Injury In Idaho

Should I Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?

A concern many people have when injured in a car accident is whether they should hire a personal injury lawyer.

Is it better to negotiate with an insurance company on your own to avoid paying a car accident attorney. Or instead, will you make out better if you are represented by counsel? Here are some thoughts to consider when making your decision.

First, you should seriously consider if you are equipped to negotiate with an insurance company? If you are like most people, you have had little to no experience negotiating personal injury claims. The thought that you would get injured in a car crash on your way to work or on the way back from the store wasn’t even on your radar. But now, you have mounting bills and are out of work. You may or may not have some savings to help hold you over.

On the other side of the table is a multi-billion dollar insurance company that handles hundreds of thousands of personal injury claims each year. They have complex computer systems in place to limit risk (i.e. pay you less money). They have insurance adjusters who are trained to seek recorded admissions to use against you. They have hired-gun doctors that they pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to write false and misleading medical reports to say that you are not injured.

Given the disparate bargaining power and position of personal injury victims and the insurance company, most people feel more comfortable hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer to represent them for a car accident claim.

We have found that car accident victims who try to negotiate with insurance companies have little success and often end up regretting the decision. Time after time, we speak with claimants who have received a low-ball offer for $200 or $500. This is often pennies on the dollar of what their claim is actually worth. However, the insurance company knows that if they don’t consult with a lawyer, they will probably accept it. They know that if the claimant doesn’t hire an attorney, they will be easily defeated in court through motions practice, complex procedural rules and expensive litigation costs that they need to pay out of pocket. Therefore, they refuse to make a fair offer to unrepresented claimants.

 

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice.

Scroll to Top