The Benefits of Seeking Legal Help After Your Accident
While you focus on your treatment and recovery, your attorney is focused on protecting your legal rights. This may sound simple, but your attorney must identify and anticipate legal issues. By doing so, they can effectively oppose any possible barriers to your recovery. There are a great many tasks involved in preparing for settlement and/or trial.
To protect you from a flood of requests and demands from the opposing party, your attorney will notify all opposing parties and that all future contacts or communication must come through the attorney’s office. This relieves a great deal of stress for you. It also allows a personal injury attorney to keep track of communications and insurance claims, injury prognosis, treatments and bills, and other information critical to your case.
Part of preparing for settlement and trial is doing an investigation of the case and performing discovery. Investigating the case may involve hiring expert witnesses. Serious and catastrophic injuries can have a profound effect on your life going forward. They usually involve complex diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. Your attorney has the resources to locate and hire qualified experts to analyze your condition and assess future treatments and impairments.
If you have been injured in a car accident, your lawyer will typically request a copy of your auto policy or other relevant policies from your insurance companies so that they can review all available coverage.
Your lawyer will also need additional documents to support your case. Your legal team will obtain doctors records and request narrative medical reports from your treating physicians. These describe the nature of your injuries, as well as treatment and prognosis. These reports can help establish whether you can return to your previous work or if you will have permanent impairments.
To evaluate your damages, your attorney also needs confirmation from your employer of any income lost because of your injuries. If your case involves a potential for substantial future treatment costs and wage losses, your attorney may hire an economist to project these costs.
Along with gathering information and evidence on your case, your lawyer reviews applicable statutes, case law, common law, and relevant legal precedent. This information helps establish a legal basis for holding the responsible party liable.
It is generally helpful to work with a local attorney for several reasons. Someone with a local law practice has specific knowledge of local, state, and federal laws. They are familiar with the local courts and their particular procedural rules, and they also know many other members of the local legal community.
Have You Suffered a Personal Injury in McAllen?
Personal injury cases are complex, and involve many rules and deadlines. The statute of limitations is the time limit that a person has to file a legal action. For most personal injury claims in Texas, the statute of limitations is two years. However, there are exceptions to this rule, so you should consult an attorney to advise you on the appropriate time limits.
If you were injured by someone else, you need to speak with a dedicated, experienced McAllen personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. To schedule a consultation, please call the Patino Law Firm at (956) 255-0023 or contact us online.