When you are injured and believe someone else was to blame, it is a good idea to retain legal counsel in preparation for a possible lawsuit. But how soon after a car accident should you contact an attorney? Kopfler & Hermann has experienced car accident lawyers available any time you need one – including in the hours right after an incident.
Failure to quickly consult with an attorney can cause problems in situations of complicated liability, delayed symptoms, or an insurance company taking advantage of an unsophisticated consumer.
The insurance adjuster or the representative of the company may not know everything about the law, but they tend to be experts at automobile negligence, comparative fault, and causation of injuries. An injured party likely does not have any experience with automobile accidents or insurance companies, and they can be taken advantage of by a sophisticated, clever insurance adjuster.
If you were traveling down the road and another vehicle runs a stop sign and crashes into you, the insurance adjuster might say, “You should have seen him approaching the stop sign, therefore, you are 50% at fault.” This can be misleading because the law says motorists can assume others on the road will follow the law, including yielding at appropriate signs. An attorney knows how to deal with these adjusters and prevent underhanded tactics.
Sometimes a vehicle is disabled and cannot be operated after a collision, and it instead must be towed away. Thus, you may be simultaneously dealing with the replacement of vehicles, the cost of storage, and the difficulties of getting medical treatment.
In our office, if someone suffered a personal injury and they have retained us to seek compensation, we handle the property damage, the adjustment with the insurance company, and we do not charge for that. We find that it takes some of the headaches out of a motor vehicle accident claim when the plaintiff knows there is no initial cost.
In our office, we represent individuals who have suffered personal injury or families whose loved ones were killed in a wreck. Therefore, we think it is more important for someone to get medical attention before they contact an attorney.
Most people tend to call for legal assistance that night or the following day, rather than right from their car at the scene of the incident. Instead of immediately calling a lawyer, the first thing to do is take pictures of the surroundings, gather the information about any witnesses, take photographs of the other vehicle, cooperate with the investigating officer, and affirm whether they suffered an injury. If they need to seek medical treatment, they should do so, and at that point it would be a good time to contact a lawyer.
In most cases, personal injury attorneys are willing to consult with a plaintiff at no charge. In our office, we operate on a contingency fee basis, which means if there is no recovery, there is no fee. Consulting with an attorney will not require you to spend money out-of-pocket to get advice on how to proceed in an automobile accident. Oftentimes, we have individuals who contact us and we determine they would be better off dealing with the insurance company instead of us, but that is only after consulting with us first and getting proper advice.
Please call our team and learn if we can help you in your case.
