5 Excellent Reasons to Consult A Leading Car Accident Attorney

Be prepared.

It is a short motto that has relevance for a wide variety of reasons during our lifetimes. Being prepared has special relevance when it comes to car accidents, as the average person gets into four accidents during a lifetime. Preparation involves knowing the steps to take after a vehicle collision, which include calling 911, receiving medical care, obtaining the contact info of witnesses, and getting in touch with an experienced car accident attorney.

An experienced car accident lawyer should offer a free consultation to determine how to proceed with your case. Although a free case evaluation is a strong motivator to take action, what other reasons should motivate you to contact a personal injury lawyer who specializes in handling auto crash cases?

Let’s review five excellent reasons to consult a leading car accident attorney.

Conduct a Detailed Investigation

The best personal injury attorneys who specialize in car accident cases conduct detailed investigations that start with gathering and examining physical evidence. Photographs of the accident scene can help your attorney determine what caused the collision, as well as whether another party committed one or more acts of negligence. Photographs of the damage done to your vehicle can provide compelling physical evidence. Your lawyer also interviews witnesses who can describe what transpired before, during, and after the collision.

File an Insurance Claim

Filing an insurance claim is a straightforward process, but just one mistake can turn a claim that should be approved into a claim that comes back denied. An experienced car accident attorney ensures you fill out every box on the claim form with accurate information. Your lawyer also monitors the status of your claim to make sure it receives a review in a timely manner. If the insurance adjuster processing your claim denies it, an experienced vehicle collision lawyer helps you file an appeal

File a Lawsuit before the Deadline

Every state has established a deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit, with most states setting the statute of limitations between two and four years. Working with a car accident attorney ensures you file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages before the expiration of the statute of limitations. If you fail to file a civil lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations, the court clerk processing your case has the power to remove it from the judicial docket.

Represent You During Litigation

If you represent yourself during a civil trial, the odds of you winning the case substantially fall. A car accident lawyer understands the importance of presenting persuasive physical evidence during the discovery phase, which is the step when both sides share information to determine whether they can avoid a costly and time-consuming trial. Hiring an experienced auto crash attorney helps you present convincing legal arguments to counter the legal arguments presented by the legal team representing the defendant.

Negotiate a Settlement

Negotiating a favorable settlement can end the litigation process long before it ends when a judge or jury issues a decision. Your car accident attorney offers a reasonable value for compensation, which the other party either accepts or rejects. If the other party rejects the initial offer for compensation, several rounds of counter offers can follow until both sides agree to a settlement or decide to take the case to the trial phase of the litigation process. Negotiating a settlement also comes in handy when you file an insurance claim.

A Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help You Settle Slip and Fall Cases Quickly

At first, you feel embarrassed because you slipped and fell. However, the embarrassment wears off fast, as you realize that you have sustained an injury. Slip and fall incidents do not make the front page of the local newspaper like car accident cases sometimes do. They also do not receive the same scrutiny as medical malpractice cases. However, slip and fall incidents can cause serious injuries, such as a fractured arm or a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

According to research conducted by the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), slip and fall cases account for more than one million emergency room visits every year in the United States. If you sustained one or more injuries as the result of a slip and fall incident, you should act with a sense of urgency by contacting an experienced personal injury attorney who specializes in handling slip and fall cases. A personal injury lawyer can help you settle a slip and fall case quickly for several reasons.

Monitors Your Insurance Claim

Insurance adjusters love it when policyholders do not receive legal support during the claim filing process. Without a state-licensed personal injury attorney, an insurance adjuster is more likely to deny your claim even if you submit persuasive physical evidence. You also might deal with an insurance adjuster who prolongs the claim review process. By hiring an experienced personal injury attorney who specializes in handling slip and fall cases, you receive an insurance claim review in a timely manner. Your lawyer monitors the progress of your claim to ensure it receives the attention that it deserves.

Negotiates a Settlement

A personal injury lawyer who possesses strong negotiation skills is more likely to settle a slip and fall case much faster than an attorney who cannot negotiate a settlement. You can settle an insurance claim through negotiations, as well as during a civil lawsuit. Negotiations start when your attorney submits a reasonable offer for compensation. The insurance adjuster or the lawyer representing the defendant either accepts the initial offer or sends it back as rejected. Several rounds of counter offers can follow until both sides reach a settlement or decide to take the next step in the process.

Calculates a Reasonable Value for Compensation

One of the most common reasons why a slip and fall case takes a long time to resolve concerns the submission of an unreasonable value for compensation. To calculate a fair value for compensation, your slip and fall attorney adds up all the tangible costs associated with your case, such as the value of diagnostic tests and treatment programs. You also have the right to receive compensation for non-monetary damages, which are often the costs associated with pain and suffering. Your personal injury lawyer has to be careful not to overvalue the costs associated with pain and suffering.

