A Car Accident Lawyer's Story
My name is Terry Crouppen. I am a senior partner here at Brown and Crouppen. I’ve worked on car accident injury cases for over 25 years. In that time, I’ve worked with a lot of good people who’ve had their lives dramatically changed, in an instant, because of the carelessness of another driver. I’ve been privileged to be able to help them put their lives back together. Today, after a lot of hard work, I’m proud to say that my law firm Brown and Crouppen is one of the Midwest’s largest car accident injury firms.

The magnitude of America’s car accident problem is staggering. Every year there are more then 5 million motor vehicle accidents. Every day of every year 115 people die on our roads, that’s over 40,000 yearly or almost the same number who died in the Vietnam War. In addition almost 3,500,000 are injured and the economic cost directly resulting from these car accidents amounts to over $150,000,000,000 yearly. These incredible statistics give some idea why we at Brown and Crouppen devote so much of our time to car accident cases.

Let me share with you what I look for in evaluating a car accident case at Brown and Crouppen. Every successful case has three key elements. These elements are liability, injury and insurance. All three elements must be present or the case will fail.

At the beginning of every case is liability. Liability is just a lawyer’s way of determining who was to blame for the accident. It is the first hurdle you must get over to have a winning case. Essentially, liability means, it was more someone else’s fault then your own. If your accident was mostly your fault, it will generally fail and you won’t recover. 

Once the liability issue is decided in your favor then you must prove you were injured by the carelessness of the other party. The injuries we work on at Brown and Crouppen range from simple back or neck strains to very serious injury and death cases. The key is, there must be some physical harm done. I can’t tell you how many people have called me over the years and said “ I could have been killed in the accident.” They then usually go on to relate that in fact they were not harmed physically in any way. I then have to explain that the law does not compensate for harm that “could have happened” only harm actually done. So the second essential element I look for in a potential car accident claim is physical injury. 

In almost every culture there is a phrase like the one my grandmother used. She would say “you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.” This phrase brings me to the third and last element I look for to determine if a person has a car accident case worth pursuing. This element can be summed up in one word, money. Does the careless party who caused your injury have any money to compensate you for the harm done? In today’s world this question is usually determined by whether the careless party has car insurance or in some cases whether or not you had the good sense to buy what’s known as uninsured motorist car insurance which protects you if you’re hit by an uninsured driver. In any event a successful case requires a source of money to pay the compensation asked for, if there is no money there is no case.

So, now you know the elements of a successful car accident case, liability, injury and insurance. Obviously these are just the basics, but they should enable you to determine if your accident is one that you want to pursue further.

At Brown and Crouppen we’ve handled thousands of car accident cases.

Brown & Crouppen can help you make informed decisions about your legal rights, so please call Brown & Crouppen at 1-800-536-HELP for your free legal consultation or save time with our online Contact Form.
 

Hello my name is Tommy J. Believe me the last thing I ever wanted to be was the client of a personal injury lawyer. Don’t get me wrong the people at Brown and Crouppen have been great but this car wreck has really been tough on me and my family.  December 5, 2001 is a day I’ll never forget, I was riding with some friends after work when the driver of the car lost control and ran into the side of a building.   CONTINUE

If you’ve been in a car accident it’s important to understand the “real” agenda of the insurance company in your case. See, insurance companies exist for one purpose only, to make money. Insurance companies make money by selling insurance and receiving premium payments, they then invest this money and make even more money. Insurance companies lose money by paying out benefits (money) to people hurt in car accidents caused by the people they insure.  CONTINUE

Call Brown & Crouppen at 1-800-536-HELP for your free legal consultation or save time with our online Contact Form.

1-800-536-HELP