Were you or a loved one injured in a car accident involving a taxi in Oklahoma City, OK? It’s important to understand your legal options. You may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and your personal pain and suffering. An experienced Oklahoma City taxi accident lawyer at Laird Hammons Laird Personal Injury Lawyers can help you fight for the money you need and deserve.
Our team has over 95 years of combined experience in personal injury law. Since we started our law firm in 2009, we’ve helped our satisfied clients recover over $100 million in settlements and verdicts.
Let us handle the details so you can focus on recovering. Call our law offices in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at (405) 497-0480 to schedule a free consultation today.
How Laird Hammons Laird Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help After a Taxi Accident in Oklahoma City
While taxis are convenient, they can also complicate matters when they’re involved in car accidents. You may be dealing with complex insurance issues. It can be tough to know who is responsible for paying your bills–it could be the taxi driver, their boss, or someone else entirely.
Our Oklahoma City personal injury attorneys can help you navigate every complexity you face. We’ve been fighting for clients like you for decades. We know the laws inside and out–and we know how the insurance companies work.
When you hire our legal team to handle your case, we will:
- Listen, answer questions, and make sure you understand what to expect
- Promptly begin our own investigation into the crash
- Analyze and compile evidence to build your case
- Hire specialists when their expertise can strengthen your claim
- Evaluate your losses and calculate your case value
- Protect you when you’re blamed for the accident
- Negotiate for a full settlement award
Whether you are a taxi passenger or simply walking down the street, a taxi crash can change your life in unexpected ways. Call our Oklahoma City personal injury lawyers for the legal guidance you deserve today.
What Is My Oklahoma City Taxi Accident Case Worth?
Personal injury lawyers hear this question every single day. Unfortunately, it’s not an easy question to answer. Before we can offer insight into your possible case value, our team will evaluate your unique situation.
Some of the key factors that will impact the value of your personal injury case include:
- The nature and severity of your injuries
- Your medical treatment costs
- Your need for ongoing medical care, rehabilitation, therapy, and more (and the cost)
- The value of your lost wages
- Whether you’ll return to work in the same capacity or suffer a permanent disability
- Your emotional trauma and physical pain
Often, the amount of available insurance coverage will limit the victim’s compensation award. Taxis in Oklahoma are required to purchase additional insurance coverage.
The taxi company’s insurance must provide at least:
- $25,000 in coverage for bodily injury liability or death per victim
- $50,000 in coverage for bodily injury liability or death per accident, when there are two or more victims
- $25,000 in property damage coverage
You can count on our lawyers to put in the time and evaluate the facts of your case carefully. Once we understand the details, we can help you work to recover every available dollar.
What Types of Damages Are Available to Victims of Taxi Accidents in Oklahoma City?
Taxi accidents can disrupt your life in many different ways. Under Oklahoma personal injury laws, you deserve to be compensated for all of the damage caused by the accident. Those damages include economic damages and non-economic damages.
Economic damages compensate for all of your financial losses and out-of-pocket expenses, including:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning potential
- Physical therapy
- Nursing care
- Vehicle repair costs and other property damage
Non-economic damages compensate for physical and emotional suffering, and often include:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Anxiety
- Depression
- PTSD
- Diminished quality of life
- Physical disfigurement and scarring
- Loss of consortium
Putting a price tag on these non-financial losses can be incredibly difficult. The insurance companies will go to great lengths to downplay your personal losses–after all, you won’t have a receipt to prove their value.
If you were seriously hurt, it’s critical to have an experienced lawyer representing you during the insurance negotiation process. Your lawyer can compare your case to similar cases that have been settled with the insurance and bring in experts to establish your case value.
How Much Does It Cost To Hire a Lawyer in Oklahoma City?
Our lawyers in Oklahoma City work on a contingency fee basis. That means our fees depend, or are “contingent,” on the amount of compensation we recover in your case. If your case is successful and we recover compensation, our lawyers get a percentage of that compensation award.
In other words, we only get paid if you do. Contact us today to learn more about the contingency fee payment system and how it will work in your case.
