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Cases of Negligence: When Do You Need a Personal Injury Attorney?
Some cases of negligence you can handle yourself, for others you'll
need a professional negligence lawyer.
Here we give the definition of
negligence and list the different personal injury claim types you can
handle yourself.
There are so many different cases of negligence, it's impossible to
give precise guidelines as to exactly
when you'll need a lawyer for all of them, but for the most part you
can just use common sense.
Definition of
Negligence
- conduct that falls short of what a reasonable person would do to
protect another person from foreseeable risks of harm.
There are claims where you will definitely require
attorney legal services. Sometimes it's because the case involves
evidence, law and precedent that is far too complex for an
inexperienced person. Sometimes it's because there is just far too much
at stake to go at it alone.
If your case doesn't fit into any of the scenarios discussed on
this site, or it looks like your case will involve a lot of legal
research and specialized knowledge, retaining attorney legal services
is probably a good idea.
Permanent Disability or Death
Attorney legal services are almost always necessary in cases of
negligence where the victim has
sustained permanent or long lasting injuries. This is especially true
if the injuries are disabling such as those that leave the injured
party permanently in a wheelchair.
The problem with handling disability cases of negligence on your own is
that it can get
complicated when trying to calculate what these types of injuries are
worth.
Putting a price on long term pain and suffering as well as
determining how much earning potential has been lost is incredibly
intricate. At the very least, a personal injury lawyer should be
consulted at some point to make sure all your bases have been covered.
Medical Malpractice
If your personal injury is the result of medical malpractice, consult a
lawyer before doing anything else. These cases of negligence
are always complicated and the laws protecting both
parties are quite detailed.
Attorney legal services should be sought
out from a lawyer that specializes in these types of cases - they'll
know exactly what to do and how to do it.
Cases of negligence involving specialized knowledge also shouldn't be
handled without a personal injury attorney experienced in the field.
Toxic Exposure requires
an attorney because chemical companies use strong defensive
tactics to protect themselves
from lawsuits. You will almost always need an attorney
to guide you through the process of collecting evidence and proving
your case in these situations.
Similarly, Drug Lawsuits require professional
negligence lawsyers because drug
companies are hard to go after alone. Also, these cases are often
grouped together to pursue larger class action lawsuit settlements. If
you need to file a drug-related claim,
finding an attorney with experience dealing with drug companies is a
necessity.
Retaining attorney legal services will almost never hurt your case -
the most you have to lose is the contingency fee. So if you have any
doubts
after you’ve begun handling your own personal injury claim, please, do
yourself a favor and consult an attorney.
Which Cases
of Negligence Can You Handle Yourself?
For the most part, a straightforeward personal injury case can be
handled on your own without a lawyer. Here we take a quick look at the
kinds of cases you should be able to handle yourself.
As we've already noted, there's more than one kind of personal injury
case. Sometimes a personal injury case is resolved with a
nicely written demand letter. Other times it requires gathering and
presenting evidence along with a lot of back and forth communication
with the insurance company.
If you are willing to invest the time and effort, there is really no
reason why you can’t handle even a more complicated personal injury
case by yourself. While a civil litigation lawyer will have more
knowledge they can apply to the subtle aspects of your case, this
usually isn’t something you need.
Generally speaking then, the types of personal injury cases you can
handle on your own are the ones that are most common and the ones that
don’t require much more than basic legal knowledge.
These include:
1) Car Accidents -
regardless of whether
you're the driver or passenger and despite whether the claim is against
someone else’s insurance policy or your own.
2) Bike
Accidents - you can handle
claims when you are a cyclist or pedestrian or even on public
transportation.
3) Slip
and Fall Accidents - on any kind
of property, whether it be private, public or commercial.
4) Home
Accidents - involving defective
products.
5) Dog
Bites - or attacks by other dangerous pets.
Is Handling Your Own Personal Injury Case A Big
Hassle?
Despite the bad reputation of insurance companies, if there is clear
fault and properly documented expenses resulting from your injury,
there won’t be a lot of hassle in getting a personal injury settlement
-
it’s usually just a matter of agreeing on the final figures.
Even when the great legal experience of a professional injury attorney
can increase your settlement amount,
it still might be worth it to handle your personal injury case
yourself.
If the lawyer can get you 10% more but is going to take a 33% cut, then
it's clearly not worth it. Aside from that, it's important to realize
that the amount of compensation awarded in a personal injury case comes
from a structured though somewhat flexible formula.
In most
cases, the monetary figure comes from transparent
sources, meaning you don’t need a lawyer or industry insider to tell
you how much you can expect from your claim.
Keep in mind that injury victims' decisions to handle cases of
negligence on their own does not have to be final.
If your claim becomes too technical or if you get
overwhelmed, you can go to a lawyer at any time
before a final settlement is agreed upon.
You can also find a lawyer who will charge you an hourly rate for basic
consulting, and then still handle your main personal injury case on
your own.
Lastly, your decision to represent yourself is a money saving choice
and a calculated investment that lets you keep the percentage of the
claim your lawyer would have taken. However, it's important to realize
from the start that there
are no guarantees when representing yourself
in cases of negligence (or when using a lawyer for that matter).
We make no
guarantees about
the accuracy of information on this site and you should NOT
consider anything on this site to be formal legal advice. Read the
disclaimer at the bottom of every page.
This website is a general
guide to helping people handle their own cases of
negligence and get a
fair settlement. We'll provide some helpful information, but the rest
is in your
hands.
Return
from Cases of Negligence to Accident
Settlements
Return
from Cases of Negligence to the Personal
Injury Settlement Guide
Personal Injury Areas
The accuracy of information on this site is not guaranteed. Information on this site is strictly opinion and should not be considered formal legal advice. Under no circumstances should the information on this site be used to make decisions about the proper course of a legal matter.Click below to read our full User Agreement, Disclaimer and Copyright Information.
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