Car accidents can be a terrible ordeal for the injured party as well as their family and close friends. When you were involved in a car accident you will need to assess what happened and very often, especially if you were significantly injured, you will need a personal injury lawyer to help you make your claim and get paid for medical bills as well as any other payments your insurance may need to make.

When looking to make a claim, an attorney will not only look at the medical bills which you may want to get covered, but also the time you lost at work, the emotional and psychological trauma you and those closest to you went through and the pure level of negligence that caused the accident in the first place, even if no significant physical injury occurred. Insurance claims can be made under various circumstances, but your insurance company may try to wiggle out of it if given the chance.

The Consultation

If you were in a car accident, make sure to get as many details down as possible. Once you have the police report and any other relevant data, you will go to your insurer to make a claim. If they take your claim and make no issue of the accident that happened, you may not need a lawyer at all. An insurer will pay you a sum based on the expenses you suffered as a result of the accident and other factors and you will be happy.

However, this is not the case all too often. In a number of cases, insurance companies have been known to try to make sure they pay as little as possible, or nothing at all. They may try to make you at fault for the accident, diminish the actual severity of the accident that happened, or find other ways to cut corners and pay less. If this happens, they will often employ an attorney of their own on your case. This is definitely time to lawyer up.

When looking for the right attorney, you will want to look at a few options and possibly get a few free consultations from companies like before picking the one to represent you. Some of the best attorneys in the business will give you a free consultation like Craig Swapp and Associates during which they will look at your case, consider the elements and tell you’re their estimate of whether they can help and how much money you could realistically be looking at if you win the case.

The Trial

What trial? The reality of the matter is that over 95% of all personal injury cases in the USA get settled before a trial even begins. While the insurance companies may try to scare you into letting go of some of the money they owe you before you have an attorney, once you get one you will most likely be able to settle with them and get a fair payment for the damages you suffered.

Sometimes the companies will be stubborn and want to take you to trial after all. If they are you may want to ask yourself if this is a battle worth fighting. Are you sure the other party was at fault? If the answer is yes, then by all means go to court and look for justice. If the answer is no and you were just trying to get paid, it may be time to give up. This is rarely the case however and most cases have a favorable solution somewhere down the line as long as you get the right attorney.

Statute of Limitations

If you were involved in an accident and legal help will be needed, don’t wait a day longer then you have to. The time limit called Statute of Limitations will apply to such cases, and after it has expired you will no longer be able to sue. The Statute of Limitations varies from state to state so you will have to get more info on the Statute in your state, but no matter what state you live in, you will want to get a lawyer as soon as possible.

Conclusion

A long and complicated trial over damages may be the last thing you want to go through after suffering the ordeal of being injured in a car accident, but sometimes there is just no way out. In most cases, however, a competent personal injury lawyer will be able to get the case settled in your favor in a relatively short and painless manner.

The best course of action if your insurance company starts giving you any trouble, is to start looking for the right attorney to give you a consultation on your case right away. Once you get a lawyer, the insurer will usually look to settle right away.