Do I Need a Lawyer for a Car Accident Settlement in Minnesota?

Car accident cases rarely make it to court. Instead, they are typically settled through negotiations. This fact makes some people wonder, Do I need a lawyer for a car accident settlement in Minnesota? The answer nearly always is yes. Although a trial is not necessary when parties settle, injury victims still need experienced counsel to represent them against penny-pinching insurance companies that reap fantastic profits but fight hard to pay less for claims. Insurance companies increase their profit margins by paying you as little as possible in your injury claim.

Our Wisconsin and Minnesota car accident attorneys can discuss the reasons why you need our services. Learn more about the steps we can take on your behalf and why it’s difficult to represent yourself.

Mistakes People Make Without a Car Accident Lawyer

Many car accident cases seem to be straightforward incidents that should need very little time to resolve with an insurance payment. However, the truth is that many car accident cases, even when the facts are not in dispute, can lead to an adversarial process in a personal injury lawsuit.

Insurance companies vigorously defend against claims and lawsuits to reduce the amount of money they owe. The fight becomes more contentious when you have severe injuries and could be in line to win a larger settlement amount. Victims must fight against these efforts at skirting payment or risk receiving little to no compensation for their losses. Sadly, those victims who seek to do so without legal help typically make mistakes, many of which negatively impact the compensation payouts they receive.

Believing the Insurance Company Is on Their Side

One of the first errors injury victims without lawyers make is believing the insurance company is an ally in the compensation process. However, the exact opposite is true. As for-profit businesses, insurance companies seek to preserve and augment their bottom lines. In other words, insurance company adjusters are beholden to their employers and do whatever is necessary to benefit the financial interests of the company.

To them, injury victims should receive as little money as possible. Sadly, when victims believe insurance companies are on their side, they end up with far less compensation than they deserve, or even nothing at all. Even when the insurer seems to be on your side, it’s important to remember that the insurer has multiple lawyers working on the case. Those lawyers represent the company’s interests and don’t care whether the financial award is fair to you. Our local car accident attorneys focus on your interests. We do not care how the settlement affects the insurance company – we care about helping you receive the best possible outcome.

Recording a Statement for the Insurance Company

Often, an insurance company adjuster will attempt to get a recorded statement from the victim of an accident. One of the biggest mistakes a claimant can make is providing the company with this statement. Yet, claimants without lawyers regularly do so and end up hurting their case. Either they believe they must provide the statement or they think that the adjuster is trying to help them. Sadly, neither is true.

The only professional looking out for you during the compensation process is your personal injury attorney; we would never let our clients hand over a recorded statement to an insurance company adjuster.

With a recorded statement, an adjuster can build a formidable defense against the victim’s claims, potentially reducing the claim payment to zero. Words uttered by the victim can be stretched or twisted or may simply be inaccurate or incomplete. When they are, the victim’s case is in danger.

Settling for Substandard Compensation

Car accident victims in Minnesota may be entitled to significant compensation after a car crash. Without legal representation, they often leave much compensation on the table and walk away with less.

Minnesota is a no-fault insurance state, which means an accident victim’s insurance company is the first line of compensation after a wreck. However, no-fault insurance does not provide complete compensation for a victim’s losses. Only limited economic damages are covered by no-fault insurance, such as:

Reasonable medical costs
A portion of lost wages
A portion of the expenses associated with the injury.

Personal injury protection (PIP) insurance companies work diligently to minimize claim payouts. They play on victims’ immediate need for resources and push claimants to accept quick but low-ball payouts. They dispute the value of claims and challenge the seriousness of injuries. Without our attorneys available to combat these attacks, car accident victims usually get less than they deserve.

Seeking Too Much Compensation

Our car accident attorneys fight hard to recover maximum compensation for clients, but we don’t let ourselves be guided by greed. Experience guides our efforts and helps us determine just how much money we should be pursuing.

