After a frightening pile-up on a California highway or freeway, having a car accident lawyer can make things simpler for you while you are trying to heal.
But handling the frustrating claims process for you isn’t the only benefit of turning your case over to a legal professional. In some cases, a lawyer means a faster path to the compensation you need to pay your medical and car repair bills. It can mean earning much more than you thought possible.
But not every lawyer comes standard with these benefits. Selecting the wrong lawyer can actually hurt your outcome. That’s why choosing a lawyer is an important decision, and one you should make with all the information in front of you.
Learning About a Potential Lawyer
When you are looking for a car accident lawyer in California, you want to choose the best lawyer for your unique situation. If you are in a car accident, it’s a good idea to narrow your selection down to personal injury lawyers and car accident lawyers.
Going with a lawyer who practices many different kinds of law, such as criminal law or bankruptcy law, may indicate they don’t have the most experience or focus to get vehicle accident victims the most possible in support.
Here are a few other key factors you should consider when reaching out to a lawyer:
- Look at the Lawyer’s Website: Here, you will get a sense of the lawyer’s experience level on the “about” page. You can get a sense of how other clients have felt when relying on the lawyer on their reviews There should also be a settlements page that might demonstrate how much the lawyer has earned for victims with similar cases to yours.
- Meet the Lawyer in a Free Consultation: A reputable lawyer will offer a free, no-obligation consultation. It’s a chance to find out what they feel your case will be worth and how their strategy for winning you compensation. It’s also a good time to determine if the lawyer’s personality is a good fit with your own. Do you feel that the lawyer will stay in touch with you throughout your claims process?
- Find Out About the Lawyer’s Local Experience: A lawyer should have experience working in your city and county before. They should be familiar with the local court system in case you must file a lawsuit to force a car insurance company to accept responsibility for what happened to you.
- Find Out How a Lawyer Expects to Be Paid: Most personal injury lawyers (and Maison Law) only get paid if they win your case for you. It’s known as working on a contingency basis. The lawyer is paid out of the settlement check they earn for you. Make sure you understand how your lawyer will be paid, and how much they receive after a win.
How To Know If You Need a Lawyer
The most important factor in your need for a lawyer will be the severity of your injury. If you just have some minor soreness after an accident, and/or car damage, a lawyer probably can’t help you improve your outcome very much. You could handle your claim yourself.
But if you are treated for a more serious injury, like a bone fracture or a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and a reckless driver is to blame, you could greatly benefit from a lawyer’s protection and negotiation skills. The protection comes in handy when insurers use their tactics to find an excuse to reject your claim or reduce what they must pay you.
These are a few of the tactics a lawyer may have to rescue you from:
- Try to blame you for an accident you didn’t cause
- Question whether your injuries are all that serious
- Offer a quick settlement that doesn’t fully cover your recovery costs, hoping you won’t figure out that you can demand more
- Delay responding to you so you get desperate enough to accept any “lowball” offer
- Use fine print in an at-fault driver’s policy to say you have no right to support
- Send you to “settlement mills” that treat you like a number and refuse to answer the phone
This unfair treatment isn’t acceptable. You don’t treat someone who’s been through a scary accident and difficult injury recovery like that.
Maison Law is there for you from the moment you alert us to what happened until you are back on your feet and back to your normal life. Our car accident lawyers fully investigate your accident and have evidence ready when insurers try to slip away from blame. We fight to get the maximum in compensation for you and put pressure on shady car insurance companies that purposely delay the support you need to rebuild your life.
What to Do If You Are Hurt in an Accident You Were Partially to Blame For
Maison Law can even help you if you were partially to blame for your accident. In California, multiple drivers can share fault in an accident. As long as you weren’t 100% in the wrong, you can ask for help with your medical bills and in replacing your lost time at work.
You could earn a settlement check or judgment in court. But it would be reduced by the percentage of blame you were assigned.
However, your Maison Law representative would be arguing to get your share of the blame as low as possible. And if you truly didn’t do anything wrong in your accident, then we’d fight to get all liability removed, leaving the other driver fully responsible.
Contact a California Car Accident Lawyer
We offer a free case consultation to anyone who’s been hurt in a car accident caused by another driver. It’s a “no-strings attached” chance to go over your case. If we can’t help you earn more for your injury claim, we’ll tell you that.
If we can’t help you, we want to make sure you leave with the information you need to file a successful claim on your own.
If you decide we can earn you more, you won’t need any upfront money to hire us. Remember, we work on a contingency basis. We don’t get a fee unless we win your case for you.
