What Do I Need to Know About Motorcycle Accident Law?
Motorcycle accidents and car accidents are handled differently. The same basic injury laws apply, but motorcycle cases bring different challenges.
You face more than a simple insurance claim. You face bias against riders, serious injury issues, difficult fault disputes, and insurance companies that know how to use stereotypes against you.
In this guide, we explain what to do after a motorcycle accident, what mistakes to avoid, what compensation you can recover, and why these cases need a different legal strategy. We also cover fault disputes, settlement talks, trial risks, wrongful death claims, and the ways insurance companies fight motorcycle accident cases.
What Should I Do Immediately After a Motorcycle Accident to Protect My Case?
Get medical care right away. Some injuries get worse after the shock wears off. Medical records also help connect your injuries to the crash.
Call the police, take photos, get witnesses’ names, and save anything tied to the accident. Keep medical bills, repair estimates, insurance letters, and photos of your motorcycle and damaged gear.
Talk to a motorcycle accident lawyer before dealing with the insurance company. Early legal help protects evidence, keeps unfair blame from taking hold, and gives you a better plan from the start.
What Mistakes Can Ruin My Motorcycle Accident Case?
Some mistakes seriously hurt a motorcycle accident case. Waiting too long to get medical care is one of the biggest ones. Gaps in treatment give the insurance company an excuse to say you weren’t badly hurt or that something else caused your injuries.
Missed doctor appointments also hurt your case. So does giving a recorded statement without legal advice, posting about the crash online, repairing your motorcycle before it is documented, or waiting too long to contact a lawyer.
You should also avoid guessing about what happened. Stick to the facts. Small statements get twisted later, especially when the insurance company is looking for ways to blame you.
What Compensation Can I Recover After a Motorcycle Accident?
After a motorcycle accident, you’re left with real losses. You’ve got medical bills, missed work, damaged property, pain, and stress. A motorcycle accident claim is meant to hold the at-fault party responsible for those losses.
When you win your motorcycle accident case, you can recover money for:
- Property damage – repair or replace your motorcycle
- Medical bills, past and future
- Lost wages, past and future
- Pain and suffering
- Other losses tied to your specific case
Learn more about compensation below:
- Compensation available in a Texas motorcycle accident case
- Overview of insurance available for motorcycle claims
- Filing an underinsured or uninsured motorist claim
Do I Have a Case if I Was Partly at Fault for the Accident?
You may still have a case if you were partly at fault for the motorcycle accident, as long as you weren’t mostly responsible. Texas uses a proportionate responsibility rule. Your level of fault affects how much money you’re eligible to receive.
If you are 50% or less at fault, your compensation is reduced by that percentage. So, if you are 20% at fault and your damages are $100,000, your recovery is reduced by 20%. You walk away with $80,000. If you are more than 50% responsible, you get no compensation from the other party.
This is why fault disputes matter so much in motorcycle accident cases. Insurance companies blame the victim whenever they see an opening. They use old stereotypes, unclear evidence, and small details from the crash to shift blame onto you. A lawyer reviews the evidence, challenges unfair blame, and shows what really happened.
Will My Case Go to Court or Settle Out of Court?
Many motorcycle accident cases settle before trial. Still, you need to prepare your case as if it will go to court. That puts you in the strongest position during settlement talks.
Your case is more likely to settle when the evidence is strong, your injuries are well documented, and the insurance company understands the risk of facing a jury.
However, a case is more likely to go to court if the other side denies fault, disputes the severity of your injuries, or refuses to offer fair compensation for your losses.
How Is a Motorcycle Accident Case Different from a Car Accident Case?
Motorcycle accident cases are different from car accident cases in several important ways.
1. Jury Bias in Dallas Motorcycle Accident Cases
Jury bias creates one of the biggest challenges in a motorcycle accident case. Many people have pre-existing opinions about riders. They assume you were speeding, driving recklessly, or taking risks before they even know the facts.
That bias affects your case. A jury decides what your case is worth. If jurors walk into the courtroom with the wrong ideas about motorcyclists, your lawyer needs to deal with that bias directly.
Some people picture something negative when they hear the word “lawyer.” Strong stereotypes shape those opinions. The same thing happens with motorcyclists. A few bad riders shape the way many people view all riders.
Your lawyer needs a strategy that gets past those assumptions. The jury needs to see you as a real person, not a stereotype. They need to understand your family, your work, your riding experience, and your safe track record.
Your lawyer should:
- Help the jury get to know you
- Help the jury understand your family and your life
- Show the parts of your life that have nothing to do with motorcycles
- Put your riding experience and safe track record front and center
The facts matter. But in motorcycle cases, the jury’s view of you also matters. Your lawyer needs to address unfair assumptions early so the rest of the case is judged on the evidence.
