What Are The Steps To Getting A Personal Injury Settlement?
Posted on: 26 March 2021
When most people think about lawsuits, they think about dramatic trials as they see on TV. If you've been injured in an accident, the chances of you ever stepping inside of a courtroom are pretty low. Most cases settle long before trial. Here's what you need to do.
Go to Your Doctor
If you've had any type of accident, it's important to see a doctor as quickly as possible. If the accident wasn't bad enough to go to the emergency room in an ambulance, you still want to go get checked out in urgent care or by your primary physician the same day or early the next morning.
There are several reasons you need to go to your doctor. The most important is making sure you have no injuries you aren't aware of yet as well as establishing when you got injured. The other party won't want to settle if they think you got hurt doing something else or that you can't prove when you got hurt.
Talk to a Personal Injury Lawyer
If you've been injured, you might think it's easy to just ask the other party to pay for your medical bills or they might offer to pay on their own. This might work out for minor injuries, but it's often hard to know the full value of a personal injury claim.
You may be entitled to compensation for lost wages, loss of quality of life, and other financial harms that aren't as readily apparent as your hospital bills. In addition, settling often means that you give up the right to pursue further claims if you later discover your injuries were worse than you thought or you were entitled to more compensation than you asked for.
Start Discovery
Discovery is the process of exchanging evidence with the other side. Unlike on TV, real trials aren't about surprises. Both sides are required to exchange evidence so that the lawyers can prepare. This also gives your lawyer an idea of what a fair settlement is.
Negotiate
You alone get to decide whether you take any settlement offer. If you aren't happy with the offer, you can ask for more money or take your case to trial. Your lawyer will help you back up your offer with evidence, give advice on whether you're getting a good deal, and explain the risks of if you choose to go to trial instead.
To learn more about how to get a personal injury settlement, contact a local personal injury lawyer today.
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