Frequently Asked Questions

Yes.  It is necessary to prove that the driver of the other vehicle caused the wreck by being negligent.  Negligence is the failure to use ordinary care.  Negligence in a car wreck in North Carolina means the failure to obey the rules of the road that we are all familiar with including not following too close, not making an improper lane change, yielding the right of way when required, not speeding, keeping a proper lookout, and keeping your car under proper control.  In addition, the law of North Carolina that applies to automobile accidents in the law of contributory negligence which says that if the person who was hurt was even 1 percent at-fault in causing an accident, then they are not entitled to recover anything.  This harsh law is not the rule in most states in the United States but is the law of Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and the state of Alabama.  In these states, in order to recover compensation, it is necessary that the person who is hurt show that they were free from fault themselves in causing the car accident.
About the editors: The motto at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharplaw firm is simple -“All we do is injury law.” We hope you were able to find the answer to your injury query. If not, please review our North and South Carolina Accident Attorney FAQ library for additional information. If you’d like to speak to an actual attorney about your potential injury claim for free, please contact our office at (833) 997-1774.

The “court reporter” is an independent licensed stenographer that is not an employee of the court system (some courts do employ court reporters, but those court reporters transcribe court hearings or trials. Depositions are normally not held at the courthouse but rather at any suitable conference room or an attorney’s office conference room). In every city there are court reporting firms that have licensed court reporter stenographers on staff who are essentially independent contractors. An attorney simply calls up a court reporter for the area and asks that the court reporter cover a deposition and that court reporter is paid through a bill provided to the injured person’s attorney or if the deposition is requested by the insurance lawyer or the defense lawyer, that lawyer is obligated to pay the appearance costs and fees for typing up each page of the deposition they order. Ultimately, no matter who wants a copy of the deposition transcribed, the court reporting company bills per page for the deposition transcript, and these days attorneys often receive both a hard copy and an e-mail copy of the deposition testimony of the witness. The longer the deposition, the more pages, which translates to more cost billed by the court reporter.
About the editors: The motto at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharplaw firm is simple -“All we do is injury law.” We hope you were able to find the answer to your injury query. If not, please review our North and South Carolina Accident Attorney FAQ library for additional information. If you’d like to speak to an actual attorney about your potential injury claim for free, please contact our office at (833) 997-1774.

Yes. Loss of consortium is, essentially, losing the benefits of the marital relationship due to injuries to one’s spouse. Recovery for loss of consortium includes damages for the loss of services, society, companionship, sexual gratification and affection. If the injury to the married person is serious and permanent, an insurance company may be forced by a claim or lawsuit to pay not only the person hurt, but also the spouse for harm.BE

Many people are often reluctant to make claims against friends or family members’ insurance policies in the event of a car wreck. What you should know is that the entire purpose of auto insurance is to cover accidents like the one you’ve been in. In that regard you should have no qualms about making a claim against the individual to recover from your injuries. Most times the injury claim will be settled and your friend will probably not even know it’s happening. 

Accident lawyers representing people who get hurt on the road regularly encounter the situation where our client does not know the insurance information for the person who caused the wreck.  We can help figure this out for you.  There are several situations that are common including that you got taken away by an ambulance to the emergency room at the hospital so quickly because of your serious injuries that no one ever gave you the insurance information for the person who was negligent in causing the wreck.  The second situation is that the defendant, at fault driver, did not have any insurance but was afraid to admit that to the police and so just said they didn’t know the name at the time.  Finally, a third very common problem that I’ve seen over my 20 years of doing motor vehicle accidents is that the trucker or out-of-state motorist has some obscure insurance that you have never heard of.As your injury lawyer, I can help locate the auto insurance of the bad guy, or as quickly as possible determine for you if there isn’t any.  This is part of what you’re paying me to do.  We have a database of insurance companies so we may be able to find the insurance companythe trucking company said it had on its vehicle even if it is a small, out-of-state company and not the usual State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, GEICO, USAA, or Progressive.  Also, a letter from the lawyer to the driver who struck you, or his company if he was driving on the job, will quickly get their attention and make them give us the correct insurance information.  If it turns out the negligent driver didn’t have any insurance, then we quickly try to establish that fact for you, in which case we may have to go to your insurance company’s uninsured motorist coverage to step in the shoes as if the other guy’s insurance.
About the editors: The motto at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharplaw firm is simple -“All we do is injury law.” We hope you were able to find the answer to your injury query. If not, please review our North and South Carolina Accident Attorney FAQ library for additional information. If you’d like to speak to an actual attorney about your potential injury claim for free, please contact our office at (833) 997-1774.