Can I Recover Damages if a Taxi Accident in Oklahoma Was Partially My Fault?
If you share some fault for the crash, your compensation will be reduced. It’s even possible that you could lose your right to recover any compensation at all.
Oklahoma has adopted modified comparative negligence laws. If you’re assigned some blame, but less than 51% of the blame, your compensation is reduced by that percentage. Once your share of fault reaches 51%, you lose your right to compensation.
Our lawyers will work hard to respond to allegations of shared blame on your behalf. We’ll aim to ensure as little responsibility is assigned to you as possible.
Our Attorneys in OKC Will Fight To Recover Compensation for All of Your Injuries
Taxi accident victims can suffer a wide range of injuries. Some victims heal and move on with their lives quickly. Others face months, if not years, of rehabilitation and pain.
At Laird Hammons Laird Personal Injury Lawyers, our team represents victims in all types of injury cases, including those involving:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Broken bones
- Nerve damage
- Whiplash injuries
- Soft tissue damage
- Facial injuries
- Neck injuries
- Concussions
- Back injuries
- Organ damage
- Burns
- Amputations
- Paralysis
- Catastrophic injuries
- Wrongful death of a loved one
Recovering from these types of injuries is often a slow process. Remember that it’s never too early to consult a lawyer about your rights after an accident. We offer free case reviews, so give us a call to learn more about your legal options today.
What Causes Most Taxi Accidents in Oklahoma City, OK?
Taking a cab in OKC can be extremely convenient. You don’t have to worry about parking and, under normal circumstances, you can relax and let the cab driver worry about watching the roads.
Still, there is no guarantee that a taxi won’t get involved in an accident. Cab drivers are often in a hurry to maximize the number of rides they complete every day. Since they spend so much time behind the wheel, they’re also prone to distraction and fatigue.
Most cab accidents happen because of negligent driving behavior, including:
- Speeding
- Texting while driving
- Distracted driving
- Failure to yield the right-of-way
- Tailgating
- Fatigued taxi drivers
- Aggressive driving
- Weaving through lanes
- Running a red light or stop sign
- Drunk driving
- Drugged driving
Factors apart from driver error can also contribute to taxi accidents. Hazardous road conditions, poorly maintained cabs, and even inclement weather can all contribute to the cause of a crash.
How Do I Prove Negligence After a Taxi Accident in Oklahoma?
Liability isn’t always clear after an accident. Even if the police report assigns blame, that’s not always conclusive. As the victim, you must prove that someone else was responsible in order to recover damages. Typically, that means offering proof of negligence.
Negligence means:
- A legal duty of care existed (all drivers have a duty to obey traffic laws and exercise caution behind the wheel)
- A breach of duty occurred
- The breach was the direct cause of your accident
- You suffered damages, or harm
After a taxi crash, you may be dealing with a commercial insurance policy. Multiple parties may share blame for the same crash. You may see a lot of finger-pointing. Our lawyers will gather all of the evidence to prove who was ultimately responsible for the crash.
Examples of responsible parties in a cab accident case include:
- A negligent taxi driver
- The taxi company, as the driver’s employer
- Third-party motorists
- Manufacturers of defective vehicles or safety equipment
- Mechanics hired to maintain the taxi fleet
- Government agencies responsible for licensing and oversight
It’s always possible that more than one party might owe you compensation after a crash.
How Long Do I Have To File a Lawsuit After a Taxi Accident in Oklahoma?
Under Oklahoma personal injury laws, you have just two years to file a lawsuit. The two-year statute of limitations applies if the defendant was a private party. However, if a government agency is a defendant, you’ll have to follow special rules–and you’ll have much less time to get the ball rolling.
Reach out to our personal injury law firm in OKC as soon as you can to confirm the applicable time limit for your case.
Contact a Trusted Oklahoma City Taxi Accident Lawyer for a Free Consultation
There’s never any risk when you call Laird Hammons Laird Personal Injury Lawyers for legal advice. We offer free consultations so that you can sit down with an experienced Oklahoma City taxi accident lawyer and explore your legal options. Just call our law firm today to schedule yours.