Archives for January 2020

Five Reasons to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer

An accident can happen for a number of reasons. If your injury was caused due to the negligence of another; you are entitled to receive compensation for your recovery, medical bills, and other expenses. But fighting such cases is not easy. Dealing with the negligent party and their attorneys is not easy. So, it is best to hire a personal injury lawyer to help you win the compensation.

Here are five reasons to hire a personal injury lawyer

1. To Get Expert Legal Guidance

Personal injury cases can get very complicated due to monetary considerations. There are several things to look into before demanding compensation from the negligent party. You will need to consider the nature of the injury, loss of income (temporary or permanent), medical expenses (lifelong or not), mental distress, third-party involvement, etc. You can only arrive at the right compensation amount to ask once you consider these aspects related to your injury.

Then you will need to know if your case has any merit. You wouldn’t want to get tangled into a legal matter if nothing is to come of it. You will also need guidance about the process of filing the claims, approaching the negligent party, and taking the case to court if necessary.

A personal injury lawyer can help you with all these things related to your case. But ensure that you only hire the best local personal injury lawyer to increase your chances of getting the settlement. You can perform simple online searches using your location and the requirement in the keyword. For instance, use personal injury lawyer Joliet if you live in this area.

2. To Protect and Collect the Evidence

Evidence can get lost really fast in personal injury cases if the injured do not act fast. But with your injuries and hospital stay, you can’t really do much about it. When you hire a personal injury lawyer; they get to work quickly to collect and preserve the evidence related to your case. If your injury was due to a motor accident, your lawyer will visit the site and gather the evidence related to the case. Your lawyer is likely to check the vehicle in question and collect all the facts necessary to build your case.

Experienced personal injury lawyers have their teams in place to collect the evidence to help your case. They are also likely to hire medical experts to further investigate your injuries and get the facts right.

3. To Deal with Negligent Party’s Lawyers and Insurers

The negligent party’s lawyers can pester you to sign a deal with the least amount of compensation from their side. The other party’s insurers can make your life very difficult by trying to take advantage of your vulnerable position. Without a lawyer by your side, it can be really harrowing for you and your family to deal with insurers. The stress of dealing with insurers can interfere with your recovery.

4. To Represent your Interests in Court

There are times the negligent party may act stubborn and refuse to pay any compensation (or the asked amount) to the injured party. In such cases; your personal injury lawyer will file the case in court and represent you during the proceedings. Your lawyer will draft the best opening and closing statements and arguments, and ensure that the negligent party’s lawyers don’t play dirty.

Your lawyer will prepare all the paperwork for the court. Your lawyer may conduct depositions of medical and other experts related to the nature of your injury and the accident. Your lawyer will ensure that key witnesses to your accident are present in the court.

5. To Get you the Compensation you Deserve

An accident can bring your whole life to a halt. Depending on the nature of your injuries; you may be confined to bed for weeks, months, years, or for life. You may lose your income for a period of time or for life. You may require medical care or medicines for life. Your family will suffer too alongside you.

It is not possible for a layperson to fight companies and their lawyers to get the compensation they deserve. Hiring a personal injury lawyer can be extremely helpful in this regard.

Useful Tips to Hire A Work Comp Attorney

You are entitled to compensation if you are injured at work due to another’s negligence or any other reason. But it is not easy to file such claims. Without the help of an expert workers’ compensation attorney, you may lose out on the benefit amount you deserve. The right attorney can help you get compensation covering your lost wages, medical bills, and other expenses.

Consider these tips to hire the best work comp attorney.

Conduct an Online Search

It is important to hire an attorney well-versed with the local laws. Workers’ compensation laws can differ from state to state. For instance, you are entitled to receive compensation due to your workplace injuries in the state of Arizona. So, it is important that you find a local attorney with experience in this area. You can use keywords such as work comp attorney Phoenix or something similar to find one in this city.

Online searches are the best way to find attorneys in your local area. You can, of course, also ask for referrals from the people you know. The point is to find out the names of leading attorneys in your town or city. It will help you to focus your research in a better way.

Check the Websites

Leading attorney maintain a proper business website for the benefit of their prospective clients. You can check their websites to know more about the attorneys and their service offerings. Read about the experience of the attorney in the area of workers’ compensation.

Are there any examples of real cases present on the website? Many lawyers or law firms briefly touch upon the kind of cases they have undertaken in the past and how much compensation they were able to get for their clients.

Does the attorney offer free consultations? Does the attorney cover the area you need help with, such as third-party claims or immigration status issues complicating your workers’ compensation benefits?

Carefully read about all these details before setting up a meeting with the attorney. It is important to be informative about an attorney’s expertise in handling workers’ compensation cases.

