Being injured in an accident can have a dramatic impact on your life. But in the aftermath of your injury, you may be unsure of what your next steps should be. Worrying about how you’ll continue to pay your living expenses while out of work due to your injuries and suffering physically and psychologically from what’s happened can take its toll.
More often than not, accident survivors refrain from contacting a lawyer for a variety of reasons. Some worry they don’t actually have grounds for a case. Others don’t want to put in the effort if it isn’t going to get them results. But in many cases, if you choose a qualified lawyer, you can discuss the details of your case free of charge before deciding to move forward with a lawsuit.
Before you start looking for a personal injury attorney in Georgia, a Tallahassee car accident lawyer, or other legal representation, you need to find out how to know whether you need a lawyer’s help with your case.
Is Someone Else Responsible for Your Accident?
One of the best ways to determine whether you should call a lawyer as soon as possible after an accident is if someone else is liable for causing it. In many cases, you may be able to tell from the start who was to blame.
For example, if you were suddenly struck by a drunk driver, it would be reasonable to assume the drunk driver is responsible for causing the accident. Then, you would contact a car accident lawyer for help with dealing with the insurance company and preparing your case to go to court should it become necessary.
Unfortunately, it is not always easy to tell who is responsible for causing an accident, or whether multiple parties contributed to the injuries you sustained. If you’re in this category of injury victims, it still may be in your best interests to contact a lawyer. How else are you going to be able to find out whether you have the right to financial compensation for not?
Injuries Must Have Had a Dramatic Impact on Your Life
The other way you can tell whether you should call a lawyer is by evaluating how impactful the accident and your resulting injuries have had on your life. For example, if you had a few bumps and bruises, minor car damage, and the accident had very little impact on your life, it wouldn’t make sense to contact a lawyer unless you were looking for help negotiating with the insurance company.
However, in cases where lives have been upended by the accident and their injuries, calling a lawyer may be the victims’ only option if they hope to get justice. With that being said, who’s to say what a “dramatic impact” is? Everyone lives their life differently and what may be impactful to one person may not be as debilitating to another. The impact is subjective.
There are certain economic and non-economic damages injury victims will frequently seek after suffering losses in an accident. Economic and non-economic damages are forms of compensation mean to address all the various ways your life has been affected financially (economic) and non-financially (non-economic).
You might seek compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress, lost income, property damages, diminished quality of life, loss of consortium, and other losses. By contacting a lawyer, you’ll be able to learn which losses you can seek compensation for in your case, how much they are worth, and ensure every loss is taken into consideration when evaluating your claim.
