Does hiring a personal injury attorney sound like an expensive proposition?
Are you worried that a personal injury attorney is well out of your budget or that hiring one will cut into the compensation you receive for the injuries you suffered due to another party’s negligence?
For many victims filing a personal injury claim, finances rapidly become a serious concern. You have substantial medical bills to deal with, as well as a laundry list of other expenses piling up. Worse, you might not have the ability to return to work until you heal. Some victims may never return to work at all.
So just how much does a lawyer cost? Is hiring a lawyer worth the investment if you are considering filing a personal injury claim?
The real question you should ask yourself is: “Can I afford not to hire a lawyer?”
The truth is this: teaming up with a personal injury lawyer will cost you nothing. That’s right. Not even a dime.
The Benefits of Hiring a Lawyer to Manage Your Personal Injury Claim
The aftermath of an accident, no matter how big or how small, is a stressful time for all involved. When they get into their first accident, some people are afraid involving a lawyer will “complicate” things, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, personal injury lawyers make much of the process significantly easier on you! Here are a few of the benefits you can expect when you hire a lawyer to manage your personal injury claim:
Many past clients noticed a substantial increase in an insurance company’s offer after they hired an attorney.
It pays to “lawyer up.” Many past victims have discovered that insurance companies raise their settlement offers when they find out the victim has an attorney working with them.
The facts did not change. The accident did not change. Your injuries did not change.
But when you have an attorney on your side, insurance companies know they can’t pull the wool over your eyes so easily. They know a lawyer will be serious about pursuing the compensation you deserve for your injuries.
An attorney will do the research and investigation necessary to determine liability and identify all parties that contributed to your accident.
Determining where to place the blame can be a tricky undertaking. In the case of many accidents, from construction site accidents to auto accidents, multiple parties may share liability.
Think for a moment: Do you know the history of the truck driver who hit your car, including their history of previous injuries or traffic tickets?
Have you investigated that trucking company, or that construction company, or the business where a premises liability accident occurred, and discovered their habit of ignoring safety precautions? Have they caused serious harm to other individuals before you?
Do you know what witnesses have to say about your accident, including their observations about outside factors that may have contributed to the accident?
An attorney can dig into all these details, from taking witness statements to sorting through video footage of the accident. Through this process, an attorney will piece together exactly how your accident occurred and which parties may have contributed to that accident.
Why does it matter if multiple parties contributed to your accident? Consider this: If multiple parties caused your accident, you can file multiple personal injury claims. That’s right: you can file a personal injury claim against each party that contributed to your accident. Filing against multiple parties may increase your compensation.
Many parties, including businesses, construction companies, and drivers, carry insurance policies that protect them when they cause an accident. Those policies, however, may offer relatively limited personal injury coverage—and they vary from state to state. Texas requires only $30,000 in coverage, which is all you likely can get from them no matter how severe your injuries or how much your medical expenses add up to. Louisiana sets the minimum coverage at only $15,000 for a single individual injured in an accident.
If, on the other hand, an attorney can identify multiple parties that contributed to your accident, multiple insurance policies may apply. This can significantly increase the compensation you ultimately receive for your injuries.
After serious injuries, it takes a lot to pay your medical bills and get your life back on track. You don’t just need compensation, you deserve it. A personal injury attorney can help you obtain justice.
An attorney will help collect evidence against the parties that caused your accident.
Even if your accident seems straightforward, with only one liable party at fault, you will still need evidence to prove who caused the accident. The liable party may attempt to claim that you caused the accident, or that you bear some liability.
Never fear: an experienced personal injury attorney can gather and present evidence that proves how the accident occurred, preventing the other party from reducing your compensation for an accident that you did not cause. Conducting an investigation, compiling evidence, and presenting your case are all a part of their job.
A personal injury lawyer can reduce the stress you experience as a result of your claim.
Dealing with serious injuries causes stress – a lot of it.
You’re coping with significant physical pain. Certain injuries like a traumatic brain injury can leave you with cognitive limitations, sometimes for the rest of your life.
You have medical appointments to attend and schedules to coordinate.
Then, on top of that, you have the personal injury claim to attend to—fielding calls from the insurance company, gathering reports, and finding paperwork. Revisiting the details of your accident could even trigger symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or leave you fighting increased anxiety.
Don’t get stuck feeling adrift in this mess. You don’t have to gather the evidence alone. Plus, a personal injury attorney can access information you might not acquire on your own!
You don’t need to fight the insurance company’s team of lawyers while you’re struggling to stay afloat. You have enough problems to deal with while you focus on healing from the accident. Place your personal injury claim in the hands of an experienced attorney, and see results faster.
