The Process of Receiving Financial Compensation For Your Injuries

Many people come to us asking how soon it would be before they have a check in their hand for their injuries. As much as we would like to give our clients a definite answer, we are obligated to give them a realistic description of the personal injury process. The truth is that the personal injury process can take months or even years to unfold, and the time needed to resolve each claim can vary widely. 

The process could begin in the days immediately following your injury when you first speak with the insurance company. However, before you even begin to do anything, you should start by hiring a personal injury lawyer to protect your legal rights. Having the right representation as early as possible can improve your chances of obtaining full compensation.

Filing a timely claim with the necessary insurance companies is the quickest way to getting the money that you need. However, you should know that the insurance company does not make it easy for you. Assuming that the insurance company concludes that you can receive compensation, they will likely offer much less than you deserve. Your attorney would then try to negotiate a higher settlement on your behalf. Know that you may need to go through a lengthy negotiation process to get what you deserve.

If you cannot reach a settlement with the insurance company, your attorney would file a personal injury lawsuit on your behalf. This would mean that your case would move into the civil court system.  

How Your Personal Injury Case Is Proven

Receiving financial compensation for your injuries depends on whether someone else was negligent. Therefore, you need to prove that someone else owed you a duty of care and acted unreasonably under the circumstances. 

Your personal injury case may come down to both what you and the other person were doing in the lead-up to an accident. “Acting unreasonably” is open to a number of interpretations. What you need to do is present evidence that shows that someone else did not act as a reasonable person would under the circumstances.

Here are some examples of things that would be considered unreasonable behavior that could cause someone else to be found liable:

• A driver speeding, making an illegal turn, or rear-ending you
• A property owner who does not repair a broken stair railing within a reasonable amount of time after discovering it
• A product manufacturer who sells you a product with a design or manufacturing defect
• A dog owner whose dog bites someone
• A store owner who does not clean up a spill in the aisle when they knew or should have known about it

However, in many of these cases, you may find yourself in a situation where you say one thing, and the defendant says something different. Then, you would need evidence of what happened to support your claim.

In a personal injury case, the standard of proof that you must meet is less than the one used in a criminal case. The good news is that you do not need to prove your case beyond a shadow of a doubt. All you need to do is show is that it was more likely than not that the other person was negligent.

Your personal injury lawyer may use some of the following evidence to prove your case:

• A police report from your accident
• Photos from the scene of your injury
• Witness testimony
• Testimony from a medical or scientific witness
• Your medical records

You may also need to prove what you were doing at the time of your accident because the defendant may try to argue that you caused your own injuries. 

What Your Personal Injury Lawyer Can Do

We’ve already discussed certain steps your Orange County personal injury lawyer can take during the claim process. In reality, we do even more than that to help you. From the moment that you speak to us, we act as your guide through the process. We understand that most of our clients do not have any experience with a personal injury case. Our job is to be a counselor throughout. Our lawyers pride themselves on our responsiveness and the level of effort that we go to in order to educate our clients and keep them informed. After all, you need to be in the best position to make decisions about your case. 

In addition, we will fully investigate your case once you hire us to be your attorney. Your lawyer will speak to witnesses, examine photographic evidence, and gather proof that you could use to show that someone else was responsible. This is something that would be difficult for you to do on your own, even if you were not injured.

What Your Personal Injury Case Is Worth

One of the first questions that many people ask us at the initial consultation is how much they can receive in compensation. This is for good reason, as the average accident victim is struggling financially because they often cannot work, and they are buried under bills. 

As your attorney, we would tell you that your compensation depends on your own particular circumstances. Knowing how much your case is worth is one of the major reasons why you would need to hire a personal injury lawyer. 

The insurance company knows the value of your case practically to the penny. They often make money by settling cases for far less than they are worth because claimants do not have the same knowledge. We put you on an even playing field with the insurance company by telling you how much you should receive in a settlement or court case. This keeps the insurance company from getting away with lowballing you in a settlement offer. However, you can still count on at least their first offer to be an attempt to see what you would be willing to accept quickly. 

With that in mind, your own recovery is based on a number of factors. The goal of personal injury damages is to put you in the same position as you were in the moment before your injury happened. While your health cannot be restored, money becomes the substitute for everything that you had taken away from you. Not only should you get paid back for the actual money that you lost from not working and medical bills, but you are also compensated for your pain and suffering.

Here are the possible damages that people might recover in a personal injury lawsuit:

• The cost of your past and future medical bills that came out of your pocket
• Lost wages for time missed from work and any reduction in your earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Emotional distress
• Your spouse could recover for loss of consortium
• Wrongful death damages if someone was killed

Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer Is More Affordable than You Think

With everything that your personal injury lawyer does for your case, you may think that it is a luxury that you cannot afford during this difficult financial time of your life. The good news is that personal injury lawyers do not cost you anything up front. You do not need to write us an expensive retainer check to get us working for you, nor do you need to write any check. This is because we work on a contingency fee basis.

If for some reason, your case is not successful, we will not send you a large bill, or any bill, for our services. The only way that we get paid is if you are compensated in some way, whether it is a settlement or a jury verdict. Then, we would receive a percentage of your recovery for our services that you previously agreed to. Either way, there is no risk to you. 

Tips for Your Personal Injury Case

What you do after you have been injured could have a large effect on your legal case. You could strengthen or harm your claim for compensation depending on how diligent you are after the accident. We understand that it is not always easy after you have been injured. This is why a phone call to a lawyer immediately after your injury is in your best interests.

• Get medical help – The longer you wait to get your injuries treated, the more of an opening that you give the insurance company to deny your claim. They may say that your injuries were not from your accident or that you have a preexisting condition. See a doctor immediately and get a medical diagnosis that details exactly what happened to you physically and how you are suffering.

• Stay organized – From the very first instant, make sure that you retain all possible documentation and keep it organized. If you are too injured to do it yourself, make sure that a loved one does this for you. A personal injury case is all about having the proof to show both liability and damages. 

• Move quickly to get legal help – Make sure to speak to a lawyer sooner rather than later. You have a limited amount of time to file your lawsuit due to the statute of limitations. If you miss this, you could lose the right to compensation. Make sure that the attorney that you hire has the experience necessary to handle your case. For example, if you are filing a product liability lawsuit, it would require someone with the knowledge and ability to prove what could be a complex claim.