Auto accidents happen within the blink of an eye, and the result leaves you with injuries that could be potentially life-threatening.
When in these situations, the best thing to do would be to file for a personal injury. Filing this is only possible if you’ve ended up injured during the whole ordeal. If not, then you have no case to begin with.
However, if you’ve sustained any type of injury, then this is the 9 step process of a personal injury auto accident case.
We will be explaining the entire process from start to finish, so don’t go anywhere. Without further ado, let’s start.
1. The Investigation
Forget about your car; your number one priority is to check the severity of the injuries after a car accident.
If the injuries are too severe, then you might have to seek medical treatment ASAP. If not, then the investigation part begins. This is the first step of your personal injury process, and it involves taking photos of your injuries and the scene.
What you should also do is also talk to witnesses and write down what they have to say. Witnesses are vital for your chances of success, and there will almost certainly be one or two.
2. Get Treatment
Getting treatment for your injuries is quite possible the best proof you can have. Since you’ll have to visit a hospital or medical facility for the treatment, the doctors and nurses there will record and document all of your injuries.
This is rock-solid evidence that you’ve actually sustained body damages and it also determines the severity of those damages.
3. File a Claim With the Insurance Company
If you have the necessary coverage, then you’ll need to notify your insurance company of the accident.
This is your best bet to have your car as soon as possible and get you back driving. Insurance companies cover for damages regardless if the accident is or isn’t your fault.
Be wary of money offerings from the other person’s insurance company, as these are generally much lower than the actual cost for repairs. If their insurance company doesn’t offer a sufficient sum of money to cover for repairs and potential damages, then you might want to consider hiring an attorney. A good option is torklaw.com, a personal injury and accident law firm dedicated to obtaining outstanding results for those who have been injured due to someone else’s negligence
This attorney is a personal injury attorney that specializes in exactly these cases.
4. Talking With Your Attorney
In most cases, this is the fourth step of the process of filing a personal injury claim. This step is the reason why this type of process exists.
Insurance companies would rather lowball their way out of a case rather than pay up what they owe. So, people get angry and they end up in court.
When talking to a professional that praises personal injury law the first thing you’ll discuss in your first meeting is to ask for their experience. Only a person that has tons of cases behind their back can help you win your case.
Before talking to an attorney, you should educate yourself on the topic of personal injury. A great resource for that can be found if you click here.
Other things to discuss with your attorney are fees, strategy, and what to look for in terms of reimbursement.
5. The Medical Investigation
Now that you’ve hired an attorney, it’s time to start the medical investigation.
This part will be solely conducted by your attorneys as it will be a part of their job. This is something that every personal injury attorney does and they do it very professionally.
Some of the things involved in this step include following up with medical professionals that have treated you, obtaining your medical record, and the medical bills connected to this case.
Once they’ve acquired all of that information, the attorneys will wait for your injuries to heal before sending all information to the insurance company.
This is sort of like a declaration for court, as it is the first and formal conversation between both parties.
However, there is the likely chance that your injuries are more severe than originally thought. When this happens, the attorneys will visit the medical experts one more time and make a report of the injuries. They will then send this report along with the rest of the information.
6. Demanding a Settlement
This part starts when your doctor gives the all-clear for you to continue with the filing process.
In some cases, you’ll demand a settlement from the opposite party, but, this won’t actually happen as it will be the insurance company that makes the initial offer. However, most reject it since it is either too low or too unreasonable to accept, so you’ll end up going back and forth a couple of dozen times.
7. They Settle or You Go To Court
During the negotiation, at some point, the insurance company will send a “final offer”. This offer means you either accept it or you file a lawsuit.
Contrary to popular beliefs, not many people wish to file lawsuits, so they end up taking the offer.
However, that’s not always the case and if you still feel you’re being undervalued then it’s maybe time to file one.
8. Discovery
This is the part of the process where your attorneys and the attorneys of the insurance company research the other party.. This means that the insurance company will start digging into your past in a bid to try and stop you from winning the case.
But this also equips your attorneys with the much-needed firepower to go out and do what they do best.
After the discovery period ends, the mediation starts.
9. Mediation
This part always happens before you go to court and it involves hiring a third-party mediator to try and talk things out between both parties to avoid going to court.
This person will try to push for a settlement to be agreed between both parties but, unless a change of heart, this won’t happen.
And if the mediator fails to reach an agreement between both parties, you’ll end up going to court.
