PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY IN DULUTH, GEORGIA

No and no. Personal injury, wrongful death and workers’ compensation cases are represented on a contingency fee basis. That means you won’t owe the Zdrilich Injury Law any fees up front. If we settle your case or win a verdict at trial, we’ll be compensated with a fair percentage of the settlement or verdict. Doing what’s right by our clients is central to our law firm’s identity, which is why our clients always get a larger share of the settlement. 

There are a lot of different types of personal injury lawyers. Some personal injury attorneys focus almost entirely on auto accidents and rarely, if ever, see the inside of a courtroom. Their goal is to negotiate a quick settlement with the insurance company to collect their contingency fee and move on to the next case. Those types of attorneys are generally quick to compromise so they don’t have to invest too much time into fighting for their client. Small wins are quick and easy.

Trial attorneys are willing to put in the time and effort necessary to take a case to trial if it’s in their client’s best interest to do so. They tend to prioritize winning the money their clients need to recover over speed and case volume.

Ideally, you should take pictures and/or videos of the accident scene with your phone, including the damage to both vehicles, and get contact information from any potential witnesses who saw what happened. Unfortunately, people who are seriously injured in car wrecks to truck crashes might be unable to perform this preliminary evidence collection. 

The sooner you contact a lawyer, the faster they can begin an investigation and start collecting and safeguarding evidence. 

It’s also of vital importance you see a doctor or chiropractor for diagnostics and treatment as soon as possible after any accident. Failing to seek treatment might call into question the severity or the source of your injuries. Your doctor’s diagnosis and the cost of treatment may play a significant role in your eventual compensation. 

Talking with the insurance company before speaking with a lawyer might be risky. The insurance company may try to misconstrue what you say during those initial communications or suggest some of your statements were admissions of culpability in the accident. The calls are almost always recorded and transcribed. Insurance adjusters are trained to box you in. For example, you may complain of neck and back pain but neglect to mention your left shoulder. Should a physician later discover a rotator cuff tear in your shoulder, the carrier will have a transcript of your call where you didn’t assert this, and may use this mistake or failure to document it as evidence of the injury being caused not by the wreck, but by some other intervening cause,  Insurance adjusters may be quick to accept liability for a claim, but any claim consists not just of liability but of damages and causation as well. If you can’t prove causation of damages in court, you cannot collect for these damages. It is the carrier’s goal to limit its damages even where there is no question their driver causes the crash.

A personal injury attorney experienced in litigating auto accident cases can help you avoid making statements that might jeopardize your eventual settlement.