Most people don't go through life eagerly awaiting the day they can hire a personal injury lawyer. If you need one, it probably means that something has gone wrong.
Perhaps you hurt yourself at your job or in a car crash. Maybe you slipped in a store and broke your wrist, or a defective product harmed you.
Whatever it might be, you can't bring a lawsuit against the entity or individual who's responsible on your own. You don't know the law well enough, and there is too much at stake to go about this process carelessly.
Let's look at a few situations where you should certainly hire a personal injury attorney.
If a Product Harms You
If a product injures you or makes you ill, that's a time when you'll need a personal injury attorney. That's because:
* You will have medical bills to pay
* You may need to miss work, and you'll have rent, grocery bills, utility bills, etc.
* The product's manufacturer will have lawyers on their side
In this situation, a personal injury lawyer can talk to you about your options. They can figure out whether the product's manufacturer knew about the danger or illness risk.
They can negotiate with the product manufacturer's lawyers and determine whether you should settle or proceed with the lawsuit. If the company does offer a settlement, your lawyer might be able to get you more than their first offer.
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Maybe you're in a car wreck, and you injure yourself. You might have:* Doctor or hospital bills
* Medication costs
* Physical therapy bills
Perhaps your insurance can pay for some of that, but if your coverage is not that great, you may have some copays with which to deal. Those bills can pile up quickly, and you might not have the savings to cover them.
Maybe the car wreck did not just involve you and one other vehicle and driver. It could be that the accident involved several vehicles.
These situations can be complicated sometimes. You're getting calls from the other drivers, their insurance companies, and possibly their lawyers as well.
Your personal injury attorney can help you handle all that. They can help you wade through the paperwork and figure out who should pay you and how much.
If Your Job Won't Give You Worker's Compensation
If you hurt yourself when you were on the job, you should get worker's compensation. Your employer should have worker's comp coverage. It's the law, and if they don't have it, you can sue them.
The only time you might not be able to collect worker's comp is if you did something that caused your injury. If you came to work drunk and fell off a scaffolding, breaking your leg, your employer is probably not required to give you anything.
Your employer might want to avoid paying you worker's comp, so they may claim you caused the injury or accident when that's not the case. You'll need a personal injury lawyer to figure out the facts and possibly prove them in court.
They might use an investigator who can find witnesses or video evidence. They can force your employer to give you the money you need while you recover.
You Don't Know How Much Money You Should Get for Your Claim
You might also know that an entity or individual caused your pain and suffering, but you don't know how much they should be worth. You might need things like in-home healthcare or help with chores while you recover. You'll need to hire someone to do those things.
You may have lost wages and various medical bills as well. You might add all that up and get a figure you'd like the responsible party to pay, but that does not necessarily cover your mental anguish and distress. Perhaps you're experiencing depression following the accident because of your injuries.
An experienced personal injury lawyer will have handled cases like yours in the past, and they can probably put a dollar amount on all of these expenses. They can cite precedent by talking about similar lawsuits.
There are other situations where you'll need a personal injury lawyer, but any time you're sick or ill and someone or something else caused it, there's no reason why you should suffer silently. If they caused your situation, you can fight back, and you should do so. This is one of the reasons why the legal system exists.
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