lawyer Longmont

The insurance adjuster is already calling. They sound helpful. They say they just need a quick statement. They tell you it will speed things up. They are not on your side. They never were. And everything you say right now is being used to pay you less or deny your claim entirely.

Car accidents in Longmont happen fast. The aftermath moves even faster. Medical bills start piling up before you leave the hospital. The insurance company wants a statement before you even know the full extent of your injuries. Your car is totaled and you need it for work. The other driver’s story is already changing. And you are trying to make decisions about your legal rights while you are still in pain and scared about what comes next.

McCormick & Murphy, P.C. represents car accident victims throughout Longmont and surrounding areas including Boulder, Erie, Lafayette, and Broomfield. We have seen every tactic the insurance companies use. We know how they minimize serious injuries, dispute clear fault, and pressure injured people into settlements that do not come close to covering their actual losses. And we know exactly how to fight back.

Why the First 72 Hours After Your Longmont Car Accident Matter

The insurance company is not calling because they want to help. They are calling because the first three days after an accident are when they have the most leverage. You are confused. You are in pain. You do not know what your case is worth. And they are betting you will say something or sign something that tanks your claim before you ever talk to an attorney.

Here is what is happening behind the scenes while they sound sympathetic on the phone. They are recording everything. They are looking for inconsistencies in your story. They are searching for ways to blame you even in accidents where their driver ran a red light. They are hoping you will downplay your injuries or say you feel fine when you are actually hurt. They are trying to get you to accept fault for things that were not your fault. And they are pushing for a quick settlement before you know if you will need surgery, physical therapy, or long-term treatment.

Every recorded statement you give without an attorney is evidence they will use against you later. Every medical appointment you miss is proof your injuries were not that serious. Every day you wait to document your damages is another day they can argue your injuries came from something else. The clock is ticking and it is not in your favor.

What Actually Happens After a Car Accident in Longmont

You exchange information at the scene. The police write a report. You think the other driver’s insurance will just pay for everything because their driver was clearly at fault. Then reality hits. The adjuster calls and suddenly the other driver is claiming you changed lanes without signaling. Or that you were speeding. Or that they had a green light when you know they did not. The story is different now and you are the only one who seems surprised.

Your own insurance company is no better. You pay premiums every month assuming they will help if something like this happens. But the moment you file a claim, especially an underinsured or uninsured motorist claim, they start looking for reasons to deny it. They pull your medical records looking for pre-existing conditions. They send you to their own doctors who somehow always conclude your injuries are not as bad as you say. They delay payments hoping you will get desperate and take whatever they offer.

Meanwhile your bills are piling up. You missed work because you were too hurt or too medicated to go in. Your car is undriveable and the rental coverage ran out days ago. You are getting collection notices from the hospital. And both insurance companies are telling you this is just how it works.

It is not.

How Fault Is Determined and Why It Matters More Than You Think

Colorado is a modified comparative negligence state. That means even if you were partially at fault, you can still recover damages as long as you were not more than 50% responsible for the accident. But here is the problem. The insurance company knows this. And they will do everything possible to assign you 51% of the blame so they do not have to pay you anything.

They will point to the fact that you were in the left lane. They will claim you were distracted because your phone was in the car even if you were not using it. They will say you were speeding based on nothing but their driver’s statement. They will argue you could have avoided the accident if you had been more alert. They will twist the police report. They will find witnesses who were not really witnesses. They will do whatever it takes to shift blame onto you.

Fault determination is not about what actually happened. It is about what can be proven and how it is presented. The other driver’s insurance company has investigators and lawyers working on their version of events before you even get home from the hospital. They are building a case against you. And if you are not doing the same thing, you are already losing.

We investigate every Longmont car accident case like we are going to trial even when we are negotiating a settlement. We get the police report and the dispatch recordings. We interview witnesses before memories fade or people disappear. We work with accident reconstruction experts when needed. We pull traffic camera footage and surveillance video from nearby businesses. We document everything because we know the insurance company is doing the same thing and we refuse to let our clients get blamed for accidents they did not cause.

What Damages You Can Actually Recover in Colorado

The insurance company wants you to think damages just means your medical bills and your car repair. It does not. Not even close. But they are not going to tell you about all the other compensation you are entitled to unless you know to ask for it.

You can recover economic damages including all medical expenses, not just the bills you have received so far but the treatment you will need in the future. Surgery. Physical therapy. Follow-up appointments. Prescription medications. Medical equipment. Home health care if your injuries require it. You can recover lost wages for the time you already missed and the income you will lose if your injuries keep you from working at full capacity. You can recover property damage not just for your car but for everything in it that was destroyed.

