Hiring an attorney is not an easy decision. It’s important to retain an attorney who’s ready to work on your case immediately, has significant experience in the area of your case and prioritizes consistent communication with their clients. Below is a rough timeline of what to expect from your attorney and why each step is important to building a case.
Explain the Process
An attorney should explain how your case will be handled from the pre-litigation state to when or if a lawsuit is filed. The detailed process can vary quite a bit depending on the nature of your case. At a minimum, your attorney should provide the basic timing expectations of pre-litigation settlement and litigation.
Gather Evidence of Liability
An attorney should immediately inquire to see what will be needed to win the liability portion of the case. If it is a simple rear-end case, there may not be any real evidence needed, as the event may speak for itself. However, if liability issues are more complex, an attorney should try and preserve video or computer-based evidence that may exist on cameras or recording devices.
Your personal injury attorney should order the police report or traffic collision report to see if there were any witnesses identified, photographs taken, or measurements made by the responding officers. If the reports identify potential witnesses in a disputed liability case, it’s important to get statements early in the process.
It is also important to ensure all photographs of property damage or personal injuries are taken and preserved.
Communicating with Insurance Companies
Attorneys should see if there are insurance policies in place that might benefit the victims. This not only includes liability policies for the Defendant, but uninsured/underinsured policies for the Plaintiff and policy provisions that may pay for medical treatment.
In most personal injury cases, nearly all personal injury attorneys will not provide client statements to insurance companies. Insurance company adjusters are seasoned professionals and can find ways to get victims to make statements minimizing their injuries. If possible, deny adjusters these statements. There are some exceptions to this rule. You may need to provide a statement if you’re dealing with your insurance carrier, particularly when it comes to questions of liability.
Assist Clients in Understanding Their Medical Options
Attorneys are not doctors and should never pretend to be. Attorneys should not manage the care or treatment of clients, instead they should make clients aware of their treatment options and be ready with alternatives if one form of treatment isn’t working.
A qualified personal injury attorney has many years of experience dealing with injured victims and has had prior clients with similar injuries. An attorney should serve as a sounding board and explain why certain treatments are being delayed or denied, why injuries tend to get unexpectedly worse over time, or why they are not healing as fast as expected.
For example, many clients are disappointed leaving their emergency room visit with only muscle relaxers and pain killers for their back injury. They were hoping for an MRI and/or CT scan. But, a knowledgeable personal injury attorney understands this is common practice from a managed care conservative treatment approach. They can clearly explain that unless there is concerns of internal bleeding or similar problems, an MRO and other major diagnostic testing is not given until 10-12 weeks after an injury.
Ensure Clients Do Not Settle Too Soon
Many clients try and settle their case too soon. They have mild back or neck pain and want to accept a resolution. They’re ready to “get it behind them” and think their injuries will resolve shortly. Unfortunately, they don’t realize that a nagging pain can last a lifetime and it’s often a long-term problem. Sometimes that nagging pain gets worse or a different body part starts to hurt because it overcompensates for the injury. It is important to let your personal injury attorney determine if your injuries are either fully resolved or have reached a plateau before settling.
Our Sacramento Personal Injury Attorneys have handled cases in and around Sacramento for over twenty years. They will take you through each of these steps at the necessary pace, ensuring that you are up-to-date throughout your case.
To speak directly to a Personal Injury Attorney with significant experience in Northern California, contact Eason & Tambornini, A Law Corporation today.
