How Can a Lawyer Help With My Personal Injury Case?

When you’re in an accident, it’s always a traumatizing time. Unfortunately, the difficulty of going through such an accident isn’t limited to just recovering from your injuries. You might also find yourself having to battle the liable party and their insurance company in a personal injury case to get the full amount of compensation you’re owed for everything you’ve lost. A personal injury attorney in Katie, TX can help you to recover compensation and get through this difficult time.

Attorneys have resources and experience that help them in investigating accidents, and your lawyer can really dig into the specifics of what took place. Your lawyer may be able to find and gather evidence that the other side isn’t aware of or which the insurance company hasn’t taken into account. 

Your lawyer might use police reports, traffic camera footage, scene photos, witness statements, and possibly even the testimony of an accident reconstruction specialist or security camera videos to find out what really happened leading up to an accident. If you had an accident in a store, your lawyer may also take a look at store policies on dealing with hazards, any reports that were made about the hazard that caused your accident, and more.

Insurance companies know what they’re doing. They know how to negotiate hard, and they know how to ask questions of an accident victim in a way that will get them answers they can use to minimize their payouts. They actually have quite a few tricks for devaluing your claim. They might claim that you are more at fault than you really are based on something you say, challenge the severity of your injuries, or even question whether you were injured in the accident at all or whether your injuries might have been sustained later. 

Even if they don’t do any of this, it’s quite common for them to try to get a victim to agree quickly to a low settlement. The hope is that you don’t yet know what your case is really worth or that you are feeling desperate because of mounting medical bills and lost time at work and will be happy just to get something. A lawyer can protect you from this kind of behavior. Your lawyer knows how these companies work and how to challenge them.

It’s easy to miss out on something that you are owed simply because you haven’t made all the calculations properly. Not only should you be reimbursed for all the medical expenses you’ve already incurred, but also for ongoing treatment that you may need. If your treatment is going to go forward into the future, you have to properly estimate what those costs will end up being. You don’t want to forget anything here, including medications, physical therapy, and more. 

You should also get reimbursed for any property damage, and you also need to figure everything you’ve lost financially through missing work. This means not just your wages or salary but also lost opportunities for taking overtime, loss of accrued time off or vacation days, lost opportunities to be promoted or to earn a bonus, and more. Then there are possible related expenses that should be included. For example, if you had to hire yard care through the summer because you were unable to do yard work because of your injuries, this should be included in your total.

Then there are your “non-economic damages,” which are sometimes referred to as pain and suffering or mental anguish. This would include compensation for the actual physical suffering you’ve endured as well as the emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life you may have suffered due to your injuries.

Most of these cases are settled out of court through negotiations, and your attorney will certainly help you there. But if those negotiations aren’t getting anywhere, your attorney can also file a lawsuit on your behalf and take the case to court. There, your attorney will represent you by making a persuasive case for your losses and what you’ve been through and will challenge the other party and their insurance company and show the court what you are really owed. Your attorney will also make sure that everything is done legally and follows all procedural requirements of the court, so you don’t miss out on anything simply because of a paperwork mistake.

If you’ve been in an accident and are suffering from serious injuries, you’ve got a lot on your plate. Not only do you have to endure the recovery process, but you may also be juggling things at work and trying to take care of your family when you’re not 100%. All of this is a lot to deal with already, and if you add to that having to fight to get the compensation you’re owed for your damages and losses, it can all quickly become too much. 

One of the biggest services that your lawyer can do for you in bringing your personal injury claim is to take the burden off of you. Your lawyer will take care of all the legal issues and procedural concerns, make sure that communication is done professionally, correctly, and promptly, whether that’s communicating with the court or with an insurance company, and will be the one to carry your case for you in the courtroom and in negotiations so that you don’t have to.

When you’re in the middle of a battle like this, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the emotions and immediate needs of the moment. One very important service that your attorney will provide for you is helping you to understand what’s realistic, set goals that are in your best interest, and then keep you moving towards them. If you do start to feel desperate for money, you might be tempted to take an early settlement from the insurance company. Your lawyer can point out when this is a bad idea and help you understand other options for getting the money you need for the moment. 

Your lawyer can, for example, send a letter to healthcare providers letting them know that you are in the midst of settlement negotiations. This will often cause them to back off and put a lien on the settlement so that they will get paid only once the money comes through. Your lawyer can also help you file claims with your own insurance company where appropriate, or possibly identify other responsible parties in the accident who you might bring a claim against.

When you look at the statistics, it becomes clear that victims who bring a personal injury claim with a lawyer almost always walk away with more money than those who don’t, even after legal fees are taken into consideration. If you’ve been injured by someone else’s negligence, we can help you get the compensation you’re owed under the law. Contact the law office of Shane McClelland today in Katy, TX.