2. Evidence Bias in Dallas Motorcycle Injury Cases
Jury bias creates serious challenges. Evidence bias creates another problem.
Many police officers investigate motorcycle accidents with some of the same assumptions jurors have. Those assumptions affect how evidence is reviewed, how drivers are questioned, and how reports are written.
That doesn’t mean every officer is biased. It means you need your own investigation. Your lawyer shouldn’t rely only on the police report. They need to review the scene, talk to witnesses, inspect the vehicles, and look for evidence that the report missed.
We’ve seen this problem before. In one case, our Dallas motorcycle accident lawyers represented a rider who was sideswiped by a cab that cut across three lanes of traffic. Our client suffered major injuries and went straight to the hospital. He never had a chance to tell the investigating officer what happened.
The officer took the cab driver’s statement and built the report around that version of events. That report was wrong. We later found unbiased eyewitnesses who explained what really happened. That evidence helped us win the case.
Evidence matters. You need a lawyer who knows how to find it, protect it, and get it in front of the jury.
3. Damages and Losses are Considerably Different in Motorcycle Accident Claims
Car accidents lead to serious injuries. Motorcycle accidents often lead to worse ones.
As a rider, you have little protection from the force of a crash. When a car or truck hits you, your body takes the impact. You may suffer broken bones, head injuries, spinal injuries, road rash, surgeries, and long recovery periods.
When you suffer a serious injury, you may face high medical bills and lose income. Those losses often lead to major legal disputes.
Insurance companies fight harder when more money is at stake. A small claim with low medical bills often draws less resistance. A motorcycle claim with major injuries, future treatment, and lost income gets attacked from every angle.
That’s why your lawyer needs to know the full value of your injuries, what evidence proves fault, and how much insurance coverage is available before asking the insurance company for payment. In some cases, your lawyer will send a Stowers Demand to the at-fault party’s insurance company, a formal offer to settle the claim within policy limits.
Read about how a Stowers Demand works here.
4. Defense Strategy is Different for Motorcycle Accident Injury Cases
In motorcycle accident cases, the defense takes a very distinct approach. They know many people already have opinions about riders. And they use those opinions whenever they get the chance.
The defense lawyer often points to the motorcycle itself. They frame riding as risky. They look for ways to make it seem like you’re at fault. They downplay the other driver’s choices and shift the attention onto you.
Motorcycle defense attorneys can argue “assumption of risk”
The other side may also argue that you accepted the danger because you chose to ride a motorcycle. They want the jury to believe you should be judged differently from someone in a car.
That argument misses the point. The danger in many motorcycle crashes comes from careless drivers. Drivers speed, drift between lanes, run red lights, follow too closely, and fail to yield. Many drivers also fail to see motorcycles because they are smaller than cars. When that happens, the rider pays the price.
Your lawyer will bring the focus back where it belongs: on the driver who caused the crash.
Motorcycle accident defense attorneys can argue that your special license imposes a special duty
Everyone has duties under the law. Drivers have rules to follow. Property owners, professionals, and people with certain licenses also have specific responsibilities.
Defense lawyers sometimes use that idea against motorcyclists. They claim that because you ride a motorcycle, you should be held to a higher standard than other drivers. They want the jury to believe you had a special duty to avoid the crash, even when another driver caused it.
That argument goes too far. A motorcycle license doesn’t make you responsible for every careless driver on the road. It doesn’t excuse a driver who failed to yield, changed lanes unsafely, followed too closely, or didn’t watch for motorcycles on the road.
We push back against that argument whenever the defense raises it.
What if a Family Member Was Killed in a Motorcycle Accident?
If your family member was killed in a motorcycle accident, your family deserves clear answers. In Texas, certain family members have the right to bring a wrongful death claim after a fatal crash.
Fatal motorcycle crashes need to be investigated right away because evidence doesn’t last. Vehicles can be repaired or disposed of within hours. Witnesses become harder to find over time. Plus, insurance companies start working on their defenses as soon as they find out about the collision.
A legal claim can’t undo what happened. But filing a wrongful death case can help your family get answers, hold the responsible party accountable, and address the financial harm caused by the crash.
How Can a Dallas Motorcycle Accident Attorney Help Me?
As you can see, motorcycle accident victims have their work cut out for them. But our law firm is always up for the challenge.
We believe motorcyclists deserve the same treatment as everyone else. For over 35 years, that belief has shaped how we represent motorcycle accident clients.
If you have any questions about your rights or want to talk to an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer, we’re ready to help. Call Grossman Law Offices any time, day or night, at (855) 326-0000 to talk through a strategy for your case.
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