There are times when hiring a car accident lawyer is essential, such as if there are serious or lingering injuries that need ongoing treatment, disputes over fault, multiple parties, the other driver lacks insurance or fled the scene, or the insurance company has contacted you or offered a low settlement offer. You have the right to hire a lawyer at any point in time during the process of making a car accident claim or pursuing a lawsuit. However, knowing when to hire a car accident lawyer is critical to getting the most favorable outcome in your case.
If you’ve been injured in a car accident, call Chute, O’Malley, Knobloch, and Turcy, LLC at 630-412-4747 for a free case evaluation in Naperville.
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Signs You Need a Car Accident Lawyer in Naperville
A car accident is often a stressful and traumatic event. It can put a strain on your finances and overall well-being. A car accident lawyer can help protect your rights, navigate the claims process, and get you the compensation to which you’re entitled. Below are signs that indicate when to hire a car accident lawyer in Illinois to help with your claim.
You Suffered Severe Injuries
You might manage a claim yourself if you had a minor accident and didn’t suffer injuries. However, an accident that caused serious injuries or injuries whose severity you’re unsure of requires the assistance of a car accident lawyer.
Car accident injuries can cause substantial physical, emotional, and economic harm. You may incur medical bills for an extended period, lose income and earning capacity, and experience pain and suffering and other intangible losses. As a result, you may need to request high damages. An attorney will help you assess the full value of your claim. The attorney may seek the assistance of expert witnesses like medical specialists to ensure you account for all your losses in your claim.
Liability Is Disputed
You need to have a car accident attorney on your side if there’s a dispute concerning liability, the insurance company isn’t responding, or it has denied your claim. An attorney will help ensure the insurer takes your claim seriously. He or she can help you gather evidence like crash reports, witness statements, and security footage and use them to mitigate your liability and establish the other driver’s liability for your damages, legitimizing your claim.
Multiple Parties Involved
Some accidents involve multiple parties that could be liable for your losses. For example, truck accidents often involve several parties, such as the truck driver, trucking companies, maintenance crew, shipping and loading companies, and parts manufacturers. Multi-vehicle pileups also involve more than two parties.
Establishing how each party’s negligence contributed to the crash can be a mammoth task. Every insurance company involved may deny liability, making it harder to resolve your claim. Such accident cases are complicated, making the assistance of a car accident lawyer invaluable.
In places like Naperville, where modified comparative negligence rules can divide liability among the involved parties and reduce your compensation or prevent you from receiving compensation, having a car accident lawyer is crucial to ensure you’re not allocated more responsibility for the accident than you should.
The Other Driver Is Uninsured
Illinois has minimum amounts of auto insurance coverage that drivers must carry to drive motor vehicles legally in the state. However, about 16.3% of drivers in Illinois are uninsured. If the other driver lacks car insurance, it’s best to meet with a lawyer to explore your options for recovering compensation. You could get compensation through your uninsured motorist coverage. A car accident lawyer could help you file a lawsuit against the uninsured driver to recover compensation directly.
You’re Involved in a Hit-and-Run Accident
Legal assistance is beneficial in cases where the other driver didn’t stop at the scene after the accident. You can recover damages from such an accident through your uninsured motorist coverage. An experienced car accident lawyer can investigate the accident and find the responsible driver and any other sources of liability from which you could recover all your damages.
The Insurance Company Has Contacted You
An insurance company may reach out to you soon after a car accident and act like it’s looking after your best interests. On the contrary, insurance companies operate in their own best interests and will likely use tactics to try to eliminate or devalue your claim. They could ask you to give a recorded statement and ask leading questions that make you sound like you’re admitting fault or say other things that could later be twisted to work against you. They could then use the statements you gave to minimize their liability.
You should consult a car accident attorney before speaking to the at-fault driver’s insurance company. An attorney can handle communications with insurance companies and advise you on how to best deal with them, helping protect your interests.
The Insurer Has Made a Settlement Offer
You should reach out to a car accident attorney when an insurance company sends you a settlement offer. Insurance companies, at times, offer a quick settlement, hoping the accident victim will agree to it before seeking a lawyer’s guidance. Quick settlement offers are typically lowballed. Insurance companies usually undervalue certain aspects of damages suffered, such as lost wages and future medical expenses. Without an attorney’s advice, you may accept this settlement offer that won’t compensate you fully for the damages you suffered.
A car accident attorney can calculate the full extent of your damages and determine whether the offer received is fair. If you’ve received a lowball offer, an attorney will know how to negotiate with the insurance company for a better offer.
What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Car Accident Lawyer?
There are many benefits that you stand to gain when you hire a car accident lawyer.