Your attorney will take over many of the aspects of dealing with the claim on your behalf, and they can provide you with a blueprint of what to expect as your claim goes forward. You may have no idea what a personal injury claim looks like, especially if this is your first accident. How long it will take? What do you need to do? How much you can expect to receive? A personal injury attorney can review the unique circumstances of your case and let you know what you’re up against.
An attorney can help you understand how much you really deserve in compensation for your injuries.
Most people have little experience with personal injury claims. In fact, you might have no idea how much you should claim for your injuries. You might have trouble seeing the “big picture” or predicting what your medical bills will look like, especially in the case of severe injuries with lifelong impacts.
You might not even know what expenses you can include as part of your personal injury claim.
An experienced personal injury lawyer can establish how much you really deserve in compensation for your injuries by including costs like:
Your medical expenses. In America, personal medical expenses can pile up fast after an accident. It all begins at the scene of the accident, where an ambulance ride can cost thousands of dollars. In the case of emergency surgery or substantial medical procedures, the cost of treatment could rise into the tens of thousands.
Then you must add the cost of your hospital stay, imaging, tests, and procedures. After being released from the hospital, you may face the costs of long-term care and durable medical equipment to help you get around or improve your overall outcome.
Medical bills can trickle in sporadically with no end in sight. If you’ve had surgery, you may have to pay the anesthesiologist, the doctor who performed your surgery, and a facility fee for the space that the doctor used to perform the surgery!
An experienced personal injury attorney will make sure you include all elements of your medical expenses – including factors like home modifications and estimated future expenses – when you file your personal injury claim.
Your lost income. You suffered serious injuries in an accident through no fault of your own. Now you can’t resume your work, no matter how badly you want to.
Some employers will make adjustments that will allow you to take care of as many of your work responsibilities as possible despite your injuries. Others cannot—or, more often, will not.
You may also have to miss work due to hospitalization. If you need additional treatment, including surgery, you may miss even more time at work. Some employers cannot or will not allow you to return to work until you progress well into your recovery. If you work at a job that involves physical labor, you might not return until you fully heal.
Then you must consider your therapies and follow-up appointments, most of which take place during typical business hours and may cause you to continue to miss time at work even long after you can return to your normal duties.
Losing your income when you have more bills arriving all the time hurts. It can be devastating and it can threaten everything you’ve worked so hard for – but it doesn’t have to be this way. A personal injury attorney can help you calculate those lost wages and include them as part of your settlement.
Pain and suffering. Each accident victim experiences their own unique mental turmoil. We know there’s more than just the physical pain related to the accident itself: there’s emotional pain as well. You’re missing out on the activities you usually enjoy. Your relationships with friends and loved ones are being negatively impacted.
The limitations you face during your healing process can be frustrating. Even a relatively “minor” traumatic brain injury, for example, can have a lifelong impact on a victim. Spinal cord injuries, especially complete spinal cord injuries, can leave them in a wheelchair for the rest of their lives. Though it may be hard to put a price tag on them, these are losses that deserve compensation.
An experienced personal injury attorney can help you calculate how pain and suffering has affected you and include it as part of your personal injury claim.
An attorney can aggressively represent you in court, if necessary.
So you’ve tried to reach an agreement with the insurance company or the party that caused your accident. You’ve submitted a claim that includes all of your expenses and the extent of your injuries.
Unfortunately, the insurance company or liable entity refuses to offer you the funds you deserve from a settlement.
You’ve tried mediation. No luck. You do not want to accept less than you deserve for your injuries, especially when you have substantial expenses related to the accident that you have to deal with.
This calls for an attorney!
Your personal injury attorney will try to help you reach a settlement out of court, if possible. If that proves impossible, that attorney can represent you in court by providing vital evidence that shows who caused your accident and presenting the expenses you faced as a result of your injuries.
Personal Injury Attorneys Cost You Nothing
We know you don’t have money to burn when you file a personal injury claim. Injuries can leave you struggling financially while you try to handle your medical bills, juggle your normal expenses, and make up for the fact that you cannot work while you recover. Fortunately, personal injury attorneys understand this financial situation.
That’s why personal injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. You will pay nothing at all for their help. Instead, the attorney will provide the services you need – from collecting evidence to representing you in court – then collect a specific percentage of the settlement or award you receive for your injuries.
How much does a personal injury attorney cost? Ultimately, it will cost you nothing. Technically, the at-fault party will pay for your legal costs.
If you’ve been hurt by someone else’s recklessness in an accident, hire a personal injury lawyer. You can’t afford not to! Contact an attorney NOW for a free case evaluation from our team of experts, and we’ll help you plan your next move.
