Your immediate response after an accident should be to contact a personal injury lawyer. Life threatening accidents are a dime a dozen in the Carrolton TX area and no one wants to take ownership for their mistake, because doing so would mean having to pay expenses, medical bills and possibly doing jail time.
Corporations, entities and normal people alike would want to avoid being on the receiving end of a fine. They lawyer up to prevent this from happening, which leaves the grieving party to no course of action other than to hire a personal injury lawyer. This is where you can level the playing field somewhat.
The advice that your legal counsel can give you could be the difference between a settlement in your favor or failure. Your best bet is to hire an experienced personal injury lawyer who has the necessary knowledge and repertoire of skills to handle your case. This requires proper research on your end, which is not easy to do.
How to hire a personal injury lawyer
The process of hiring a good Carrolton personal injury lawyer is arduous and full of pitfalls that are not easy to maneuver around. The last thing you want hurting your case is an attorney who doesn’t know or care enough about your case. Fortunately there are certain signs that you can use to help separate the good lawyers from the lackluster ones.
We recommend having a chatting session with the attorney to detect these signs. A good lawyer doesn’t promise too much and gives you your real chances of winning in court. Their primary concern is your well being, not just getting paid.
You should ask the lawyer several questions, these should address the following points
- Fee structure
- Hidden expenses (if any )
- Realistic expectations in case of settlement
- The number of cases related to personal injury that the attorney has dealt with
- Their experience in handling those case
From your end, it is very important to share as many of the small details related to your injury as possible, which brings us to our second most important point – communication. If the lines of communication between your Carrolton personal injury lawyer and you are not fully open, it means the person won’t be available to address all of your concerns. If the attorney simply doesn’t have the time or willingness to have an honest conversation with you, that should be a big enough red flag.
If the person doesn’t want to have a conversation to have you on board in the first place, what can you expect with them in the future when you have assigned them to your case?
The knowledge and background
The attorney should possess all relevant knowledge to your case in Texas. In addition to this, they should also know their way around insurance and health care companies to make sure that the case is settled in your favor. To verify that the attorney is indeed qualified to handle your case, you should find out their track record, work experiences and certificates.
Most businesses would not be possible without the use of the internet, this means that a competent lawyer will have a noticeable presence online. Often times, past clientele (both satisfied and angry) drop in reviews on various sites such as Yelp and Google to paint a more ‘truer’ picture of what it may happen down the line should you end up hiring their services.
The payment structure
One of the more important topics you should address is the fee structures. Your attorney should disclose the full amount that they expect you to pay to them, both during the case and after it has been closed. They should let you know of any ‘hidden’ charges which you may be expected to pay down the line which include court fees, documentation fees and any other miscellaneous charges.
Exceptionally good lawyers who have confidence in their skills and are aware of the merits of your case will offer contingency fees, i.e, take no payment unless the court decides in your favor.
Insurance companies are not easy to deal with
Insurance companies might choose to deny their responsibility of paying you in the event of an accident. A frustrated person could end up accepting their explanation, but it has been shown that gaining access to legal counsel will give you the persuasive powers to receive reasonable offers from the insurance company.
Sometimes insurance companies claim that a particular accident is not covered in insurance policy. In this case your first step should be to demand a copy of their insurance policy and read it carefully. Everything, including whatever might be written in ‘fine print’ can be used against you to prevent having to pay you out.
But your Carrolton personal injury lawyer can interpret insurance policy provisions in different ways, forcing the insurance company to provide the coverage it was paid to provide.
Why DIY approaches are a bad idea
A natural question you might ask yourself is, why go to a Carrolton personal injury lawyer at all if you can file the necessary paperwork yourself and even represent yourself in court? Legal battles are not just about documentation, they have unfortunately been reduced to jumping around loopholes in the law, ‘fine print’ in insurance paperwork, and making corporate excuses which could serve as a perfectly reasonable legal excuse to avoid making payments.
A thoroughly trained Carrolton personal injury lawyer however, would know what to say and how to say in order to best represent you in court. This is because they have worked with similar clients in your position, and are fully aware of the tactics that insurance companies (or other corporate entities) use to maneuver out of legal obligations.
Furthermore, if you choose to represent yourself in court, you might be needed to bring in ‘expert’ witnesses, navigate through the mountain of paperwork provided by the defendant and provide your own viewpoint to prove your case. This requires possessing complex rules and knowing how to present your case to a legal panel.
Outside of the court, you will be left wondering how to properly negotiate with the defendant and achieve a settlement that best works with your case. While insurance companies promise to pay money to you when you need it the most, their end goal is to minimize the amount they have to pay out. But a Carrolton personal injury lawyer will know just how to get you justice for your grievances.
They will fight all these elements to help you get the best compensation possible, something which you probably won’t be able to do yourself.
The lawyer should provide flexibility
Your lawyer should be open to various strategies in court. All possible approaches which could maximize your settlement amount should be made use of. You should have the ability to tell the lawyer to change their trajectory, perhaps you got tired of the process and want to end it as soon as possible, or you want to maximize gains no matter how long it takes, all these demands have different approaches to them.
The lawyer should be humble enough to hear your opinion and formulate the best course possible to win a case.
