One of the most common questions we receive through our chat portal every month is: “Do I Need an Injury Lawyer?” When you are in an accident it may not even occur to you to seek legal advice. Even if seeking legal advice does occur to you, you may find yourself wondering if entering the process is really worth it. Getting representation from a personal injury lawyer can be important. Especially, if you have concerns about how your injuries will affect you going forward or what impact they will have on your ability to work and support yourself and loved ones into the future.
A personal injury lawyer can assist you when it comes to ensuring that you get enough compensation that any detriment to your ability to earn income, or your ability to treat yourself in the future is taken care of. Below are some common questions about the injury law process in Alberta and other topics that can answer your question: “Do I need an injury lawyer?”.
Will My Personal Injury Lawsuit Take Much Commitment On My End?
The most important requirement to ensuring that your case will run smoothly is making sure that you attend appointments with your doctor consistently and document any symptoms you are experiencing following the accident. You should additionally attend any treatments prescribed by your doctor and listen to their advice as far as whether you can work or not. Our goal is to help you achieve the most complete recovery possible. Pursuing legal action with a personal injury lawyer should not add an additional burden on your road to recovery.
The lawsuit process itself does not generally require much work on your end. We may contact you periodically for updates on how you are progressing or any developments on your case, for example if the other side makes an offer though generally, this will be very periodically. Depending on the circumstances you may also have to attend a questioning in which the lawyer for the insurance company will ask you a series of questions about the accident and your injuries. If there is a dispute as to who caused the accident, the defendant driver may also need to be questioned.
Lastly, you may also be sent for independent medical examinations by your injury lawyer or by the insurance company for the other party. These are effectively where a doctor or other medical specialist is hired to provide an assessment and write a report on the extent of your injuries as well as their cause. This typically happens later in the process.
As you can see, pursuing a personal injury lawsuit does not require a large time investment on your end.
Will I Be Able To Afford My Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Our injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. What this means is that we do not take any fee from you until your case settles after which we take a percentage of the final settlement number. This means that you do not have to worry about the hourly bills that might accrue on your case if this was another area of law.
Likewise, our firm pays for disbursements on your case. These are effectively money we payout to build your case and ensure it has a strong foundation. For example, payment for those independent medical examinations would fall into this category. We then generally aim to recover these disbursements at the end of your case from the other party.
Thus, the personal injury lawsuit process is very accessible. You do not have to be fabulously wealthy to be able to pursue the compensation that you are entitled to. Our firm cares deeply about ensuring that you can access your legal options.
Will My Personal Injury Lawsuit Be Worth It?
While it is generally difficult to say how much a case will be worth until we get a sense of the medical evidence and give your injuries time to heal so future implications can be predicted if you are not at fault for the accident and have suffered injuries you will generally be entitled to compensation.
Where your case faces issues in terms of who is at fault for the accident, there is a possibility in some circumstances that you may walk away with nothing. Though our firm maintains a guarantee that if we do not recover you any money you do not owe us anything. Meaning that you have a chance to get something out of the process and even if you do not, you are not on the hook for any of our services.
Do I Need An Injury Lawyer? Take The Quiz
As mentioned previously, we get this question frequently. We have created a short quiz that you can take to answer the question “Do I Need an injury lawyer?”. This short quiz will ask questions about the type of injuries you sustained, what type of setting the accident was in (urban or rural), and if a police report was filed. It’s a great way to help ease your mind about whether you need an injury lawyer or not. To start the injury law quiz click here.
Contact James H. Brown and Associates, Alberta’s Precedent-Setting Injury Lawyers
If you’re still curious “do I need an injury lawyer?” contact us today for your free injury claim evaluation. There is no obligation or cost for this evaluation. If you have been injured in an accident we are eager to hear from you. We will fight tirelessly to ensure that you get the justice and the compensation that you are entitled to. Call us today for your free consultation!
