When Do You Need a Personal Injury Attorney
Here's the question that we want to answer today,”When do you need to hire a personal injury attorney in Tampa?”If you have been in a car accident, unfortunately there are no set guidelines as to when or whether you should hire a personal injury attorney. Can you go through the process of filing a personal injury claim on your own? The answer is yes, but it would not be the wisest choice.
What Happens If You Pursue Your Personal Injury Claim on Your Own?
The attorneys at Busciglio & Sheridan Law Group are experienced in personal injury cases here in Tampa. We've seen plenty of people trying to handle their own personal injury claim without the help of an attorney. Unfortunately, this can easily end in more heartache and financial distress.Studies have shown that a claimant who is represented by a personal injury attorney will net (on average) three times more money than they would have if they had pursued their claim on their own.If you choose to pursue your injury claim on your own, know that an insurance carrier will likely attempt to end things quickly with an early settlement offer. This can be tempting, but in truth it’s likely going to be a minimal amount of money compared to what you are really seeking. This is a simple strategy intended to make you (the problem) go away. Insurance carriers call these types of settlements “nuisance value” offers. Unrepresented injury victims are seen as a nuisance that don’t have the means to pursue the full compensation they’re entitled to.Most car accident victims don’t have the training and experience necessary to effectively negotiate with an insurance carrier. Car accidents can also result in significant medical bills that people won't be able to resolve on their own. Additionally, a claimant will struggle to prove liability against insurance carriers that will do everything in their power to undermine the validity of their claim and the severity of their injuries.
Negotiating With Insurance Carriers
One of the best reasons to hire a personal injury attorney is to have an expert negotiating on your behalf with insurance carriers concerning your claim. Your lawyer will make sure that your medical bills are paid and that your property damage claims are taken care of ASAP. Again, this is why you want to find your personal injury lawyer immediately after you have been released from the hospital or the accident investigation team depending on the severity of the situation.During our first consultation with a personal injury client, our attorneys are going to do a thorough investigation into the essential aspects of the case. This will include looking into all of the medical providers a client may have been treated by in the past. This is important, because insurance carriers have their own team of defense lawyers. They’ll assume that the claimant’s injuries were pre-existing before the accident occurred, and they’ll work hard to undermine the validity of the claim.An experienced personal injury attorney will seek to learn as much as they can about their client, so there are no surprises if a case is taken to trial.
Getting the Best Medical Care
If you've been injured and it was at the fault of someone else, then you're probably going to need some form of medical care. Most people assume that they need a personal injury attorney to get adequate compensation from their personal injury claim. However, a personal injury attorney can also help make sure that you get the best medical care in this type of situation. experienced lawyer to make sure that all of your medical bills have been taken care of.For people that try to handle their injury case on their own, they can quickly find out that it is much more complicated than any insurance company would want them to believe. This is especially true when they encounter medical liens. Seeking the best medical treatment while also having to deal with your PIP and an insurance carrier can be extremely challenging. A personal injury attorney can make sure that you're getting a fair deal.
The Earlier You Hire a Personal Injury Attorney, The Better
The earlier that you get a personal injury attorney involved in your case, the more effective they can be. For example, say there was a person who has been trying to handle their own personal injury case in St. Petersburg for over a year. Their insurance carrier told them that their medical bills would be taken care of. But after a full year, those bills have still not been paid.Now this person has started to receive threatening calls from collection agencies seeking payment for her medical bills. This person has chosen to ignore these notices thinking that their insurance carrier would be taking care of the bills as promised. Now those delinquent medical bills have started to negatively impact her credit rating.This is the type of damage that can take a significant amount of time to repair. If this person had brought on a personal injury attorney early, they would not be in this type of serious situation.This is why you need a personal injury attorney immediately after you've been released from the hospital following a serious car accident. Critical evidence that is needed to prove your case can quickly be lost or even destroyed. On top of that, insurance carriers can make empty promises and leave you hanging out to dry.
Florida Statute of Limitation Issues
Have you ever heard of the Florida Statute of Limitations? This is essentially a strict time limit on the amount of time that you have to seek proper compensation for your injuries following an accident in Florida.There are strict statutes of limitations for almost every type of injury claim that can be made in the Sunshine State. If a claim is being made against a government agency, notice must be given in a relatively short amount of time following the incident. People that wait too long can be barred from making any form of claim and may be left to face the consequences on their own.This is yet another really important reason to seek the services of a personal injury law firm as soon as you can after an accident.
Do You Need A Personal Injury Attorney in Tampa?
Even if your case seems really simple, you need to hire a personal injury attorney to represent you. Pursuing a personal injury claim is always going to be much more complicated and challenging and it seems on the surface. Insurance carriers will bring everything they have to bear in order to avoid paying the appropriate amount of compensation for your injuries. This is not the type of situation that you want to go through on your own.If you are seeking the services of an experienced personal injury law firm in Tampa or St. Petersburg, Busciglio, Sheridan & Schoeb are here to help. Schedule a consultation with us today and we’ll show you what we can do for you. Give us a call at 813-225-2695.