Good Injury Attorneys Get You More Money
If you or someone you love has been injured at work, in a motor vehicle accident, or in a slip-and-fall, you may start to wonder if an attorney from somewhere like this personal injury law firm in Denver, Colorado, is really worth it. The answer is a resounding yes.
Studies show that people that have suffered bodily injury due to someone else’s negligence are three and a half times more likely to be successful in seeking compensation than those who go it alone. So how do these lawyers get superior settlement results?
Calculating Pain and Suffering
Here is the back-of-the-envelope math for calculating damages due for pain and suffering:
The sum of vehicle damage, plus medical bills and lost wages, multiplied by a number between one and five. The multiplier is determined in accordance with the severity of the injury that was sustained.
As an example, if your doctor bills are $8,000 and you lost $2,000 from not working, that is a total of $10,000. If your injury was a 4 on the scale of severity, your lawyer may then seek damages equal to $40,000. If you’ve got a rough idea of what the damage is, get in touch with lawyers like the ones found here to discuss this figure and see how they might be able to help you build a case to recover those losses.
But one thing that’s often missed when handling personal injury claims like car accidents or workers compensation is the long-term effects of physical harm. Does your injury prevent you from returning to your career, or prohibit you from performing work tasks as successfully as before? This could lead to a reduction in income, or even total loss of income over the long-term.
Certain injuries like traumatic brain injuries may manifest symptoms months after the actual crash. The lawyers at Lopez & Humphries will work with your team of doctors to assess your prognosis and actual recovery time. That information will be used to come up with a realistic settlement that truly covers financial need.
Insurance Companies, What You Need to Know
According to the Bureau of Justice statistics, approximately 75% of personal injury cases are voluntarily dismissed or disposed of through a settlement. It is usually in the early sensitive mediation period that the at-fault party’s insurance adjuster starts to get aggressive.
It helps to remember that adjusters are trained as negotiators. These people may seem helpful, but they are not looking out for your best interests. On the contrary, their job is to pay out as little as possible on each claim and sometimes even deny claims. And make no mistake, insurers are under no obligation to treat you in a fair manner.
Even in cases where the other driver cooperates, the insurance company itself can delay or even deny your claim. The first offer you receive is typically very low, which is why it is referred to sometimes as a lowball offer. A good rule of thumb is to not accept the first settlement offer because most of the time, it is an unfair one.
In an attempt to minimize the amount of your payout, the adjuster may suggest that you were lying or exaggerating your injuries or even trying to commit fraud. They may claim that your injuries were part of a condition that pre-existed the accident, which is why the first thing you should do following a wreck is head straight to the emergency room.
Remember that anything that you say can and will be used against you, by not only the court of law, but also the insurance adjuster. You may be asked to agree to a version of the accident that the adjuster presents you with. But do not do it. Do not give any written statement or sign anything, even if it seems reasonable, until you talk to an experienced lawyer.