6 Tips for Getting the Best Personal Injury Settlement

Getting injured in an accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence or wrong-doing can leave you badly hurt, scared, and confused.

Not only do you have pain and suffering to contend with, but you may also be dealing with:

Lost wages
The loss of future wages/earnings
Medical bills
The cost of future medical care
A loss of mobility
The costs associated with alterations/changes in plans due to the accident
Stress

This is why you have the legal power within the U.S. to pursue a personal injury settlement in such cases—to seek fair and just compensation for the damages, wrongdoing, and suffering you’ve experienced as a result of the accident.

If someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing caused your injury, then you deserve fair and legal compensation.

With that being said, personal injury settlements aren’t always successful.

And sometimes, the plaintiff receives either no compensation, or much less than they’re actually entitled to.

What makes the difference?

Well, handling your personal injury case correctly, right from the beginning, is the best way to ensure that you actually receive the settlement you actually deserve.

And in this post, you’re going to learn 6 tips for learning how to do exactly that.

Let’s jump in and talk about it.

1. Try To Gather As Much Evidence As Possible

Right after being involved in a personal injury, you may be hurt so badly that you’re unable to do anything but seek medical care.

If so, then seeking medical care should absolutely be your first priority.

It’s also important, however, that you gather as much evidence as possible in the wake of your accident.

If at all possible, try to gather:

Incident reports
Eye-witness statements and contact information
Photographic and/or video evidence

This evidence will help you to build a case once you’re ready to file your personal injury lawsuit.

2. Get Medical Attention

As soon as possible, make sure to seek emergency medical attention for your injuries.

This is important not only for your health and safety, but also for establishing further evidence (doctor’s notes, medical bills, etc.) and a paper trail.

3. Obey Your Doctor’s Orders

Your doctor will likely give you a treatment plan to follow.

Make sure that you follow it carefully.

Failing to follow your doctor’s treatment plan could make you look more ‘at fault’ for long-term injuries or complications, which could impact your ability to get the compensation you deserve.

4. Get An Attorney

You may be tempted to try to handle this situation on your own.

For example, you may try to file an insurance claim.

Or, you may be offered an immediate settlement by the offending party, who will try to spin their offer as a ‘friendly way’ to help you after the accident.

But here’s the issue.

Insurance companies (and large companies who may be at fault for your injury) are really good at trying to minimize legal/monetary damages in the event of an accident.

And while they might make it seem like they’re trying to help you resolve the issue, they’re probably actually trying to settle out of court for a ‘minimal payout,’ because they know that you likely don’t understand what your full claim is actually worth.

For this reason, you should always talk to a lawyer before signing any papers or agreeing to any sort of payout.

5. Understand Contingency Fees

Sometimes, people don’t reach out to speak with attorneys because they’re afraid that it’ll be so expensive that there’s no point in doing so.

But it’s very important to understand that this usually isn’t the case.

Most personal injury attorneys will handle cases on a ‘contingency fee’ basis.

This basically means that your lawyer won’t collect a fee unless you successfully win the case.

If you do win the case, your lawyer’s payment will then be paid out as a percentage of the amount paid to you by the defendant.

This means that you don’t usually need to have any cash on hand up-front to get a personal injury claim started.

6. Work Closely With Your Attorney

Once you get an Scottsdale Criminal Defense Attorney to represent you in your personal injury case, make sure to give them all of the information and to follow their instructions to the letter. Scottsdale Criminal Defense Attorney

One of the fastest ways to mess up your claim is to fail to follow your lawyer’s advice.

For example:

If you break your leg during a slip-and-fall case, your lawyer will probably tell you not to go out to the club dancing (or anything like that) until the case is over.

But if you don’t listen, and just happen to get pictures posted of you on social media while partying at the club, it could undermine your entire case—and work against you in your pursuit of fair and just compensation.