When Do you Need an Accident Attorney?
Injured employee visiting lawyer for advice on insurance
If you’re reading this blog posts, chances are that you are looking for an accident attorney. However, not all cases need the experience of an attorney to be settled fairly in court. The reason you hire an attorney in an accident in the first place is to make sure your side of the case is represented and you can fight to get all the compensation you deserve for your injuries and property damage. But is it worth the extra legal fees? Let’s take a look at some possible scenarios.
If there was only property damage done to your vehicle or home, then you probably will not need a lawyer. Determining the cost of repairing a car or home is just a matter of hiring a professional and getting an estimate. The insurance adjusters on both sides will work with you in getting fair compensation for what has occurred. If your car has been totaled then you can look up the price of the car in a guide such as the Kelly Blue Book. Getting documentation and presenting it to the insurance company should be sufficient to get fair compensation. Unless there’s some serious insurance fraud going on, then the costs of hiring an attorney isn’t going to be worth it for the amount of money you’ll receive to repair or replace your property.
If you were only minorly injured, say with medical costs a thousand dollars or less, then the same thing applies. There are books available where you can educate yourself about the relative costs of healing minor injuries. A little bit of self-education can result in getting you a larger settlement without having to pay attorney’s fees. These sorts of small-claims cases usually do not need an attorney to reach a successful conclusion if there’s enough evidence and documentation to back up your case. Educate yourself, then negotiate with the insurance adjuster.
However, if you have received major injuries or chronic injuries, then you’ll need an attorney. You may not be in a position to educate yourself on the long-term costs of these types of injuries nor on the legal language that can be useful in gaining a large settlement. Serious cases like these do need the power of a trained legal professional to represent you in court. A 2004 study showed that those who use an attorney generally gain 3.5 times the settlement money they would have gotten if they had settled on their own. When you’ve been seriously injured, this can make a huge difference in covering lost wages and paying your medical bills. Call our offices today if you have been in a major accident or you notice long-term effects from a previous one.
