Critical Questions You Should Ask Your Lawyer About A Personal Injury Case
A personal injury lawsuit is worth pursuing when you have been injured due to another person’s negligence. Before filing the case, it is important that you speak to a personal injury lawyer.
As you navigate your way, you should ask a few questions to find the best lawyer in the personal injury field. These questions will help you evaluate your lawyer’s competence and whether the lawsuit is worth pursuing.
Surprisingly, you can hire a good lawyer at Shiner Law Group when you have a good case, at no extra cost instead of spending dollars on a lawyer with a mediocre track record. Here is a list of seven most crucial questions, to make sure you have the right lawyer for the job:
How much do you charge per case?
Majority of the personal injury lawyers work on the basis of contingency fees . This means that you are not going to pay a cent until you recover money in damages from your lawsuit.
How this plan works is that if you redeem monetary damages, your personal injury lawyer takes a certain percentage of the award. This percentage is typically between 25% and 40%.
It is important that you know the qualifications of your lawyer. If they ask for a low percentage, they might not be qualified to handle your lawsuit.
What is the value of my case?
Your personal injury lawyer can estimate the valuation of your compensation amount, based on facts about the case. In some states, personal injury lawsuits involving large amounts of compensation are filed in superior courts, while smaller amounts are handed in smaller courts.
Some of the factors that influence the valuation of your case include wages lost, medical expenses, physical pain, and mental anguish caused by accident. Also, the degree of the defendant’s negligence influences the worth of your case.
What type of personal injury do you specialize in?
Most personal injury lawyers are experienced in a wide variety of practice areas. However, not all of them can handle your specific case type. Some of them focus exclusively on a particular area of personal injury cases.
It is, therefore, important that you clarify the specific area your lawyer is experienced in. For example, you don’t want a dog bite lawyer to handle your car accident lawsuit. This will ensure the best possible outcome.
How many cases of this nature have you handled before?
Ask for how the lawyer has been practicing and how many cases of your kind they have handled before. This is to know how much of their practice experience has been dedicated to personal injury.
Also, know that because they have experience handling work-related injury cases, it doesn’t mean they can handle your car accident lawsuit. Don’t be afraid to speak to another lawyer if their experience doesn’t fit your needs.
What is your honest evaluation of the case?
When speaking to your personal injury lawyer, ask them to give an honest evaluation of your case. This evaluation should be based on various facts in regards to the situation. Remember that you’ll not always be assured of success because of certain irregulars.
Will other lawyers handle my case?
Most of the time, people hire lawyers they see on the internet and TV and think that will be the person representing them. In reality, big cases are handled by multiple lawyers. Most work is handled by case managers who aren’t lawyers, and the hearings are sometimes also handled by junior lawyers in the firm.
The junior lawyers and staff may be qualified and do a remarkable job on your case. However, if it’s important to you that a particular lawyer handles your case and not just the law firm, make sure this is known. Also, know who the contact person for your lawsuit will be.
Do you try your cases in court, or do you take out of court settlements?
In some cases, such as car accident lawsuits, many lawsuits rarely go to trial. Many of them are completed through out-of-court settlements. A personal injury lawyer should have experience with trial cases. It’ll help you know whether there’s a possibility of winning the case through litigation.
Also, in an out of court settlement, the compensation is usually lower than cases won through a lawsuit. Out of court settlement could be preferable, but your lawyer should not go for it just because it’s the easier way out.
Be careful with any lawyer who tells you early that your case is easy to settle. A qualified personal injury lawyer should be prepared to go to trial.
In Conclusion
Choosing an experienced personal injury lawyer goes a long way in determining whether you’ll win your case or not. That’s why it’s vital to ask crucial questions to gauge the lawyer’s strength and experience. You can interview a few to make sure you settle with the one you are most comfortable with.