Consider Experience

Yes, expertise matters when hiring an attorney. But it is also a good idea to not discount experience of a lawyer. There are law firms that specialize in all areas of personal injury cases, including workers’ compensation. Then there are attorneys who solely focus on workers’ compensation only, which in itself can include different kinds of injuries and issues.

An attorney handling workers compensation on an everyday basis is likely to have more experience in this field. So, it is best to choose an attorney with extensive experience in handling workers’ compensation cases, especially if your matter is a complicated one.

Schedule a Consulting Session

Identify one or two attorneys that seem to fit your requirements and then schedule a free consulting session with them. Use this time to explain your case to the attorneys and find out how they can help you. Ask any questions you may have about the process, your case, and the legal fee. Most workers compensation lawyers work on a contingency basis. So, ensure to inquire about the percentage amount they will charge.

Make sure to clearly discuss your case without hiding the details in order to receive the proper responses from the attorneys. They cannot respond to your queries you in earnest if they don’t have the requisite information about the case. 

Assess the Information

Take some time to assess the information based on your research and your meeting with the attorney. Do you feel the attorney understood your case? Do you think the attorney showed sufficient interest in your case? Is the attorney’s schedule free to take on your case on a priority basis? Does the attorney have the right kind of experience and expertise to handle your case?

Collate the responses to these questions and finalize an attorney without delay. It is important to hire a workers’ compensation attorney on a priority basis. Otherwise you may lose key evidence related to your cases. Your employers lawyers can also further complicate the case. With these tips in mind, you can easily find the best workers’ compensation attorney in your area.

Tips to Find a Competent Truck Accident Lawyer

Truck accidents – be it via 18-wheelers or any commercial truck – need to be handled differently than other motor accidents. Trucks are bigger motor vehicles, often causing severe accidents due to their sheer size. Trucks are also commercial vehicles, especially 18-wheelers. Accidents caused by them require dealing with several parties such as the driver, the driver’s employer, the truck manufacturer, the company that hired or owned the truck etc. If the driver is an independent contractor, the case might require different handling. So, it is best to hire an expert lawyer to handle such cases.

Consider these tips to find a competent truck accident lawyer.

Conduct an Online Search

When you want to find a local lawyer, one of the best ways to do so is to conduct a simple online search. For instance, if you want to hire a truck accident lawyer in Dallas, you will need keywords specific to this search. You can use search terms such as Dallas truck accident lawyer or something similar mentioning your location and the requirement.

A simple online search can yield names of leading accident attorneys Dallas TX. You can check their online reviews and gather more information about their credentials and professional reputation. Such results may also show up results on personal injury lawyers who handle truck accident cases. There are different types of personal injuries. So, consider such results also when conducting your research.

Check the Website

Once you have identified a few credible truck accident law firms or lawyers in your area, check their websites to know more about them. Learn about the lawyers and their personal experiences in dealing with truck accident cases (if present on their website).

Is the firm reputed? Is the lawyer credible? Do they offer free consultations?

Schedule a Consulting Session

If the lawyer or the law firm offers free consultations, it is a great sign of their credibility. Schedule your session and use this time to discuss your case and see if the lawyer is available to take it. Ensure that you ask about their rates before finalizing your decision to hire them or not.

Most personal injury lawyers work on a contingency basis. It means that they will only charge you a fee if they win compensation for you. Make sure to ask about the percentage of the compensation they will charge you.

Ask them about their approach to the case. Do they think you have a chance of winning a payout? Do they have the resources needed for your case?

Confirm the Nitty-Gritty

There are truck accident lawyers, and then there are expert and experienced truck accident lawyers. You will want to hire the latter to increase your chances of winning the case.

Do not hesitate to ask the lawyers about the resources they use to build their cases. For instance, do they have experts in their roster to provide them help as needed? They might need medical experts to offer their comments on the nature of your injuries. Your lawyer will need to speak with medical experts to gather evidence to support your financial claim. Your lawyer might need an expert who can reconstruct the accident or provide information about the traffic situation as pertaining to your case.

Check the availability of the lawyer for your case. Can the lawyer devote proper time to your case? Will the case given to a junior associate or will it make the lawyer work on the case?? Is the associate capable of handling the case?

A reputable and credible lawyer or law firm will have experts in their roster. They will also be fully equipped to handle your case when you approach them.

Hire the Lawyer

Once you are satisfied on all parameters concerning a lawyer or a law firm; it is best to hire them without delay. When it comes to handling personal injury cases, it is best to hire a lawyer as soon as possible. If not, then you are likely to lose important evidence to support your case from the accident scene. The insurance agents of the negligent party may already show up on your door and attempt to offer you the least amount of payout.