You can also recover non-economic damages. Pain and suffering for the physical pain and emotional trauma of the accident and your injuries. Loss of enjoyment of life if your injuries prevent you from doing activities you used to love. Disfigurement and scarring. Loss of consortium if your injuries have affected your relationship with your spouse. These damages are real and they are compensable but the insurance company will fight them at every turn because they are subjective and often worth more than the economic damages.

In rare cases involving extreme recklessness or intentional misconduct, you may be entitled to punitive damages designed to punish the defendant and deter similar behavior. These are not common but they are available when the facts support them.

The adjuster will make you an offer that barely covers your medical bills and acts like they are doing you a favor. They will not mention future treatment costs or lost earning capacity or pain and suffering. They are hoping you do not know those damages exist. We make sure you get compensated for every loss you have suffered and every loss you will suffer because of someone else’s negligence.

When Your Own Insurance Company Becomes the Problem

People are always shocked when their own insurance company fights their claim. You have been paying premiums for years. You did nothing wrong. The other driver caused the accident. And now your own carrier is treating you like a fraud.

It happens more often than you think. Especially in uninsured and underinsured motorist cases. When the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough to cover your damages, you turn to your own policy for coverage. You assume it will be simple because you are their customer. But the moment you file that UIM or UM claim, the relationship changes. You are no longer their customer. You are a liability. And they will do everything legally possible to minimize what they pay.

They will claim your injuries are not as severe as you say. They will argue you did not need all that treatment. They will send you to independent medical exams that are anything but independent. They will delay and lowball and drag the process out hoping you will give up or accept a fraction of what your claim is worth. They will use every tactic the at-fault driver’s insurance would use because at the end of the day they are a business protecting their bottom line.

Colorado law requires insurance companies to act in good faith. That means they cannot unreasonably delay or deny valid claims. But bad faith is hard to prove and most people do not even know it is an option. We hold insurance companies accountable when they refuse to honor the coverage their policyholders paid for. We know the difference between hard negotiation and bad faith denial. And we are not afraid to file a lawsuit against your own carrier if that is what it takes to get you the coverage you are entitled to.

What to Do Immediately After a Longmont Car Accident

The decisions you make in the hours after an accident can determine whether you recover fair compensation or get stuck with bills you cannot pay and injuries that never fully heal. Here is what to do and what not to do.

Get medical attention even if you feel fine. Adrenaline masks pain. Some injuries including internal bleeding and traumatic brain injuries do not show symptoms right away. Going to the emergency room or an urgent care creates a medical record linking your injuries to the accident. Waiting days or weeks to see a doctor gives the insurance company ammunition to argue your injuries were not caused by the crash.

Call the police and get a report. Even in minor accidents. Even if the other driver is apologetic and offers to pay out of pocket. You need an official record of what happened. Police reports are not always accurate but they carry weight with insurance companies and juries. And if the other driver’s story changes later, the report is your proof of what was said at the scene.

Take photos and videos of everything. The damage to all vehicles. The position of the cars. Skid marks. Traffic signs and signals. Road conditions. Weather. Your injuries. The more documentation you have, the harder it is for the insurance company to dispute what happened.

Get contact information from witnesses. Not just names but phone numbers and addresses. Witnesses disappear. Memories fade. If you wait weeks to track someone down, they may not remember or may not want to get involved. Get their information at the scene.

Do not talk to the other driver’s insurance company without an attorney. They will call fast. They will sound helpful. They will ask for a recorded statement. Do not give one. Politely decline and tell them you will have your attorney contact them. Anything you say can and will be used to reduce or deny your claim.

Do not post about the accident on social media. Insurance companies monitor Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms looking for evidence to use against you. A photo of you smiling at a family gathering is not proof you are not in pain but the insurance company will use it that way. Keep your case off social media entirely.

Do not sign anything or accept any settlement offer without talking to an attorney first. Once you sign a release, your claim is over. You cannot come back later when you realize the settlement did not cover your future medical expenses or when your injuries turn out to be more serious than you thought. Get legal advice before you sign anything.

What Happens When the Other Driver Has No Insurance

Colorado law requires minimum liability coverage but not everyone follows the law. And even drivers with insurance often carry the bare minimum which is nowhere near enough to cover serious injuries. When you are hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver, your options change.

If you have uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy, that coverage steps in to compensate you for your injuries up to your policy limits. Same with underinsured motorist coverage when the at-fault driver has some insurance but not enough. This is why UM and UIM coverage is so important. It protects you when the other driver cannot or will not.

But collecting on your own UM or UIM policy is rarely simple. Your insurance company will investigate your claim just as aggressively as if you were suing them directly because essentially you are. They will dispute liability. They will dispute damages. They will argue you did not exhaust the at-fault driver’s policy limits first. They will do everything they can to avoid paying the full amount you are owed.

