Practice Areas

	Vehicle Accidents
	Slip and Fall
	Social Security Disability Benefits

Do I need a personal injury lawyer?

Q: Do I need a personal injury lawyer?

A: Not always. It depends on a number of factors, including the type of claim that you are making.

If you have a property damage claim only, you may be able to resolve issues with the other driver's insurance company without a lawyer. There tends to be a fairly established market value for a vehicle and it is not too difficult to establish the amount of the loss. If you are having difficulties on a property damage claim, or have any questions about this type of claim, contact a lawyer. If your claim also involves personal injury, see the paragraph on bodily injury below.

If you are injured through the fault of someone else you may have a bodily injury claim. For this type of claim a lawyer generally is needed. There is no set schedule or formula for payouts on bodily injury claims. Most people who handle these claims on their own end up obtaining less compensation than they are entitled to. This is because there are no hard–and–fast rules for evaluating the claim. Each case is unique and a combination of many factors goes into properly evaluating the claim. In this type of claim, a person is dealing with an insurance adjuster who is well–schooled in building goodwill to settle the claim for low dollars. In the long run, an adjuster is evaluated and promoted based upon how little money is paid out on a bodily injury claim. Whether it is "fair" has nothing to do with it. Every dollar the insurance company does not pay to you is a dollar more of profit to the company. It is a one–to–one relationship. Even if you are dealing with the same company as your own insurance company (because the other driver was insured by the same company, or you are making an uninsured motorist claim) odds are you will be better off represented by a lawyer. The adjuster at your company is not evaluated based on whether you are "happy," or whether you keep your insurance with the company, but on the amount of the payout.