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1) Choosing the Best Attorney For You
One of the most important things is experience. You need an attorney that’s been doing this for long enough to know who the players are, to know what the car insurance is going to do, to prepare and document your case appropriately, to get the best recovery possible on your case.
The other thing is who is going to be handling your case. It’s very important when you hire an attorney that the attorney handles your case. Many of these other law firms have paralegals that handle the case, basically, from beginning to end. It’s important that you meet with them, ask the attorney questions, and make sure the attorney is the one that’s handling your case so you can get the best results possible for your motor vehicle accident in Orlando, Florida.
2) Insurance Investigation
What a lot of people don’t know is that you’re contractually obligated to give a recorded statement to your own insurance company. You do not, on other hand, have to give a recorded statement to the insurance company for the other person.
What’s important is that you retain an attorney that can assist you with that process and make sure that the questions that are asked are appropriate questions for the case. You don’t want to answer questions related to things that aren’t material to the case. You don’t want them going on a fishing expedition, so it’s important that you have an attorney that’s going to sit there, that’s going to be with you on the line while they’re asking you questions, to protect your rights and make sure that the statement is focused on what needs to be asked.
Yes, you have to give a recorded statement. The things is, when you initially call the insurance company, it’s usually on a recorded line and they’re going to try to get you to give statements and make admissions immediately upon calling the insurance company, so it’s always best, like we tell all our clients, if you’re ever involved in a motor vehicle accident, please call us first.
3) Common Mistakes To Avoid
One of the biggest mistakes is contacting the insurance company before you hire or speak to an attorney. The reason is the insurance company is not really there to help you with your claim; they’re there to limit their exposure, which means they’re there to try to resolve the case making as low a payment as possible.
The insurance company is going to ask you questions that really might not benefit you and your case but will benefit them in case they need any coverage defenses or if they need to defend the case in any way. It’s very important that you speak to an attorney first, before you do anything else, so they can properly prepare and properly communicate with the insurance company so you don’t answer a question that maybe you shouldn’t answer or give information that’s not going to help you in your case.
The other mistake is not documenting the accident. What we mean by that is not calling the police. Many times, when people get into an accident, the damage doesn’t seem that severe and they opt not to call the police. That’s a very big mistake because, without that documentation from the police officer, the other person can say anything they want when they’re called by the insurance company and say that you were at fault when you clearly weren’t. It’s very important that it’s documented and the police are called. It’s required by law. Those are the two big ones.
Obviously, you should take photos of the scene and take photos of the damage to both vehicles. That’s also important and can be a mistake if you don’t do that. The main mistakes are not recording the accident and, obviously, speaking to the insurance company without an attorney.
4) Case Value
There’s really no simple way to really gauge the value of the case. The reason is because every case is different. Every individual is different. Every injury is different. All the facts of the case are different, so it’s very difficult for any attorney to say your case is worth X amount. We really don’t know what the case is going to be worth until after all of the person’s treatment is done. Until we know exactly the type of injuries that were sustained, they type of treatment, the amount of lost wages, that’s when we can get a better idea of what it’s worth.
As a generality, the value of the case is determined by the amount of outstanding medical bills or the medical bills that you’ve accumulated in your treatment, the type of injuries and how those injuries are going to affect you in the future, the cost of future medical care and lost wages, and your pain and suffering. Those are the elements that go into determining the value of a case.
As you can see, until we have a better understanding of that individual’s actual injuries, what they’ve suffered and the type of treatment they’ve done, it’s very difficult to say. What is important is to hire an attorney that’s familiar with car accident cases in Orlando that can actually evaluate the case properly and help you get the most out of your case.
Have you suffered a serious injury in a car accident in Florida and have questions about your car accident case expectations? Contact our experienced Orlando car accident lawyers today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
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