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Our Cozy little town of Yerington Nevada cannot be considered a large city by any means, and most of us here like it that way. We don’t have to worry about the hustle and bustle that comes along with living in a large city. That doesn’t mean that injury causing accidents don’t happen all the time in our tiny little town, however.
All it takes is one person glancing down at their phone, or a negligent employee leaving a large puddle of water unmarked, and you are on your way to the hospital. You would never have believed that morning, that you would end your day looking up a personal injury attorney. The sad fact of life is that a terrible accident can happen to anyone, regardless of the town you live in.
Our experienced and passionate injury lawyers here at Justice Law Center have been fighting for the residents of Yerington for decades to get what they deserve in their personal injury cases. In order for you to enter into your personal injury case with all of the information you need to make smart decisions, we have detailed the personal injury process, as well as some information on how personal injury lawyers bill for their fees.
The Personal Injury Process
After being injured in an accident, the very first step is to find a dependable local personal injury attorney to represent you. The reason you need a lawyer is because the insurance agencies will not negotiate with you in good faith and will try to only shortchange you at every step. Their goal is not to help you after you have been injured, but to save as much money for their company as possible.
Having an injury attorney will let them know you’re prepared to file a lawsuit against them if they do not act in good faith. Your lawyer will know all the tricks insurance adjusters will try to pull, because they have seen them all before. Having a good injury lawyer will also allow you to focus on what is really important, healing from your injuries and spending time with your family.
After you have hired a lawyer, they will compile all of the records, bills, police reports and other evidence and attach it all to a demand letter. This letter will formally inform the insurance agency that you are holding the insured liable for your injuries and that you are seeking compensation.
If the insurance agencies refuse to pay the amount listed on the demand letter, your personal injury attorney will then have to file a complaint against them. This will open up the lawsuit with you listed as the plaintiff, and the insurance agency listed as the defendant. After the complaint has been filed, and the insurance agency has filed a response, a trial date will be set.
This is generally about as far as most personal injury cases go. Trails are ridiculously expensive and time consuming for both parties, and most cases will settle beforehand for this reason. If your case does go to trial, the fees for your personal injury attorney will dramatically increase due to all of the time and work that a trial entails.
Personal Injury Lawyer Fees
The majority of personal injury lawyers work on what is called a contingency fee. This means the lawyer will take his fee only out of the money awarded to you. If your attorney negotiates a fair settlement before having to file a complaint, the fee will be right around a third of the settlement amount. This phase of the personal injury case is called the pre-litigation phase.
If “litigation” must happen, then the injury attorney fees will increase due to the increased amount of work that the lawyer must do. Sometimes if the case goes into the litigation phase, fees may reach up into two fifths of the money awarded.
Its true that a good lawyer is expensive. While injury lawyers do not normally require huge retainers’ like most other lawyers, they are just as expensive. While the fee may be daunting at first, think of it this way… If you do not have a lawyer, and you mistakenly take a garbage offer for $10,000, then after you pay your hospital bills you are left with barely $1,000 for your pain and suffering. However, if you hire an expert personal injury lawyer and he or she gets you $100,000. Then they take 1/3, and you are left with $66,000, instead of the paltry 1k.
While the actual figures won’t likely mirror this, a personal injury attorney will dramatically increase the amount of money you will get for your injury, and even after their fees are deducted, you will be way better off.
Justice Law Center
Here at Justice Law Center, all of our Personal Injury Attorneys have been fighting for the citizens of Yerington for decades. We offer free consultations, so we can go over your case in detail, and offer you all of the free legal advice you need to make an informed decisions about whether you need to hire an injury lawyer.
Call us today!