Is It Really Necessary To Hire An Attorney For My Accident Case?
On behalf of The Law Offices of David L. Milligan posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents on Monday, February 29, 2016.
Many people seriously injured in auto accidents face questions about what they should do with their personal injury claims. They start receiving offers from insurance companies and they might think that accepting these offers is a good way to save money, because they will not have to go through the process of paying an attorney to take on their case.
This is perhaps the worst mistake that you could possibly make, because you will have no one on your side, looking out for you. This posting discusses some of the extremely important reasons that you need to hire an attorney to handle your motor vehicle accident case.
Dealing with insurance companies is difficult
They might be the insurers of the other parties involved in the crash, or they might be your own insurance company. Regardless of who you are negotiating with, you have to understand that these companies are not at all concerned about your future. Their main goal is to settle your case for a fraction of what it is worth.
These companies will try to appear like they are looking out for you, but know that everything you say is being evaluated to determine if it can lead to a smaller offer for you. You have to take action to ensure that you are protected throughout the process.
Your case is probably worth more than you think it is
Did your injuries cause you to miss work? Will they require life-long care? How much will this care cost? Who covers these costs? What parties to the crash may be held responsible for the accident? Where there any conditions present at the time of the collision that may threaten or improve your case in any manner?
These are just some of the questions you may have to consider as things move forward. And each of these questions may impact the compensation that you may be able to recover. More than likely, you are not going to know these answers. And insurance companies know this, and they are not just going to tell you things that require them to pay you more money.
Having an experienced attorney on your side will greatly improve your chances of recovering the maximum compensation that you need to pay for medical treatments and meet other expenses that are associated with your accident.
What happens if your case goes to trial?
If you handle your case yourself, you may find that you are stuck in never-ending negotiations with an insurance company. They may not be making you an offer that you consider fair, which leaves you in a difficult position. Take their last offer or go to trial.
Should a trial become necessary, you will be extremely behind in the process. You will need to find an attorney in a very short time frame, and you will have lost many months that could have been spent preparing for trial. This could have a significant impact upon your ability to recover the maximum compensation that you deserve for your injuries.
For these reasons, you need to be sure that you have someone on your side from the very beginning of your case. Personal injury attorneys generally handle these cases on a contingent fee basis, which means that you will not have to pay a fee unless your attorney is able to recover compensation on your behalf.