With all the bad reputation that lawyers get, it is not uncommon for people involved in accidents to downplay the benefits of hiring personal injury attorneys.
Indeed, many people receive significant settlements from insurance companies without any legal representation. What’s more, no law in Florida requires plaintiffs in personal injury claims to have lawyers.
Hiring a seasoned personal injury lawyer can make a big difference to your suit and earn you even more significant settlements if the facts are on your side.
What Are The Costs of Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer?
Contrary to the famous assertion, our law firm doesn’t charge upfront fees to represent you.
Instead, we work on a contingency basis. That is, our fees are indicated as a percentage of the settlement you will receive.
Our paycheck fully depends on your legal victory. As such, we not only strive to win your case but also get the best compensation possible.
What If You Don’t Hire a Personal Injury Attorney?
Unless you have some legal background, it is strongly recommended to get legal representation when facing any court or jury, more so on issues involving personal injury claims.
Not doing so will leave you at a massive disadvantage because you will be up against defendants and insures who may have the best lawyers.
Here are the two main disadvantages of self-representation in a personal injury suit:
Getting Time-Barred
Florida law requires all personal injury claims to be filed within four years from the accident date. This is called the Statute of Limitations, and missing it means your claim will be null and void by default.
Despite how easy it seems, sticking to this deadline is hard when you are recuperating from injuries or when your insurance company is trying its best to stall your case. In most cases, insurers will send you their claims adjuster to “negotiate” with you once they realize you don’t have an attorney.
These adjusters will reinforce your hopes of compensation and tell you how expensive and stressful the trial process is. As a layperson, you may end up believing their lies and threats and losing your due compensation. With a personal injury lawyer in your corner, you will bear no such risk.
Low Settlement Offers
Being a layperson, the other party’s insurance company will know that you lack the experience to know how much compensation you deserve. So they will take advantage of that. The most common technique they use is to suggest out-of-court settlements.
They can give you some lowball offers – which may seem decent to you depending on the situation you are in – knowing that there is no jury to oversee it. People who accept this type of settlement end up with regrets once they realize they would have gotten a lot more if they had hired an attorney.
