Personal Injury Attorney: The Important Questions

If you've been injured because of someone else's negligence, you may need to hire a personal injury attorney to get what you deserve. Insurance companies will often try every trick in the book to shortchange you on the money you are owed. If you try to take them on yourself, you're almost certainly going to get less than you need to pay your medical bills and other incidentals. While there's never any guarantee that taking a case to court or mediation will end up in your favor, a good lawyer can usually tell if there's a solid case for moving forward. Here are some of the answers to the important questions you have.

Can you file a claim?

In many cases, a personal injury attorney will be able to represent you in a claim against a liable individual or their insurance company. You can usually set up a free initial consultation with a lawyer, during which time both parties can evaluate the other. The lawyer will take a look at your case and make a determination about whether it is worth taking. At this time, you can also evaluate the lawyer and make a determination about whether or not you want them to represent you. If both of you come to the same conclusion, you can move forward from there.

Can you afford a personal injury attorney?

Good civil trial lawyers will often work on a contingency basis. This means that they don't make a dime until there is a judgment or settlement. They will then take a percentage of that sum as their fee. Therefore, there is little risk on the part of the client. If the case is a bust, you aren't out any money. If the case is a success, you will see the money from the final settlement, minus the money that must go to pay the lawyer. Of course, there is room for pause here. In some cases, the final number, with the lawyer's fee subtracted, will wind up smaller than what the insurance company was offering to begin with. Take this into consideration before you try pushing a case that likely won't go much further than the initial offers.

What will I be compensated for?

A personal injury attorney will attempt to recover compensation for whatever financial distress you have been hit with as a result of the accident. This may include medical bills, increased insurance premiums, rehab, lost wages, pain and suffering, and much more. It will be up to the parties to come to a settlement or a jury to determine the award. Typically, these cases are far from a way to get rich, as many mistakenly believe. Rather, they are a way to pay for expenses that you should never have incurred to begin with.