When to hire a personal injury attorney is a question that many people will have to ask themselves at some point. After you have been injured in an accident, such as car crash, bike or motorcycle wreck, slip and fall injury, or any other type of mishap, you may wonder if or when you should consider hiring a personal injury attorney. Your decision should be informed by the answers to several questions. After you have thought through each of them, you’ll have a better idea about whether or not you should retain counsel for the resolution to your important case.
How serious is your injury?
Not all injuries will require the use of a lawyer. If your injury is minor and you have the time to work on the legal and insurance claims on your own, then it may be possible for you to settle your own insurance claim. It is important that you consider seeking help from an attorney for any injury that has pain that lasts for longer than a few days and that requires medical care. If your injury required any hospitalization, surgery, physical therapy, rehabilitation, chiropractic work, cosmetic surgery or orthopedics, you need to have your case evaluated by an experienced Shreveport personal injury lawyer. When claims involve substantial past and future medical expenses, their value can be significantly increased when you have good legal representation.
Was your injury caused by someone else?
If you believe that your injury was caused by someone else’s negligence or that the death of your loved one resulted from another’s actions, then it is very important to consult with a personal injury attorney. Proving legal fault involves applying certain standards to the evidence that are difficult to do without the help of an experienced legal team. In order to strengthen your claim, it is important to consult a Shreveport lawyer as soon as possible so that the important evidence can be gathered and preserved.
Has an insurance company representative been contacting you?
Insurance companies often hire adjusters and claims representatives in to try and collect information that may reduce their losses by minimizing the amounts that the companies pay out in injury claims. If you are contacted by an insurance company representative who asks you for recorded statements, medical records, your story, 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. The releases insurance companies frequently ask for are blanket authorizations that allow them to dig through your entire medical history. The reason they want to do this is so they can blame your injury on a pre-existing incident. This can result in your claim value being substantially reduced.
Is the company refusing to pay or offering an unreasonably low amount?
Insurance companies will sometimes use tricky schemes to try 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 already understands these tactics and won’t let you fall for them. Insurance companies that engage in bad-faith negotiations may also be liable to you for doing so. A personal injury lawyer may put an end to such tactics and seek the recovery that you should rightfully receive.
Is the insurance company disputing the liability of its insured?
Even when an accident is clearly the fault of the other party, an insurance company may try to dispute liability. Often, a company will do this to try to make people believe that they don’t have valid claims or that their claim is worth far less than it is. If liability is being disputed, it is vital that you seek help from a personal injury attorney. A lawyer will gather all of the evidence that you need to prove liability so that you can either settle or head to trial.
Hire An Experienced Shreveport Personal Injury Lawyer
If you are not comfortable with doing these things, consulting with a Shreveport accident attorney at Greenwald Law Firm is in order. An attorney who is experienced with personal injury cases may be better equipped to value your claim than you will be able to do by yourself. Your case’s value will include all of your economic and noneconomic losses. Insurance companies often do not volunteer offers that include money for noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and others, on their own to your benefit. An attorney may be able to negotiate the recovery for both your economic losses as well as your more intangible ones.