Greensboro Personal Injury FAQs
After a crash, the questions tend to land all at once: whether you have a case, what a lawyer costs, and how long any of this takes while the bills keep arriving.
These personal injury questions come up most often, and each answer starts with the short version. Whether you were hurt in a car, truck, or motorcycle crash, a Greensboro personal injury lawyer at Lewis & Keller Injury Lawyers is ready to talk through your situation.
If your question is not answered here, call 336-933-9566 or contact us online.
Help Is A Click Away
Getting help is easy! Just pick up the phone or fill out our online form for a case review. You don’t even have to leave your house.
You Deserve Compensation
You have a legal right to compensation after you are hurt due to someone else’s careless acts. Our attorneys are ready to fight for the compensation you deserve.
You Don’t Pay
Unless We Win
Our auto accident attorneys work on a contingency fee basis. That means you don’t pay a dime upfront, and you don’t pay anything at all unless we win.
Do I Have a Personal Injury Case in North Carolina?
You likely have a case if someone else’s carelessness caused your injury, you have real losses, and you are still within the deadline to file. In North Carolina, most injury lawsuits must be filed within three years under G.S. 1-52, and your own share of fault matters more here than in most states.
Four questions usually decide whether a claim is worth pursuing:
- Did another person or company act carelessly?
- Did that carelessness cause your injury?
- Do you have medical bills, lost income, or other losses?
- Were you free of any fault that North Carolina’s contributory negligence rule counts against you?
Types of Cases We Handle in Greensboro
Our Greensboro team handles car accident claims, truck accident claims, and claims arising from motorcycle, pedestrian, bicycle, and rideshare crashes across Guilford County. Each type follows the same basic negligence rules, but the insurance, evidence, and deadlines differ.
When an Injury Happens on the Job
If you were hurt while working, including in a crash during a work errand, your first claim is usually workers’ compensation, not a personal injury lawsuit against your employer. A separate claim against another driver or company may still exist alongside it, under G.S. 97-10.2, and the two claims affect each other.
How Much Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Cost in Greensboro?
Most North Carolina personal injury cases are handled on a contingent fee, which means the lawyer’s fee is a percentage of the recovery rather than an hourly bill. North Carolina requires every contingent fee agreement to be in writing and signed by the client, under Rule 1.5(c) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
That rule also sets out what the agreement must tell you. A North Carolina contingent fee agreement must state:
- The percentage the lawyer receives if the case settles, goes to trial, or is appealed
- The litigation and other expenses that come out of the recovery
- Whether those expenses are deducted before or after the fee is calculated
- Any expenses you owe whether or not you win
At the end of the case, the lawyer must give you a written statement showing the outcome and how any recovery was divided. Asking a lawyer to walk through each of these items before you sign is a reasonable request.
Fees Versus Case Expenses
A lawyer’s fee and the expenses of a case are different things. Expenses include items such as court filing fees, medical record charges, and the cost of outside witnesses such as doctors or engineers. Rule 1.5(c) requires the agreement to explain which expenses come out of the recovery and in what order, so the math at the end holds no surprises.
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How Long Does an Injury Claim Take in North Carolina?
It depends mostly on your medical treatment and whether a lawsuit becomes necessary. Many claims are not ready to resolve until treatment ends, because the full cost of an injury is not known until then.
Stages of a Typical Claim
- Investigation: gathering the crash report, photos, witness information, and insurance details
- Treatment: medical care continues while the claim is documented
- Demand: a written demand to the insurer once the medical picture is clear
- Negotiation: back-and-forth with the adjuster
- Lawsuit, if needed: filed within the three-year deadline
- Mediation and trial: a court-ordered settlement conference, then trial if the case does not resolve
The filing deadline keeps running during treatment, so a claim that waits for treatment to end still needs a lawsuit on file within three years if it has not settled.
A claim with a short course of treatment and clear fault moves faster than one involving surgery, disputed fault, or several insurers.
Does My Injury Case Have to Go to Court?
Probably not to trial. Many injury claims resolve through negotiation or mediation. When a case is filed in superior court, the parties must attend a court-ordered mediated settlement conference before trial under G.S. 7A-38.1, although no one is required to accept an offer there.
Filing a lawsuit is sometimes the step that gets an insurer to negotiate seriously, and Greensboro cases are generally filed in Guilford County. Our article on whether your case will go to court explains how that decision gets made.