You may also have the option to sue the at-fault driver directly. Most people assume this is pointless if the driver has no money or no insurance. Sometimes that is true. But not always. Some uninsured drivers have assets that can be reached through a judgment. And in cases involving extreme negligence or intentional conduct, other parties such as employers or vehicle owners may share liability.

We evaluate every possible source of recovery in uninsured and underinsured motorist cases. Your own UM and UIM coverage. The at-fault driver’s personal assets. Third parties who may share responsibility. We do not leave money on the table because the insurance company tells you there is nothing they can do.

How Pre-Existing Conditions Are Used Against You

If you had back pain before the accident, the insurance company will blame all your current back pain on the pre-existing condition. If you were ever treated for depression, they will argue your emotional distress is not related to the crash. If your medical records mention any prior injury anywhere on your body, they will use it to devalue your claim.

This is one of the most common and most unfair tactics in personal injury cases. Colorado law is clear. You are entitled to compensation if the accident aggravated or worsened a pre-existing condition. The insurance company cannot just point to an old injury and refuse to pay for the new harm their insured caused. But they try anyway because most people do not know their rights and will not fight back.

We work with medical experts who can document how the accident made your condition worse. We show the difference between managing a chronic issue and the acute trauma caused by a car crash. We prove causation through medical records, diagnostic tests, and expert testimony. We do not let insurance companies use your medical history as an excuse to deny valid claims.

The Difference Between What They Offer and What Your Case Is Worth

The first settlement offer is almost never fair. It is a starting point designed to get you to go away as cheaply as possible. The adjuster knows most people do not know what their case is worth. They know you are overwhelmed and in pain and desperate to put this behind you. And they are counting on you to accept their lowball offer because you do not realize you are entitled to more.

Calculating the value of a car accident case is complex. It depends on the severity of your injuries, the clarity of liability, your medical expenses and lost income, the impact on your daily life, the strength of the evidence, the credibility of witnesses, and dozens of other factors. Insurance companies have software that spits out settlement ranges based on these variables. But the software does not account for the full human cost of your injuries. It does not care that you cannot pick up your kids or sleep through the night or do your job the way you used to.

We evaluate every case based on the actual damages our client has suffered and will suffer, not what an algorithm says the case is worth. We build a demand package that documents every loss with medical records, bills, employment records, expert opinions, and personal testimony. We show the insurance company exactly what we can prove at trial if they refuse to make a fair offer. And we are prepared to go to trial when necessary because we know that is the only language some insurance companies understand.

Why You Need a Longmont Car Accident Attorney

You do not have to hire an attorney to file a car accident claim. You can negotiate with the insurance company yourself. But here is what you are up against. The adjuster handling your case does this every single day. They have been trained to minimize payouts. They know every trick to devalue your claim. They have company lawyers backing them up. And they are playing a game where they know all the rules and you do not.

You get one chance to resolve your claim. If you settle for too little because you did not understand what you were entitled to, it is over. If you miss the statute of limitations deadline because you thought you had more time, it is over. If you give a recorded statement that contradicts your later testimony, your case is damaged beyond repair. The mistakes you make at the beginning can haunt you for years.

An experienced car accident attorney levels the playing field. We know what your case is worth because we have handled hundreds like it. We know the tactics the insurance companies will use because we see them every day. We know how to investigate and document and prove damages in ways that maximize your recovery. We deal with the adjusters and the paperwork and the deadlines so you can focus on healing. And we are not afraid to take your case to trial if the insurance company refuses to make a fair offer.

McCormick & Murphy Represents Car Accident Victims Throughout Longmont and Boulder County

Kirk McCormick and Jay Murphy founded this firm to fight for people who have been injured through no fault of their own. We represent car accident victims in Longmont, Boulder, Erie, Lafayette, Louisville, Broomfield, Superior, and surrounding communities throughout Colorado. We know the local courts. We know the insurance companies that handle most claims in this area. And we know how to win.

We do not charge anything upfront. We work on a contingency fee basis which means we only get paid if we recover compensation for you. You do not pay for consultations or investigations or expert witnesses or filing fees. We cover all the costs of pursuing your claim and we only get reimbursed if we win. If we do not recover money for you, you owe us nothing.

Every case starts with a free consultation where we listen to what happened, answer your questions, and explain your options. We will tell you honestly whether we think you have a case and what we believe it is worth. We will explain the process and the timeline and what to expect. And if we take your case, we will fight for every dollar you are entitled to.

Call 888-668-1182 to speak with a Longmont car accident attorney today. The insurance company is already building a case against you. It is time you had someone building one for you.