Common Mistakes That Are Made During Personal Injury Cases
It is not uncommon for mistakes to occur when filing a personal injury lawsuit, especially when it’s your first time or when you don’t have experienced legal counsel. When these mistakes occur, they may result in delayed compensation or even invalidate the settlement process altogether.
For instance, if the statute of limitation is exceeded before filing an injury case, there will be no compensation for the injuries suffered. It is important to hire a competent personal injury attorney, not just to handle your case, but to provide you with important information that may impact your case.
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Common Mistakes: Made During Personal Injury Cases
One of the easiest ways to identify skilled injury attorneys is to identify their areas of expertise. Lawyers who specialize in more than one aspect of law tend to be less skilled than those who handle a single kind of case. There is a myriad of injury attorneys located in every state such as the Jason Stone Injury Lawyers in Massachusetts. Personal injury lawyers handle injury cases according to the law of the state in which they are.
The common mistakes that are made during personal injury cases include:
Fear of The Cost of Hiring a Lawyer
People often fear the legal fees that come with hiring an attorney and as such, delay hiring a lawyer for their injury case. This may severely impact the outcome of their case, or at the very least, it may affect some key processes such as the gathering of evidence.
Furthermore, personal injury lawyers rarely request payment until they’ve won the case and secured compensation for the client. Skilled injury lawyers charge a “contingency fee”, which means that they’ll only get paid for their services after they’ve secured the compensation.
Not Asking Questions
It is important to be well-informed regarding the happenings in your case, this may be achieved by studying and by asking questions. You have the right to ask your personal injury attorney questions regarding your case including the reason for the steps they’ve taken and the ones they plan to take. Another quality of a competent attorney is the ability to answer their clients’ questions and reassure them.
Another common mistake people make when they’ve been in an accident, especially car accidents, is the declination to file a lawsuit because they believe they share blame for the accident.
Accident injury cases are tried according to the laws guiding personal injury cases in the state in which the accident occurred. Some states practice a “comparative fault system” whereby injured parties may receive compensation even when they’re also at fault for the accident. However, the amount of money to be received as compensation will depend on how much they are to blame (fault percentage).
Not Considering The Possibility of Other Liable Parties
In personal injury cases such as car accident injury cases, there are other parties, apart from the at-fault driver, who may be responsible for the accident and are liable to pay for damages that result from the accident. Depending on the exact cause and circumstances regarding the accident, the liable parties may include insurance companies, the employers of at-fault drivers, or the government.
One of the easiest ways to avoid mistakes when filing an injury claim is to hire a competent personal injury attorney very early in the case.
