Liability source accident regulation
The regulation of traffic accidents, particularly those involving personal injuries, is a complex matter.
Maximilian Kaltenegger
Lawyer
The commissioned lawyer must keep an eye on a large number of different damage positions and assert them with the other party involved in the accident or their liability insurer. If certain damage items have not yet (finally) occurred, the lawyer must at least ensure that a later statute of limitations for the corresponding claims is excluded as far as possible.
If the lawyer makes a mistake in the accident regulation, it can cost the client money; Six-figure sums are quickly reached, particularly when dealing with major personal injuries. Few clients will be able to consider lost claims of this magnitude as a “mere annoyance”, which is why the lawyer responsible for accident regulation is regularly asked.
An example from our practice:
Practical example: Failure to assert the housekeeping damage
Our client suffered serious injuries in a traffic accident, as a result of which he was no longer or only partially able to manage his household independently (so-called housekeeping damage). Nonetheless, he did not avail himself of paid help from third parties (nursing staff or similar), but rather struggled through - with the help of family members - as far as possible.
Our client's attorneys at the time, who were commissioned to regulate the accident, only asserted claims for damages and claims for damages due to the treatment costs to the person who caused the accident or his liability insurer. Although it was already obvious from the seriousness of our client's injuries that there was also financial management damage, they did not claim it.
Since he managed the household himself despite his limitations or his household was managed free of charge by family members, our client initially did not think anything because - at least it felt - he had not experienced any "immediate financial disadvantage". After all, he didn't use any third-party help.
Only years later did our client learn that there is a claim for compensation for the housekeeping damage even if no third-party help is used; in the amount of the costs that would have arisen if a person had to be paid for the housekeeping.
Common consequence: limitation of claims
When our client then asserted his housekeeping damage against the opponent of the accident or his liability insurer, the latter rightly appealed to the statute of limitations, because our client's lawyers at the time had also failed to take appropriate limitation-reducing measures.
"Lifeline": Legal liability
Finally, in order to help our client to compensate for his budgetary damage, we brought an action against our client's attorneys at the time. With success!
The reason for this was that it is one of the essential obligations from the client relationship to protect the client from damage that may arise from the limitation of claims. According to settled case law, the lawyer is required to at least ensure that the limitation of the claims of his client is statute-barred.
If you are a victim of an accident and have doubts about the regulatory activities of your former lawyers or general questions about lawyers' liability law, you can contact our law firm by phone or email and / or arrange a personal meeting at one of our law firm locations in Regensburg and Landshut.
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