Submit Convincing Evidence

Another key to settling a slip and fall case quickly involves submitting persuasive evidence. If you slipped and fell inside a business, your attorney should be able to retrieve the footage shot by a security camera. Submission of the copies of medical bills proves what types of injuries you sustained, as well as the monetary value attached to diagnosing, treating, and rehabilitating your injuries. Your personal injury lawyer also presents witness statements, which judges and insurance adjusters typically refer to as support for the physical evidence submitted during a civil trial or with an insurance claim.

Get the legal support you deserve by contacting one of our experienced personal injury attorneys to resolve your slip and fall case quickly.

How to Select the Right Car Accident Attorney For Your Case

Staying composed after getting involved in a motor vehicle collision can be difficult to do. However, you should focus on staying calm and following a series of steps that eventually determine whether you receive just compensation for any injuries and property damage. One of the most important steps arrives near the end of the process, which is to contact a car accident attorney. The question for you is how to select the right car accident attorney for your case.

Several factors should play a role in helping you to choose the right car accident lawyer.

Experience

An experienced car accident attorney knows how to help you submit the most persuasive auto insurance claim. The claim process requires you to submit compelling physical evidence, along with the statements presented by witnesses. Experience also comes in handy for a car accident lawyer if the insurance adjuster reviewing your claim agrees to try and negotiate a settlement. If your case goes to trial, hiring an experienced car accident attorney can be the difference between winning your case and walking out of the courtroom empty-handed.

Make sure you do not measure experience strictly on years of practice. An experienced car accident attorney also should be able to present a proven record of success.

Offers a Free Consultation

An attorney who offers a free consultation provides you with the opportunity to discuss your case, as well as devise a winning strategy for filing an insurance claim. During a free consultation, a car accident lawyer should review the evidence, especially the official report filed by the responding law enforcement agency. You present witness accounts, as well as copies of your medical bills and property repair receipts, such as the receipt for auto repair work

Represents You From Start to Finish

Some attorneys meet with clients for a free consultation, only to disappear for the remainder of a case. You want the experienced attorney sitting across from you during a free consultation to represent you during every phase of the litigation and insurance claim process. You should ask at the start of a free consultation whether the lawyer sitting across from you expects to represent you the entire time. You should consider it a deal breaker if the lawyer states that another attorney will take over the case at some point.

Gets Paid by a Contingency Fee

You want the car accident attorney hired to represent you to be financially motivated. This means you should pay the lawyer on a contingency fee basis, which means your attorney gets paid when you get paid. The lawyer charges a percentage of the money that you receive from an insurance claim and/or the result of a favorable ruling during a civil lawsuit. Attorneys who charge by the hour are less motivated to push a case to the finish line.

Strong Communication Skills

Car accident attorneys work several cases at the same time. This means the lawyer that you hire might not be available when you call or send a text message. However, you should expect a prompt response every time you have a question or want to learn about the status of your case. The car accident attorney that you hire should respond to any form of communication no later than during the morning after the day when you left a message. A car accident case is stressful enough without having to deal with a lawyer who is a poor communicator.

Online Reviews

Client reviews left on sites such as Yelp and Google should indicate the skill level of a car accident attorney. You should refer to client reviews as the last factor for choosing the right car accident lawyer. Moreover, you should consider a car accident attorney who has received many positive reviews. You also can check an attorney’s Better Business Bureau (BBB) page.

5 Situations When Calling a Personal Injury Lawyer is Important

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 31 million Americans receive medical care each year as a result of an accidental injury. The injuries range in severity from relatively minor cuts and bruises to significant trauma such as head injuries and fractured bones. Victims of accidental injuries work with personal injury lawyers to recover from the financial losses generated by medical bills.

Trying to recover from the financial losses generated by an accidental injury or injuries reason is the most common reason why victims seek the legal support of a state-licensed personal injury lawyer. What are the five other situations when calling a personal injury lawyer is important?

Filing an Insurance Claim

In the days following a personal injury incident, you can expect the adjuster processing your insurance claim to try settling the claim as quickly as possible. Insurance adjusters follow the motto of “pay as little as possible” when dealing with accident claims. If you do not receive the legal support of an experienced personal injury lawyer, the insurance adjuster processing your claim might try to take advantage of you.

A personal injury lawyer collects the physical evidence you need to receive compensation, such as acquiring copies of your medical bills. The official incident report represents an important document that substantiates your insurance claim. For example, if you slip and fall at a convenience store, the manager’s incident report becomes an integral part of the physical evidence.

Injuries Caused By a Defective Product or Medical Provider

If you sustained one or more injuries caused by a defective product or medical provider, a team of attorneys representing a large company works hard to defend their client against any liability claims. They might aggressively defend their client by disputing your credibility and/or delaying any legal proceedings regarding the case. Without a personal injury attorney to represent you, the chances of you receiving compensation dramatically decline.

