ESPANOL
The civil courts do not require you to retain a lawyer after a car accident. However, many victims choose to retain legal representation because it allows them to step back from their cases while legal professionals handle the proceedings.
Without any prior legal experience, victims can easily make simple mistakes that turn out to be costly throughout their legal proceedings. Even if you are forgoing a lawsuit and decide to file an insurance claim, your attorney could provide peace of mind while working through the insurance claims process.
Understanding the Role of a Car Accident Lawyer
Car accident lawyers are there to guide you through the legal process, lending a helping hand and fighting for your rights every step of the way. Moving forward, you can be as involved – or distant – as you please while your attorney builds your compensation case.
To gain a better understanding of the wide-ranging legal services offered by car accident attorneys, here are some examples of what your attorney can do for you:
- Helping you avoid mistakes after an auto accident (e.g., speaking to the insurance adjuster, admitting fault, accepting a low settlement)
- Gathering evidence, such as the police report, eyewitness statements, medical records, video surveillance, and photos
- Proving liability by establishing the other party’s negligence
- Filing legal motions
- Handling legal research
- Handling all communication with involved parties
- Contacting expert witnesses
- Counseling you on legal decisions
- And much more
Every case is different, bringing new challenges for you and your loved ones. If you do not hire a lawyer, you must handle all the tasks above while attempting to recover from your injuries or grieve the loss of a loved one.
You can gain a clearer perspective about the services of a car accident attorney by speaking to your legal representative.
How Personal Injury Lawyers Investigate Car Accidents
Car accident lawyers approach every accident on a case-by-case basis, pulling information from a pool of resources to gather evidence on your behalf. The evidence your attorney collects will generally consist of a combination of:
- Physical evidence
- Circumstantial evidence
- First-person accounts
Here are some common methods of evidence-gathering your attorney may use:
- Analyzing police reports
- Speaking to eyewitnesses
- Outsourcing physical evidence to industry professionals
- Using accident reconstruction experts and other expert witnesses
- Gathering surveillance footage from traffic cameras and nearby businesses
- Reviewing pictures taken at the scene of the incident
Given everything else you are dealing with, gathering in-depth evidence about your car accident is probably the last thing on your agenda. With a car accident lawyer by your side, you can continue focusing on getting better while your attorney uses their years of experience to help prove liability.
We will look at your case to see if any of the leading causes of car accidents resulted in your injuries.
How Car Accident Lawyers Help You Calculate the Value of Your Pain and Suffering
Car accident lawyers use a variety of methods to help you determine how much your case is “worth.” First, your attorney will take inventory of the types of physical, mental, and financial hardships you presently face.
This includes all the past damages you have endured, like medical bills related to any hospital stays and ongoing psychological trauma associated with your accident. When it comes to the financial cost of your complex mental anguish, attorneys often utilize a useful technique known as the “multiplier method.”
The Multiplier Method
This involves examining the trauma you have endured and translating it to a number between 1.5 and five — which gets higher depending on the severity of your suffering. From there, your attorney will multiply this number by the total number of your financial losses, giving an overall number to go off of during any settlement negotiations.
For example, let us say you suffered $10,000 in financial losses from your car accident. Your attorney assigns the number three (out of five) to represent your ongoing mental anguish. The total value of your non-economic suffering will be appraised at $30,000
You Can Get Help Today with No Upfront Fees
Our team handles cases on a contingency-fee basis.* This means you pay no retainer and no hourly fees to obtain our help. You only pay us at the end of your case if we recover compensation on your behalf. You face no financial risk when you enlist our help.
Car Accident Lawyers Proudly Serving Victims of Injuries and Other Losses
Here at George Sink, P.A. Injury Lawyers, we want you to have the best possible chance at rebuilding your life after an accident due to negligence. Our law firm is here if you are asking yourself whether you need a lawyer after a car accident. We can answer any questions you have about the process moving forward.
To learn more, contact our George Sink, P.A. Injury Lawyers team today at (888) 612-7001 and receive your free consultation with a representative.