Legal Knowledge
Car accident lawyers have in-depth knowledge of personal injury law and the legal complexities you must navigate in such cases. They understand the local laws and regulations applicable to your situation. A Naperville car accident lawyer, for instance, will be familiar with the Illinois laws and regulations relevant to your case.
The knowledge allows the lawyer to help you understand the relevant laws, your legal options, and what to do at every step of the way. By working with a car accident lawyer, you’ll save time and avoid costly mistakes that you may have made if you had handled your case alone.
Maximize Compensation
A car accident lawyer helps you receive maximum compensation for your damages. Research has shown that people who are represented by personal injury lawyers recover more compensation than those who choose to handle their claims themselves.
The damages from a car accident are more than lost wages and past and current medical bills. Without a lawyer, you’ll struggle to accurately determine your non-economic damages and economic damages, like future lost wages and future medical bills. You run the risk of coming up with a compensation amount that’s too low and accepting a lowball settlement offer.
Consequently, you’ll end up paying for some accident-related expenses out-of-pocket. For example, you could be the one who pays your car accident medical bills in the future after accepting a settlement that doesn’t account for the future losses associated with your injuries.
Your car accident lawyer will consider the pain and suffering, emotional distress, disfigurement, reduced quality of life, and other non-economic damages you may have experienced. Car accident lawyers have methods for calculating monetary amounts to assign to an accident victim’s non-economic damages. Your lawyer will consider ongoing physical therapy, additional surgeries, occupational therapies, and other costs you’ll incur in the future.
Free Consultation and Contingency Fee Arrangement
Car accident attorneys typically offer free initial consultations, during which you can discuss your case, ask questions, and learn what the attorneys can do for you. They also work on a contingency fee basis, so they only get paid when they win you a settlement or verdict. They can start working on your case straight away without upfront fees. As a result, you’ve got nothing to lose when you hire an attorney.
Handling Insurance Companies
Dealing with insurance companies and their legal counsel can be frustrating if you lack negotiation skills and experience in arguing with them. They can easily pressure accident victims into agreeing to lowball settlements.
An experienced car accident lawyer knows the tricks insurers use to minimize payouts and deny claims, and how to counter them. Experienced lawyers recognize low settlement offers and have what it takes to put up a fight for a more favorable amount. They’re trained in negotiation tactics and experienced in establishing advantageous settlements for their clients. Your lawyer will gather strong evidence and use it together with their negotiating skills to support your case, fight for compensation, and reach a favorable settlement.
Representation in Court
Your case will need to proceed to trial if a fair settlement can’t be reached during negotiations. Court trials are complicated and challenging for people without prior legal and courtroom experience. Remember, the other driver’s insurer that you’ll be up against will have a legal team representing it. A car accident attorney will file the case in court, represent your interests aggressively, and guide you throughout the process.
Peace of Mind
Managing a claim can be time-consuming, stressful, and overwhelming, especially if you’re also recovering from your injuries. Hiring a car accident lawyer allows you to prioritize your health and recovery and spend time with your family during this challenging time as your lawyer handles all aspects of your case.
How to Choose the Right Car Accident Lawyer
Now that you have a good idea of when to hire a car accident lawyer and the benefits the lawyer brings, it’s also important to know how to choose the right one for your case. Factors to keep in mind to help you find the best lawyer for your case include:
- Experience in similar cases: Experience is a crucial factor in choosing a car accident lawyer. You’ll need to work with a lawyer who knows how to win cases like yours.
- Familiar with state laws: States have different personal injury laws. It’s essential to work with a lawyer familiar with the Illinois court system and personal injury laws.
- Track record: Find an attorney with a proven track record of helping clients get successful outcomes. Do some research by checking online reviews and the law firm’s website. Ask the attorney about recent cases and their outcomes.
- Comfortable to work with: Choose an attorney you trust and feel comfortable to work with on your case. When you visit with an attorney and ask him or her some common questions about a car accident case during the free initial consultation, pay attention to the attorney’s personality and way of communication. The attorney’s personality should blend well with yours. The attorney’s communication skills should be effective such that you feel confident in the attorney advocating for your rights and winning your case.
- Trial experience: Although most cases settle before trial, you should choose a car accident lawyer with trial experience. Your lawyer should be ready to take your case all the way to trial if necessary. Such a lawyer will prioritize getting you full and fair compensation. A lawyer without trial experience could be prioritizing settling cases quickly rather than getting compensation that adequately covers damages.
Hiring a car accident lawyer can make a difference to your case.
At Chute, O’Malley, Knobloch, and Turcy, LLC, our accomplished trial lawyers have won more than $75 million for clients. With our years of experience, skill, and dedication, you can count on us to fight for your legal rights, help you navigate the legal process, and win you fair compensation. Contact us to schedule your free consultation.