Do I Need a South Bend Personal Injury Lawyer?

June 17, 2024

South Bend is a major hub of culture and commerce in Indiana, offering numerous attractions for locals and visitors alike.  But with so many passing through the city each day, significant injuries are bound to occur.  South Bend saw 3,892 collisions in 2021 alone, to say nothing of the region’s slip and falls and construction accidents. If you are contemplating legal action for an accidental injury in the South Bend area, you may be wondering “Do I need a South Bend personal injury lawyer?”  Join us as we examine what a skilled attorney can do if you have been hurt in South Bend. 

The Challenges of Handling Your Own Case 

While you are certainly entitled to handle your own South Bend personal injury case, many injured Hoosiers choose to retain lawyers because of the profound challenges involved.   

To be valid, a personal injury case must demonstrate both “negligence” – the failure to exercise care to avoid inflicting harm – and “damages” – another term for harm.  If a defendant’s negligence causes physical damages to a plaintiff, that plaintiff could pursue the defendant for financial damages. 

Though the basics may seem simple enough, you could soon run into trouble merely trying to identify the defendants whose negligence brought about your accident and the damages you incurred from it, both of which you will need to know if you hope to recover what you deserve. 

For example, the list of defendants for a South Bend personal injury case could be quite substantial depending upon the nature of your injury.  If you were hurt in a car accident, the defendants might include the driver who hit you, the owner of his or her car, any company making use of that car, a mechanic who improperly serviced that car or your own car if the accident was the result of a breakdown, or the manufacturer, distributor, or retailer of a defective component that hastened that breakdown, among others.  Alternatively, slip-and-fall accident defendants could include a property owner or municipal government who neglected to repair a hazard that tripped you up, while construction accident defendants may include the developer of a construction project, the general contractor supervising construction, or various subcontractors employed on the project.   

In some instances, multiple parties could share differing degrees of legal liability for the same accident, for which they could share differing degrees of fiscal liability, and it is crucial to go after all of them within the time allotted by law, known as the Statute of Limitations, or risk being prohibited from full economic recovery. 

You could also be prohibited from full economic recovery if you do not seek compensation for the totality of your damages, whether short-term, long-term, monetary, or non-monetary.  And if you agree to a settlement that only takes your immediate losses into account, you could be stuck covering the remainder of your losses entirely by yourself. 

Your Inexperience Could Hold You Back During Negotiations 

Even if you could somehow accurately assess all of your damages and locate all of the potential defendants, your relative inexperience could hold you back during negotiations with the defendants’ insurance companies. 

This may be your first serious accident, but it won’t be the first for a veteran insurance adjuster, who could exploit your ignorance to minimize the value of your claim or even deny it outright, leaving you with very few options to avert ruin. 

How a South Bend Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help 

This is where a South Bend personal injury attorney can help tremendously.  Just as it won’t be the first accident for the insurance company, it won’t be the first for your lawyer either, who will be able to meet the adjuster on a level playing field and counter the tricks that are frequently deployed against rookie claimants.   

Moreover, your attorney will be better equipped to calculate the true worth of your damages and work tirelessly to get you top dollar for them, which is a key reason why personal injury victims with lawyers receive 3.5 times more on average than ones without lawyers. 

And even though personal injury cases are largely resolved outside of the courtroom, sometimes a trial may be necessary, at which point a seasoned attorney will become indispensable.  While plaintiffs who represent themselves in court lose around 96 percent of their cases, plaintiffs with professional representation win their cases more often than not, which could permit them to acquire the resources to become whole again. 

Standing Up for the Everyday People of Indiana 

Hensley Legal Group has been standing up for the everyday people of Indiana since 1998.  If you been injured by someone else’s carelessness, get in touch with our South Bend personal injury lawyers to explore the remedies available to you. 

You can schedule a free consultation with a dedicated South Bend personal injury attorney by calling or texting us at (317) 472-3333, chatting with us online, or filling out our contact form today.