When someone suffers severe injuries in an accident caused by someone else's negligent behavior or actions, the aftermath can be overwhelming. From mounting medical bills to dealing with insurance companies, the challenges seem unending. This is often when the injured party or their family seek the help of personal injury lawyers.
In today’s post, we describe six key things you should expect from your personal injury lawyer.
What Your Personal Injury Lawyer Should Do for You
1. Provide Expert Legal Advice
The legal world is intricate, filled with jargon and procedures most people are unfamiliar with. Personal injury lawyers understand the distinctions of this area of the law and can provide clear guidance on what people should (or shouldn’t) do. They can advise on the viability of a claim, potential pitfalls, and the best course of action for a successful resolution. There are Missouri law statutes that govern catastrophic personal injury, punitive damages, and other areas of the law, and understanding these laws is one of a Kansas City injury lawyer's areas of expertise.
2. Gather Essential Evidence
The strength of a personal injury claim largely hinges on evidence. Collecting relevant evidence is critical to your cases and good lawyers should have the resources and expertise to gather supportive evidence like medical records, witness statements, and accident reports, to make the case.
3. Negotiate with Insurance Companies
Insurance adjusters are trained to minimize payouts. They might use tactics that can lead to victims settling for less than what they truly deserve or need. A personal injury lawyer acts as a shield against such tactics. Their goal is to negotiate for you, ensuring severely injured people receive a fair settlement including the cost of future medical treatment, job retraining, loss of income, and pain and suffering.
4. Determine Claim Value
Severe injuries can have long-term implications. Victims usually require ongoing therapy, multiple surgeries and more. In many cases, the injured party could experience a loss of income or reduced earning capacity which impacts their family, especially if they were the main breadwinner. In fact, one of our own partners, Dirk Vandever, can relate personally. In an interview with The Missouri Trial Attorney Magazine, he tells his own story of how the loss of his father (due to a faulty electrical product) impacted his own family. Personal injury lawyers should accurately calculate the entire claim value, considering every aspect of a person's loss. Current and future medical expenses, lost wages, pain, suffering, and other intangible losses are areas they should be considering.
5. Representation in Court
While many personal injury claims are settled out of court, some proceed to trial. In such cases, you need a law firm that has attorneys with significant trial experience.
6. Offer Emotional Support
Beyond the legal support, personal injury lawyers often provide emotional strength for victims. Facing severe injuries can be mentally taxing, and having a trusted professional by one’s side can provide relief. Your personal injury lawyer should be your advocate. They should care that you’re fairly treated. The lawyer should have some “skin in the game” and fight to obtain the highest settlement or award possible.
Contact a Kansas City Personal Injury Law Firm
We are a Kansas City personal injury law firm with a focus on cases with social impact. Most of the clients we work with are individual plaintiffs who have experienced a significant violation of their civil rights, police brutality, sexual assault, medical malpractice, a vehicle accident, or the wrongful death of a loved one, and it changed their lives forever. We have seven highly skilled attorneys with different personal injury case histories at Popham Law, each one an excellent option for serious injury or lawful death cases.
If you have suffered a significant personal injury, please contact our office at 844-243-2288 and let us see if we can get you the just compensation you deserve.