What Happens at a Mediated Settlement Conference
A mediator, usually chosen by the parties, meets with both sides and helps them negotiate. The parties, their lawyers, and anyone with authority to settle, such as an insurance adjuster, must attend unless excused, under the same statute. The mediator does not decide the case, and nothing requires either side to make an offer it considers against its interests.
What Is My Personal Injury Case Worth?
No one is able to name a fair number at the start. The value depends on your medical expenses, lost income, the effect of the injury on daily life, whether the injury is permanent, and how much insurance is available to pay the claim.
| Factor | Why It Affects Value |
| Medical expenses | Past and future treatment costs form the base of most claims |
| Lost income | Missed work and any reduced ability to earn |
| Pain and daily limits | How the injury changes work, family life, and activities |
| Permanency | A lasting injury carries future costs and limits |
| Available insurance | The at-fault driver’s limits and your own UM or UIM coverage |
Insurance often sets the practical ceiling. For North Carolina policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025, the minimum bodily injury coverage is $50,000 per person, according to the NC Department of Insurance, so your own underinsured motorist coverage matters in a serious case.
When your own UIM coverage is involved, the UIM carrier generally needs written notice before you settle with the at-fault driver, under G.S. 20-279.21(b)(4). Settling first may jeopardize that coverage.
If you are trying to decide whether an offer is fair, call 336-933-9566 before you accept it.
What If I Was Partly at Fault for the Accident?
North Carolina follows contributory negligence, one of the strictest fault rules in the country. If you are found even slightly at fault, the rule may bar your recovery entirely. Our guide to North Carolina’s contributory negligence rule explains how insurers use it.
The Last Clear Chance Exception
A plaintiff who was partly at fault may still recover under the last clear chance doctrine. The Court of Appeals set out its elements in Parker v. Willis:
- You placed yourself in a position of helpless peril through your own negligence
- The other driver knew of, or with reasonable care ought to have discovered, that peril
- The other driver had the time and ability to avoid the injury
- The other driver failed to use that time and ability, and you were injured as a result
Because the doctrine turns on timing and evidence, the facts gathered early in a case often decide whether it applies.
What Do I Do If the Other Driver’s Insurer Already Called Me?
You are not required to give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company. That adjuster works for the other driver, and an early statement may later be used to argue that you share the fault, which matters under the contributory negligence rule.
It also helps to avoid signing a broad medical authorization for the other insurer, since it may open years of unrelated records. Your own insurer is different: your policy may require reasonable cooperation, but the scope of what you sign still matters.
Your Own Insurer’s Role
Your own policy may pay some benefits regardless of fault, such as medical payments coverage if you carry it. If the other driver had no insurance or too little, your uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage becomes part of the claim, and that coverage carries its own notice requirements.
What Do I Bring to My First Meeting With an Injury Lawyer?
Bring whatever you have, even if the file is incomplete. The documents that help most at a first meeting include:
- The crash report number or a copy of the report
- Photos of the scene, the vehicles, and your injuries
- Your auto insurance declarations page, which shows your UM and UIM limits
- Medical records, bills, and a list of every provider you have seen
- Pay stubs or other records of lost income
- Any letters, emails, or settlement offers from an insurance company
A short written timeline of the crash and your treatment, with dates, also helps.
More Questions From Greensboro Injury Clients
How long do I have to file an injury lawsuit in North Carolina?
Most personal injury lawsuits in North Carolina must be filed within three years of the injury under G.S. 1-52. Missing that deadline generally ends the claim, even when fault is clear. Claims involving government vehicles or other special circumstances may follow different rules, so the deadline is worth confirming early.
What if I was hurt as a passenger?
Passengers are rarely at fault in a crash, which often makes their claims simpler under the contributory negligence rule. A passenger may have claims against the driver of the other vehicle, the driver of the car they rode in, or both, along with UM or UIM coverage on the policies involved.
Who pays my medical bills while the claim is pending?
Health insurance usually pays first, along with medical payments coverage if your auto policy includes it. The at-fault driver’s insurer generally pays only when the claim resolves. Your health insurer may then seek reimbursement from the settlement, which is one reason the final numbers need careful review.
Have a Question About Your Injury Claim We Did Not Answer?
Every injury claim has a detail that does not fit neatly into an FAQ: a disputed fault finding, a low offer, or treatment that is still going. Those details usually decide the outcome.
Call Lewis & Keller Injury Lawyers at 336-933-9566 or contact us online to talk with our Greensboro team about your injury claim.
