You might be tempted to handle a personal injury claim on your own after suffering an accident in Los Angeles. After all, your situation is obvious. So why should your compensation be reduced by a legal fee?
There is a lot more to a personal injury lawsuit than a few late-night Google searches can tell you. There are very few people who can assess, manage, file, and defend their own cases. A number of hazards and bottlenecks are present in the process, and they are surprisingly easy to overlook. If you do not have an attorney by your side, here are eight ways you might harm your case:
- Information Sharing
Best When you engage an attorney, they will inform you that you should not discuss your case with anyone except them and your doctor. Recognize that you are being investigated by an insurance company or a defense counsel. Giving what you think is an innocuous statement to your insurance company or another third party could end up hurting your case in the long run.
- The Loss of Evidence
Obtaining proof as soon as possible is critical. After an accident, you’ll want to collect as much evidence as possible, including surveillance footage, photos, witness accounts, and so on. You can miss a critical component of your case if you don’t have an attorney to give the diligence and thoroughness required.
- Disobeying a Doctor’s Orders
Medical treatment is an important part of a personal injury case, not only for your physical recovery but also as proof of your injuries. If you’ve ever been on medicine or in treatment, you know how simple it is to forget to take your medication or to miss a session. If you make these kinds of blunders in a personal injury case, the defense will point out your oversight and call into question the severity of your injuries.
- Limitation Period
The statute of limitations in most personal injury claims is two years, which means you have two years to bring a lawsuit or settle your claim. There are, however, countless exceptions. A 6-month claim period applies to a personal injury claim made against a government entity (such as a state or city). A medical malpractice lawsuit, on the other hand, has a one-year statute of limitations. Your claim is no longer viable in court if you mistakenly let your statute of limitations expire, regardless of how meritorious your claim is otherwise.
- Negotiating a Settlement
When you make the typical error of suggesting a sum that you’d be willing to accept, you’re effectively engaging in a bidding war with yourself. Assume you have a claim worth $20,000. You reason that anything is better than nothing, so you tell the defense that you would sign a $10,000 release. Apart from the fact that you will almost certainly receive a low-ball offer of less than $10,000, you are lowering the value of your claim, even if you employ an attorney later.
- The Overestimation or Underestimation
If you don’t have an attorney who can lead you through the steps to determining that number, it can be tough to obtain a sense of how much your case is worth. Surprisingly, many people undervalue their claim, which is all the more reason to hire an attorney as quickly as possible to guarantee you get the money you deserve for your injuries.
- Use of Social Media
Social media is becoming an ever-increasing obstacle to personal injury claims in an age where uploading images of everything from your breakfast to your pet is the norm. You may be tempted to publish images and narrate your tale online for your friends and family to see if you have been harmed. An attorney will warn you that the defense is monitoring your social media accounts and waiting for you to make even the tiniest mistake.
- You’re not Taken Seriously
You’ll have a difficult time delivering the message that you can and will take your claim as far as it needs to go if you don’t have an attorney on your side. The insurance company will anticipate you losing interest, accepting a less-than-favorable settlement offer, or jeopardizing your case by making any of the blunders we’ve covered.
If you don’t want to lose your personal injury claim then you must consult Siman Law Firm.