Should I Get a Greenwood Personal Injury Lawyer After a Car Accident?
Nestled between State Road 37 and Interstate 65, Greenwood’s steady flow of traffic guarantees that car accidents are an everyday occurrence in the city, where there were 1,665 collisions in 2022 alone. Greenwood car accidents can inflict serious injuries, though compensation may be available with a personal injury case, so it is only natural for […]
June 3, 2024
Nestled between State Road 37 and Interstate 65, Greenwood’s steady flow of traffic guarantees that car accidents are an everyday occurrence in the city, where there were 1,665 collisions in 2022 alone. Greenwood car accidents can inflict serious injuries, though compensation may be available with a personal injury case, so it is only natural for a local crash victim to wonder “Should I get a Greenwood personal injury lawyer after a car accident?” Join us as we discuss what skilled legal representation can do for your case.
Your Inexperience Puts You at a Disadvantage
Chances are you have not been in many car accidents before – which is a good thing! A car accident is a terrible event that nobody should ever experience, but your inexperience puts you at a disadvantage if you handle your own personal injury case. The chief source of financial recovery for any automotive injury is the liable driver’s insurance company, and you can be certain that your car accident will not be the first for the insurance adjuster assigned to your claim. The adjuster will have the upper hand when it comes to:
- Evaluating your injuries – Even if you have had prior injuries, you probably never had to evaluate them in economic terms. And if you do not know what your injuries are worth, you will not know whether the adjuster is offering you too little for them.
- Assessing non-monetary damages – And if you somehow manage to evaluate your injuries accurately, you may have no idea how to assess the non-monetary damages of your car accident, such as pain and suffering and psychological trauma. These are damages for which you may not be charged directly, like you would for a doctor’s visit. Nevertheless, the impact of non-monetary damages may sometimes be more enduring – an impact you will be forced to cover on your own if you accept a settlement that does not take them into account.
- Negotiating your claim – Adjusters may seem friendly, but they are not your friends, and the most innocuous comment you make to an adjuster – like “I’m feeling fine” – could be exploited to undermine your case. If you are not sure what to say or not say when negotiating your claim, you may have no recourse when an adjuster employs aggressive tactics to justify a lowball offer or simply dismiss your claim outright.
Information is key during settlement talks with an insurance company, and it is unlikely that your life so far has provided you with the information needed to come out of these talks on top.
A Greenwood Personal Injury Attorney Can Help You Regain the Upper Hand
But if the insurance adjuster has the upper hand when you represent yourself for your car accident, retaining a Greenwood personal injury attorney can help you regain the upper hand. Much like the adjuster, your lawyer will have worked on numerous car accident cases before, so he or she will be better equipped to evaluate your injuries and get you compensated for the entirety of your damages, whether short-term or long-term, monetary or non-monetary, including your:
- Past, present, and future medical bills
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning potential
- Pain and suffering
- Psychological trauma
- Diminished quality of living
- Mobility limitations
- Loss of consortium
- Punitive and wrongful death damages (if applicable)
Your Greenwood personal injury attorney will also be able to counter the standard tactics that adjusters use to minimize claims, which could allow you to obtain more for your case. In fact, research has shown that personal injury plaintiffs with lawyers secure settlements and verdicts that are 3.5 times higher than the ones secured by plaintiffs without lawyers.
And if you are concerned about committing to more expenditures when you can least afford them, you should know that personal injury attorneys, like the dedicated Greenwood personal injury attorneys at Hensley Legal Group, work on a contingency basis. This means that you will not have to pay anything until your case is resolved favorably. At that point, your lawyer may seek reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses and a fee for services rendered, usually as a percentage of your settlement or verdict – which is statistically much higher with an attorney in your corner.
It is a mutually beneficial arrangement that could eliminate the upfront worries of initiating a Greenwood car accident case and get you the resources to become whole again.
Our Greenwood Personal Injury Lawyers Will Be Here for You
Hensley Legal Group has been standing up for the everyday people of Indiana since 1998. If you have been hurt in a car accident through no fault of your own, our Greenwood personal injury lawyers will be here for you.
You can schedule a free consultation with an accomplished Greenwood personal injury attorney by calling or texting us at (317) 472-3333, chatting with us online, or filling out our contact form today.