Don’t Ruin Your Case By Making These Mistakes

When you are in an accident, your personal injury attorney can and should handle the details of your case for you. And although you will have your attorney by your side, there are still mistakes that victims often make that can hurt their ability to recover damages in a case.

Very few of these mistakes are ever likely to happen if you have a good personal injury attorney, and you stay in contact with him or her on a regular basis. Still, it’s worth looking at the things that victims often do, usually when they don’t get an attorney, that end up hurting them later on.

Not getting medical help – Many people are in pain, but feel like they can handle the pain. Many of us may just feel like we’re too busy to get to the doctor. Whatever the reason, failing to go to the doctor or get medical attention, is the number one mistake that injury victims make that jeopardizes their ability to recover damages later on.

By the way, this doesn’t just include the failure to get medical attention initially after your accident, but also includes the failure to follow doctor’s orders during ongoing treatment.

That doesn’t mean you need to blindly and obediently do everything your doctor says—but if your doctor wants a follow-up visit, or says that something will help you recover, you should listen, and try to follow that advice as best you can.

Early settlements – Often after an accident, the Defendant or insurance company will offer to pay your medical expenses, or even, some of your lost wages. They will sound very friendly, like they earnestly want to help you out. In pain and wondering how you will pay bills, these offers look very tempting.

But by taking any of these offers, you are potentially settling your entire case, for whatever they are offering. Later on, if you are more injured than you thought, or are out of work longer than you thought, you won’t be able to go back and ask for more, or to sue them for your additional damages—you’ve permanently settled your case for whatever nominal amount the other side initially offered.

Destroying evidence – None of us secretly and deviously destroy evidence (hopefully). But many people do destroy evidence accidentally. They will get their car fixed, before the insurance company has a chance to investigate it. They will throw out the clothes they were wearing on the day of their fall. They may delete pictures or videos of the accident, or the accident scene.

All of these things are evidence in the case, and your ability to get compensation can be limited, if it turns out you destroyed evidence that the other side wants to see (or that your own lawyer needs to look at), and is entitled to see, but now, no longer exists.

Call the Clinton personal injury lawyers at Fox Farley Willis & Burnette, PLLC, today for help in handling your injury case.

Source:

infomeddnews.com/14-common-mistakes-personal-injury-clients-make/