Do You Need To Hire A Lawyer—–The Many Roles of the Personal Injury Attorney

When we speak to injury victims looking into whether or not to hire an attorney to handle their personal injury claim, we find that most individuals do not realize all of the unique benefits that can be gained by hiring a good Georgia personal injury lawyer.  Many are struggling to figure out whether or not they really need a lawyer to handle their claim.    

It is always a smart endeavor to figure out whether it is really worth it to hire a lawyer for your personal injury matter.  To be honest, there are certain claims where it usually does not make sense to hire a lawyer to handle the claim.  

Our firm decides whether or not a potential client ought to hire us based on a very basic concept—-Will We Bring Value To The Claim? We believe the answer to that question comes from what we believe should be the various roles of a personal injury attorney in the life cycle of a personal injury claim.  

We tell each potential client what our various roles will be in their case and work with the potential client to assess whether based on what ought to be done for them whether or involvement will bring added value to their case.  Often times the added value is not just money but other intangible benefits to having us handle the case.  Lets discuss the various roles of a personal injury attorney. 

Lifting Burden Of Handling Day-To-Day Issues

This is the first and most immediate role an injury lawyer takes on after being hired to represent an injury victim.  We find that the simple task of taking over all of the day-to-day tasks of handling an injury claim is great relief to our clients.  

When we are hired, all calls from insurance adjusters about the claim to the injury victim immediately stop.  We stay in contact with all insurance adjusters from day one so the client can focus solely on his or her treatment and family.  

Handling a claim can be very stressful.  Not only do you have to keep the insurance adjusters updated regularly, you have to collect all medical records and bills from each treating physician.  You have to coordinate the repair or replacement of your damage vehicle.  You have to collect documentation of your other losses as well and provide all of this information to the adjusters in a timely fashion.

Making Sure All Sources Of Insurance Coverage Are Pursued

In our opinion this is one of the most important roles of a personal injury lawyer that understandably most injury victims do not realize.  In this day and age, almost all personal injury cases are involved insurance coverage and the question of how much coverage is out there.  This is due to the fact that in situations where the negligent party is an individual, that individual typical does not have enough personal assets to coverage all of the injury victims damages.  It becomes all about insurance coverage.  

In catastrophic injury cases, the injury victim can have hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses alone.  If the negligent party does not have enough insurance to fully cover all of the injury victims losses, there rarely is a point in going after the negligent party for his or her individual assets.  There just are not any.   

Thus, having a personal injury lawyer who knows where to look for all available insurance coverage that may apply to your case is very valuable.  Believe it or not, insurance coverage is a tricky subject matter and often times there is more insurance policies available to cover your injuries than you realize.  

Securing Evidence

This is one of the roles of a personal injury attorney that most are aware of but often do not realize how important it is early on in the life of a personal injury claim.  Evidence of what happened to cause your injury can disappear pretty quickly.  Whether it be the vehicles involved in the collision or the dangerous condition that caused you to fall, this evidence will not be around forever.  

An often overlooked piece of evidence that is time sensitive is the use of cellphones.  In Georgia it is not a violation to be texting and driving. Even talking on a cellphone while driving can be the cause of a wreck.  

Cellphone usage at the time of a wreck is critical evidence that should be secured.  The problem is you have no right to that information until a lawsuit is filed.  To make matters worse, most cellphone carriers do not keep all usage information for very long.  Typically a year at most.  

There are likely many other categories of evidence critical to your particular case.  Having a lawyer involved will give you the piece of mind that all of these issues are being handled in the best possible way.

Resolving Your Claim or Filing Suit

This is the most obvious role of a personal injury lawyer.  In most cases, simply having a lawyer handle your case brings added value.  Not to mention the fact that having an experienced trial lawyer handle your claim will help you better understand what your claim is likely worth giving you all the information necessary to make an informed decision regarding offers made to you to settle.

Naturally, if your claim does not settle, your lawyer is there to file suit on your behalf and begin the process of building your case for trial. 

Medical Lien Resolution

This is probably the most overlooked role of a personal injury lawyer.  Most clients do not even realize that they may have a legal obligation to reimburse their health insurance company for medical expenses paid on their behalf.  The law surrounding this issue is very complicated and even most lawyers do not have a good grasp of what their client’s obligations truly are here.  

This issue comes up for handling at the end of your case after you have received a settlement or been paid a verdict award by the defendant. As part of our representation, our lawyers stick with our clients even after the case is over to help clients save money by not over reimbursing their health insurance company.

We believe that this is another area where personal injury lawyers can bring significant added value to an injury victims claim.  Every dollar a lawyer can save from being reimbursed to the health insurance company is a dollar the client gets to keep to help pay for his or her losses.

Being Able To Rest Knowing Claim Is Being Handled

In our opinion, this should always been the overall role of every personal injury lawyer.  To bring a sense of calm to the lives of injury victims so they can properly heal and take care of their family after a tragic accident.  Providing peace of mind during someone’s difficult times should always be the goal by handling every aspect of a claim or case for the injury victim.  

Remember, we believe that not every single case needs a personal injury lawyer.  We are here to provide free consultations to every injury victim to provide an honest assessment of whether our firm can bring added value to the injury claim or case.  Do not hesitate to give us a call to discuss your matter. 

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