If you've found yourself injured and with a wrecked car, you may be considering filing a case against the driver who caused the accident. In most cases, automobile insurance does an inadequate job of covering you for all of your damages, so seeking help from an attorney will surely be to your advantage. While having this vital form of legal support will undoubtedly take a great deal of the heavy burden from you, you should not simply sit back an allow things to unfold. To garner the very best chances of compensation, your help is needed. Read on to learn more about how you fit into the personal injury process.
1. Get your attorney "up to speed" quickly. When you consider how long a personal injury case can take, from start to finish, you may understand the need to get started on your case as soon as possible. Procrastinating and waiting too long to contact a personal injury attorney is never a good idea; evidence could be lost and far more time would pass than is necessary before you achieve your goal of a fair settlement. One way to get things off to a quick start is to arrive at your first client-attorney meeting armed with some good information for your attorney to use to begin your case. You might be surprised at how much information you may already possess and that could prove to be important. For example, make every effort to arrive with the following:
- The names and contact information for all parties; that means you, your passengers, and the at-fault driver.
- The accident or police report assembled by the officer that responded to the scene.
- Insurance information for both you and the other driver.
- The contact information of any eye witnesses.
- Your medical treatments, so far, and a summary of the medical expenses.
- Proof of lost wages. In most cases, you can only be compensated for lost wages by filing a suit, so provide the attorney with a pay stub or statement so that the amount owed to you can be calculated and "demanded".
2. Never speak to a caller who is from the at-fault driver's insurance carrier. Insurance companies cannot make a profit if they continuously pay out on accident claims, so they employ insurance adjusters to phone accident victims with the sole purpose of lessening their liability. These calls are always recorded and the chances are very good that you could end up accidentally saying something that could jeopardize your entire case.
3. Contact an attorney right away. Not only is valuable evidence potentially being lost while you wait, you could violate the statute of limitations in your state. If you put off contacting an attorney and filing your case too long, you will have lost the ability to get compensated, no matter how compelling a case you may have against the other driver. For more information, contact companies like Fitzsimmons & Vervaecke Law Firm.
