When someone is harmed due to another party’s negligence, they may be entitled to compensation for their medical bills and other expenses. However, personal injury accidents can be physically and emotionally devastating for victims and their loved ones, and it can be difficult to know where to begin. Under these circumstances, consulting with an experienced personal injury attorney is important. However, before you talk with a lawyer, it’s important to consider what information you need to get from your meeting. Here are some questions to ask during your personal injury consultation.
Schedule Your Consultation as Soon as Possible
Suffering a personal injury can disrupt several aspects of a person’s life. You may be harmed in a way that requires extensive medical care and rehabilitative services. You may also be dealing with lost wages and time at work and extensive property damage. Dealing with your immediate needs after this type of accident can be overwhelming, and scheduling a personal injury consultation may not seem like a priority. However, it’s important to know that the law limits the time a personal injury victim has to protect their rights.
You may be entitled to compensation for your damages, but you must pursue your claim within the applicable statute of limitations. Therefore, if you have been harmed due to another party’s negligence, you will want to schedule a consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible.
Your Personal Injury Attorney Consultation
After you schedule your personal injury consultation, you will want to gather important information and documentation to review with your attorney. Your documentation may include items such as:
Records and Documents
- Doctor bills
- Physical Therapy bills
- Hospital records and bills
- X-ray and MRI images
- Photographs of your injuries
- Wage and employment information
- Photographs of the scene of the accident
Statements
You will also want to gather any witness statements and contact information. For example, if you have written or video statements from witnesses and their contact information, you will want to bring them with you. Additionally, if you have taken notes regarding your experience, those will also be relevant. If you have not written anything down, you may want to take a moment and record your recollection of the event and details regarding your treatment.
You and your personal injury lawyer can review this information together during your consultation and assess your claim.
Questions to Ask During Your Personal Injury Consultation
When you made your personal injury consultation appointment, you may have already had some questions in mind. However, these meetings can involve being presented with a lot of information, and it’s easy for someone to forget to ask an important question. Therefore, before your personal injury consultation, it may be a good idea to write down any questions and topics you would like to cover. Then, you can reference your list and ensure everything you want to know is addressed before you leave.
The Consultation
Meeting with a personal injury lawyer is essential to evaluating your potential claim. However, the attorney can only help you assess your case if they have accurate and complete information. Therefore, it’s essential that you are honest with your attorney when answering their questions and supplying information.
It’s understandable that you would want to tell your story in the most favorable light. That being said, you should remember that your lawyer’s job is to evaluate the facts and give you an honest assessment. Therefore, you want to give them all of the information they need to do so. Leaving something out or presenting it differently than it occurred will only detract from your personal injury attorney’s ability to examine your case and answer your questions completely.
Asking Questions
For some, meeting with an attorney can be intimidating. It also can be hard to recount such a traumatic experience to someone they have never met. This can be especially true when someone has suffered severe physical or emotional injuries that are still impacting their health and well-being.
It may help to remember that this meeting is for your benefit, and the attorney is there to help. The lawyer wants you to feel comfortable relating your story. Your attorney will need to ask several questions about you, the accident, and your injuries to assist you. If you don’t understand something, it’s okay to stop them and get clarification. Don’t hesitate to ask questions during the consultation so that you can get the information you need.
You may want to ask your personal injury attorney questions such as:
- How does a personal injury case work?
- How long will your case take?
- What claims do you have?
- How much experience does the attorney have with these types of cases?
- Do most cases settle?
- How does the attorney determine their fees?
- What kinds of damages may be appropriate for your injuries?
- What are the different case stages?
- Should you talk to the insurance company?
- How do you manage interactions with the other party and their attorney?
It’s important to find out what you need to know. There are no bad questions, and the attorney is there to assist you with understanding the personal injury process. The lawyer expects you to have questions and is there to provide information, guidance, and answers.
Contact an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney
The Dailey Law Firm P.C. has decades of combined experience gathering evidence and representing people throughout the personal injury case process. Our firm knows what to do at every stage and can help you get the damages you need and deserve.