When is it the right time to hire your injury attorney? This is a question that few people know the answer to. Unfortunately, dealing with everything after an accident is pretty difficult, like motorcycle wrecks, car crashes, or slip and falls. So, to realize when it is the right time to hire a personal injury attorney, you have to think about the following, according to the advice of Indiana personal injury attorneys – Hensley Legal Group, PC.
The Seriousness Of Your Injury
You do not need to hire an attorney for every single injury you might have suffered after a case requiring the services of legal professionals. When you suffer from a minor injury and have enough time to deal with the insurance claims alone, you can try to settle everything alone.
When your injury requires physical therapy, surgery, hospitalization, chiropractic work, orthopedics, or similar complications, you need to discuss everything with an experienced personal injury attorney. This is because your claim will involve some substantial future and past medical expenses.
Who Caused The Injury?
When the injury you suffered resulted from a third party’s negligence, you should at least discuss the case with an injury attorney. Remember that it is not that easy to prove legal fault. Specific standards have to be respected in terms of the evidence presented. Proving fault before the law should never be seen as a simple process. What you might think is clear proof might not be that.
● Is an insurance company representative contacting you?
Insurance companies employ adjusters and claims representatives to reduce their losses. They do so by minimizing the companies’ amounts in injury claims. If you are contacted by an insurance company representative who asks you for recorded statements, medical records, stories, releases, and other information, you should tell them that you are contacting an attorney. Insurance adjusters will often try to get you to make statements that are ultimately harmful to your claim, and you should never sign releases without an attorney’s review. Insurance companies frequently ask for blanket authorizations that allow them to dig through your entire medical history. They want to do this so they can blame your injury on a pre-existing incident. This can result in your claim’s value being substantially reduced.
It is also essential for you to understand that the reason adjusters contact you is that their company believes that you likely have a valid claim. They want to get the information that they need to help them with their goal of either minimizing your payout or denying it altogether. This is true even when dealing with your own insurance company in a case involving an uninsured motorist. Please don’t fall for their tricks and instead consult with a personal injury attorney.
● Is the company refusing to pay or offering an unreasonably low amount?
Insurance companies will sometimes use dirty tactics to avoid paying the claims of injured people. These tactics may include unreasonable delays in your claims process, refusing to pay you even though liability is not in dispute, or making unreasonably low offers despite your extensive injuries. A personal injury attorney understands these tactics. Insurance companies that engage in bad-faith negotiations may be liable to you for doing so. A personal injury lawyer may end such tactics and seek the recovery that you should rightfully receive.
● Are you comfortable with the law and the settlement process?
If you handle your case, you will need to have a good understanding of the legal underpinnings of your claim and the settlement process. Receiving a fair amount in the settlement may involve savvy negotiation skills combined with knowledge of statutory laws and case law. Some injury cases are highly complex. For example, if you were injured by a defective product or by what you believe was medical negligence, you may need the help of experts to uncover the evidence that you will need to prove your claim. Auto accidents may require accident reconstruction, witness interviews, and a solid understanding of physics. You’ll also need to be able to decipher your medical records so that you can appropriately value your claim.
If you are not comfortable doing these things, consulting with a personal injury attorney is in order. An experienced attorney with individual injury cases may be better equipped to value your claim. Your case’s worth will include all of your economic and noneconomic losses. Insurance companies often do not volunteer offers that have money for noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and others, on their own. An attorney may be able to negotiate the recovery for both your economic losses and your more intangible ones.
