A specialist car wreck attorney can help you if you have been involved in a vehicle accident. What will they do for you? Well, it depends on what has happened.
1. Was it your fault?
If the accident was your fault, you may need a criminal justice lawyer who can help defend you against criminal charges. If it is not a criminal matter but the other person in the accident is trying to claim compensation from you for their injuries or for damage to their car or other property, tell your insurance company. They will handle it. You will probably only need a lawyer if you were not insured.
If the accident was not your fault, then you should consult with a car wreck attorney or, to use their official name, a personal injury attorney to find out whether you have a good case to claim compensation from the other side.
2. Are the injuries serious?
If your injuries are not serious, it is unlikely that a firm of accident solicitors would take your case. Legal cases are expensive and if it is just a matter of claiming a small amount of medical expenses or other damages, you will usually need to deal with the insurance companies yourself.
This is because most of the time, a car wreck attorney does not charge for personal injury cases up front but takes their fee from the amount of compensation that is won for you. This is called a “no win, no fee” basis. So if your injuries were minor, the compensation might not be enough to pay their fees.
If somebody was seriously injured or killed, it is usually possible to find personal injury lawyers to represent the person or their surviving family. It may be a case of what are called catastrophic injuries, where somebody is permanently disabled, either physically or by damage to the brain. Or it may be that a person cannot continue with the career or life that they had, or will need medical treatment or special care in order to lead a normal life.
In most cases, vehicle accident attorneys will negotiate with an insurance company for you. The insurance companies have their own lawyers as well as investigators. You need to be very careful what you say to these people or you could find that you have damaged your own case. Try to talk to your car wreck attorney before answering any questions.