Should I Hire an Evansville Personal Injury Attorney?

People who have suffered injuries because of someone else’s negligence can file personal injury claims to seek payment from the insurance company of the person who caused the injury. Whether you were hurt in a car wreck or injured on privately owned property, a personal injury claim may help you pay for medical treatment and other costs associated with the accident.

Some people are successful filing personal injury claims without an attorney, but the convenience of doing it themselves has several costs. These people often accept settlements that grossly undercut the value of their injuries because they don’t know how to negotiate with insurance companies. In addition, filing these claims without help can be stressful, confusing, and time consuming.

On the other hand, hiring a qualified Evansville personal injury attorney can not only save you hassle, but may also increase the amount you receive from your settlement. Trustworthy attorneys will only be paid if you are, and the greater settlement you receive with their help often more than pays for the contingency fee.

Let’s unpack how an Evansville personal injury attorney may help your case.

1. Attorneys Take Care of Paperwork

If you or a loved one has been hurt recently, the last thing on your mind is filing away your medical expenses in case you need to use them as evidence later on. During this confusing time, you should be focused on healing or caregiving, not quantifying your injury.

To make a solid claim, you will need to prove your injury caused health issues that required treatment and cost the amount you are seeking to recover. This means collecting and presenting information like:

• Medical bills
• Repair estimates or bills
• Tax records
• Other relevant receipts

In addition, you will need to collect testimonies to use if your case goes to court by talking to eyewitnesses. Tracking your own experience through a health journal is another way to strengthen your case, to prove you suffered as a result of the other person’s negligence.

All this evidence is just as important as the numbers, but many people overlook this step because they don’t have the resources, energy, or time to compile it. This reduces their ability to reject the inevitably low settlement the insurance company offers, because they can’t prove their injury is as serious as they claimed it was.

A good attorney will know what bills and records need to be collected for a strong personal injury case and can use them strategically to win your settlement, all while you focus on getting better.

2. Attorneys Aren’t Paid Unless You Are

Qualified, honest Evansville personal injury attorneys will work on a contingency fee. This means you won’t owe them a cent until they’ve won your case. You also won’t pay for up-front costs like filing fees, as they will come out of the settlement you receive. This ensures your lawyer cares about your claim and gives it the best attention he or she can.

At Hensley Legal Group, our contingency fee is one-third (33.3 percent) of your settlement. This increases to forty percent if you choose to file a lawsuit. Though this sounds like a large amount, keep in mind that the settlement you get with a lawyer will likely be much larger than you could manage on your own, and it often pays for itself accordingly.

3. Attorneys Face the Insurance Company For You

Have you ever been intimidated over the phone by an insurance adjuster, or anyone who talks more quickly than you can understand? Are you worried a recorded phone call could end your case before it starts?

If you’ve hired an Evansville personal injury lawyer, you won’t have to worry about any of these questions. Your attorney will handle all interactions with the insurance company to best represent your claim and protect you from hurting your claim. This may just be the most helpful part of hiring a lawyer for your personal injury claim.

Remember that insurance companies are looking for every way to reduce the amount they pay on your settlement. They have strategies for lowering the estimated damages that baffle most claimants but that experienced attorneys are very familiar with. In personal injury cases, an Evansville attorney on your side is worth far more than sheer convenience.

4. Attorneys Prove Crucial Facts

Chances are when you had your accident, the first thing on your mind wasn’t proving you didn’t run a red light to everyone who witnessed it. Proving you weren’t speeding, that you used your turn signal — these are all details that can be difficult to verify if you don’t gather the evidence early on in your case. The last thing you want is for your claim to boil down to “he-said-she-said.”

Experienced personal injury attorneys are well-versed in Indiana and Evansville traffic laws and know how to gather every necessary detail to validate your claim.

5. Attorneys Help Most When They’re Involved Early

Preventing your case from going too far off track is the best way to help it succeed in the long run. Because personal injury claims can last for months, it’s vital to gather and keep information safe when the accident is still fresh in yours and witnesses’ minds.

An Evansville personal injury attorney can help focus your attention on the most important details and keep the insurance company from damaging your settlement amount. It’s also likely their organization of facts may be more efficient than your own, and taking over in the middle of your case makes it harder for attorneys to construct a coherent argument.

Plus, it won’t cost you any extra money to hire an attorney early than it would be to hire them at the end of your trial. Lawyers who work off contingency fees aren’t paid until you are, whether they’re on the case for a week or a year, so it’s better to get them involved as early as possible to give your case the best shot at success.

Help from an Evansville Personal Injury Lawyer

If you’ve been injured in an Evansville accident, Hensley Legal Group can help. Call us today or contact us online for a free consultation.