If you have suffered any type of injury caused by some other person or an entity that was caused by intentional, negligent, or reckless behavior, or by an action covered by strict liability, then you should seek to hire an excellent personal injury lawyer.
How soon should you make contact?
Your first thoughts will be on recovering from the injury, particularly if it was traumatic or hospitalized you. It will be natural for thoughts of compensation to be the farthest thing from your mind.
However, you do need to be aware that other parties involved in the injury and any potential legal action will already be setting the wheels in motion.
Those other parties are not working for you. They will be working towards an outcome which will result in paying you as little as possible.
The longer you leave it to get your legal representatives involved in the action, the less time they have to build a case to ensure you get the best compensation possible for any damage to your assets, loss of income, and any physical pain and suffering as a result of the accident.
In most instances, you can usually hire a lawyer on a contingency basis. This means the only cost you incur is a percentage of the total amount of damages you are rewarded. This enables you to proceed with a claim immediately even if you have no money.
You must seek medical treatment as soon as possible after an accident, even if you don’t feel like you have any injuries. Sometimes issues occur hours or even days after the accident.
By getting that medical treatment immediately you can get an immediate diagnosis of any injuries and takes these to your lawyer. If injuries don’t reveal themselves until a later time but didn’t seek immediate medical treatment, you risk being accused of suffering the injuries from some other incident.
What do you tell your injury lawyer?
Of course, your lawyer will want to understand the circumstances that led to the injury.
Your lawyer will also want to know what medical bills you have incurred and any property damage. They can get all medical bills paid and ensure property damage can be repaired or replaced.
What will your personal injury lawyer ask you?
But here are five issues you would not immediately think as relevant that will need to be asked:
- Have you suffered any earlier injuries?
If you have an injury to a part of your body that has been injured previously, it could be argued that this accident is not fully responsible for all the damage and the claim should be reduced or removed because of the existing weakness in that body part.
- Do you have any criminal history?
This is probably not relevant to the accident, but if the case goes to trial you can bet the opposing lawyers will know if you have a criminal record and will attack your ability to present evidence honestly.
- Have you ever filed for bankruptcy?
If your lawyer is aware of this, they can work with your bankruptcy lawyer to increase the possibility that not all of the money awarded gets paid to your creditors.
- Have you filed for divorce or separated from a partner?
If your partner was supporting you after the accident, they may be eligible for part of the money awarded.
- Have you suffered any further injuries since the accident?
Opposing counsel may try to discredit your character by claiming you are trying to claim for injuries not suffered from this accident. Your lawyer will need to be aware and prepared to dispute this.
Your personal injury lawyer will work for you to ensure you get the best possible result to cover your asset damages, financial losses, and compensation for physical, mental, and emotional harm.
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