What Factors Constitute A Viable Personal Injury Claim?
All personal injury cases come down to facts and liability. You have to have the good liability against the other party, but that does not mean you have to have 100% liability against them. It does not have to be completely their fault. In California, there is something called Comparative Negligence, where even if you are partially at fault, you can still recover damages for your injuries and other related losses (such as property damage and loss of earnings). In order to constitute a viable case, you need good witnesses, photographs, and injuries that a doctor can testify under penalty of perjury that they believe are a result of the accident. Alternatively, if you had preexisting injuries, that they were aggravated by this accident. Hopefully, there is good insurance on the other side, or the client has good uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. These are some, but not all, of the factors to consider.
How Long Should Someone Wait To Get Medical Treatment After An Accident?
You should always get immediate care if you are injured, for a few reasons. For one thing, you want to find out what is wrong with you and what kind of treatment you need. In addition, you want to have everything documented. The longer you wait to go to the doctor, the harder it is to connect the dots. If you wait a month to go to the doctor, then it could appear as if you were injured in some other manner in the meantime.
Many times, people who have suffered a concussion or a mild traumatic brain injury do not realize that their cognitive functions have declined because of the accident. Symptoms can often take a while to manifest themselves so the person does not go to a doctor for quite a while because they are simply not aware that there is a problem. Therefore, there is a little more leeway in how long it takes to get to a doctor in these instances.
How Long Do Personal Injury Cases Typically Take To Get Resolved?
On average, most personal injury cases take around nine months to resolve, if we can get it settled without having to file a lawsuit. However, it is important to understand that every case is different and several factors play into a possible settlement.
If we have to file a lawsuit, you can usually add one to two years to the life of the claim, making it somewhere between two and three years to get the case resolved. We could have to file a lawsuit for various reasons. One could be that we disagree on liability, meaning that the insurance company feels that their insured is not at fault, or they do not believe that some or all of our client’s injuries are related to the accident, so they offer an unfair settlement amount.
How Can Someone Unintentionally Harm Their Personal Injury Claim?
Posting pictures on social media that may misrepresent how someone who has been injured is actually feeling, can harm their personal injury case. Perhaps they post pictures of themselves going to a party, having a great time and smiling. This does not support their claim of being damaged by an injury. On the other hand, talking to the insurance adjuster for the other side before a lawyer gets involved.
Can I Even Afford An Experienced Personal Injury Attorney To Take My Case?
Many personal injury attorneys charge what is called a contingency fee. This means that rather than being paid directly by you, the attorney is paid a percentage of the settlement. Usually, the attorney will advance the legal costs for your case, so you are not paying out-of-pocket to move your case forward. What constitutes legal costs is a blog post in and of itself.
What Makes You And You’re Firm Particularly Suited To Handling Personal Injury Cases?
I have been specializing in personal injury cases for over 20 years. I keep my number of cases low so that my team and I can focus on individual cases, and so our clients get a lot of personal attention. I am not a doctor, but having done this for a long time, I understand injuries. I can ask clients certain questions to get an idea of what part of their body has been affected, and suggest that they go to certain types of doctors to receive the appropriate treatments.
For more information on Viability of Personal Injury Claim, a free initial consultation with Sherman Oaks, CA personal injury attorney is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (818) 306-5799 today.
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