How Do I Know a Personal Injury Lawyer Will Take my Case?
Injuries take a lot out of us, physically and mentally. It can be hard to keep your thoughts together around the time of an accident, and when it’s over, it may be confusing to determine if you need a lawyer. After all, how many people retain the services of a lawyer frequently? You may not even know if it’s worth bringing your case to a lawyer in the first place.
Presenting the facts about your case to a lawyer may actually be easier than you think. However, there are times when an attorney may choose to decline your case, so it’s good to think about the factors that may go into successful personal injury litigation.
Is my case too small?
To make a case worth your and your lawyer’s time, the level of injury needs to be above a certain threshold. Very minor injuries that have low costs may not be worth the time it takes to pursue a claim. For example, hitting your funnybone on a doorway inside a business and filing a claim may not be very productive, as it wouldn’t have much merit in court and any remedies would be small.
Generally, personal injury lawsuits are primarily useful for recovering costs from significant injury or for significant pain and suffering. A lawyer may turn down your case if you healed relatively quickly, because it would be difficult to argue that you need additional remedies.
Do I have the right documentation?
It is important to keep documentation, such as medical bills, photographs from the scene of an accident, and so on. When you first bring in your case, a lawyer will interview you and evaluate your description of the incident, which will help establish the basis for your story. But without complete documentation of what happened, such as a police report from a car accident or a diagnosis from a doctor, an attorney may not understand the full picture or nature of your injuries.
Documentation may also play a role in which attorney is best for your case. Depending on the nature of your injury and the circumstances around it, you may need to consult someone who specializes a specific area of law. Personal injury law can be specialized into categories such as product liability, toxic tort law, or medical malpractice, among others. Choosing an attorney can be difficult, particularly if you live in an area without many, and most experienced attorneys will not want to take on a case out of their area of expertise. Providing the documentation of your case will help the attorney make a decision on whether to take your case, and if there is enough information, may help them provide you a recommendation if they are not comfortable taking it on themselves.
When the injury happened plays a role, too. If you wait too long to contact an attorney about your case, you may have allowed the statute of limitations to expire, which means your claim
will be barred. Your attorney cannot determine whether to take your case without knowing when your injury occurred.
Is liability clear?
A lawyer will want to know the exact circumstances leading to your accident. In order to successfully pursue a personal injury case, your attorney must present evidence on the key issue of liability. At trial, the court or jury will evaluate this evidence to determine who should be financially responsible for the accident.
For example, if you were following all the traffic laws on your way home from work one day when a semi-truck ran a stoplight and crashed into you, causing you serious injury, it is pretty clear who was responsible. The semi-truck driver should have stopped at the stoplight. Because the driver failed to stop, in violation of the law, you were injured. Provided there is documentation of what happened, the truck driver’s liability should be clear.
However, the circumstances can also be much murkier. If you slipped on a wet floor in a store and broke your arm, but the spot was clearly marked by a wet-floor sign, liability may be more difficult to establish. An attorney will likely ask you for your complete, truthful story and will be able to tell how clear the liability is. If you cannot identify what caused your fall, the case will likely be thrown out of court. It is essential that you are honest, even if you think an embellishment or exaggeration may be more likely for a lawyer to take your case. The truth will come out, and it may have serious consequences.
Every injury case is different. If you have recently been through a serious accident and wonder if you may be able to receive compensation, ask the advice of an attorney sooner rather than later. There is a limited amount of time for an injured person to bring a personal injury lawsuit, and an experienced professional will be able to help you find the right information going forward.
