If you’ve suffered an injury in an accident, you may have one of several personal injury accident claims. But should you sue? Many victims of accidents ask this question. They also ask whether it’s worth the time, effort and hassle to file suit. Should they just try to put the accident behind them as soon as possible?
There are no guarantees in the personal injury legal world, but there are certain factors that can affect the chances of success of personal injury accident claims. Consider these as you decide what to do moving forward:
Factor #1: Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney
This is the single most important factor in determining how well your personal injury accident claim will turn out. Without an attorney, you will have no idea what’s going on, what potential causes of action you may have, any pending deadlines that might affect your case, etc. Even if you did know these things, would you understand how to deal with them?
For example, let’s say you figured out you have a claim for lost future wages. Would you know how to present that claim in court? Would you know what particular witnesses and documents you may need at trial to prove your claim? Would you be able to prove to the court that your witness can testify about future earnings and reliably extrapolate your earnings over the next 30 years?
And don’t forget the other side trying to lowball you when settling the case. You’ll need an attorney to know when an offer to settle is reasonable or when it’s too low. Perhaps a $1 million dollar settlement sounds generous to you right now. But when you find out a few months after signing the settlement agreement that your claim was actually worth $8 million, that means the defendant’s attorney was probably authorized to settle the personal injury claim for at least $3 million. Oops.
Factor #2: The Extent of the Injuries
This sounds pretty obvious, and it is. It’s also one of those catch-22 situations, where to recover more from your personal injury accident claims, you have to suffer more injuries. This is one thing many plaintiffs forget when they decide to sue someone for personal injuries. When there’s a significant verdict or settlement for a plaintiff, it’s usually because the plaintiff was very badly hurt. In fact, those who win large damages are usually so badly hurt that they would gladly return every cent recovered in exchange for the accident to have never happened.
Factor #3: Availability of Evidence
Let’s say a driver ran a red light and hit you. The other driver is clearly at fault, but without the right evidence, the case could come down to the ‘you-said-he said’ argument in court.
But let’s say you have a dash cam that recorded the entire accident and showed that you had the green light the whole time. After the accident, the dash cam recorded the other driver rushing to your vehicle, apologizing for running the red light because he was texting. See how much stronger your case is with the dash cam video?
Contact Us for More Information on Personal Injury Accident Claims
It’s important to consider all of the related factors and options when it comes to moving forward after an accident. Learn more about personal injury accident claims by contacting Williams & Williams, LLC.
