Get Lots Of Good Tips Here About Personal Injury
When you are hurt because someone has been careless, it might be smart to consider a lawsuit. The process is long and complex, which deters many people from filing a lawsuit. This article will guide you through the process of obtaining a good personal injury attorney for your case.
Even if you have a preexisting condition, it's still possible to file a personal injury claim. Just be honest about any injuries from before the accident. You don't want him to be blindsided in court.
When choosing a personal injury attorney, you need to meet up with several different ones before making your selection. Most lawyers will meet with you for free so you can present your situation. At these consultations, you can ask about costs and figure out if they are someone that overcharges or adds extra fees.
Getting along with your lawyer is key, but there is something more you have to look for. Choose an attorney who truly listens to what you say. If they ever appear to not be listening, don't choose that lawyer. While they may think they know it all, typically people with that belief are those who know the least.
Remember that when you're choosing a personal injury lawyer, you're entering into a relationship. The lawyer you choose should be someone that you can easily get along with. Likeability should not be the only factor in your decision, but it is a very important factor to consider. Not liking your lawyer and their staff can hamper your case by putting a strain on vital communication.
Speak with a bar association to determine the lawyers that are in your area that practice what you need. This will not provide you a ranking of the best lawyers, but will give you a good start on finding one. The American Bar Association is a good place for you to start this process.
Insurance companies can be tricky to deal with. There is bound to be more than one insurance company involved within your claim so it is best to keep your wits about you at all times. Most insurers emphasize speed and affordable outcomes, regardless of the case. You might want to talk to a lawyer prior to taking anything from any insurance agency.
Look to the Internet for impressions on the lawyers you are considering. Others have hired these lawyers before, and they may have insights into their more info abilities. Do a Google search, go through local web forums, and even look them up on the Bar Association website. Anything you find can help you make an educated decision.
You absolutely must like your lawyer if you plan to hire them. Any niggling feeling you might have, be it a feeling that they are trying to sell you, or that they are not as competent as they make themselves out to be, will be the same feeling a jury or judge will feel.
Representing yourself in a personal injury claim can be difficult. One of the areas that should be addressed is the type of medical authorization that you will agree to in the settlement. Will there be a time limit on the coverage? Are you restricted to a specific provider? Make sure you know before you sign a settlement.
There are many reasons why you want your personal injury trial to begin quickly. One is for sympathy: if the court can see you while you are injured, bruises black and cuts still scabbed over, you'll be able to win more sympathy. This means that you're more likely to win.
When you are filing a personal injury claim, you need to pull your medical records from the last ten years. Make sure you review them so that you are consistent with any testimony that you give. The insurance company from the other party will be reviewing your medical history to try and find any conflicts in your testimony and find any preexisting conditions.
When you are involved in an automobile accident resulting in injury to yourself or a loved one, try to preserve all possible evidence in the immediate aftermath of the event. By taking photos and notes of damage to the vehicle, yourself and surrounding structures, you will have a leg up in terms of building a winning case. Your attorney will surely thank you!
The days and weeks following an injury are critical, so you must navigate them carefully. You need to take the proper steps in order to preserve the validity of your case. Carefully consider the information above to increase your chances of success.
Auto insurers play hardball in minor-crash claims
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- If you are injured in a minor car crash, chances are good that you will be in the fight of your life to get the insurance company to pay all the medical costs you incur -- even if the accident was no fault of your own.
That's what CNN discovered in an 18-month investigation into minor-impact soft-tissue injury crashes around the country. Those are accidents in which there is little damage to the vehicle and the injuries to people are not easy to see by the naked eye or conventional medical tools like X-rays.
Since the mid-1990s, most of the major insurance companies -- led by the two largest, Allstate and State Farm -- have adopted a tough take-it-or-leave-it strategy when dealing with such cases.
The result has been billions in profits for insurance companies and little, if anything, for the public, according to University of Nevada insurance law professor Jeff Stempel.
"We can see that policyholders individually are getting hurt by being dragged through the court on fender-bender claims, and yet we don't see any collateral benefit in the form of reduced premiums even for the other policyholders," Stempel said.
"So I think now we can say to continue this kind of program is in my view institutionalized bad faith."
If you have never heard of the strategy, it's because insurance companies don't want you to know that they are paying out less and less for minor crashes even while their profits soar and your premiums continue to rise.
But after a review of more than 6,000 company documents and court records, interviews with a dozen people nationwide, including former company insiders, and conversations with accident victims, the picture is clear: If you challenge the offer by some insurance companies you will be left with no option but to go to court, where you will be dragged through the wringer.
Expensive, time-consuming
In an affidavit in a New Mexico case where Allstate is being sued, one of the company's former attorneys said the strategy is to make fighting the company "so expensive and so time-consuming that lawyers would start refusing to help clients."
Shannon Kmatz, a police officer and former Allstate claims agent, said company employees were encouraged to get rid of claims quickly and cheaply and even offered accident victims as little as $50, telling them to take it or leave it.
Both Roxanne Martinez of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Ann Taylor of West Lafayette, Indiana, saw the practice firsthand.
Martinez suffered neck and back injuries when she was sideswiped by a driver insured by Allstate.
After three years, the company finally offered her $15,000 -- a little more than half of what she needed for lost wages and medical bills.
She went to court, and four years after the accident a jury awarded her $167,000 plus interest.
"It's kind of hard when you are thinking they are going to leave you broke. ... That was very stressful," she said.
Taylor was not as fortunate when her case went to trial.
The Indiana nurse was rear-ended by a State Farm employee driving a State Farm car. Damage to her car was minimal but she suffered herniated disc and muscle tears.
Taylor racked up medical bills and lost wages amounting to about $15,000. The company offered her $2,000.
"I was just very insulted," she said.
She sued, but three years later a jury came back with a judgment for her of only $1,500.
The jury didn't believe she could be hurt in an accident in which the vehicle had barely a dent.
Three jurors told CNN photos of the two cars involved in the accident -- enlarged and prominently displayed by the defense -- played a huge role in their decision.
And one said they assumed Taylor had already been compensated by the insurance company and was just trying to get more money.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tK7Cq0WYE_Jbut9wKINYSEnPSaXFndpmovl-Sg3Focw/edit?usp=sharing