Do I Have to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?

/in /by

Many injured victims find themselves facing an uncertain future after a serious accident. When this happens, an experienced personal injury attorney can help you through this difficult time and protect your rights to compensation along the way. But when do you need to hire a personal injury lawyer? While there is no specific guideline or deadline as to when you must hire a personal injury lawyer, especially after a car accident injury, it is very important to engage the services of an attorney shortly after the accident. You do not want to go without counsel during any part of the process, and you can usually hire a lawyer on a contingency basis.

Certain circumstances require a greater need for representation than others. These may include:

You are Being Partially Blamed for the Accident

If you’ve been in an accident, the other driver’s insurance company may agree to compensate you for your injury. There is the possibility that they will say that you were partly to blame. For example, the other driver’s insurance company can say that the car accident happened because you were speeding going. If a judge decides that you are to partly to blame for the accident, you only get a percentage of the compensation. A claim of “contributory negligence” is often used by insurance companies to minimize the cost they have to pay to settle a claim. An experienced personal injury lawyer knows how to defend you against these false accusations.

Multiple Parties are Involved

When more than one person is involved in your accident, hiring a personal injury attorney can help. Medical negligence claims and other types of claims from construction site accidents, multiple vehicle accidents, as well as product liability are all examples of cases that usually involve multiple parties. Personal injury lawyers are experienced in dealing with the extra problems that come up when there is more than one defendant.

You are Permanently Disabled or Suffered a Traumatic Injury

Cases that involve traumatic injuries as well as permanent disabilities have problems that aren’t present in other types of personal injury cases. For instance, if your accident gives you a condition that makes you unable to work, you may need continuous medical care. There’s a possibility that you may never be able to work again. This means you’ll be susceptible to future damages because of your disability or impairment. Depending on your age, your disability, and some other variables, future damages can potentially amount to millions of dollars throughout your lifetime.

A personal injury attorney can hire medical, economic, and financial experts to help figure out how much your future damages will be worth. To avoid losing money, insurance companies fight hard to lower the cost of these claims. Getting the compensation you’re looking for after an injury is more likely if you have an experienced personal injury lawyer who knows how to document damages and get you the most money.

The Insurance Company is Acting in Bad Faith

In many cases, insurance companies operate in bad faith. For instance, the insurance company may try to drag out the claim so that the deadline for filing your personal injury lawsuit expires. The Insurance Information Institute provides consumers insurance company rankings based on data-driven insight. The following are some other ways an insurance company can act in bad faith:

  • Failing to investigate a claim
  • Making you fill out too many unnecessary forms to process a claim
  • Making up lies about how the insurance policy works
  • Not paying a valid claim
  • Bringing up false claims of being partly to blame

Personal injury lawyers understand how insurance companies work and how the law works when it comes to injury claims. An accident victim with a lawyer is less likely to be treated unfairly by the insurance company. Just the threat of a lawsuit can sometimes convince the insurance company and others involved in your claim to settle.

A Government Entity is Involved in The Claim

Bringing a personal injury claim against the government is more difficult than bringing a claim against an individual. Governments often have immunity from liability, but there are a few exceptions. When compared to other claims, you have less time to file a claim against the government.

Are you in need of a personal injury lawyer? Parker Law Firm’s experienced personal injury lawyers are standing by to help you. Contact us for a free, no-obligation case evaluation to review your options.

7 Ways to Strengthen Your Personal Injury Case

/in /by

Proving that someone else’s negligence caused you to suffer an injury is just half of the battle in a personal injury claim. In order to secure full compensation, you also need to prove how you have suffered as a result of your injury. Getting a diagnosis from a medical professional is very important to this effort, but it is not all you need to do. Here are seven ways to strengthen your personal injury case.

1. Take Photos of the Scene and Your Injuries

Photos can be invaluable to your personal injury case. No matter what type of accident you have been involved in, taking photos of the scene, damaged property, and bodily injuries you sustained can be helpful. If needed, our team will also hire accident reconstruction experts to help you get the best results possible. Injuries may heal over time, so taking pictures of your injuries periodically, even after your accident, help to build your case. 

2. Don’t Skip Doctors’ Appointments and Always Follow Doctors’ Recommendations

Many times, injuries sustained in an accident may not be fully felt until well after the accident has occurred. This delay is due to the surge of adrenaline the body is programmed to provide following a high-stress situation. Skipping medical attention following a traumatic injury brings with it the enormous risk of weakening your overall health in the long run, but it also can weaken your case. Any gaps in medical treatment can be viewed as a lack of severe injury and, therefore, not an accident deserving of a large settlement. If you have received your initial treatment and were scheduled for a follow-up appointment, attend it. Failing to do so could make the severity of the injury come into question.

3. Don’t Talk About Your Case with Anyone but Your Lawyer

It can be easy to accidentally admit fault. With insurance companies looking for any possible reason to deny or minimize a case, the best advice an attorney can give is “don’t talk about your case.” When you speak with a lawyer before anyone else, they can advise you regarding what to say to whom, thereby helping you maximize your odds of winning a substantial settlement.

4. Keep a Written Record of What Happened During Your Accident and Events After

Document every detail. Your case could take a year or two years before you get compensated, and memories fade or may become distorted over time. In the case of a car accident, the information you might want to document includes:

  • How fast you were traveling
  • The direction you were headed
  • What the other driver was doing right before the accident

You’re going to forget the severe pain you were in or how you laid in bed night after night unable to sleep because you were in pain. If you document it in a journal, it will help you remember everything you went through when you must tell your story. 

5. Look Ahead

When determining your claim, don’t forget to include any future damages you might incur because of your personal injury. Say, for instance, you experienced an injury that left you severely burned. In addition to the medical costs, you’re experiencing in the short-term, you may have a long-term treatment plan from your doctor that lays out plans for surgeries over the next 10 years. Your attorney can work to calculate how much each procedure will cost, taking inflation into account, then fight to make sure those expenses are covered in your settlement.

6. Steer Clear of Social Media

We understand that social media is a big part of people’s lives these days, but it is best to avoid it altogether during the duration of your case. Any statements about your injuries, even just to reassure your friends that you are okay, can be manipulated and used against you. Even what you may think are completely innocent posts, such as having dinner or going for a walk, can be used against you in ways you never anticipated. The other side is absolutely watching what you post. Don’t give them anything to work with.

7. Supply All Requested Documents on Time

In personal injury cases, it is so important to provide documentary evidence to support your case. Give yourself enough time to collect all the documentation you and your attorney will need and ensure that it is as complete and accurate as possible. Don’t let delays be caused by waiting until the last minute to begin collecting documentation.

If you’ve been in an accident due to the negligence of someone, Parker Law Firm’s experienced personal injury lawyers are standing by to help you. Contact us for a free, no-obligation case evaluation to review your options.