If you have been injured in an accident and plan to file a personal injury claim, then ask yourself these 2 questions: Do I feel ready to handle all the challenges that face a claimant? Do I expect to enjoy a satisfactory level of service from the insurance company?
If the answer to both questions is “yes,” then you do not need to hire a lawyer. On the other hand, if either answer is “no,” then you should give serious thought to hiring an attorney.
Tasks that could prove a challenge to someone with no access to an attorney
Negotiating with the adjuster: Adjusters have become skilled at negotiating a settlement. The typical claimant has not.
Feeling ready to set aside time for researching the law and settlement processes: In order to win a fair compensation, a claimant without a lawyer needs to know a good deal about legal liability, compensation for different types of damage, and the statutes of limitation in various states.
Obtaining a calendar, if there is none in the claimant’s residence. Only by studying the calendar can any claimant keep from making a fatal mistake, namely that of missing a deadline. Claimants that miss the deadline for filing a claim lose their chance to take advantage of that particular opportunity.
Dangers associated with self-representation
Assuming that all passengers in a damaged vehicle remain uninjured, because the driver escaped injury. Some disorders have mild symptoms at first. It helps to consult with a lawyer, regarding the rights of a potentially injured passenger.
Overlooking certain aspects of a victim’s pain and suffering: An attorney would be able to judge whether or not an injured victim might face a loss of future earning opportunities. If that were to be the case, then the same attorney could fight for the victim’s adequate compensation.
Yielding to pressure from the insurance company for an early settlement. That could mean signing a release before the injured party had obtained a level of maximum medical improvement.
Benefit delivered to client by a personal injury lawyer
Most Personal Injury Lawyer in Waterdown charge their clients a contingency fee. That means that the client must pay an agreed-upon percentage of the reward to the hired attorney. That qualifies as a huge benefit, in the minds of most injured victims.
Those victims have had to pay a large number of medical bills. Some of them have lost salary, because it took them time to recover from their injury. Few of them stand ready to pay a lawyer an upfront fee.
Implementation of the contingency fee system has freed accident victims from the need to pay those upfront costs. Hence, it qualifies as a huge benefit, in clients’ eyes.