Car accident victims without lawyers, on the other hand, may not have a good frame of reference for how much money their case is worth. Without the guidance of our experienced car accident lawyers, a victim may end up losing dearly in court, mediation, or arbitration instead of settling.

Leaving Compensation on the Table

Car accident victims are entitled to compensation from their PIP insurance and potentially other sources, such as a negligent driver’s liability insurance. Many drivers are aware of this but are not aware of the various forms of compensation they may pursue.

For example, a claimant who is seeking damages above and beyond their PIP coverage may not be aware of the various forms of non-economic damages available, including:

Pain and suffering
Emotional distress
Loss of enjoyment of life
Loss of consortium.

When pursuing damages caused by a car accident, it is ultimately up to the claimant to claim each specific compensable damage. Sadly, many car accident injury claimants without lawyers are unaware of what they are entitled to and end up leaving substantial compensation unclaimed.

The insurance company handling the case will never voluntarily offer to pay damages not listed by the claimant. It is the responsibility of the injury victim to list the damages they are seeking. With our team representing you, you can rest assured that every form of compensation will be explored and pursued.

Legal and Procedural Mistakes

The compensation process for car accident injuries is controlled and regulated by a variety of rules and laws. Claimants must abide by all the procedural and timing requirements involved with compensation claims or potentially lose out on damages. Some of the errors claimants without lawyers often commit include:

Missing filing deadlines, such as insurance reporting deadlines and the statute of limitations
Filing incorrect forms
Providing incomplete or erroneous information on filings
Making insurance filing mistakes
Making jurisdictional mistakes
Making claims against the wrong parties
Showing deficiencies in wording on legal, insurance, and financial documents and forms.

Unfortunately, legal and procedural mistakes committed during the compensation process cause some victims without lawyers to forfeit compensation. For example, the Minnesota statute of limitations is six years, while the Wisconsin statute of limitations is three years. Some car accident victims wait until after the deadline to pursue compensation, resulting in the loss of their valid claim.

With our experienced car accident lawyers representing you, you never have to worry about the legal and procedural rules and laws controlling your case. Our attorneys handle everything and work hard to keep your case in compliance.

How Our Minnesota Car Accident Lawyers Can Help

Besides keeping you from making mistakes, our car accident lawyers will take care of all the essential tasks in your case, including:

Locating and interviewing witnesses
Investigating the accident and gathering evidence
Reviewing the police accident report
Gathering traffic and surveillance camera footage
Consulting with medical expert witnesses and accident-recreation experts.

Additionally, hiring our car accident lawyers to represent you in your compensation claim will give you peace of mind as well as time to focus on your injuries and recovery. The last thing injury victims need is the stress of fighting for compensation. That is what lawyers are for.

Most importantly, our car accident lawyers will likely recover far more compensation for your injuries than you can alone. Studies consistently show that represented claimants get compensated at much higher rates than victims without car accident attorneys.

Let Tyroler Leonard Injury Law Protect Your Interests

If you have been injured by someone else, you may be entitled to a settlement that can potentially cover most, if not all, of your losses. Tyroler Leonard Injury Law cares deeply for those who have been harmed and fights hard to hold insurance companies and negligent drivers liable for what they owe.

We work on a contingency fee basis when working for injury victims. This means you do not have to pay us anything at the time you hire us. Instead, our fees for representing you come from a percentage of the financial award we win for you. If we do not win your case, you do not owe us any money for our representation. Call (651) 259-1113 for a free consultation today.

Attorney Isaac Tyroler

Attorney Isaac Tyroler has been a strong advocate for injured people his entire legal career. He has a passion for righting wrongs, and he deeply cares about representing injured clients who may feel overwhelmed or uncertain about how to navigate the legal system. He is compassionate toward clients and aggressive with insurance companies and defendants. He is on the elected Board of Governors of the Minnesota Association of Justice (MAJ), the top personal injury lawyers’ group in Minnesota. And is currently the chair of MAJ’s legislative committee. [ Attorney Bio ]