In a situation where you’ve been hurt and it’s a personal injury that’s troubling you, a lawyer who deals with such cases can assist. When you’ve never had such difficulties before, it’s incredibly difficult to know what to do at a confusing time. So, an understanding ear and sound advice prove valuable.
While friends can be good listeners, unless they know the law and have been through a similar situation before, any advice they give is likely to be well-meaning but probably incorrect.
Here are four ways that a personal injury lawyer can help you.
1. Know Your Legal Rights
To know what you can and cannot do after an injury, it’s important to know your legal rights. There is no better way to do that than to consult with an attorney. The team at Horst Shewmaker has dealt with many personal injury cases, even unusual ones, and don’t get surprised easily. This is beneficial when needing a measured response because of its calming effect.
Personal injury cases are state-specific. For instance, Horst Shewmaker handles cases in the Greater Atlanta area, including Alpharetta. This is relevant because laws in other states, such as California or New Hampshire, are quite different. Therefore, an experienced team in that state is a valuable and necessary component to making a successful claim.
2. Avoid Being a Victim Twice Over
Representing yourself in an insurance or state agency matter is a bad idea. They will see this coming a mile away and know how to proceed, drag things out and wear you down.
Having never been in this situation before, a defendant will know the process, but you’ll be completely in the dark. Also, they’ll know what is a reasonable settlement but likely will make a low-ball offer or none at all hoping that you’ll accept it.
A personal accident attorney knows all these tricks and won’t put up with it. This increases your chances of a favorable outcome.
3. Independent Investigation without Inherent Bias
Despite paying for coverage, insurance companies are still in the game of paying out as little as they can reasonably get away with. While that may not jive with their public image, it’s the truth.
One area that this has an impact is with an investigation. Often, they will try to use their preferred investigator – either in-house or third-party – that they already have a relationship with. However, it’s impossible to be certain about what, if any, bias their investigator may come into the case with and to how whether this may materially affect their findings in the final report.
A personal injury lawyer representing you can push for an independent investigation to get an unbiased view of the facts. This prevents insurers (and state agencies) from biasing the outcome from the start.
4. Using Experts to Confirm Details
To clarify how bad a situation is, what the healthcare costs will be, whether the injury was avoidable, and a host of other details, it’s often useful to bring in experts.
A good injury lawyer will have many local experts they can call upon. This allows them to gather evidence to bolster their pursuit of a reasonable settlement or winning in a court case. The experts can confirm where the fault lies, the estimated future healthcare expenses, and more to provide clarity. It also avoids an insurer or state agency from relying on keeping matters opaque to their advantage.
A personal injury lawyer is there to provide legal assistance at a difficult time. However, they also do much more.