Negotiate a Settlement

The insurance company processing your claim or the defendant in a personal injury lawsuit might come out of the gate willing to discuss a financial settlement. If this is the situation, you need the legal services of a persuasive negotiator to represent you during the back-and-forth sessions.

A personal injury lawyer submits a reasonable offer for compensation, which the other party either accepts or rejects. If the other party rejects the initial offer, you can expect to receive a counteroffer or a letter requesting that the case move to the next step in the legal or insurance claim process. Several counteroffers can follow the initial offer until both parties agree to a settlement or decide to take the case to the next phase.

Case Goes to Trial

It seems like a no-brainer, but might be surprised to learn about the large number of plaintiffs in personal injury cases who represent themselves during a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. If it looks like your case is moving to the trial phase of the civil lawsuit process, you should receive the support of a personal injury attorney who has successfully litigated similar cases. A skilled litigator knows how to persuade the judge hearing the case to take your side, as well as convincingly present the physical evidence that you need to win a favorable judgment.

In addition, a personal injury attorney files a civil lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations, which for most states runs between two and four years.

Appealing Your Case or Claim

If your insurance claim and/or civil lawsuit reaches the appeals stage of the process, a personal injury attorney helps you navigate through the process until you receive just compensation. You might have to submit more compelling physical evidence, as well as present a stronger argument that you deserve just compensation for your injuries and other financial obligations caused by a personal injury incident. If you did not seek legal support before the appeals stage, a personal injury attorney can reverse a negative decision made by a judge or insurance adjuster.

A Car Accident Attorney Can Help You Win Your Insurance Claims

According to several studies, an average of more than 12 million car accidents occur each year in the United States, with nearly one-third of the crashes causing some type of vehicle damage. With around 42,000 motor auto accident fatalities every year, the typical motorist in the United States can expect to get involved in a motor vehicle collision once every six years. If you get involved in a car accident, you should follow a series of steps that include contacting a car accident attorney. A personal injury lawyer who specializes in handling car accident cases provides several legal services to help you recover financially from an auto crash. Most motorists require one type of legal service, which is to file a car insurance claim.

Let’s see how a car accident attorney can help you win your insurance claims.

Communicate with the Insurance Adjuster

Insurance adjusters have one primary responsibility: To limit the value of insurance claim payouts. If you do not hire a car accident attorney to help you submit an insurance claim, the adjuster processing your claim is more likely to deny compensation. In addition, your lawyer handles all forms of communication, which allows you to focus on other objectives, such as recovering from your car accident injuries.

Complete the Insurance Claim Form

For the most part, insurance claims are straightforward, legally binding documents. However, just one mistake on an insurance claim might compel the adjuster processing the claim to deny it. Even leaving a space blank is just cause for denial. A car accident attorney walks you through each section of an auto insurance claim form, as well as meticulously reviews the document to ensure there are no errors. In addition, a car accident attorney monitors your claim to keep it moving through the review process.

Collect Physical Evidence

Submitting persuasive physical evidence is the heart of building a successful insurance claim. A car accident attorney collects physical evidence such as photos of the accident scene, as well as footage captured by a traffic and/or security camera. Your lawyer also interviews witnesses to get statements that corroborate your version of events and to support the physical evidence gathered at the scene of the crash. The formal report filed by the responding law enforcement agency also represents a convincing piece of evidence.

Calculate Monetary Damages

Another factor that strengthens your insurance claim involves calculating a reasonable value for compensation. With the help of a car accident attorney, you add up all tangible expenses, which include the value of medical and auto repair bills. Your car accident attorney obtains copies of every medical record to calculate the value of diagnosing, treating, and rehabilitating your injuries. You also might qualify for insurance claim compensation because you suffer from emotional issues such as the development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. (PTSD).

Negotiate a Settlement

A car accident attorney can negotiate a settlement with the insurance adjuster processing your claim. Negotiations start when your car accident attorney submits a value for compensation, which the insurance adjuster either accepts or rejects. If the insurance adjuster rejects the initial offer, several rounds of counter offers can follow until both sides agree to a settlement or decide to take the claim to the appeals stage of the review process. An experienced car accident attorney understands what constitutes a reasonable value for compensation.

4 Steps in Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer After a Slip and Fall

According to research conducted by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), slip and fall accidents account for around 25 percent of all workplace-related injuries. They also represent one-third of all preventable deaths.

Slip and fall incidents can unfold at any type of venue that is open to the public, including convenience and grocery stores, as well as entertainment venues such as arenas, stadiums, and movie theaters. Injuries sustained by slip and fall victims range in severity from mild bumps and bruises to compound fractures and long-term whiplash symptoms. Slip and fall incidents represent one of the most common cases handled by a personal injury lawyer.

