Personal injury claims can definitely be difficult to navigate if you’re unsure of what to do. Hiring a lawyer will help you by providing you a person to help guide you through the process of filing a claim. The struggle of focusing on both healing your injury and also filing a claim can be a lot for a person to deal with and also does not ensure that you’ll get the best outcome possible.
The first step in filing a claim and hiring an attorney is your initial consultation according to a motorcycle accident lawyer with our friends at the Brandy Austin Law Firm. During this initial consultation you will discuss the details of the incident whether that be the story of your car crash, your slip and fall injury, assault injury, whatever the incident causing you to be hurt may be. Your attorney will ask you different questions but basically they want to know what happened and who was at fault. They’ll need information like the story of what happened, knowing who was involved, knowing what injuries you’ve sustained and have treated or injuries that still require treatment. All this information is a step in the right direction for filing your personal injury claim.
The next important step in this process is to investigate. Your attorney will help you get photos of the scene where the accident occurred and retrieve any reports that may have been filed such as incident reports or police reports. You’ll also want to have medical records showing your injuries and procedures or treatments you’ve received because of this accident. This evidence will showcase your injuries and paint a picture of what happened and who is at fault. During this investigation step is also the time when you would contact insurance companies and begin to collect proof to help you later file claims.
While your attorney is busy investigating and collecting evidence, it’s best to use this time to rest and focus on recovery. Seeking treatment from doctors can be much more helpful down the road even if it seems pointless at the time. It’s helpful if you keep track of the doctors you’ve been to and treatments you’ve received from them, including any out of pocket expenses you had to pay which later on the opposing party may cover. If there are any days or hours you can’t work because of your injury or because of a medical appointment, document it. You can be compensated for your loss of wages.
Now we have a crucial step regarding something called a demand package. This demand package will be a collection of all the pieces of your story regarding this accident. It includes medical records, police or incident reports, pictures of injuries and property damage, receipts of out of pocket expenses, and proof of loss of wages. Once all this information is collected and put together, your attorney will send it to the insurance company of the opposing party, they will then review it and send an offer for settlement.
Once the insurance company sends you an offer, it’s up to you to decide what you’ll do next. Your attorney can give you legal advice based on their experience regarding if the offer is considered good or not. If you’d like to accept their offer then you’ll receive the money in their offer. In many cases, insurance companies do not offer the amount that you deserve, they offer the lowest amount they can give you that they can get away with. If you and your attorney believe that the settlement offer is not enough, you can make a counter-demand or file a lawsuit to attempt to get more money. In this counter-demand your lawyer will be able to help you, in your letter you’ll state that you declined their offer and explain why you deserve more money than that. If they have given you reasons for why their offer is so low, then you can counter those points to prove that you deserve better compensation. In the instance that the insurance company rejects your demand letter and your counter-demand, then you may want to move forward with a lawsuit. Your attorney will lead you through the steps of filing a lawsuit the same way they led you through the steps of filing your personal injury claim.
Throughout this possibly very lengthy process, having a lawyer to help you through it is very beneficial to you and also ensures you the best chances at getting the most compensation. There are many ways a lawyer can help in this situation but the most important part is that your lawyer will be able to deal with your case for you, providing you with more peace of mind in your situation. It’s important to recover after an accident involving injuries both physically and mentally.
