Why Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?
If you’ve been injured in an accident in which someone else was at fault, hiring a personal injury lawyer is a wise decision. While you can take the time to negotiate with insurance companies, navigate settlement offers and pursue justice on your own, that can be a lengthy and frustrating process. You might even end up with a lower settlement than you could have gotten otherwise.
Working with a personal injury attorney not only takes the majority of the work off your plate, but can get you a better offer than you would have on your own. Here’s why it’s smart to work with a lawyer:
- Your injuries may worsen over time: You might walk away from an incident feeling fine—but injuries often take hours or even days to develop. What’s more, any obvious injuries can get worse over time, necessitating additional expensive medical care. Working with an attorney is wise in this situation. Personal injury lawyers have seen similar injuries before, and will caution you if they suspect your injury will get worse. In that event, they’ll also make sure you don’t accept a lowball settlement offer.
- You could be entitled to pain and suffering damages: It’s easy to put a number on damages for things like property damage, medical care, therapy bills and more—the monetary amount is clear from the bills. Pain and suffering damages are different. These damages are meant to compensate for other types of suffering, like loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement and other major issues. While it’s hard to put a price on that kind of life-changing situation, your attorney can request a monetary amount in line with the injuries.
- Your insurance company doesn’t have your best interests at heart: You might think that your insurance company works for you—after all, you pay your premiums for this exact reason. Unfortunately, insurance companies have a vested interest in paying out as little as possible. They may try to use your words, social media posts and other facts against you to lessen your settlement. A lawyer can advocate for a reasonable settlement in light of the accident and circumstances. They’ll also caution you against accepting a lowball offer. Most importantly, they’ll have the experience to tell you what’s reasonable and what isn’t.
- Your lawyer will likely work on a contingency fee agreement: Maybe you fear that you don’t have enough money to hire a personal injury lawyer, especially if the accident has cost you a lot of money in medical bills, property damage and lost wages while you recover. Personal injury attorneys often work on a contingency basis—if you don’t win the case or settle out of court, they won’t get paid. Their fee usually increases if the case has to go to trial, but you still won’t have to spend money up front.
Unless you had a very minor accident, it’s almost always a good idea to hire a personal injury lawyer to assist with your case. Call Ruben J. Padron today for a consultation.
Categorised in: Personal Injury Attorney