Are you suffering major injuries and want to know how to win your pedestrian accident case? Read our tips on how we can help, then call us.
Choosing a Pedestrian Accident Attorney
We got a call from someone the other day who was injured in a pedestrian accident. She had a good question, and that was how to choose an attorney that’s best for her. In choosing an attorney to handle a pedestrian accident claim, you want to make sure that you find someone that is focused on handling these types of cases and their core focus is injury cases and in particular pedestrian injury cases. You don’t want to hire somebody who handles a little bit of everything, the attorney that you know that handles divorces and wills and traffic tickets and those kinds of things. You want to find an attorney that’s core focus is on personal injury and in particular pedestrian injury accident.
You also want to find somebody that has experience and success in handling these types of cases. They will know how to work up your case. They will know how to present the case to the insurance carrier to get the insurance carrier to pay a fair and reasonable amount for your injuries. Most importantly, another thing you want to make sure you look for is a trial attorney. Not all attorneys are trial attorneys. Trial attorneys are attorneys who are experienced in taking cases to trial.
Not all attorneys are willing to take a case or even capable of taking a case to trial, so you want to make sure you find someone that is able to take your case to trial if the insurance carrier’s not willing to pay a fair and reasonable amount for your injuries. A trial attorney will work your case up from the beginning with the intention of taking it to trial if that’s necessary. Make sure you find somebody that is an experienced trial attorney to help you with your pedestrian accident case. If you have any questions about your pedestrian accident case, give us a call. We’d be happy to answer those questions for you.
Mistakes To Avoid After a Pedestrian Accident
We talked to someone recently who’d been injured in a pedestrian accident case, and unfortunately, they made some mistakes that we see a lot of people make in this situation. For one, this person didn’t gather all the evidence that they could there from the scene. It’s important to make sure that you collect all the evidence that you can, you take photographs, that you collect witness statements or at least contact information right away there at the scene, or if you’re not in a position to do that that you hire an attorney right away that can do that for you. The more time that goes by, the more evidence is lost. Things change, and witnesses forget what they saw or change the story from what they told you there at the scene, so you want to make sure that you gather the evidence right away.
Another common mistake t is that they don’t go get the treatment that they need. People will oftentimes wait to get treatment thinking that they’ll get better from their injuries, and they won’t need to go to the doctor, and then two, three, four weeks down the road, they’re still having problems. It’s important to get in to see your doctor right away so that you can make sure you’re getting the treatment that you need and get started on that treatment right away and also to make sure that your injuries are well-documented. If you wait too long to go to the doctor, the insurance carrier will use that delay in getting treatment as an excuse to delay or maybe deny your case entirely.
Another mistake people make is that they will give statements to the insurance company without the assistance of an attorney. That’s a huge mistake. You do not want to give a statement to the insurance carrier. The insurance carrier’s sole focus in obtaining a statement from you is to gather evidence that will help them delay or deny your claim. Even though you feel like you’re going to tell the truth, what harm could there be in talking to the insurance carrier, the insurance carrier is skilled at getting information, asking questions in a certain way, maybe asking the questions in a certain order that will be detrimental to your case.
Probably one of the biggest, most common mistakes we see is people hire the wrong attorney to represent them. You want to make sure that you have an attorney that understands this area of the law, that has experience and success in handling these types of cases and is willing to take your case to trial if that’s what’s necessary to get the best recovery for you. Don’t make these common mistakes. Hire an attorney early and quickly and hire the right attorney. If you have any questions about hiring an attorney or any other aspects of your pedestrian accident claim, give us a call. We’d be happy to talk to you about it.
Pedestrian Accident Insurance Investigation
We heard from someone recently who was injured in a pedestrian accident, and they were being contacted by the insurance company for the responsible driver and wanted to know if it was okay for them to go ahead and talk to the insurance carrier. It is not a good idea to talk to the insurance carrier without the representation of an attorney. The insurance carriers do a great job with commercials and in other ways of making us feel like they care about us and that they’re going to take care of us. You may feel really comfortable with your local insurance agent and feel like your agent is going to make sure that you’re taken care of, but if you have an injury claim like this, your claim is going to be transferred on to a claims department somewhere else. It’s not going to be handled by your local agent.
You’re going to be dealing with somebody else, and their sole goal is going to be to gather evidence, whatever evidence they can, to justify in their minds denying or delaying your claim. They will not tell you that, of course. They’ll ask you questions in a recorded statement in a way or sometimes in a particular order that helps them justify, again, in their minds denying your claim. Do not talk to the insurance carrier. Make sure that you get an attorney who can represent you on your claim and help you with this process right away and absolutely before you talk to any insurance companies. If you have any questions about your pedestrian accident, just give us a call. We’d be happy to talk to you about that.
Were you or a loved one severely injured while walking in Kansas and have questions about how to win your pedestrian accident case? Contact our experienced Kansas pedestrian accident lawyers today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
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