Personal Injury Attorney



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Personal Injury Attorney

If you have been injured or fallen ill due to the mistake or fault of somebody else, you can claim injury compensation from that person.

Your personal injury may have occurred when you were working on a faulty machine in a factory or contracted cancer while working in an asbestos unit. This is a case of clear fault. Even if the fault is not clear, for example, an employer does not ensure that his workers are following the safety procedures, you can still make a claim for compensation.

The first question is whether the personal injury attorney is qualified to handle your accident claim. These are the times of specialization in every professional field. There are attorneys for cases of:

DUI
car accidents
tax
insurance claims
criminal
civil cases and so on

The personal injury attorney you choose must be a specialist in this field. You cannot opt for a generalist, as there are new trends, laws, bylaws and clauses appearing on daily basis. Injuries, for example, can only be best described in medical terms. If the personal injury attorney is not well versed in these terms and their implications, you may lose your case.

The second question that you need to ask your attorney is about his professional charges. You must be aware that you have to sign a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) with your personal injury attorney. You should ensure to mention in the agreement that the attorney will charge his professional costs from the other party. If somehow, he tries to create problems and charges you also, remind him of the Access to Justice Act and leave him for another attorney.

Besides the professional charges, there are bound to be other incidental expenses, called out-of-pocket expenses. These expenses may include your:

medical treatment payments
overtime expenses incurred by the attorney’s office staff
telephone and fax charges, and so on.

The attorney may try to be smart enough to include these costs to be charged from you by adding a clause in the CFA. Be warned that you are not responsible to bear these charges. Your attorney has to first incur these charges and then claim them from the other party.

Another factor that you need to consider is the advisability of going to the court or making an out-of- the-court settlement of your compensation claims. Sometimes, the attorneys insist upon filing the suits in the court and fighting to get what the law entitles you to claim. Yet there are others who may like to make out of the court settlement. You have to discuss the issues regarding favorable or adverse consequences arising out of following one way or the other. It is for you to make an enlightened decision in your interest.

You must never forget that the law like God cannot be always on the side of the injured. Attorneys are very expensive. Some times they charge by hours. What happens if you lose? Who will pay the huge charges of your attorney, harassed as you already are by your personal injuries? Since your personal injury attorney has fought your case, has spent time and energy for you, he needs to be paid. You need to ask your attorney about his willingness to insure your claim against the chances of losing the case. Do not be taken in by the false assurances that you cannot lose and ensure that you have sufficient protection if at all the unexpected transpires to your dismay.