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Victims of a car accident should call a personal injury attorney right after the accident happens. The reason for that is that if they want to get compensation for the car accident, they need to take the right steps from that moment.
When car accidents happen, the other party's insurance company may offer the victim an unfair deal or ask them for information that could make it more difficult for their personal injury lawyer to win the case later.
While a car accident lawyer or someone who has already gone through this process would know what to do, a first-time victim won't. Hence, they need to know what questions to ask their personal injury lawyer after the accident to make the legal process easier for everyone.
Here, car accident victims can find the best questions to ask personal injury lawyers. It is also important to know what to ask a hit and run car accident attorney. Victims looking forward to hiring a law firm in St. Louis, Missouri, can call the Powell Law Firm anytime they like to get a consultation on their case. This law firm will get an experienced lawyer to handle everything in the best way possible.
"What Should I Do Now?"
Although many could think it's an obvious question, doing the wrong things after a car accident can make the victim start the case losing. If the car accident victim has any injury they need to treat immediately, they should start gathering evidence for the case.
The best car accident lawyer in St Louis MO knows all the evidence pieces victims can take after car accidents happen, so they will tell them everything they need to do. Apart from that, victims can ask their personal injury lawyer how to address the person who caused the crash and what to tell them.
"What Should I Do If the Other Driver's Insurance Company Offers Me a Deal?"
As mentioned before, it's common for insurance companies to offer car accident victims unfair deals right after the crash happens. Why do they do that? Because they want to avoid paying the victim what they need to pay for their medical bills or any other medical expenses due to how expensive those things are.
Healing from car accident injuries is not affordable at all, so victims need all the compensation they can get to avoid losing money. Hence, they need to ask their car accident lawyer what to tell the insurance company when they ask them to sign something.
"How Much Time Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?"
Regardless of how expensive medical bills are or how severe the injuries a car accident caused are, victims can't file a lawsuit if they go over the deadline the law has for filing auto accident claims.
This deadline varies depending on the state where the accident happened, so it's essential the victim asks the car accident lawyer they hire how much time they have to take the case.
The deadline to file an auto accident claim is called the Statute of Limitations. Most personal injury lawyers will tell this to the victim on the first case consultation, but for the people reading this article: victims in Missouri have five years after the accident happens to file the lawsuit.
How Long Do Personal Injury Cases Like Mine Take to Resolve?"
Going through a car accident case is stressful, so auto accident victims often want to get over with it as soon as they can. Unfortunately, the legal process to file a claim against liable parties can take a lot of time depending on the case.
Many lawyers lie about this matter and tell their clients that it will take less time than it actually will. Hence, auto accident victims need to tell their attorneys to be honest about this matter.
Simple car accident lawsuits can take a couple of weeks to resolve while a more complex car crash case can take several months or years. If your car accident is minor, learn if you even need an attorney.
"Will You Be the Personal Injury Lawyer Handling My Case?"
When people contact personal injury firms, they often get on the phone with someone the company hired to take those calls. That person can be an auto accident attorney who just got to the firm or even a paralegal. Those people are not always the ones taking the cases, but they can be if law firms asked them to.
There's nothing wrong about junior attorneys offering legal representation since they are lawyers too, after all. However, if the victim wants someone qualified and experienced to take their case, they need to clarify that when calling the firm.
If the person answering the car accident questions is the one who will take the case, the victim should also ask them how much time they can devote to the case.
While lawyers generally remain totally involved in their cases after the initial consultation, others work differently, so it's best for clients to determine if the schedule that lawyer offers works for them or if they should look for another option.
"What Legal Areas Do You Specialize in?"
Even if the lawyer taking the case is an experienced attorney, that doesn't mean they are experienced in auto accidents.
The USA's legal system allows lawyers to specialize in several practice areas such as family law, personal injuries, or criminal law. While they are all lawyers, a tort law attorney won't know how to deal with a serious accident case in the same way as a professional personal injury attorney would.
If clients ask this question to the law firm they call, and it tells them a general lawyer or a legal assistant with other specialties will take the case, they can ask them to put a personal injury attorney on it.
"What Damages Can Personal Injury Compensation Cover?"
All accident cases are different, and insurance policies may afford to pay for various things others don't. Therefore, victims who suffered injuries after the accident need to know what damages the claim they want to file will cover. Learning this will help them know if they will spend any out-of-pocket money on the matter.
Victims who get fair compensation after an accident often get coverage for economic damages and non-economic damages. The former consists of medical bills, loss of income, lost wages, legal fees, out-of-pocket expenses, and property damage.
Non-economic damage, on the other hand, consists of pain, emotional distress, and other non-monetary losses the accident may have caused. However, all lawyers need to prove the victim suffered from all these damages to get fair compensation from an insurance claim.
"How Much Compensation Can I Get from This Accident?"
When clients schedule a free consultation with a law firm and ask them to take legal action for the accident, they expect the other driver or their insurance company to give them all the funds they deserve to cover all the damages caused by the accident.
Although it's difficult to get to an exact number right after the accident, lawyers can tell victims what a fair settlement would be.
"How Will You Charge Me for My Case?"
Law firms can charge victims of an accident in different ways. Some lawyers, for example, ask for up-front payments and legal fees before taking the case. Others include the legal fees they will charge their clients in the claim.
Regardless of that, most attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, which consists of only charging the victim for their services if they win the case. However, this also means lawyers may charge the victim with a percentage of their settlement. That percentage is often 20% of it or more.
Hence, it's also important to ask lawyers working on a contingency fee basis how much they will take from the settlement. Some lawyers take a lot of money from the victim's compensation because of the contingency fee, so clients need to keep an eye on that when hiring a new law firm.
"What Can I Do to Help?"
While lawyers are the ones in charge of managing all the legal processes related to the case, they are not the only ones who need to worry about that matter. Victims and lawyers need to work together if they want to win the case, and while some lawyers work differently, most cases require the victim to help.
The best way to know how to improve a case's success rate is if the victim asks the lawyer they hire how they want them to help. Attorneys may tell the victim to take photos of the crime scene or ask the police to file police reports of what happened.
What Should People Look for in a Personal Injury Attorney?
Even if attorneys answer all the questions listed on this page, that doesn't mean they are the best fit for the victim's case. Victims of a car accident need a qualified lawyer who specializes and has experience in auto accident cases. This attorney needs to be able to devote all their time to the case and be aggressive enough to win settlement negotiations or trials.
Bottom Line - Hire Top-tier Personal Injury Attorneys from the Powell Law Firm!
Asking all these questions is essential to winning a personal injury case, but victims don't have to spend all their day looking for the right law firm for them. Fortunately, they can always count on the Powell Law Firm to take care of everything.
People interested in calling this law firm can contact it through its website to schedule a free case consultation!