What Do Personal Injury Lawyers Look For?
A personal injury lawyer secures the maximum available compensation for victims of preventable accidents. When deciding whether to take your case, they consider the injuries you’ve suffered, the potential evidence that could support your claim for damages, and the parties who may have liability for your losses.
Here’s an explanation of your rights after suffering a personal injury and the services personal injury lawyers provide. We also explore what a personal injury lawyer considers when deciding to take your case.
Your Rights After Suffering a Personal Injury
As the injured victim of someone else’s carelessness, recklessness, or intentional misconduct, you have the legal right to pursue compensation for your losses. The monetary damages you can claim serve to make you whole and assist you in recovering physically, financially, and emotionally from the harm inflicted on you.
By pursuing a personal injury claim against a party with liability, you may receive compensation for your:
- Medical and other out-of-pocket expenses related to the injury.
- Loss of income and job benefits due to time off work.
- Loss of future earnings and opportunities due to a disability.
- Pain and suffering, both physical and emotional.
- Diminished quality of life.
- Scarring, disfigurement, or loss of bodily function.
You may also have the right to receive other forms of monetary damages from a liable party. For example, the law may entitle you to punitive damages if the person at fault engaged in extreme or malicious actions. Or you may seek statutory damages, an amount of compensation fixed by statute.
The specifics of the compensation available for a personal injury vary based on the details of each case. But the categories of damages above provide a general idea of the potential monetary damages you could have the right to claim. The most reliable way to find out about the types and amounts of damages you could receive in your case is to speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer.
The Role of a Personal Injury Lawyer
Obtaining compensation following a personal injury is not a guarantee merely because you have the right to receive it. Securing payment often takes quick action, hard work, and detailed knowledge of the law, not to mention a talent for gathering evidence, building arguments, and presenting compelling cases to insurance companies, defense lawyers, judges, and juries. That’s where a personal injury lawyer comes in.
Personal injury lawyers have one primary function—to seek compensation on your behalf if you have suffered harm due to someone else’s wrongdoing. But that simple explanation of a lawyer’s function does not necessarily capture the breadth of services they can provide. A personal injury lawyer is an advocate, ally, investigator, representative, and advisor.
Other services they provide include:
- Digging into the details of a case to determine how you sustained your injuries and who has legal and financial responsibility.
- Evaluating the harm you suffered to ensure that you secure the maximum possible compensation for your losses.
- Handling all communications with insurance companies as your representative so you don’t have to worry about dealing with aggressive adjusters.
- Gathering and compiling evidence to support your claim.
- Hiring and working with experts in various fields, including medicine, accident reconstruction, and finance, to add weight to your case.
- Answering your questions and explaining your options.
- Preparing and filing the paperwork to initiate insurance claims, lawsuits, and other legal actions seeking monetary damages on your behalf.
- Negotiating settlements of your claim and advising you whether to accept or reject settlement offers.
- Taking your case to trial to bring it before a judge and jury.
- Ensuring that you receive every penny of compensation due from parties liable for your losses.
Engaging a personal injury lawyer to handle your personal injury claim is the most reliable way of maximizing the compensation you receive after suffering an injury in an accident. Armed with extensive experience and skills, a lawyer can help you make informed decisions, shepherd your claim through the legal process, and act on your behalf for fair treatment from insurance companies and courts.
What Personal Injury Lawyers Look For
In the world of personal injury law, no two cases are the same. Personal injury lawyers need to assess the information at hand, scrutinize the case specifics, and evaluate the potential outcomes before deciding to represent a client. They base their assessment on various factors to ensure that they and their client clearly understand the potential risks and rewards of pursuing legal action together.
The Basics: Existence of Significant Injury and Loss
When looking at a case, personal injury lawyers first determine if their potential client (you) has suffered significant injury and loss that someone else’s wrongful actions caused that monetary damages can compensate for. An accident resulting in minor scratches or bruises that are likely to heal quickly may not warrant a personal injury claim.
An incident resulting in a severe head injury, spinal cord damage, or wrongful death, however, would likely justify legal action. Your injuries may fall somewhere between these two extremes, and a lawyer must calculate whether they would support a viable claim.
The Identity and Financial Resources of the Liable Parties
Once a lawyer has determined the existence of a valid injury, they next identify the party or parties potentially liable for the victim’s losses. That could be a person, business, government agency, or another entity.
A lawyer must also explore whether these entities have the financial resources, such as liability insurance coverage or liquid assets, to pay damages to the injured victim.
The Availability of Supporting Evidence
Lawyers evaluating whether to take your personal injury case also review the available evidence that may support your claim. Evidence can include documents, witness testimonies, images, videos, and any other relevant information that could help demonstrate someone’s liability to you for damages. The volume and quality of this evidence help the lawyer determine the potential value of your case and the amount of work required.
The Clarity of Relevant Legal Principles
The legal principles that establish liability also play a crucial role in a lawyer’s decision. Is the case a straightforward example of negligence, or is it more complicated? Complex cases require more resources and time to prove, which are factors lawyers consider when deciding whether to take a case.
Intangible Factors
Personal injury lawyers also consider how well they expect to work with a potential client. Factors such as the client’s openness and willingness to answer questions, their credibility, or how their story might resonate with a local jury can also influence a lawyer’s decision to take a personal injury case.
Risk–Reward Balancing
Finally, personal injury lawyers must weigh a claim’s potential value and probable success against the risk of a loss and not getting paid. After all, neither the lawyer nor the client should take on a case that will not result in a settlement or win at trial. A lawyer may consider the financial stakes and importance of the issues in the case when making this risk/reward determination.
Contact an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer Today
An experienced and dedicated personal injury attorney can dramatically increase the chances of a favorable outcome in your case. The right lawyer not only aggressively pursues the maximum compensation for you but provides you with the support and guidance you need throughout this challenging time.
Lawyers consider various factors when deciding whether to take your case. But before they can begin that analysis, they need to hear from you. So don’t wait. Contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area today for a free consultation.