How Do You Know When You Need to Talk to a Good Accident Lawyer?

Seasoned lawyers will only take your case if they’re confident they can win it for you.

Most of us would rather forget 2020, the year the Covid-19 pandemic hit home. Do you remember the stay-at-home order issued by the Governor of Pennsylvania? That was supposed to keep people off the roads, and it did to some extent. Still, Pennsylvania recorded an average of 286 crashes per day in 2020. That’s 12 crashes every hour. The toll was very heavy – three people killed and 168 injured every single day in a car crash. If you were injured in a recent crash, you should contact the best Pennsylvania accident lawyers you can find. You will need legal advice if you want to recover the damages you deserve. 

Car crashes account for the greater part of an accident lawyer’s day to day work, but they can also help you if you were injured in other types of accidents, like slip and falls, premises liability cases, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse cases or even dog bites. 

Many people wonder why would they need a lawyer when they have insurance and it’s a valid question. The problem with insurance is that they’re for-profit companies and in order to make those huge profits they operate on a simple principle – get as much money you can on premiums and pay out as little as possible. They will fight you for every penny and they will win if you don’t seek legal advice. Whatever accident you were involved in, look up good Altoona accident lawyers or experienced attorneys in your city and learn about your rights.

Accident lawyers routinely offer you a free review of your case. They will listen to your account of the accident, examine the police report and your medical records, to see if you have a case. They won’t ever ask you to pay anything upfront as they work on a contingency fee. This means you won’t owe them anything until they win the case for you. Seasoned lawyers will only take your case if they’re confident they can win it for you. If they don’t, they will tell you so and advise you to take the money the insurance adjuster puts on the table. 

When they do take your case, your lawyers will conduct their own investigation into the accident. For instance, if it was a car accident, they will visit the crash scene to examine the road conditions and talk to eyewitnesses. If you’re ever in an accident, always remember to take pictures and get the contact information of those present at the crash scene.

What do you do in the meantime? You don’t do anything, just focus on your recovery and make sure you don’t talk to the insurance company on your own. Don’t ever admit you might be partly to blame for what happened. As far as car accidents are concerned, Pennsylvania uses the modified comparative fault rule, according to which you can get damages even if you were responsible in part for the crash. 

Let your lawyer fight with the insurance people over technicalities. If you were, say, 20% responsible for the accident the calculated damages will be reduced by one fifth, but you’ll still get a significant amount of money, enough to cover at least your medical bills and your loss of income.