3 Reasons To Contact A Personal Injury Attorney After An Accident
If you have recently been hurt in a slip and fall case, been the victim of medical malpractice, or been injured because of a defective product, then you may have a viable personal injury claim. While your first priority should always be to seek medical treatment, the next thing you should do is set up an initial consultation with a personal injury attorney. Read on below for just three of the reasons why you should always have legal representation before filing a personal injury claim.
They Can Document Your Case
It's unlikely that paperwork is the first thing on your mind after an accident. Yet documentation is the very thing that is likeliest to make your claim a successful one. An attorney will work to get all of the necessary documentation, including medical records, police reports, eyewitness statements, and more. If you do not have an attorney, you will have to find a way to do all of this while you recover, which is often too much to ask for a patient who has just been involved in a serious accident. The evidence your attorney can establish may make or break your case, so it is worthwhile to gather as much of it as possible in the days following your injury.
They Can Look Over Any Statements You Give
In the course of a personal injury case, you will inevitably have to give your side of the story. When you do so — whether in writing or in oral testimony — you can expect that the defendant's insurance representatives will scrutinize every word looking for a way to prove admission of liability. If they are successful, then you may not receive any settlement at all. An attorney is invaluable if for no other reason than they can look over any statements you give, revise them if necessary, and limit the language in statements to what is absolutely necessary.
They Can Make Sure You Are Fairly Compensated
Fair compensation is subjective, but often determined by what other individuals in similar personal injury cases have received. Unfortunately, there is no way to know this unless you work with an experienced personal injury attorney who can tell you — depending on the facts of your case — how much compensation you can expect in an eventual settlement. Without this information, you may end up accepting an unreasonably low offer or not bothering to fight for a greater one.