When you meet with a personal injury attorney, they are going to inform you that there are some aspects of an injury claim that may help it to succeed and others that may cause it to fail. In fact, some would say it is an essential element of every single personal injury case.
You may not be aware, however, of which parts play the largest roles in helping a personal injury claim succeed and which ones have the most devastating consequences on claims that fail.
If you want to know these elements, read on below.
In This Article:
- The Evidence That Really Matters
- The Importance Of Time In Medical Treatment
- Understanding The Insurance Company
- Settlements vs Trial
- Factors That Determine Success
The Evidence That Really Matters
Did you know that the most important part of any personal injury claim is the evidence?
In fact, if you do not have a strong showing of evidence in your case, your personal injury claim is almost definitely going to fail.
The best forms of evidence you can provide an attorney for a personal injury claims are photos or videos of the scene of the accident, along with witness testimonies and police reports from the scene. Additionally, an attorney will need to have complete medical records of any injury that you have suffered from as a result of the accident that you are filing a claim for.
This includes documentation from every doctor’s visit, including any diagnosis you may have received and all medical treatment. You will also need to show evidence of the costs you have incurred as a result of these injuries, in the form of copies of medical bills, pay stubs that show reduced income as a result of lost time from work and receipts of any other money you may have spent as a result of the accident.
If you are missing one piece of this, your claim will certainly not be worth as much.
The Importance Of Time In Medical Treatment
Another factor you may not be aware of when it comes to personal injury claims is that the time in which you see a doctor after you get hurt is also a vital element of every personal injury case.
This is because insurance companies are very good at finding ways to say that your injuries were not as severe as you are trying to claim.
If you see a doctor or visit the hospital even a day after you have been injured, insurance companies have ways to claim that your injuries were not serious. This is why it is best to see a doctor as soon as you have been injured.
However, some people make the mistake of trying to wait it out and skipping medical treatment. This will be very bad for your personal injury case and will likely make it fail entirely.
Medical treatment and regular visits to the doctor should be part of a regular routine after you have been injured and this should not be stopped until your doctor has told you that you are well enough to do so.
Understanding The Insurance Company
Insurance companies are not on your side when it comes to your personal injury case. In fact, all they really want to do is to get you to take the least amount of money for your claim so that they can close your case and make more money for themselves.
Insurance companies do this by looking at specific factors when they are valuing personal injury cases, and some of these factors can even cause the case to be discredited entirely.
Some of these specific factors insurance companies use to try and pay you less include the liability of the case. This means that the insurance company may try to make you pay some of the blame for the accident, which will lower the amount of money you are given.
Insurance companies will also try to state that your injury was not as severe as you are claiming and that your treatment was not necessary or that it was as a result of another medical condition.
The best way to combat this kind of situation is to have the right medical records and to keep up with every doctor’s visit you are required to attend.
Settlements vs Trial
Statistically, only 3-4% of personal injury cases ever make it to trial. The reason for this is that trials are long, expensive and never come with any kind of guaranteed outcome, regardless of how strong of a case you have.
This is why most personal injury cases are settled out of court in negotiations instead.
Negotiations are much faster and are always more predictable. However, if you do not make it clear that you are willing to go to court if you cannot get the amount of money that you want, the insurance company you are dealing with will not take your claim as seriously and will give you a much lower offer.
This is why your attorney is so important, as an experienced attorney will know exactly what your case is worth and how to get you that amount of money without letting the insurance company make you accept an offer that is way too low.
Factors That Determine Success
Success in a personal injury case is largely dependent on the information you have to support your case.
For instance, the better the documentation you have for your case, the better your case will be. The more medical treatment you have been able to get, the more successful your case will be.
The clearer the liability is, the more likely you will be to win your case. The larger your damages are and the better you are at proving those damages, the more money you are likely to get.
The more experienced your legal representation is, the more likely you will be to get the outcome you want.
The time of filing your claim also plays a huge role in whether or not your case will be successful. The longer it takes to file a claim, the weaker your case will be.
The Bottom Line
A successful personal injury claim is one that is made up of many factors that help it to come together. The insurance companies that these claims are being made against are very experienced in the personal injury sector and have whole departments that are responsible for defending these claims, and in some instances, they will try their best to deny your claim.
If you know all of the right factors that you need to know in order to make your case a successful one, you are going to have a much better chance of being given a more reasonable offer that you are able to accept.
