The Advantage of Having an Attorney: A Word to the Do-It-Yourself’ers

To avoid seeing your chances of a full and fair monetary recovery diminish, don’t attempt this process on your own. A person injured in a car accident can attempt his or her own research of possible settlements, but many unknown pitfalls abound in the world of the insurance adjuster.

Time and again, we’ve seen that by the time the victim decides they need an attorney, their adjuster has already succeeded in getting statements from the victim that make fair compensation either very unlikely—period—or more difficult to obtain than ever.

Even self-help sites admit that most people who are injured in a car accident or who end up with property damage need a lawyer. There are the obvious cases of people who desperately need legal representation, such as those driving without insurance and living in no-fault states. For them, if a lawsuit were filed against them they would find themselves faced with the prospect of paying any damages to an injured victim out of their own pocket. And in these lawsuits, of course, stating that you cannot pay the ordered amount is no defense; once a person is found liable, the judgment entered against him or her is final.

Perhaps the less obvious cases, though, are those folks who do carry the legally required amount of insurance, but need to sue in order to be “made whole.” If your personal injury case is complex and involves substantial damages, you must have an experienced personal injury attorney represent you. In any court above a small claims court, knowledge of the complex legal procedures involved in such a case is critical to making your claim successful.