If you sustained one or more injuries as the result of a slip and fall incident, you should follow four steps when hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer.

Seek Immediate Attention

Regardless of how you feel after a slip and fall incident, the first item on your to-do list involves getting checked out by a licensed physician. As with cases handled by a car accident lawyer, a slip and fall incident can cause injuries that do not develop symptoms for several hours or up to a couple of days, including whiplash, concussion, and soft tissue damage.

Without copies of medical bills and a detailed description of your injuries, you have no chance to get an insurance claim approved, much less win a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages.

Gather Physical Evidence

As with a car accident lawyer who collects physical evidence, the personal injury lawyer that you hire builds the strongest insurance claim and legal case possible by gathering physical evidence. However, you can give your personal injury lawyer a head start by presenting some of the physical evidence associated with your case.

Start by taking photographs of what you think caused your slip and fall incident. This can mean a photo of a wet spot on a floor and/or an object sticking out in a high-traffic area. You also should speak with witnesses to find one or more people to confirm what the physical evidence tells you. In addition, asking for footage from security cameras can identify the culprit that caused you harm, as well as determine whether the venue where you slipped and fell should be held legally liable for your injuries.

File an Incident Report

Employees injured by a slip and fall while at work must file an incident report within a certain amount of time. Although you are not under a similar deadline, you should file an incident report as soon as possible after a slip and fall incident. Present all the information you have collected to the owner or manager of the venue, and copy every piece of evidence to ensure your incident report does not leave out any important information by the time the venue owner or manager processes it for insurance purposes.

Receive Legal Support

The time has come to meet with a personal injury lawyer to discuss your case. Your attorney helps you submit a persuasive insurance claim, as well as monitor it to ensure it receives prompt attention from an insurance adjuster. If you encounter resistance trying to obtain video footage, your personal injury lawyer takes the steps necessary to acquire it by going through the legal system. Your personal injury lawyer also files a personal injury lawsuit against the venue if negligence played a role in you sustaining one or more injuries as the result of a slip and fall incident.

Is a Car Accident Attorney Necessary if There is Only Minor Fender Damage?

It was just another day running errands when Murphy’s Law kicked in. What can go wrong will go wrong becomes true when you get involved in a car accident. However, it turned out to be a fender bender, which brings up one important question.

Is a car accident lawyer necessary if there is only minor fender damage? In short, contacting a personal injury lawyer who specializes in handling car accident cases is the right thing to do for several reasons.

Your Car Might Be More Damaged Than You Think

At first look, a minor fender appears to be nothing more than an unsightly bump in the fender that a licensed mechanic can hammer out in just a few minutes. However, your car might have absorbed enough of an impact to develop one or more serious issues that you cannot detect at first glance. For example, the impact might have been strong enough to push the suspension out of alignment or decrease the operational performance of one or more safety features.

Even for a minor fender bender, one of the first things to do after an accident is to take your car for an inspection by a qualified mechanic.

Your Body Might Have Sustained More Damage Than You Think

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), motor vehicle collisions send more than 2.3 million victims to an emergency room each year. After a minor fender bender, you might not feel the need to seek medical attention, but you should because some injuries take more time to develop than other types of injuries. For example, whiplash and a concussion might not show signs of development until hours or even a day or two after a car accident. A car accident attorney cannot help you recover the financial losses associated with medical bills if you do not seek medical attention in a timely manner after a collision.

You Need Help Filing an Insurance Claim

One of the most important types of legal support that is provided by a personal injury lawyer who specializes in handling car accident cases involves helping clients file persuasive insurance claims. Auto insurance adjusters love it when policyholders do not receive legal support when filing an accident claim. Not only does a car accident lawyer help you submit convincing physical evidence, but you also gain an advocate who closely monitors your claim to ensure it receives the attention that it deserves.

Here is important advice to remember: Do not contact your insurance company until after you have consulted with a state-licensed car accident lawyer.

You Deserve Compensation

Let’s assume your injuries and the damage done to your car turned out to be much worse than you initially thought. How do you recover the financial losses generated by medical bills and the repairs done to your motor vehicle? The answer is by working with an experienced personal injury lawyer who specializes in handling car accident cases.

You have two primary types of compensation to request after an auto crash. First, you request compensation to pay off medical and car repair bills. Submitting copies of the bills typically is enough physical evidence to get a car accident claim approved. You also might qualify for noneconomic damages, which include living with emotional trauma such as the symptoms triggered by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The Bottom Line

Regardless of the severity of a motor vehicle collision, your insurance company and the car accident lawyer representing the other party will not be on your side. This means you should hire a personal injury lawyer who handles car accident cases to represent your best legal and financial interests.