Seeking advice from a personal injury lawyer after an auto accident is a great idea. In fact, many injury lawyers offer free initial consultations, which means if you decide not to file a claim, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. It's important after suffering any kind of personal injury that you find an attorney to represent you very quickly, because the guilty party's insurance company will probably contact you immediately in an effort to settle for a low amount – don't fall for their tactics.
So, when you're looking for ‘injury lawyers near me', don't just choose the first accident lawyer in Arizona you find. Make sure your chosen legal professional is someone who communicates well with you, and someone you can trust to be your advocate, especially if the claim ends up going to court. Most personal injury cases do not make it to a jury trial and are instead settled out of court, so it's important that your lawyer is a skilled negotiator.
Choose a car insurance lawyer who has years of experience negotiating with insurance companies, because the insurance reps themselves will have had years of experience trying to get away with offering unfair, low settlements. Your accident lawyer will have handled many cases like yours, and he/she will have your best interest in mind.
Get Medical Attention
The first thing any lawyer will advise you to do is to seek medical attention and have all of your injuries assessed by a medical professional and treated, if necessary. Those injuries might not be immediately visible, so seeing a doctor is very important. Injuries could pop up at a later date, and if you have already settled for a fixed amount of compensation, you would have no recourse to pay for these additional medical costs.
You should keep in mind that quite a few types of injuries, especially those like brain injuries or soft tissue injuries, may not show any symptoms at all for weeks and sometimes even months into the aftermath of a personal injury. Seeing a doctor not only protects your potential accident claim, but it can save your life.
Make sure your doctor conducts a thorough evaluation in the aftermath of your personal injury so that you can be thoroughly diagnosed and provided with the appropriate medical treatment. One of the biggest areas of omission in such cases is those injuries that don't appear immediately.
Seeing a doctor consistently once you've received a diagnosis is also very important to your health and case.
Become Involved in the Investigation
After you have settled on a personal attorney, he/she will conduct an investigation of your accident and will begin planning how to prove that your injuries were caused by someone else's wrongdoing or negligence. Attorneys will typically have access to accident reconstruction specialists, medical personnel, and other professionals who can analyze the incident, helping to validate your injury settlement.
They will also examine the extent of your injuries in order to have an understanding of what happened, who was to blame for the incident, and how badly you were injured. In order to make that happen smoothly, you need to be in touch with your personal injury lawyer and follow his/her advice about how to proceed.
You should be involved in the investigation because your thoughts and recollections of the events surrounding that incident will be crucial to making your claim. This will help collect the right evidence and maximize your chances of a fair and appropriate settlement.
Read about how to maximize your car accident settlement here.
Work with Your Lawyer on Compensation
Your accident lawyer in Arizona will ask you to participate in discussions that consider all the damages you sustained and legal compensation to which you may be entitled. Some of the damages you may need to pay for include doctor visits, prescriptions, medical equipment, and any at-home care which is required in the aftermath of your personal injury. These items will be included in your demand letter, which your lawyer will draft and send to the defendant.
If the accident was fatal, funeral expenses will be addressed as well. You may also be compensated for loss of companionship and lost wages, including future earnings that you might have accumulated while you were unable to work. You may be entitled to pain and suffering damages as well because there may be a lot you'll have to endure as you recover from the injuries you received from your accident.
Review our previous blog topic about the important elements to consider when discussing your potential legal settlement.
Document all evidence
With every day that passes after an accident, your memory will become less sharp, and the sequence of events will become more muddled. That makes it important to use police reports, doctor notes, and your recollections for creating an account of the events surrounding your personal injury. As such, it's vital to preserve evidence as thoroughly as possible.
Immediately after an accident, you should be considering the types of evidence that may help your claim. You may or may not be able to gather information directly from others who were present at the scene. If it is possible, however, get witness information and be sure to acquire all relevant information from the other driver in an auto accident if that's the personal injury type you suffered.
Any other evidence which might be useful in an injury case should be gathered and documented. It is especially helpful if you can obtain photos or videos from the scene of the incident.
Your lawyer will work with you to determine what type of evidence is needed in your specific case.
Contact Our Injury Lawyers in AZ Today
If you've been hurt in an accident due to someone's negligence or intentional wrongdoing, you may be entitled to legal compensation to help you recover from your injuries. Call or text our accident lawyers in Arizona today at (602) 345-1818. You may also fill out this form to schedule a free initial consultation with us.