Tips For Protecting Your Rights After Experiencing A Serious Accident
Being involved in a serious accident can be a terrible experience that results in major expenses, injuries and disabilities. Understanding the steps that you should be taking after suffering an accident will allow you to protect your legal rights when it comes to pursuing compensation for your damages from the party that is responsible for the accident.
Seek An Immediate Medical Evaluation
After you have been involved in an accident, you should consider seeking a medical evaluation. Whether you experienced an auto accident, slip and fall or other accident, you may not realize the full extent of your injuries immediately after this accident. However, many of these injuries may be visible on x-rays or other diagnostics, and this can leave a valuable paper trail when it comes to documenting your injuries. If you fail to receive a medical evaluation, it can be difficult for you to prove that your injuries were the result of the accident.
Document Any Correspondence Or Billing Stemming From The Accident
Following your accident, the insurance company for the party responsible will likely be contacting you, and you may start to receive bills relating to the accident fairly quickly. You will want to safely store these documents so that you can provide a copy of them to your personal injury lawyer. These documents can be especially important during the early stages of your case as they can provide the attorney with an easy way to get caught up on the offers that have been made or the argument used to refuse fair compensation. Also, copies of the bills from the accident can help to verify the costs that were incurred as a result of the negligent party's action.
Understand The Hazards Of Attempting To Represent Yourself
Individuals will often have concerns when it comes to hiring an attorney, and these concerns can cause them to consider representing themselves in the accident proceedings. While individuals have a legal right to represent themselves, it is seldom advised. The defense attorney will have years of education and experience when it comes to refuting claims of liability, and their superiors knowledge of the law will give them an advantage over someone that ha received little to no training.
If you are worried about the expenses that you will need to pay to be represented in a personal injury lawsuit, you should realize that attorneys that represent these clients work on a contingency fee. These fees allow their clients to be able to avoid paying for their representation if the attorney is unable to collect damages.
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