How To Get The Most Out Of Your Personal Injury Settlement

If you recently suffered an accident or traumatizing event, you may be wondering if you can get a personal injury settlement to help you pay for the medical treatment required. However, you'd be surprised to know that you might also be able to claim additional compensation for the pain and suffering the accident or event caused.

Calculating pain and suffering on your own can be difficult. For that reason, if you're trying to get a settlement from the other party involved, you may need assistance from a qualified personal injury lawyer.

Here are some tips to maximize your claim for a personal injury settlement or damages:

Get A Personal Injury Lawyer
One reason you need to get a personal injury lawyer is because personal injuries are covered by a particular legal specialty called ‘tort law.' This refers to one party in the case acting ‘wrongfully,' which has resulted in the personal injury. This means you need a lawyer who specializes in interpreting personal injury law to help you optimize your pursuit of personal injury damages. Without a competent attorney by your side, it would be hard for you to prove the damages in court, or negotiate with the insurer for a fair settlement since they would also have their own lawyer who could attempt to discredit your claims. 

Get Documentation For The Medical Treatment Of Your Injuries
If you've suffered injuries due to an accident, it's always important to acquire the most up-to-date records of your medical treatment. This will help you, your lawyer, and the insurance company determine the extent of your injuries. Having one will also give your lawyer and the insurance company representative some documentation from the clinic or hospital as to how much you had to pay to get appropriate medical treatment.

The main difficulty when seeking a settlement or judgement against the insurer is that pain and suffering is quite difficult to quantify. How much pain and suffering equates to how many dollars? So, the medical professional you consulted for treatment has an important role to play when determining damages.

Having a second doctor examine you will also increase the evidence in your favor, especially if you seem to have severe injuries that need more days of medical treatment. Sometimes, the medical treatment itself doesn't have to last many days to be considered a serious matter.

Gather Evidence For The Court Case
To help ease the filing of the claim, you should have concrete medical evidence, such as a statement from your doctor along with the medical records and official receipts of the medical treatment. In some cases, your lawyer may deem it necessary to submit testimonies from witnesses who saw the accident or event happen. There might even be a police report added, if needed.

The reason you should be diligent about collecting sufficient evidence is that you need to prove you suffered personal injury from the accident or event. Your claim or lawsuit won't prosper until you've submitted enough proof. By submitting overwhelming evidence in your favor, then it will be easier for your lawyer to help you get a reasonable and sufficient settlement. 

Factor In Other Financial Costs When Pertinent
You might also need to factor in other financial harm suffered, such as:

• Loss of Income – Due to your injuries, you might have been unable to work for a period of time.
• Damage to Property – You might have some economic losses, such as your car getting wrecked in the accident or event.

You'll need to compute for significant loss of income and considerable property damage because it'll take money to be able to recover and return to work, as well as repair the property damage, if any. This will apply to the amount of settlement you're lawfully allowed to claim.

In some cases, you may want to charge the cost of hiring a caregiver to the financial settlement. This applies if you're paying for the caregiver service out of your savings. The length of time that the caregiver had to render service (and may possibly have to continue rendering service for) may also be taken into account. You may even be rendered unemployable for the long term if the physical injuries you've suffered renders you an invalid. The court should be informed of this if the case goes to trial, so that you will gain sufficient compensation to cover all that.

Refuse The Initial Offer
In personal injury cases, it can be tempting to accept the first offer the insurer or the other party makes. For one thing, you may be in pain so you don't really want to spend your recovery time negotiating with them over a bigger amount. Another reason you may want to accept that first offer is that the clinic or hospital may have informed you that they want their payment right away for medical treatments administered, if you haven't paid them yet.

You can refuse the first offer the insurer makes if you feel that the amount is not sufficient to cover the harm done. Your lawyer can advise you when a certain amount is more appropriate in your case. As long as you have a reasonable amount in mind, it's recommended to negotiate.

Be Aware Of The Statute Of Limitations For Your Case
It's important to consider the statute of limitations that applies to your personal injury lawsuit, if it goes that far. This simply means that there's a deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit. The timer usually begins on the day that you had the traumatizing accident or event. To avoid having the court dismiss your case, your lawyer has to file it as soon as you are rationally able to permit it. If you're in no condition to make such decisions, your next of kin may have to take charge.

Final Takeaway
If you were injured in an accident or event, it can be daunting to pursue a claim from an insurance company. However, you don't have to do this on your own. You can rely on the services of a competent attorney to compute for pain and suffering and other damages. 

Be systematic about collecting the documentation from the attending physician who tended to your injuries. That way, your lawyer shouldn't find it too difficult to persuade the court that you deserve sufficient financial compensation for the injuries you've suffered in that accident or event.