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Call For Your Free Consultation (337) 324-9293
Injuries are all too common on Louisiana’s roadways. Still, few residents, much less visitors, understand what options are available to them after an accident. This article answers some key questions about the personal injury process used to recover compensation and damages after a crash, including how to pay your bills. It also explains:
Car crashes and other accidents often leave us with mild to serious injuries that require treatment and time away from work. A personal injury claim is the process used to recover some or all of the financial losses caused by that injury from the person at fault or their insurance company.
With the help of an experienced personal injury attorney, most injured clients can recover the majority or even all of the money they need. The money is usually recovered through a settlement with the opposing insurance company, although some cases have to be resolved in court.
It’s rare for a judge or jury not to accept at least part of the narrative put forward by an injured person and refuse their case. In fact, it’s far more likely that you’ll lose out on a portion of the money you deserve due to duplicitous insurance company practices, as adjusters will seek to deny you as much compensation as possible. This is why a skilled and experienced attorney is essential during the personal injury process.
It’s natural to wonder if you need a lawyer to claim compensation after an accident or injury. After all, it might seem like an additional expense, especially if an insurance company is offering to settle, telling you that they will take care of all your bills and even pay you for your pain and suffering.
Unfortunately, you will quickly find that insurance companies are determined to diminish your claim. To do this, adjusters often employ strategic and targeted tactics to convince you to settle for less than what your case is really worth. After all, the less they pay, the more their company makes.
It’s important to keep in mind that insurance companies are seasoned defenders of lawsuits, and you are not. To level the playing field, you deserve a skilled and experienced personal injury attorney to fight and push back. You need someone to advocate for your side of the case, if only so that the insurance company will take your claim seriously, knowing you can file a lawsuit and take them to court if they do not play fair.
Best of all, our firm doesn’t charge you out of pocket for this service. Instead, we only collect payment from a portion of your total settlement or judgment when you win the case.
If you have been in any kind of accident, especially a motor vehicle accident involving serious injuries, the first thing you need to do is call the authorities and seek medical treatment. When you do speak with emergency responders or medical staff, make sure to inform them of all your symptoms, no matter how minor they may seem. It can be essential later to have them recorded as early as possible.
Once you are safe, you can and should contact a personal injury attorney. It is not, however, a good idea to speak to the insurance company directly, especially the insurance company of the other party. (i.e. The person who caused the accident.) After all, that insurance company’s goal is to defend their client and their profits, not your interests.
It is possible that the at-fault party’s insurance will reach out to you about compensation. It is also entirely possible that they will not. After all, the insurance company may not even know about the accident and injury, or worse, their client might have fed them a drastically different version of the events.
In the case that you are contacted by an insurance company, it is far better to let an experienced attorney handle the communication. Having your attorney take over communication will help avoid accidentally giving the opposing insurance company information they should not have or answering questions that are not in your best interest.
At the very least, ensure that whenever you do speak with an insurance company, you have an attorney present to guarantee no one is trapping or taking advantage of you – especially since most attorneys will do so at no additional cost.
After some accidents, you might not even realize you are injured. It can take weeks or even months for symptoms to manifest – and it can take even longer for doctors to understand the problem and identify its cause. Luckily, you do not need to file your claim immediately after the accident. However, that doesn’t mean that you should wait idly by if you have any inkling that you might need to file a claim.
In Louisiana, you have up to a year from the date of the accident to file a personal injury claim. While there are some rare exceptions to this, the timeline is set in stone. This means that if you miss the deadline, it could spell disaster for your ability to find compensation.
Insurance companies are fully aware of this and will take advantage of it whenever possible. They can and will try to drag out the claim process so that you miss the filing deadline and are left stuck with all your injuries, medical bills, and zero compensation. So don’t wait, if you’ve been injured in an accident, contact a personal injury attorney today!
The most pressing concern for anyone involved in an accident is usually the medical bills needed to treat and recover from their injury. Even dealing with your insurance company to cover treatments can be a nightmare, which is why personal injury attorneys will often be able to help.
With their experience over dozens or hundreds of accidents, personal injury attorneys know the best and most efficient ways to get those vital medical bills paid. Not to mention putting the maximum amount of money back into your pocket to cover those expenses and more.
For example, you might not know that medical payment coverage claims are often available under your automobile insurance policies. Your claims adjuster might even “fail” to mention that you have an unused and untapped $5,000 just sitting there. Without an attorney asking the right questions, you might never even find out about it, much less use it to pay those vital medical bills while waiting for the settlement to cover the rest.
Unfortunately, in law, as in life, there are no 100% guarantees. While it might seem obvious that you would win fair and full compensation when there is no doubt that the other party entirely caused the accident or injury, this will not always be the case.
Unfortunately, insurance companies will use plenty of tricks and tactics to try and avoid paying you full compensation. For example, insurance companies might use past injuries, treatments, or accidents to reduce the amount they pay you, arguing their client's action only partially contributed to the cost of the care that you now require.
However, your attorney can anticipate such claims and find ways to undermine or outright refute them. In the example above, where the insurance company calls into question the medical causation of your injury, your attorney could come back with reels of evidence and documentation showing you fully recovered from any prior accident.
A skilled attorney, after all, will not just be working with you but also with medical providers and will be pouring over the same records the insurance company will. Because even if the fault is clear, the insurance company will no doubt try to find a way to back out of paying unless we stop them.
The sooner you hire an attorney, the more you improve your chances of full and fair compensation for your injuries. Whenever you realize you have suffered an injury, it is time to pick up the phone and make a call.
Sometimes, that may not be immediately after an accident. It might be weeks or months even, given how long injuries can take to manifest themselves. But the moment you feel any serious or lasting injury, it is time to start working with an attorney.
What’s more, it’s important to keep in mind that the closer to the accident you reach out, the more time your attorney will have to build your case and the fewer excuses or alternative explanations the opposing insurance company can use to try and avoid paying you.
Call (337) 324-9293 to find guidance, legal advice, and representation throughout the Personal Injury Recovery Process In Louisiana. And remember, we only get paid if you win.
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