If you are injured by the fault of another, such as in a car accident, there are critical steps to take to ensure you are treated fairly by big insurance companies and receive full compensation. The most important step you can take in order to obtain the compensation you deserve is to fully and completely document your injury. If your injury is not verified by someone else the insurance company will act as if it never happened and you may not be able to adequately prove your case to a jury if necessary. Documentation concerns two elements: [a] proving fault of the party causing the event and [b] proving of the cause of your injury. If your case involves a traffic accident, it is important to notify the police so a report can be made of the circumstances surrounding the car accident. Be sure to get contact information for all witnesses and involved parties. If your injury was cased by slipping on a foreign substance at a business, immediately have a manager take your information and have an ambulance called if your injuries are serious. If you feel any pain or stiffness at all you should go to the hospital emergency room as soon as possible (preferably have an ambulance take you from the scene to the hospital. This provides early documentation of your injury and the early intervention hopefully will help the healing process. If your injury persists you should, within the next several days, follow up with your family doctor and seek early referral to a specialist who treats your type of injury. Ordinarily, an orthopedic specialist is the most competent doctor to treat your injury if it involves neck, back or extremity injury. The doctor will also be able to write a report explaining the nature and cause of your injury and explain this in court if needed. Your doctor’s advice regarding the treatment necessary for your injury should be followed. The insurance company will not respect your case if you do not follow doctor’s orders. They will assume you must not be very injured if you do not do what is necessary to try to get better. Document Your Injury! Report Your Accident or Injury Seek Competent Medical Attention Follow Medical Advice HIRE AN EXPERIENCED Personal Injury Trial Attorney Insurance companies are in business to charge premiums and pay out as little as possible on claims. You will be dealing with an experienced adjustor whose job is to do just that. Therefore, if you want to get the best result, you need someone on your side whose job is to get you full and complete recovery and who is experienced. You can obtain the services of an attorney on a contingency fee basis which means that their fee depends on how much they recover for you. Following these five steps will help you obtain the full and fair recovery you deserve.

Liability Insurance companies are fond of telling injury victims that here is our take it or leave it offer, you won’t get anymore. They may tell you not to hire an attorney because they will take a third, so you better take our offer. Don’t fall for tha, at least consult with an attorney to determine if that is even remotely close to the truth. The insurance company on your side; their loyalty is to their shareholders. The more premiums they take in and the less they pay out in claims the better off they are - NOT YOU. I welcome people with offers to contact me for a free consultation. The next time big insurance companies try to bully you into taking their offer call an experienced personal injury trial attorney and see if she thinks you are being treated fairly. If you live in the North Texas area, I invite you to call me for a free consultation. What have you got to lose? You might be surprised to end up with more than the insurance company offered. 

Winning an auto collision case or any personal injury case (getting fully compensated for your injury) is not easy. However, there are 7 things you can do to help ensure you receive fair compensation. Do not delay seeking medical attention. When someone is horribly injured in a car crash the injuries are usually clearly documented from the time the life squad arrives to the time you are taken to the hospital. But once people are released from the hospital and attempt the recovery process documentation slacks off. Gaps in medical treatment or cancellation of appointments can come back to haunt you. Cancellations will be recorded in your records and gaps are holes in your case. This allows the seeds of doubt to be sown regarding how serious your injury is. A good defense attorney will try arguing that either you weren’t hurt very bad or had you followed your doctors advice you would have recovered sooner or there is another bad explanation for why you did not go to the doctor. Listen closely to your body and let it guide you when you see your doctor. Serious initial injuries often mask less severe injuries which ultimately linger. It is important to tell your doctor as soon as possible what else is bothering you that might not have seemed important. Document your injuries with photographs. Pictures graphically depict the suffering and seriousness of an injury. Don’t sign the insurance company's blanket authorizations. You can never be sure know what they will ask for that isn’t their business. Do not conceal prior injuries from your doctor or your attorney. Your doctor’s opinion of the case of your injuries is based on an accurate history. Give the doctor a complete history of past medical problems, but if they have healed be sure to make clear that they had not been bothering you since your new injury. Give yourself the benefit of an early consultation with a good car accident attorney. You may find the lawyer can provide services which will increase the value of your case, give you peace of mind and allow you to concentrate on recovery, rather than fighting big insurance companies. At least find out the compensation you are entitled to and if you have a fair case. Also, a lawyer can help preserve evidence that might otherwise be ignored.

If you are hurt in a car accident as a result of the fault of another, chances are the insurance company will contact you and convince you they will take care of you, so you do not need an attorney who will charge out of your recovery. Consider that the adjustor has a job to do. His/her job is to pay out as little money on your personal injury claim as possible. Why do you think they try to persuade you not to get an attorney? Most personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee so the incentive is for them to get you as much as possible. Even considering an attorney’s percentage being deducted, you get more than without an attorney. An experienced personal injury trial attorney should be able to determine they can add value to your claim. For instance, if you just went to the emergency room or your family doctor one time for your injury,the attorney may not be able to justify taking your case. However, if you have a significant injury with ongoing treatment, you should consider hiring an attorney to protect your rights and fight for what is fair. Often it is a benefit to let an attorney take the hassle out of dealing with the insurance company. Don’t be bullied or sweet talked into taking less than you deserve by big insurance companies.

