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When Do You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer?

When Do You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer?

when do you need a personal injury lawyer

Many people are hesitant to hire a personal injury lawyer for injuries that feel relatively minor. They don’t feel they need an attorney for a bruised wrist or a few scrapes, and they might be tempted to settle with the other driver’s insurance company for some cash.

However, there are a number of reasons why it’s worth it to have an attorney on your side even when you’re not suffering serious injury.

1. Serious Injuries

When you are involved in an accident that causes a serious bodily injury, you need the help of an experienced personal injury lawyer. These cases can be incredibly complex and require an in-depth liability analysis, which involves extensive research on relevant statutes, case law, and legal precedents.

Serious injuries can be catastrophic and cause long-term damage that leaves the injured party with ongoing needs for medical treatment. If you or a loved one has suffered from a serious injury, you should contact an experienced New York personal injury attorney to get started on your claim for compensation.

The first step in any serious injury claim is to prove that the injuries are severe enough to qualify under the law’s definition of “Serious Injuries.” Unlike other types of claims, the definition of serious injuries includes several specific categories. These include injuries that can lead to permanent disability and disfigurement, which are often referred to as catastrophic injuries.

In order to determine if you have a serious injury, your lawyer will need to obtain opinions from physicians in the appropriate medical specialties, such as orthopedics and neurologists. These doctors will document the severity of your injuries, provide you with necessary treatments, and may perform surgeries to repair damage.

If your accident was caused by another party’s negligence, you deserve to receive the compensation that you need to make the best possible recovery. It is important to work with an experienced Bronx personal injury attorney that understands the legal framework of these cases and has the experience to build a solid case for you.

As soon as you hire a serious injury lawyer, they will begin to gather the evidence that will support your case. This includes witness statements, police reports, and medical records that document your injuries. These documents will help establish the severity of your damages and how they were caused by the accident. In addition, your lawyer will work with experts in the fields of economics, accident reconstruction, biomechanics, life care planners, and vocational rehabilitation to prove your damages.

2. Medical Bills

If you’ve been injured in an accident, you may be facing medical bills that are exorbitantly high. A personal injury lawyer can help you negotiate these bills down. They also can protect you against medical lien filings, which are demands from healthcare insurers to repay personal injury treatment and medical bills placed against your settlement earnings.

A survey by Consumer Reports shows that many people experience problems paying their medical bills. About a quarter (26 percent) of adults ages 18-64 say they or someone in their household had trouble paying medical bills. The biggest culprits are emergencies, such as a hospital stay or emergency room visit, but chronic illness or surgery can also cause bill problems.

Whether you have insurance or not, it can be confusing to figure out what insurance coverage pays and how much it will cover for different procedures and tests. It’s especially difficult if you’ve received care from multiple providers.

To help navigate this confusing space, it’s helpful to contact both your medical provider and your insurance company to ask questions about your bills. It’s also a good idea to keep track of the explanation of benefits you receive from your insurance company, which should explain the costs and benefits for your coverage.

Another way to make sure your bills aren’t misrepresented is to dispute them immediately. Most health providers will offer financial counseling, and a few hospitals have billing advocates on staff to review your bills for mistakes. These advocates typically charge an hourly rate or a percentage of the amount they save you.

3. Property Damage

The most common reason people need a personal injury lawyer is when they are involved in an accident that damages someone else’s property. This can happen in many different ways, including accidents, acts of vandalism, thefts or even simple mishaps that happen as part of your job as a carpet cleaner or dog trainer.

When your business is damaged or your personal belongings are stolen, you need a property damage attorney by your side every step of the way to go over your policy and help you get what you deserve. This is because you’re not just dealing with the cost of repair and replacement – you also have to consider your lost revenue if you can’t sell anything because of the incident.

A product manufacturer might be liable for a defective item that causes damage to someone’s property. As an example, imagine you buy a new space heater for your living room and when it’s plugged in at night, the power plug blows up and starts a fire.

You can sue the manufacturer for the cost of replacing the damaged power plug. It is important to note that in most cases, a three-year statute of limitations applies when you are suing over the resulting property damage.

Depending on the circumstances of your accident, you may be able to file a claim with another party’s insurance provider or with your own insurer. In most cases, you will receive the market value of your possessions at the time they were destroyed. This is less than what it would cost you to purchase a new comparable item, but it should be enough to replace your damaged items.

4. Lost Wages

If you are unable to work due to a personal injury, you may be entitled to compensation for lost wages. These are usually the same wages that you would have earned if you had been fully recovered from your injuries.

However, calculating the amount of these lost earnings can be complex. This is because you must be able to prove that you missed enough time at work for the damages to be substantiated.

A lost wages letter from your employer can be very helpful when proving this information. This document should detail your position, role, salary, benefits, and performance appraisals. It should also show how much you would have earned during the time that you were off work due to your injuries.

Your doctor should also provide a statement detailing your physical condition, the type of work that you do, and what restrictions may be needed when you return to work. This will help support your claim that the loss of wages was necessary and reasonable.

A personal injury lawyer can assist you in recovering the full amount of lost wages that you are owed. This includes regular pay, bonuses, overtime, and all other financial benefits that you received as part of your job that were forfeited when you were unable to perform your duties as a result of the accident.

5. Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most serious types of injuries. These injuries can cause permanent physical, cognitive, and emotional impairments that require significant rehabilitation and medical treatment.

A traumatic brain injury can happen in a car or truck accident, a slip and fall, a sports accident, an assault, and many other situations. Some TBIs are mild and only cause short-term symptoms; others produce devastating, long-lasting damage that impairs a person’s abilities to walk, talk, think, or even remember.

The severity of a traumatic brain injury depends on several factors including the area and type of head impact. In addition to the Glasgow Coma Scale, doctors use a variety of tests to determine whether someone has a TBI.

If you suffer a mild TBI, you should follow your medical provider’s instructions for rest and a gradual return to your normal activities. If you have a moderate or severe TBI, you should receive medical care immediately to help prevent more permanent damage.

Depending on your TBI, you may experience symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, blurry vision and memory loss. Symptoms can be worse when you are awake, so it’s important to get prompt medical care.

If you have sustained a brain injury and the party responsible for it doesn’t pay for your care, you might need a personal injury lawyer to help recover compensation for the damages you have suffered. A good personal injury attorney will have extensive knowledge of your situation and can help you determine a settlement demand amount that will cover all of your costs, including medical bills, property damage and lost income.