When Should I Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?
After suffering injuries in an accident that wasn’t your fault, you may believe you are eligible to win an injury award from the negligent party. However, you may be asking yourself, when should I hire a personal injury lawyer? Ideally, you should hire a personal injury attorney as quickly after your accident as possible. Having legal representation on your side from the start of the case offers numerous benefits.
Ultimately, deciding when you should hire a personal injury lawyer depends on the circumstances in your case. Some people may hire a personal injury attorney . . .
- Immediately after the accident.
- A few days after the accident, when they initially realize their injuries are severe.
- When the stress of dealing with constant inquiries from the insurance company becomes too much to handle.
- After receiving the first medical bill from emergency care.
- After the insurance company for the negligent party accuses them of causing or contributing to the accident, which eliminates or limits any potential financial award.
- After their own negotiations with the insurance company come to an impasse.
- When approaching the deadline for the statute of limitations for personal injury in Minnesota or Wisconsin.
- When they ultimately realize the insurance company is treating them unfairly and trying to limit the payout amount in the financial award.
- When they feel the insurer is stalling in the case.
- When they finally decide to seek a financial award from the negligent party after several months of uncertainty.
The experience of our Minnesota personal injury lawyers can ease the process of seeking a personal injury award, no matter when you hire us.
Do I Really Need to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer After My Accident?
Nothing in state law in either Minnesota or Wisconsin requires you to hire legal representation after you suffer injuries in an accident that was not your fault. You have the right to represent yourself in negotiations with the insurance company.
In fact, when the insurer’s representative reaches out to you after the accident, the rep may offer to help you receive your maximum award. The insurance company may not tell you outright not to hire a personal injury attorney, but it often will strongly hint that you don’t really need one.
Always remember that no matter what the insurance company representative tells you, that person works for the insurance company, not for you. The insurance company can maintain a higher profit margin for its stockholders and investors by paying less in awards to victims of accidents.
When you hire our personal injury accident attorneys, we only represent you. We do not care about the insurer’s profit margins and stockholders. We only want to give you the best possible financial award and outcome in your case.
Benefits of Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney Soon After the Accident
When you decide to hire a personal injury law firm immediately after your accident, you receive some benefits by not waiting.
Simplifying the Investigation
When we can begin investigating the accident as soon as possible after it happens, it’s easier for us to find evidence that helps your case. If you think the insurance company for the negligent party will try to blame you for the accident, even to a limited extent, you need the investigation to show that you had no role in the accident to help your chances of winning a maximum award.
Meeting All Deadlines
When you hire us right away, you do not have to worry about missing any filing deadlines that could put your chances of winning a financial award in jeopardy. We put pressure on the insurance company to keep the case moving forward, too. Insurers like to stall in hopes that you will become frustrated with the process and just accept a smaller award to put an end to the case.
Moving the Case in the Right Direction
At Tyroler Leonard Injury Law, our team has more than two decades of collective experience helping injured people. You may be going through an accident case like this for the first time, meaning you may have a limited understanding of how insurance settlements work. With our team’s experience, we can give you high-level advice on the best way forward immediately after the accident. This helps us stay on the right track, rather than having to change strategies when you hire us several months after the accident occurred.
Giving You Time to Focus on Your Recovery
Rather than having to deal with requests from the insurance company on your own, our personal injury lawyers take over all correspondence with the insurer as soon as you hire us. This is an important service we provide for our clients, as they can focus on their health, rather than having to focus on the legal aspects of the case.
Understanding All Your Options
When you hire us immediately after the accident, we can lay out all your options before the case moves forward. This allows us to formulate a plan for tackling the case that gives us the best chance at receiving the outcome you want to see. If we take over several months into the case, we may have some limitations on our options for creating a plan to represent you.
How to Know If You Should Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer
If you are unsure whether you should hire a personal injury lawyer yet, consider whether any of these items apply to your case.
- Life-Altering Injuries: If your doctor tells you that your injuries are potentially life altering, our team can help you work toward maximizing your financial award.
- Reduction in Quality of Life: If you are not able to enjoy life as you did before the accident, you can receive a payment for this hardship that’s now part of your life.
- Ongoing Pain: Some injuries after an accident may cause pain months and years into the future, which will make your life more difficult. You can win a payment award for this difficulty.
- Accusations of Fault: If the insurance company suddenly decides to blame you for the accident, hiring our personal injury attorneys can help you find facts to refute these claims.
- Frustration Over Constant Questions: Insurance companies are well-known for asking accident victims the same questions repeatedly, hoping that you’ll change your story slightly. They then accuse you of lying about the circumstances in the accident. Answering such questions can be frustrating, especially if you are on medication that makes you tired or if you have a head injury that affects your short-term memory.
Reach Out to Learn More About When You Should Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer After an Accident
At Tyroler Leonard Injury Law, we are ready to represent you in your personal injury claim at any point in the process. While we suggest that you reach out to us to represent you immediately after the accident occurs, we understand the process differs for everyone. Remember that the length of time you have to sue for personal injury is six years in Minnesota (MN Statute 541.05) and three years in Wisconsin (WI Statute 893.54). If you miss your deadline, it may be too late for us to help you.
We regularly find that when clients finally decide to hire us, they tell us they wish they would’ve hired us earlier. Our ability to handle every aspect of the personal injury lawsuit for you gives you far more time to focus on your recovery and on spending time with your family. Having the stress of dealing with the insurance company taken off your plate can be a helpful aspect of your medical recovery.
If you aren’t sure whether you want to pursue a personal injury lawsuit or hire a personal injury law firm at this point in your recovery, we recommend reaching out and learning about all your options. We offer a free, no-obligation case review, so you understand what we can do for you. Whenever you are ready to discuss your case, we are ready to listen. For a free consultation, call Tyroler Leonard Injury Law today at 651-259-1113.