Even if you think you have a simple case after an accident, you could benefit from hiring a personal injury attorney. When you handle a case by yourself, you could miss out on seeking compensation for all of your losses. A lawyer can identify those losses and present a compelling case to the liable party.
In addition to pursuing financial recovery, they can also provide legal guidance. During your personal injury claim, you could encounter several legal barriers. Without an attorney, you could have problems moving past these obstacles. You deserve an advocate. Reach out to a personal injury lawyer.
When You Should Consider Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney
You may consider hiring a personal injury lawyer if:
You Suffered Serious Injuries
If you suffered serious injuries, chances are, you don’t want to handle an injury claim or lawsuit by yourself. You would much rather focus on healing or spending time with your family.
Partner with a personal injury attorney if you suffered:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord trauma
- Neck or back injuries
- Whiplash, strains, or sprains
- Lacerations
- Broken bones
- Nerve damage
Your attorney can gather evidence of your injuries to support your claim. With your permission, they can use your imaging scan results and medical treatment records to compel the insurer to settle.
The Responsible Party Denies Liability
If the liable party won’t offer compensation or otherwise denies liability, they must offer a written reason why. For instance, an insurance company may reject your claim if it believes you caused the accident.
This may compel your lawyer to:
- Investigate further and gather additional evidence: If you hire an attorney soon enough after the accident, they can go to the accident scene and investigate. They may note the location of any security cameras or request a copy of the accident report from law enforcement.
- Review evidence: It’s one thing to have supporting evidence. It’s another matter to analyze that information and apply it to your case. When reviewing evidence, your lawyer may consult with accident reconstruction specialists to glean more information about fault and liability.
- Speak to witnesses: If you or law enforcement obtained the contact information of witnesses to the accident, your attorney could contact them. They can ask questions regarding the accident and gain important insight into what happened.
An attorney could help significantly if the liable party refuses to pay for your losses. They can also explain your other options, such as filing a lawsuit. While many cases end with negotiations, you can still sue the at-fault party if their insurer won’t fairly compensate you.
The Insurance Company Won’t Pay Enough to Cover Your Damages
The insurance company could make a settlement offer soon after the accident. In many cases, these offers don’t cover a fraction of injured claimants’ damages. Without an attorney, you might not understand the value of your case and accept a low settlement.
When you hire a personal injury attorney, they can calculate your damages and explain what you’re entitled to recover. That way, you know what constitutes a fair settlement offer.
Based on your situation, your settlement may offer compensation for:
- Medical bills: Even if you have health insurance, you could end up paying a lot of money out of pocket for medical care. After an accident, you could require surgery, diagnostic tests, a long hospitalization, or numerous doctors’ appointments. Yet, a successful claim can offer coverage for these necessities.
- Anticipated healthcare expenses: Don’t forget to account for anticipated care costs in your claim’s value. You could need surgery years from now. You may need refills of expensive medications for an undetermined period. The liable party should pay for these obligations—not you.
- Rehabilitative treatments: You could require rehabilitative treatments after your accident. You could include those costs in your claim.
- The income you lose if you cannot work: Your injuries could cause you to miss work. If you don’t have time saved to take off, you could lose income. An attorney can seek financial recovery for your lost tips, bonuses, commissions, and benefits.
- Anything you spent out of pocket. Your accident and injuries may have required you to spend money out of pocket. With receipts, you can pursue recovery for those items and services.
- Loss of future earning capacity. Your injuries may affect your future earning power. For instance, you might be unable to work the same job as before the accident. Working the same number of hours could now be out of reach. Your attorney can consult with relevant field experts to determine your lost earning capacity.
- Pain and suffering: Through a personal injury claim or lawsuit, you could seek compensation for the physical pain your injuries caused. When you hire an attorney, they will know how to calculate those damages and support the amount you’re requesting.
- Emotional distress: The trauma from the accident and your injuries can cause you serious emotional distress. Your attorney can translate them into dollar amounts.
A personal injury attorney will know how to identify your damages and prove you sustained them. When it comes to pursuing damages from the liable party, you could find value in hiring a personal injury attorney. They can ensure you don’t miss out on the opportunity to collect compensation for all of your damages.
Reasons Why It Is Worth Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney
There are many reasons why you may think hiring a lawyer is worth it. They aim to make the financial recovery process as straightforward as possible. Without a representative, you might not understand the procedural steps you need to take to file a claim or lawsuit. An attorney with experience handling cases like yours is familiar with the court system, clerks, and judges. This familiarity helps them navigate your case’s complex proceedings.
A personal injury lawyer can also:
Negotiate With the Insurance Company
If the insurance company doesn’t offer a fair settlement, your attorney can negotiate for one.
