Learn how a personal injury attorney may help you

Attorneys usually show up when you are experiencing some challenges in your life. You may not have recovered from the injuries you sustained in an accident before you start receiving calls, bills, and requests from insurance companies, police, doctors, and many others. At such a time, you need to be focusing on your recovery, so it’s easy to feel stressed and overwhelmed thinking about how you can pay all the expenses. 

This is the time when a North Myrtle Beach Personal Injury Lawyer comes in handy. A personal injury attorney can help you get financial compensation. You need this money to pay for medical bills, cover lost wages and many more. In this article, you will learn how a personal injury attorney may help you. 

The various ways a personal injury attorney may assist you

No doubt, some attorneys have the right skills and experience to help you to receive fair compensation after an accident. An attorney can conduct a professional investigation to determine the cause of the accident. Remember that personal injury law firms can have their investigators who can document the accident scene, develop theories, and interview witnesses to understand how the accident occurred. These can be professional investigators or even retired police officers. 

Other outside professionals like accident reconstruction experts can also be useful when the cause of the accident is unknown. Therefore, your lawyer can have a roster of experts they use and can know who can help.

Personal injury attorneys can also connect you with some medical providers. This is because attorneys can usually have business relationships with medical professionals who can agree to offer medical services in your favor based on future judgment or settlements. They can also have good experience in knowing serious injuries and can recommend a specific specialist who may have offered great results in previous cases.  

Also, personal injury attorneys can be in a better position to assess damages. Unfortunately, many victims of accidents tend to think about the immediate effects of an accident. This is because some people receive harassing phone calls from debt collectors, making enough money after being off work for a couple of weeks, and my desire to repair their car so that they can be on the road again. 

But a personal injury attorney handles these cases routinely and can assist to identify an accurate estimate of the current and long-term impact of your injuries. This includes loss in earning capacity, especially if the accident left you disabled. A personal injury attorney can even request an actuary or economist for help in assessing the lifetime effect of an accident. 

A personal injury attorney can also work through various legal processes. A lawyer can assist in several judicial forums including informal negotiations with the insurance companies either before or after cases are filed in the court of law. 

They can also assist litigate a case when there is an unsatisfactory settlement offer to you or when your claim is denied. It’s worth noting that personal injury attorneys can also help you in other forums like alternative dispute resolution. 

Arbitration can be needed if your insurance company is involved. When it comes to arbitration, then it may involve presenting your case to a neutral arbitrator responsible for making a binding decision. Mediation can have you and the party at fault for your injuries working together to find a good solution without involving the court, though you may need the help of a neutral third party. 

The proper time to consult personal injury attorneys

It’s good to remember that not every case needs the use of a personal injury attorney. If there are minimal damages and you didn’t sustain any serious injuries yet you are receiving a reasonable settlement offer, then paying a significant amount of money to an attorney cannot make sense.

But there are also some cases that appear simple at first and can easily become complicated. This is the reason why you need to always consult an experienced personal injury attorney. For instance, the insurance of another party may not have been effective when the accident happened, or an injury fails to show that it’s chronic until a few months after the accident. 

Therefore, the right time to contact a personal injury attorney is when the claim is denied. If you have evidence that the other party was at fault for the accident but their insurance company refuses to take responsibility, then it’s time to consult an attorney to get an objective opinion.

Another good time to find an attorney is when there are several parties involved. In some cases, multiple parties or cars can be involved in accidents, so this tends to complicate things. 

This may happen when there is a multi-vehicle pileup or even a situation that involves subcontractors, contractors, and employees. A personal injury attorney can assist you to identify all parties that can share liability and who can be called defendants. 

When a settlement is offered, then it’s also a good time to consult a personal injury attorney. It’s usually worth the money and time to call a personal injury attorney before you accept a settlement. It’s worth noting that there are some insurance companies that can try to handle the cases quickly to reduce the payout as it protects the financial interests of their clients. Quite often, the first offer can be a low-ball one, so they offer it hoping that you may accept it. A personal injury attorney is in a better position to figure out whether this offer is fair or not. 

Understand the personal injury law basics

Personal injury lawyers usually specialize in tort law, and this can cover civil litigation for the injuries you sustain or the wrongdoings due to the negligence of someone else. The major goal of the personal injury attorneys who practice this tort law is to help you get whole again while discouraging other people from committing similar offenses. 

Some of the personal injury practice areas usually include slip and fall accidents, car accidents, workplace injuries, defective products, and medical malpractice. As you can see, a personal injury attorney can perform crucial duties.

A personal injury attorney can explain your rights. This means that they can explain how a specific accident and various legal issues may affect your rights. Different states use different laws when it comes to the statute of limitations or even how comparative negligence may affect your case.

Now you may be wondering what the statute of limitations and comparative negligence are all about. Well, the statute of limitations refers to the time limit required for you to file a lawsuit. On the other hand, comparative negligence rules can determine whether you can sue if you were partially to blame for causing the accident and how much you can recover.

A personal injury attorney can also offer you good legal advice. An attorney can walk you through the legal system so that you can understand what you are up against. They may assist you to understand some of the complicated legal procedures and processes, interpret insurance and medical jargon, and walk you through tons of paperwork needed in a personal injury case. 

One of the most common pieces of advice is to avoid giving a statement to the insurance company of the other party. This is because the insurance company can find ways to deny liability. A personal injury lawyer also offers you some objective opinions concerning your case. This may help you to make the right decision that is not affected by frustration, anger, fear, stress, or other emotions that are associated with many injured people. 

There are many personal injury cases that don’t go to trial and most of them are settled even before you file a lawsuit. But if the insurance companies deny the claims, then the only way you can recover is to get through a civil trial. Keep in mind that litigation can be complex and needs proper adherence to the rules and procedures of evidence. This is not something that a person who has no experience in personal injury law can handle. 

Once you decide to hire a personal injury attorney to represent you, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Your personal injury lawyer may not respond immediately to your emails or telephone calls. The good news is that attorneys are ethically bound to respond within a specific amount of time. However, they may also have other cases they can be handling, court hearings to attend, and depositions to prepare, and many more. All these activities can take up their time, meaning they may respond later than expected.

If there is one thing your attorney should always do, perhaps is to make sure that they tell you everything going on in the case. This is especially true once the other party makes a settlement offer. Your attorney cannot reject or accept a settlement offer without telling you unless you give them permission.