Experienced Attorneys Negotiating on Behalf of Victims in the Tampa, Florida Area
While there are numerous considerations involved in pursuing a claim for personal injury compensation, in the end it boils down to money: How much will you take home when your case is over? With this in mind, here are five important reasons to hire an experienced law firm to represent you:
Benefit #1: You Will Know What Constitutes a Fair Settlement
In personal injury cases, the amount you are entitled to recover is based upon the amount you have lost. So, what are your total losses? Or, more accurately, what will your total losses be when you take into account all of the effects your injuries will have on your life in the future?
If you do not know how to calculate your losses – including past and future medical bills, loss of income, pain and suffering, and other forms of financial and non-financial harm – you simply will not know when to stop negotiating and accept a settlement. This is a win for the insurance company. By working with an experienced attorney, you can understand exactly how much you stand to lose and avoid settling for less than you deserve.
Benefit #2: You Can Focus Your Time and Effort on Your Physical and Emotional Recovery
Pursuing a successful personal injury case takes time. There is a reason that firms like ours have teams of attorneys and legal professionals who focus 100 percent of their time and effort on pursuing personal injury compensation. Negotiating a favorable settlement requires collection of evidence, adherence to a set of strict laws and procedures, and the ability to consistently put pressure on the insurance companies to make a reasonable offer.
But, recovering from the physical and emotional trauma of an accident takes time as well. You will need to see your doctor – and maybe several doctors – on multiple occasions. You will need to rest. You will need to follow your doctors’ prescribed treatment plans, which may include physical and psychological therapy. Of course, while you are doing all of this, you will also need to try to keep up with the demands of your normal life.
By hiring a Tampa personal injury attorney to negotiate for you, not only can you avoid unknowingly settling for less, but you can also avoid the demands of your claim interfering with your physical and emotional recovery.
Benefit #3: You Will Turn the Tables and Put Experience on Your Side
If you try to negotiate your claim on your own, you will be starting from a point of disadvantage. The insurance companies are large corporations, and they employ teams of people who are trained (and paid) to minimize accident victims’ financial compensation. While most accident victims have never been through a single insurance claim, the adjusters with whom they are negotiating have often handled hundreds, or even thousands, of claims.
Hiring an injury lawyer in Tampa allows you to put experience on your side. An experienced injury attorney will have thorough knowledge of the process involved in negotiating an insurance settlement, and will be intimately familiar with the insurance companies’ tactics for minimizing liability. While the insurance companies often seek to take advantage of unrepresented claimants, it is a completely different story when they know that an experienced accident attorney is involved.
Benefit #4: Your Case Will Be Ready for Trial if it Doesn’t Settle
Although most personal injury claims settle, some go to trial. If the insurance companies refuse to negotiate a fair settlement, your only options will be to:
- Accept a reduced settlement that does not fully compensate you for your losses; or,
- Fight for just compensation in court.
While your attorney is negotiating, he or she (and the firm’s legal team) will also be working behind the scenes to prepare your case for trial. This means filing a lawsuit, keeping pace with court deadlines, preparing motions and attending hearings, and doing all of the other things that lawyers do in order to fight for their clients. So, by working with an attorney, not only can you put more pressure on the insurance companies to negotiate fairly, but you can also rest assured knowing that you have a contingency plan in place, should a fair settlement offer never materialize.
Benefit #5: Even with Legal Fees, You Can Take Home Significantly More than if You Try to Negotiate on Your Own
Finally, while it is true that you will need to pay legal fees if you win, even with these legal fees, your financial recovery is still likely to be far greater than any amount you could have negotiated on your own.
Most personal injury lawyers, including the lawyers at Abrahamson & Uiterwyk, handle cases on a contingency-fee basis. This means that they receive a percentage of their clients’ financial recoveries. As a result, it costs nothing out-of-pocket to hire an attorney, and you pay nothing unless you secure financial compensation for your accident-related losses. You are entitled to make informed decisions throughout your case, and your legal team should be able to tell you exactly how much you can expect to take home from a settlement offer before you decide whether to accept or have your lawyer negotiate for more.
Injured in the Greater Tampa Bay Area? Call Now for a Free Consultation
If you have been injured in the greater Tampa Bay area and would like to speak with an attorney about your rights, contact Abrahamson & Uiterwyk for a free, no-obligation consultation. You can call us at (800) 538-4878 or start a Live Chat 24/7, or submit your information online and a member of our team will contact you as soon as possible.