If you suffered an injury through the fault of another and are trying to deal with the insurance company by yourself, good luck. In some cases this is fine. In fact, in minor injury cases with minimal treatment I may not be able to be of benefit to you. However, in larger cases how do you know if the offer is fair if you are handling your case without any experience like a board certified personal injury trial attorney has? You may worry that even if the offer is not fair, it’s better than paying an attorney a percentage of your recovery. Experienced personal injury trial attorneys can evaluate the fault of the other party and damages you suffer from and the evidence that supports both. They can use their experience and research similar settlements and verdicts to give you a fair idea of what range your case is worth. My suggestion is at least consult with an experienced trial attorney. For instance, I have had clients come to me with a low ball offer and I have been able to help them. Unfortunately, there are also cases that I have turned down because the client has already ruined their chances of getting more than lowball offer by making critical mistakes. Don’t let big insurance companies scare you into taking a low ball offer. In serious cases a good personal injury trial lawyer not only may be able to get you more money, but will take the frustration out of dealing with the insurance company.

When you’re hurt, you need all the help you can get, and you need it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, some injury victims try to fight big insurance companies alone. In small cases this may be okay. In bigger cases it can mean being taken by taking a low ball offer. Experience Assessing Claims - Board Certified Personal Injury Trial attorneys are experienced with injury cases like yours and can inform you at the outset whether it is worth while to pursue your case. No Fees If No Recovery - Most personal injury attorneys work for a contingency fee, which means if you do not win, you will pay no attorneys’ fees. You may be responsible for certain expenses not directly related to attorney fees. Red Tape - An experienced trial attorney can work through the maze of paperwork necessary to resolve your claim so that you can get on with your life. Experts - Experienced attorneys work with experts and doctors to obtain evidence needed to prove your case. Objectivity - A personal injury trial attorney can be more objective about your case than you can and will not make a quick decision. Where you may be tempted, for instance to go for a fast settlement, your attorney may counsel you that it is in your best interest to wait for a more reasonable offer. Experience With Insurance Companies - Attorneys are also familiar with insurance companies and will not be confused by their tactics or feel pressured to settle for a lesser amount. Experience Working With Other Lawyers - An experienced personal injury trial lawyer can deal effectively and expediently with opposing counsel. Alternative Dispute Resolution - An experienced attorney will know whether your dispute may be best resolved out of court through mediation, thereby saving your time, money and emotional energy. Best Settlements - Personal injury trial attorneys strive to reach the best settlements for their clients, as early in the litigation process as possible. Without a lawyer, you are forced to take any low ball offer from the insurance company because they know you have no other option. Best Jury Verdicts - If a trial becomes necessary, a Board Certified Personal Injury Trial lawyer has the experience to zealously represent you in court and work toward obtaining the best verdict possible.

Choosing the right personal injury trial attorney is not difficult if you know the right questions to ask. Begin your search on the internet with the words “personal injury attorney” plus your location. This will provide you several names of local attorneys plus some sites that “refer attorneys” or are otherwise paid ads. Call or email 2-3 attorneys and ask them to answer the following: How many personal injury cases have you taken to a jury trial? What kind of experts have you hired for your clients? What % of your cases are personal injury cases? Have you handled cases similar to mine? How many and with what outcome? Are you willing to advance litigation expenses? Are you a member of any attorney organizations which primarily help injury victims? Are you Board Certified? The answers to these questions should indicate whether the attorney is an experienced and successful personal injury trial attorney. You want an attorney who is willing to and has gone to trial. Insurance companies know which attorneys takes cases to trial. Attorneys who have not tried jury cases are not likely to command the respect to get you a fair offer. If the attorney is not willing to advance expenses then you will be stuck advancing them yourself and you may not be in a position to do so. If that is the case then your case will have to be settled, likely cheaply. The answers to these questions allow you to sit down in the attorney’s office and decide, after meeting the attorney, if this is a person you can have confidence in to get you full and fair compensation for your injury.

The words "contingency fee" are not easily understood. "Contingency fee" means that there is no fee owed unless an event occurs (the contingency). In personal injury cases this means the recovery of money, by settlement or collected by Verdict. No fee is paid until money is recovered. Contingency fees open the court house doors for the average person. Most average people are not able to afford a fee of $150 to $300 per hour with no guarantee of the outcome. A contingency fee enables you to hire an attorney and only pay her for results. Case expenses are separate. If the attorney is willing to advance expenses for medical reports, records, depositions, they are recoverable, by the attorney from you. The attorney contract may call for these expenses to be recovered whether there is a recovery or not. The contract is also allowed to state that unless there is a recovery, you do not have to pay back the expenses the attorney advanced. This is a matter for you to discuss with your attorney. In Texas, the contract must be in writing and you are entitled to receive a copy. If you have any questions regarding attorney’s fees or my particular fees, feel free to call me.

If you have suffered a personal injury as a result of the fault of another you may be considering hiring a lawyer experienced in injury claims. Most cases such as these are car accident cases. Let’s assume that you have found a lawyer you like. What should you pay him? Most lawyers in the personal injury field charge 1/3 of the gross recovery if the case settles before a lawsuit is filed, and 40% after litigation begins. Some attorneys even charge an additional 5% if the case actually goes to trial. Thus, they gamble their time and often their money. The door to the courthouse is open to the injury victim by means of the lawyer’s services without the victim risking a big attorney bill that they might not be able to pay since with a contingency fee there is no fee payment to the attorney unless there is a recovery of money. However, in some cases the question is not, will there be a recovery, but how much will the recovery be. For instance, let’s assume you were rear ended. The independent witnesses verify this and you went straight to the hospital where you were operated on for a broken arm. The liability carrier is a fair one and has ample insurance to cover the reasonably expected claim. So when you meet with a lawyer at the initial consultation, don’t be scared to ask what his normal fee is.