Every mishap is unexpected. Most people have small firsthand experience with what to do after an crash. If you were hurt in an accident and it is somebody else’s fault, then you might feel like something should be done on it, but perhaps you don’t understand what. Perhaps you can ask the individual that injured you to cover your expenses from becoming injured. Maybe you may submit a claim with the person’s insurance. Maybe you should hire a lawyer and sue.
Hiring a personal injury lawyer after you’ve been hurt in an accident is always an alternative. If the accident was another individual’s fault, you may have a legal right to recover for your losses, and a lawyer will help make that happen.
But occasionally hiring a lawyer is not a fantastic idea.
In the following situations, it is probably not a Fantastic idea to hire a personal injury attorney:
- You were not actually hurt.
Not every accident results in injuries. Occasionally mishaps leave you shaken up, but nothing else. Sometimes crashes occur at low speed and although contact is made, no one gets hurt. Sometimes your injuries after a collision are extremely minor and get better in a day or 2. Sometimes accidents just lead to damage to your car, bicycle, or personal belongings, but you are not injured physically.
If you weren’t hurt in an accident, or if your injuries were really minor, you probably don’t need a lawyer latest post. Most personal injury attorneys will tell you the exact same thing if you telephone them. If you’re physically only fine, but you need to get your car fixed, you can probably do the job directly with the insurance companies yourself. If your injuries are extremely minor, you could still have a personal injury claim when it was another person’s fault, but you can probably deal with this by yourself, also. A lawyer’s expertise and experience is not going to help you much in such situations and the attorney’s fee might make any added value disappear. The bottom line is that there is little if any advantage to hiring an attorney if you weren’t hurt.
- You don’t want to get compensated for your losses.
While I am not sure how frequently this happens in real life, I’ve seen it in films; 2 automobiles get into a fender bender, the owners escape, chat temporarily, and then wave goodbye to each other and push home for supper. It is easy to take this attitude if you were not injured in the collision. But sometimes even if you suffered a minor injury or property damage, you may feel that it’s no big thing. But should you end up saying the injury was”no big deal,” then it’s a waste of both your time and the lawyer’s time to pursue the at-fault motorist.
- You’re savvy about insurance.
A lot of individuals understand how to buy insurance. Just jump online, type in your personal information, receive a quote, and then make your premium payments. Far fewer people know how to utilize insurance; knowing what is really covered, knowing what the provisions in insurance contracts really mean, and understanding how the claims process works. An even smaller group of people understand how different types of insurance policies, such as health insurance and automobile insurance, coordinate coverage. To make matters more complex, insurance policies are subject to different laws based upon the state jurisdictions. From the Washington, DC area, there’s a high probability that you reside in another jurisdiction from where the accident happened and where the at-fault person resides. Insurance can get complicated pretty fast.
However , if you are savvy about the way to utilize insurance (not how to buy it) and what the provisions of an insurance coverage mean and how state law affects insurance coverage, then you could be able to take care of your own claim, even if your injuries are important. So even when you are not a lawyer, if your insurance understanding is eloquent you can proceed with your claim and attempt to handle it yourself. Should you fall into this category, you might not need an attorney to help you. Furthermore, if you fall into this category, I would like to have a drink with you sometime because I can never know too many people who enjoy insurance law.
- You have plenty of free time to pursue your claim
Even when you suffered significant injuries, you’re still able to pursue your claim without an attorney if you want to put in the time. What personal injury attorneys do is not rocket science or brain surgery. Experience and experience aid a lawyer do the job better and more efficiently, but this doesn’t mean managing a claim is beyond the scope of your abilities. Given enough additional time, the do-it-yourself kind of man could probably learn enough to represent herself in a claim against the at-fault celebration. You can teach yourself the steps in the process with some hunting and study. The majority of the fundamental tasks entail making phone calls, obtaining important documents, following up on the small details, and taking on the demeanor required to let the insurance company know you’re not a pushover.
If you’ve got additional hours (maybe tens of thousands of hours) per week to take care of your personal claim, over the duration of a couple of years, you might be up for the challenge of representing yourself. Some people derive immense satisfaction by taking on new jobs or projects. If you’re among these, you probably don’t need to hire a personal injury attorney. The accident was the fault.
If you caused the crash, you probably don’t need to employ a personal injury attorney. Lawyers that shield personal injury claims normally have intimate relationships with insurance companies (sometimes the lawyer is an insurance carrier ). This protection is provided to you without charge, since it is a benefit of your own automobile insurance (though, your insurance company may raise your rates).
If you caused the crash and you suffered your own injuries, you probably can’t make a claim against anyone else. Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia all follow the doctrine of contributory negligence, meaning that if you were the reason for your own injuries, even just a tiny bit at fault, you cannot recover against anybody else. Contributory negligence can be challenging, so if your injuries are important, it’s a fantastic idea to talk with a personal injury attorney.
Conclusion: Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney Isn’t Always a Fantastic Idea
For most people, being involved in an accident is a brand new, very unpleasant encounter. But as I’ve elaborated here, there are lots of circumstances where hiring a personal injury attorney is not the best idea. If you aren’t certain, you can always provide a personal injury attorney a call to discuss your case.
