Imagup General Magazine 2024
Ever wondered what it is that your lawyer isn’t telling you about your personal injury case? Here’s where you find out…
If you are considering filing a personal injury claim but are in the process of pursuing new lawyers, this is the article you need to be reading. Before you hire anyone to do anything, read through this guide to all the things that your potential personal injury attorney team isn’t telling you.
The 13 Secrets your Personal Injury Attorney Won’t Tell you
There are things you really need to know about your case, and things that are on a need-to-know basis only. Let’s get the gossip.
1. A Small Law Firm Doesn’t Have the Cash for a Big Case
Lawyers’ fees are only collected in the event that you win your case. Otherwise, you will spend years paying back what was paid on your behalf, up front. Now, if you hire a small law firm to go up against a big company, they will eventually run out of cash to front your case. Although this money is paid back later, if they don’t have it straight away, your case will go nowhere.
If you have a big personal injury case, choose a big injury law firm to help you. Johnson Law Firm, P.C. are a good example of personal injury lawyers that can get you full and fair compensation for your injuries.
2. Some Companies Lease Out your Case
If you hire a law firm that doesn’t have any personal injury specialists of their own, they will lease out your contract to someone else. That person will do all the legwork on your behalf, and get paid for it, then you will get the bill plus a tidy commission added on by the original firm for doing absolutely nothing. So, while you need a big firm for a big case, you have to be careful about their ethics.
3. Lawyers Have More Than 1 Client
Personal injury attorneys can have dozens of clients in their books at one time. This is partially because that’s how money is made in this industry, and partially because the court system moves at a snail’s pace. Since everything moves so slowly, there is plenty of time in between cases to deal with newcomers.
4. Personal Injury Cases Don’t Usually go to Court
Normally, an attorney will put together the case, outlining the alleged incident and culprits, and containing all the details of your accident. This is called an affidavit. It is handed to the judge, who reviews both sides of the story. The judge will report on their findings, and, at this stage, an offer is usually made to keep it out of court. Although this offer is usually a low-ball offer and most firms recommend you don’t take it, the next offer will be better.
5. People Usually Settle
As a continuation from the above, people tend to settle out of court. It may take discussions and a few months of back and forth, but people usually find an offer that appeases them and meets their costs. It costs a company more to go to court than it does to fix things outside of court, so they will tend to avoid it if possible.
6. If the Case is Too Low Value, They Won’t Take It
Just as the small firms won’t take on cases that are too big for them to support, so too do the big firms refuse cases that are too small to support them. This is just a matter of economics. If they are going to spend time and money on cases, they need to have a higher pay out.
7. Settlements are Decided on Proof
The settlement amount that your claim is offered to stay out of court, depends on how much of a case you can prove. If you have them over a barrel with video, photo, and witness statements as evidence, then you are likely to be able to make your own demands. The amount you get relates entirely to your proof. Any personal injury attorney who claims that they will emotionally sway the opposition for you is just lying…
8. Personal Injury Law Firms are Small
Not in terms of reputation of profits earned, but there is little in the way of clerics, support staff, and PAs in the world of the law firm. There’s usually a receptionist and then the lawyers do everything else. Your personal injury attorney handles 95% of the work related to your case by themselves.
9. Insurance Firms want your Case to Fail
Your own insurance firm, someone else’s insurance firm – it doesn’t matter. Every case won sets a precedent for future losses on their behalf. They don’t want you to win, even if you are the one paying them.
10. It Takes Time
Personal Injury claims take a long time to complete. They run on for months and sometimes years. Don’t think it will be a quick fix. Document everything as you recover because the judge might not even see you until after you are fully recovered… they might not even see you at all, so give them photos.
11. Social Media is a Landmine
If you are involved in a personal injury case, the best thing you can do is stay away from social media altogether. If you document your recovery the wrong way, the opposition will seize on that. Even if you try to make light of things for the benefit of loved ones, this will be used against you.
12. There’s a Time Limit
The regular Statute of Limitations applies from two years after the incident occurred and prevents you from filing after that date. The case can run beyond that, but you must have filed by that point. Otherwise, you risk being figuratively thrown out of court.
13. No win, No Fee, Can Shut a Law Firm Down
Just because no fees are attached if you don’t win your case, doesn’t mean that someone hasn’t had to pay the outright costs of any additional fees. Hiring a judge to look at your case, the cost of calling and collecting witness statements, of liaising with emergency services, of going to court – it all adds up. Your lawyer will pay it if your case falls through.
