Top Tips For Successfully Navigating a Personal Injury Claim

Being involved in an accident only takes a second. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for filing a personal injury claim. The process, from start to finish, can take months or even years. This usually means your expenses are piling up, and you’re not sure how you’re going to settle the bills. 

While you can take steps like taking out a medical lien to help hold creditors at bay, this isn’t helping the claim process move any faster. Thankfully, the steps to navigate a personal injury claim are fairly straightforward, especially if you’re working with an experienced attorney.

Steps for Navigating a Personal Injury Claim

Even though every personal injury claim is different, no two accidents are exactly the same, the process is similar.

Report the Accident

All states have laws requiring drivers to report most vehicle accidents. In Texas, you must report an accident if injuries or fatalities are present or property damage exceeds $1.000. However, even if you don’t notice any injuries or vehicle damage, it’s still a good idea to immediately report the collision.

Your accident report is a vital part of the evidence you submit with your insurance claim. The report serves as proof that the incident occurred. Texas is also a comparative negligence state. Your accident report can help ensure the insurance adjuster doesn’t assign you more than your fair share of the blame.

Seek Medical Treatment

You may not think your injuries are severe. You may not even realize you sustained injuries from the accident. Some injuries aren’t immediately apparent. They can take a few days or even weeks to start manifesting signs and symptoms.

You don’t want to leave any injuries untreated since this can lead to more severe health issues. You also want to ensure any medical costs are included in your personal injury claim. This means visiting a healthcare provider for diagnoses and treatment. Your medical records will be crucial to proving your injuries. Without the documentation, you probably can’t list your medical expenses in the claim.

Contact an Attorney

Some car accidents are pretty cut and dried. For example, a minor fender bender in a parking lot. You can probably handle filling out the insurance forms without assistance from an attorney. This can be especially true if injuries aren’t present.

For most other types of accidents, you should consider contacting an attorney. A personal injury attorney can review your claim and help ensure you’re listing all of your damages. You don’t want to skip over a potential loss. 

Not only does it reduce the value of your claim but it can also leave you with outstanding expenses. You can’t add losses to an insurance claim after sending in the paperwork. Instead, you need to start the process all over again.

Investigate Your Claim

You may be amazed at how many people are investigating your accident. The authorities will conduct an investigation, along with the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Your insurance provider may also be investigating the accident. The reason for the interest in the accident’s cause is to determine liability.

Remember, Texas follows comparative negligence guidelines and this means more than one person can be liable for the same accident. Your percentage of blame will impact your settlement amount. Your attorney will also investigate the accident’s cause to help ensure you’re not assigned more blame than you deserve.

Submit Your Claim

After blame is assigned, it’s time to calculate your losses stemming from the accident, and this typically includes your economic and non-economic damages. You can probably calculate your economic damages without help. 

These are monetary damages like medical expenses, property repair/replacement costs, and possibly lost income if your injuries force you to miss work. Your bills and receipts are usually enough to give you the total of your economic damages.

Non-economic damages are a little harder to calculate. These are losses like pain and suffering. Loss of life enjoyment and mental anguish are other examples of non-economic damages. So, how do you put a price tag on your pain and suffering? You can’t, but your attorney can use either the multiplier or per diem method to calculate the estimated value of your non-economic damages.

Once you know the value of your claim, it’s time to submit the paperwork to the insurance company. Now, you wait while the insurance adjuster reviews your claim.

Start Negotiations

The insurance adjuster will contact your attorney and set up a meeting to discuss your personal injury claim. This part of the process is when you start negotiating a potential settlement with the insurance company. 

Don’t expect the insurance company to accept the initial value of your claim. Chances are, your attorney assigned your claim the highest possible value to help ensure you receive enough to cover your expenses.

Most claims go through a few rounds of negotiations. However, you may get lucky and reach an acceptable agreement after only one or two meetings. If so, congratulations, you’re almost finished with the claim process.

Steps to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit

If you can’t reach an agreement with the insurance company during negotiations, it’s time to file a personal injury lawsuit in civil court. This will extend the timeline of your claim but sometimes it’s necessary to receive a fair settlement.

Your lawsuit will go through the discovery phase, which is when both sides share evidence. Your attorney and the insurance company will have time to review each other’s evidence before moving on to mediation and negotiations. 

The court will probably order you and the insurance company to another round of negotiations. Hopefully, an agreement can be reached. If not, your personal injury lawsuit heads to trial.

Thankfully, most personal injury claims are settled before entering the trial phase and this can shorten the time it takes to receive your settlement check.

Boost Your Chances of Avoiding a Trial

You may be able to speed up the time it takes to receive a settlement check after an accident by working with a personal injury attorney. Your attorney can collect and review evidence and negotiate with the insurance adjuster. 

Hopefully, this is enough to keep your claim from turning into a lawsuit. If not, your attorney is ready to present your case to the judge or jury.