Trusted Car Accident Lawyer Gold Coast

Car Accidents and Road Injuries

Car accidents and road injuries occur everyday.

They occur as a result of driving a motor vehicle or in connection with a motor vehicle which happens on Queensland roads. Lockett McCullough Lawyers provide our service to Gold Coast residents if they are involved in a car accident.

We have three offices and we can assist you wherever you are located in Queensland. We also offer home and hospital visits if this is more suitable to you.

Lockett McCullough Lawyers have experienced car accident lawyers who can give advice on a wide range of car accidents and related personal injury whether you are a driver, passenger, rider, pedestrian or cyclist.

Contact us for a no obligation free consultation to assess your entitlements to compensation and to discuss the personal injury claims process in Gold Coast.

It will cost you nothing to speak with us as we offer “no win no fee” payment arrangements in approved cases which means you only pay us if you are successful in a claim for compensation.

What to do if you’ve suffered a car or motor vehicle accident on the Gold Coast?

If you’re involved in a road accident of any kind you should : –

1. Consider if there are people injured? Contact Emergency Services including Ambulance, Police and/or Fire Service;

2. Exchange contact details with the other driver.

It is important to get the registration number of the other vehicle if nothing else;

3. Get witnesses detail (if any);

4. Take notes of what happened, take photographs of the accident scene, of the damage to the cars involved or if you have a dash camera, secure the footage;

5. See a Doctor and have all your injuries documented.

You should then call us, Lockett McCullough Lawyers Gold Coast for a free “no obligation” consultation about your personal injury claim and making a claim through the “at fault” vehicles CTP Insurance.

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The Steps

To make a compensation claim from a car accident, the first step is for you to provide to our experienced motor vehicle accidents lawyers all the information that you can provide. This can include:

1. Details of the ‘at fault’ vehicle;

2. Reporting the car accident to the police;

3. Details of any witnesses at the car accident;

4. Documents and other evidence including:

• Photographs
• Medical certificates / reports
• Details of all your treating doctors, hospitals, or any allied health provider (ie physiotherapist);
• Payslips

During the course of your car accident claim, our experienced Gold Coast car accident lawyers will investigate and gather all evidence that we need and will regularly seek updates from you and verify them with you so that we can accurately and thoroughly prepare your case.

We can then prepare the ‘initial notice’ called the Notice of Accident Claim (“NOAC”). This document is sent in the relevant timeframes (detailed below) to the relevant CTP Insurer.

The third step is called a “disclosure” phase where your lawyer gathers evidence and gives a copy to the insurer. This includes documents like:

(a) Your employment history and income tax records;

(b) Your medical history from your treating doctors

and other medical or allied health professionals;

Once your car accident injuries have been treated and stabilised, our experienced car accident lawyers and the CTP Insurer will require you to be examined by an independent medical specialist (like an Orthopaedic Surgeon) who will conduct an examination of your injuries.

This usually occurs between 9 – 12 months after your car accident injuries. These medical specialists need to provide expert evidence about the permanent effects of your injuries.

After this evidence is obtained, our experienced lawyers can undertake a detailed analysis of your claim for compensation.

Your claim will be set down for a “Compulsory Conference” which is essentially an informal face to face discussion with a claims officer for the CTP Insurer and at which time negotiations start in an effort to resolve your matter.

If your matter is unable to be settled at the Compulsory Conference stage, formal Court proceedings need to be filed in Court within 60 days following that conference.

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Should I pursue a personal injury compensation claim?

The factors that you should consider in relation to whether or not you think pursuing an accident claim are:

(a) How bad is my injury?

(b) Is my injury causing me to lose time at work –now or in the future?

(c) Do I need medical treatment and rehabilitation for my injuries?

How long will your compensation claim take to settle?

How long a car accident compensation claim takes ultimately depends on the level of seriousness of your injury. The more serious injuries (such as brain injuries or spinal cord injuries) will take far longer

than the ‘average’ claim.

Other factors which may delay the progress of a claim include the attitude of the CTP Insurer to your claim or if there is delay in the court process.

In saying that, in our experience the majority of claims will usually take between 12 months – 2 years to settle out of Court. If your matter nears a trial in Court or goes to Court, this could add an additional 12 months to the resolution of your claim.

Time Limits

Strict time limits apply for making a claim for motor vehicle accident compensation in Queensland.

You must send to the CTP Insurer a Notice of Accident Claim form:

(a) Within one (1) month of consulting a lawyer (this includes the day you speak to a lawyer on the phone about your potential claim); or

(b) Within nine (9) months of the date of your motor vehicle accident where there is an identified vehicle.

If you can’t or haven’t sent a Notice of Accident Claim form within the above timeframes, you may still be able to pursue your claim if you have a “reasonable excuse” for delay and our experienced car accident and compensation lawyers can assist you with this.

If the vehicle is unregistered or unknown – you must send a Notice of Accident Claim form to the Nominal Defendant within 3 months of the date of your motor vehicle accident.

Most importantly, in Queensland you must commence a motor vehicle accident claim within three (3) years of the date of your injury.

If you are under the age of 18 years when you suffered your motor vehicle accident you must commence your claim before your 21st birthday.

You should seek legal advice as soon as possible.

Contact our experienced Gold Coast car accident/motor vehicle accident lawyers now for a no obligation free consultation on your injury compensation enquiry.

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No Win No Fee

Lockett McCullough Lawyers offers “no win no fee” payment arrangements for any approved car accident or motor accident injury compensation claim. This means that you pay nothing upfront for your legal fees or expenses in pursuing your legal claim.

In these approved cases, this will include your professional legal costs and expenses required to conduct your case (ie costs for medical evidence)

You can contact us and sit down with our car accident lawyer and let us discuss your case on a no obligation basis and find out how we can help you and the prospects of success and it won’t cost you anything. If you proceed with us we can help you get

“No win no fee” means that you don’t need to pay upfront and you do not need to pay us until you receive lump sum compensation.

Contact Us

If you were injured in an accident, our team of professional Gold Coast motor vehicle accident lawyers at Lockett McCullough Lawyers can offer a no obligation free consultation to discuss your personal injury claim and how we may be able to help.

Call us or fill out the form at the top of this page to have a no obligation consultation.