Personal injuries are injuries caused to someone or a group due to a person or group’s negligence or wrongdoing. By law, victims of such accidents can file a claim before a court to demand repayment for their losses. As with most legal matters, personal injury claims aren’t always straightforward. Injury victims often go through a series of legal steps to establish fault, their injuries, losses, and even demand to be made whole. Check over here for more information.
The complexity of personal injury law is another reason victims hire personal injury lawyers. With a personal injury lawyer, injury victims can sit back, relax, and tend to their losses while their attorneys take over the claims case and push it to a logical conclusion. The law also allows injury victims to represent themselves in these cases, so why hire a personal injury advocate and what do they do?
Personal injury lawyers do a lot to ensure their clients and their cases are pursued to a logical conclusion. Some of the components of a lawyer’s service to you as an victim include;
Protecting the victim’s right to claim damages
There are different aspects of personal injury law, each with specific elements and statutes of limitations. Whether you were involved in a slip and fall accident, a car accident, a truck accident, or others, your personal injury lawyer is in the position to use their legal knowledge and experience to determine whether you have an injury claim to pursue.
Determining whether you have an injury claim to pursue is the first step in the process of seeking damages for your losses. Once established, your attorney will also map out a legal strategy that saves you from making common mistakes that can jeopardize your chances. In addition to this, your personal injury lawyer will carefully analyze the various facts presented and aspects of your case to determine the most appropriate legal strategy to deploy.
As part of your personal injury lawyer’s duties, they will also set a boundary between you and people – including insurance adjusters- who may disturb your recovery. You will also receive coaching on how to conduct yourself during the claims process to avoid common issues that could be used against you by the insurance company.
Protecting the victim
A personal injury accident can come with several burdens, including medical bills, property losses, lost wages, etc. Your personal injury lawyer has seen all of these play out in the past and so is positioned to help you navigate the complex waters pending the outcome of your insurance claim.
As part of your personal injury lawyer’s duties, they will;
- Advise or help you negotiate with hospital administrators as the medical bills begin to pile up
- Recommend specialist care to ensure you are getting the right treatment attention
- Conduct investigations into your personal injury accident
- Guide you in providing statements to your insurance provider or the at-fault party’s insurance representatives.
- Calculate the total losses suffered by assigning monetary value to economic and non-economic losses suffered.
Handle the complications of personal injury claims
A personal injury claim isn’t as straightforward as demanding damages from the at-fault party’s insurer and expecting to get paid the next day. In most cases, the at-fault party’s insurer may choose to fight the allegations and explore legal means to nullify the injury claim.
Personal injury lawyers representing their clients will ensure that such cases are followed up from the start to the end. They will handle all legal documents and ensure that motions or documents are filed before their deadlines. Injury lawyers will also dedicate their resources to investigations and evidence gathering to back the case and the claim.
In most cases, personal injury lawyers do the following;
- Track down eyewitnesses to obtain an account of the event that led to their client’s injury
- Obtain camera footage, photos, videos, and other media files from the accident scene
- Hire expert witnesses to corroborate evidence presented to the court
- Perform discovery and ensure an air-tight case is developed.
Armed with all the information needed, Injury lawyers also ascribe a monetary value to the losses suffered by their clients. Some of the losses that may be claimed in damages include;
- Lost wages or loss of earning potential
- Medical costs
- Pain and suffering
- Property damages
- Funeral costs in the event of a death
- Loss of consortium or ability to support family
Representation during negotiation and trial
A huge percentage of personal injury cases are settled out of court. Out-of-court settlements are usually agreed upon during the negotiation phase of the injury claim case. They ensure that their clients get the right help during this phase of the case.
Lawyers leverage their experience, knowledge, and familiarity with past similar cases to demand the highest possible sum in damages for their clients. The insurance company may present a counter-offer, but the injury lawyer will only settle if the amount offered covers the victim’s losses.
In events where negotiations fail, the injury lawyer takes the case to trial, where it will be determined by a jury and judge. Although most injury victims prefer to settle out of court due to the swiftness of the process, a trial proceeding may be the right thing to do if they feel cheated.
Your personal injury lawyer will prepare your case brief and represent you in court during the trial proceedings to ensure you get a positive outcome.
Help with Appeals
Some cases do not end the way the injury victim expects. Such cases may be appealed with help from an experienced lawyer.
Your lawyer can go over your case to understand the problem and why the jury or judge may have decided against awarding damages to you. The attorney can also work closely with all other important parties to ensure that your case gets the attention it needs during the appeal process.
It is important to note that hiring a personal injury lawyer positions you in the right light to aggressively fight your personal injury case to the end. Most personal injury lawyers offer free initial case consultations and can also present a contingency fee service to their clients. With this contingency-fee offer, injury victims can avoid upfront legal fees and costs payment until their case has been finalized and damages awarded.