During this process, they may advise you to:
- Remain patient: The insurance company may purposefully drag out negotiations, hoping you’ll become impatient and accept a low offer. Patience is key. By accepting less compensation than you deserve, your case ends, and you cannot ask for more money.
- Trust in your attorney’s persistence: Although your attorney can remain patient, they can also act with persistence. By being persistent with the insurance company, it could feel more pressured to make a higher offer.
- Organize evidence: You may have various pieces of evidence that could bolster your case. By holding onto any relevant receipts, documents, or invoices, your lawyer could have a straightforward time verifying your case.
A personal injury attorney protects you against any tricks that aim to devalue your losses.
Offer Support
Your family and friends might not fully understand what you’re going through. Yet, because of the cases they’ve handled, your lawyer will.
In a situation like this, they can lend a shoulder to lean on by:
- Responding to your phone calls and emails in a timely manner
- Explaining your options during a free consultation
- Offering help on a contingency-fee basis
- Addressing your concerns
- Protecting you from bad faith insurance practices
- Upholding your right to financial recovery
A personal injury attorney could provide you with the support you need. After handling many similar cases, they can help you feel empowered, offering much-needed guidance to make the best possible choices for your situation.
Meet the Statute of Limitations Deadline
When you suffer injuries because of another party’s negligence, you have a limited time to file a lawsuit. Each state has a statute of limitations. These deadlines set how long you have to file a lawsuit against the at-fault party.
Once the statute of limitations ends, your ability to seek compensation ends, too. When you hire a personal injury attorney, they can provide information about your state’s specific deadline.
Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney
If this is your first time partnering with an injury lawyer, you may ask:
Can an Attorney Speed Up My Case’s Progression?
There’s no guarantee that hiring a lawyer will resolve your case faster. There are many steps that go into building an injury case, some of which are inherently longer than others. Yet, a lawyer can prevent certain challenges from delaying your case’s progression.
These issues may include:
- Disputes over fault and liability
- Doubts about your injury’s severity
- Improperly filled out documents and paperwork
- A lack of evidence
- Bad faith insurance practices
- Miscommunications
As noted, it’s vital to remain patient during your case’s progression. A faster settlement doesn’t mean a better one. Like the adage says: Good things come to those who wait.
What Situations Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help Me With?
You could benefit from the insight of a lawyer after suffering injuries:
- On another party’s property. All property owners must keep their premises safe for invited guests. You can file a claim or lawsuit after slipping, falling, or suffering a dog bite.
- In a motor vehicle accident. Whether you suffered harm in a collision involving a car, bus, motorcycle, or bicycle, you have legal options. An attorney can seek a settlement or court award from the at-fault party’s insurer.
- Because of a healthcare provider’s negligence. You could file a medical malpractice claim if you suffered injuries because of a negligent nurse, doctor, therapist, or another practitioner.
- While residing in a nursing home. Under the Nursing Home Bill of Rights, all nursing home residents have the right to live safely and with dignity. Anything else could point to negligence on the part of the nursing home or its administration.
- At work. You could pursue workers’ compensation and a personal injury claim if you suffered injuries at your job.
You could also benefit from a lawyer’s guidance in the aftermath of losing a loved one. In that instance, you could pursue damages for funeral, burial, and end-of-life care costs.
What’s the Average Settlement for a Personal Injury Case?
There isn’t one. That’s because the outcomes of many claims and lawsuits are confidential. The value of your case depends on many factors, including the injuries you suffered. A lawyer can identify your losses and seek the best possible outcome.
What Can I Expect During a Free Case Review?
During your research, you may have encountered the term free case review. This is another term for a no-obligation consultation where you discuss your case with a legal professional. Here, you can get answers to your questions and put your mind at ease. You can also learn whether it’s worth it to hire a personal injury lawyer.
What Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Do for Me?
An experienced attorney will know the necessary steps to build a solid injury case.
They can:
- Investigate the accident and gather supporting evidence
- Determine the cause of the accident to identify the liable party
- Build a case using evidence
- Write and send a demand letter to the liable party
- Present the evidence to the insurance company in a convincing way
- Negotiate with the insurance company
- Handle all case-related communications
- Offer legal guidance and support
If your attorney and the insurance company don’t reach a fair agreement, then you could file a lawsuit against the at-fault party. Yet, even after filing a lawsuit, the at-fault party may agree to settle outside of court.
You Can Start With a Free Case Review
If you suffered injuries because of another party’s negligence, you could benefit from hiring a personal injury attorney. By contacting a lawyer as soon as possible, you can ensure that you give them enough time to build a proper case. What’s more, you can protect your right to damages by acting within your state’s statute of limitations.
