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If you’ve been injured by another person’s negligent actions, you may want to hire a personal injury lawyer to represent you. Knowing more about what an injury lawyer does can help you to fully understand and engage with all of the services that they can provide.
Cases That Personal Injury Lawyers Usually Handle
While personal injury lawyers often represent car accident victims, there are also other types of cases they can handle. In addition to all types of motor vehicle accidents, they usually represent:
- Work-related injuries
- Bicycle accidents
- Dog bites
- Slip and fall accidents
- Construction accidents
- Trucking accidents
- Medical malpractice
- Bus accidents
- Spinal cord injuries
These are just a few of the types of cases, though if you’re curious about whether or not a personal injury lawyer will represent you, ask Pittsburgh personal injury counsel to review your case.
How a Personal Injury Attorney Can Help You
You may understand that hiring a personal injury lawyer can help you, but you might not be clear on how they do it. Here are the most important ways they can assist you in your time of need.
Protect Your Right to Recover Compensation
No matter which type of personal injury accident you’ve endured, you need to rest and focus on healing. While you follow doctors’ orders, your attorney will be handling everything else to protect your legal rights. The insurance company, hospital, and other creditors will all be calling, and with a personal injury lawyer, you’ll have someone to speak to them all.
Gather Evidence
After a serious injury, you may be taken away from the scene by ambulance. This means you won’t be able to gather the evidence needed to support your claim. Your lawyer will turn over every stone to gather what is needed to make a strong case in your favor. They will get photos, videos, witness statements, surveillance footage, and expert witnesses to help bring light to what happened the day of the accident.
Negotiate Your Claim with Insurance Companies
After a car accident, you’ll get calls from your insurer and the other driver’s insurer. If you were hurt at work, the workers’ compensation insurer will want to talk. Any insurance company you deal with is going to want a recorded statement. You don’t have to talk to any of them when you have a personal injury attorney.
Personal injury lawyers know all the tricks the insurance agents will try to control the information that could undermine your claim. They will arrange and supervise your statement and additionally speak with your insurance company to have your medical bills covered.
Consulting Experts
Expert testimony is often a crucial aspect of a personal injury case. Your lawyer will seek the expertise of doctors for opinions on your injuries. In a car accident case, they will enlist the assistance of an accident reconstructionist to recreate the accident to show who was at fault. This helps them build a strong case to get you maximum compensation.
Sending Demand Letters
Your personal injury lawyer may also send a demand letter to the insurance company after investigating the claim. This letter states the facts of what occurred and demands a specific amount of damages for the injuries that were caused by the defendant.
Preparing Complaints
Another thing your personal injury attorney will do is stand up to lowball settlements. If the insurance company will not provide what is fair, your lawyer will prepare a complaint against the defendant. This outlines why the other party is responsible and states the amount sought for damages.
Conducting Discovery
During the discovery process, your lawyer will send interrogatories to the defendant’s team requesting information. This is also where deposing parties, experts, and witnesses will occur. The goal of discovery is to make each side aware of information that may be presented at trial.
Representing Clients During Trial
For many personal injury cases, matters are settled outside of the courtroom. Still, your personal injury lawyer will be ready for a trial and preparing the entire time in the event things do not get settled first. Your attorney will be familiar with court procedures and make sure that every step is properly followed.
How to Know When You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer
You may not need a lawyer to help resolve every personal injury matter. If you sustained only minor injuries, you may be able to handle your claim on your own.
However, some cases can easily become more complex than you think. You may have been injured by someone who didn’t have insurance, or your injuries may be discovered to be chronic months later.
Discussing your case with a personal injury lawyer is wise because you’ll find out your legal options. Most of them offer free initial consultations where you will be able to learn more about what you should do.
There are certain circumstances in which you will want to be sure you have legal representation too. If your claim is denied and you know the other party is to blame, you will want a personal injury lawyer to get involved on your behalf.
In accidents that involve multiple parties, it becomes much more complicated. Everyone will be pointing the finger, and your personal injury lawyer will cut through the clutter to help you get your compensation. There may even be more at-fault parties than you realize with certain accidents that could be responsible for your damages.
One of the most crucial times you will want a personal injury lawyer may be the moment you think you’re safest. When a settlement is offered, you may want to rejoice since you’ll be getting a check for your expenses. However, don’t sign off on it without having a personal injury lawyer review it.
In most cases, the insurance company will offer a low settlement off the bat. Since most people are thrilled to get a check, they don’t realize that this amount won’t cover future medical costs associated with this injury. They may not be getting the full worth of their claim. Make sure that doesn’t happen to you by speaking with a personal injury attorney.