What Is The Personal Injury Claim Or Lawsuit Process?

---

 

The process of filing a personal injury claim begins when the insurance company for the person at fault opens a insurance claim file according to its agreement to cover accidents or incidents caused by its policy holder. An injured person often initially thinks about opening or pursuing an injury claim only when they decide to seek out medical attention for the injury or is forced to lose work as a result of the injury. At this point, we are often called or contacted. We will then make contact with the insurance company that is responsible for covering the wrongdoers actions, or insures the vehicle or their property if it is a commercial or homeowner’s insurance policy. Sadly, many insurance companies or adjusters may look for ways to delay payment, deny or evade being responsible for covering the claim. This has become problematic, because there are many doctors who will not willingly treat people who have been in accidents because they don’t want to fight with the insurance companies any more than you do. In addition, there are a lot of clients who don’t have health insurance because it is becoming harder to find affordable coverage. At the beginning of the case, I make sure and go over the client’s medical care needs and plans for treatment and because I have practical experience, I know which doctors and clinics may agree to treat the patient and wait until the insurance company makes an acceptable offer of settlement to pay the medical bills. Clients come to us for advice and counsel, and we review their options and determine whether or not they have a claim or need immediate treatment and make the arrangements to get the treatment. Then, we do everything we can to help our clients find transportation and any other immediate medical needs. In appropriate cases, we advance the medical care costs when the doctor or special require upfront payment to secure medical treatment. We will also give the insurance company notice that they need to make a decision to accept responsibility to pay the claim or deny the claim so that we can file a lawsuit if necessary to protect the client.

When a client begins undergoing treatment for an injury, we don’t often know how extensive the injury is or how much care will be required until time passes and the patient begins to heal or does not heal. Sometimes injuries are temporary and sometimes they are permanent. For example, an injury to the neck or back could keep someone from doing heavy lifting, cause headaches, or cause pain down the arms, which can be short term or permanent. When the injuries are more permanent in nature, we have to address the necessity for future medical care. We do everything we can to resolve cases so that our clients can get on with their lives. This includes taking into account how the permanent injury affects the person now and in the future. Is the injured person losing work, can they hold a job now and what about in the future, are they able to do their household chores, do they have to hire people to do the tasks that they can no longer do. What are the future medical needs. Does the injury require any changes or modifications to the home, and if so what are the costs. What is fair compensation for these and other losses and harms to the client and the client’s family? Is there any comparable information from other clients or reported jury case results. We factor all the available information to find the value of the case to the client. Unfortunately, we sometimes have to file a lawsuit, which takes time. In those cases, we try to do everything we can to make sure that we have all of the proper people in place in terms of medical doctors, economists and psychologists to present the client’s full loss and harms.

Can I Afford An Experienced Personal Injury Attorney?

It’s a common misconception that it costs money to simply visit with an injury attorney. While there are attorneys who do charge by the hour, most personal injury lawyers will offer a free consultation to go over your case. Most client who are hurt and/or out of work do not have the money to pay an attorney on an hourly basis while an insurance company has attorneys on staff payroll or on call. As a result, most injury attorneys are often willing to take cases on a contingency basis, which means that the client does not have to pay anything unless they recover in order to balance the scales. When a lawyer describes their fee arrangements as a contingency fee agreement. That is to say that the payment of the lawyers’ fees are contingent on the recovery of money from the insurance policy covering the responsible person’s negligence or error, thru settlement or thru trial result. If there is no recovery, the client owes the attorney no fees.

Our law office handles personal injury cases on a 100 percent contingency basis. We lay out all of the expenses of a case, which can range from small amounts to tens of thousands of dollars. We charge a percentage as an attorney’s fee so that if we agree to settle the case, we spell out exactly the percentage that you’ll have to pay. Expenses can include the need to hire a private investigator, medical doctor or an economist. However, you don’t pay a penny out of your pocket unless we recover, and that’s one of the benefits of a contingency fee. We do not settle your case unless you agree to the settlement amount in advance of the final decision to settle. We also give the client an itemized statement of fees, case expense, cash advances, and court fees in writing upon disbursement of settlement monies to the client.

For more information on Personal Injury Claims Process In Texas, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (210) 225-2828 today.