When you’re injured, seriously or otherwise, as a result of simply going about your everyday life, it can be an incredibly harrowing and confusing time. You may have to take time off work to recover, pay for exorbitant medal fees, and, in some cases, come to terms with a quality of life-changing injury.
While you can’t sidestep these issues, you can recover lost money and recoup as much of the costs to your finances as possible if you initiate a personal injury claim. Although these claims are relatively common nowadays, that doesn’t mean they’re straightforward to deal with, and if you go about things the wrong way, you risk forfeiting your compassion and falling into a spiral of debt and despair that can be tricky to recover from, particularly when you’re already trying to focus on your health.
Luckily, there are well-treaded steps to increase your chances of success, which we will cover throughout this post.
Enlist The Support Of An Experienced Attorney
You should never represent yourself in court. While that advice tends to be directed towards those facing criminal charges, the same can be said for those engaging in a tort case where they have been injured. Even in the best-case scenario where the evidence is beyond doubt, sans any expert legal help, you risk seeing any compensation amount being dramatically shaved down from what you actually deserve.
As you will read in the rest of this post, there are other facets of a successful claim that a qualified personal injury attorney can bring to the table, which include everything from helping you to clearly establish liability to negotiating with insurers who would much rather you represent yourself so they can reduce the amount of money they have to pay out. The trick is choosing an attorney who specializes in your specific case.
For instance, if you’re a victim of a medical malpractice incident, hiring a lawyer with expertise in car accidents might not yield the same results.
There will obviously be plenty of overlap in the different disciplines, and based on personal injury law as a whole, you are also hiring them for the network they’ve developed over their career.
To continue using the medical malpractice example, an attorney who has worked on these cases for years will know far better than anyone else the intricacies of dealing with hospitals, incense companies, and a myriad of other points related to the medical industry. The same is true for all different disciplines, so taking the time to carefully select the lawyer or firm to assist you will go a long way in ensuring success.
Establishing Liability Through Clear Evidence
Establishing liability is a vital component of any civil suit, and getting plenty of evidence to back up your claims will help enormously when you present your case to the other side. It also has the additional effect of cutting out the need to initiate litigation entirely since, with undeniable proof that you are innocent and the other party was at fault, most insurers and lawyers representing the other side would rather settle outside of court.
However, you need to understand that establishing liability can be a complicated process that could uncover evidence that you might not want to see. There is such a thing in personal injury law called shared liability, which notes that even if another party was to blame for an incident, you may also be liable to some degree based on the actions you took yourself. This is why it’s so critical to hire a lawyer who knows what they’re doing and can explain your situation to you as clearly as possible.
If you get a really fantastic attorney, they may even be able to mitigate your side of the incident if there is shared liability, thereby increasing your settlement.
Image source: Pixabay
Seeking Medical Attention Promptly After Injury
Just as with most civil claims, there is usually a time limit on your actions. If you take too long for specific actions like seeking medical care or initiating a case, you could find your case being thrown out. This could be a result of statutes of limitation kicking in, or in the case of medical attention, it might be that by waiting too long to receive care, it’s not possible to prove that the injuries you received during the accident resulted from said accident, or if they occur sometime after the fact.
The sooner you get yourself treated, the better you will be in terms of your overall health and ability to maximize the compensation figure.
This treatment should also provide you with any insights that might help your case, including any long-term issues that might arise from the injury, providing you with even more evidence you can use to ensure that the settlement figure is correct and takes into account these points.
Image source: Pixabay
Document All Communication With The Insurer
If you or your lawyer are discussing points with the insurer of the party at fault (which you really ought to leave up to your attorney), you must document all communication with them. You will need to inform them that you are going to do so, but this communication can be used as evidence of deliberate obfuscation if you do need to go to court and possibly help you to gain a higher amount of compensation for the emotional distress they’re causing.
It can also benefit you by having a clear record of the conversions you had so as to avoid any “He Said, She Said” sort of scenario, which can raise its head when things become heated.
Emphasize The Impact On Your Life
The bottom line is that whatever has happened has happened, and due to the actions or negligence of another, your life has changed dramatically. It could be that your injuries are passing, or it might be that you will have to live with the consequences for the rest of your life, but regardless, you have taken a hit through no fault of your own. When you’re able to emphasize this point to the other side, you can show that you aren’t in this to squeeze as much money out of them as possible but rather to merely get what you deserve to try and get your life back on track again.
Success is never guaranteed in life, but by taking the proper steps, you can boost your odds of winning your case and perhaps even avoid the need to litigate altogether (via some kind of settlement offer). Although the tips in this post are by no means exhaustive, they should point you in the right direction.
Main Image: Pixabay
