Do I need an attorney for my personal injury case? 36 Answers as of February 17, 2012

Without an attorney the insurance company knows you probably will not sue their insured. Your bargaining power will likely be significantly compromised. It is usually better to seek counsel before you accept any injury settlement.

You should retain a lawyer, you can see that you did not get very far by yourself. A sprain is not going to be a severe enough of an injury to pursue a law suit in my view.

I doubt that you'll find a reputable attorney to handle a case over just a sprain without further damage or surgery. Sprains heal, so the damage is temporary. You can't really ask for more than a few thousand dollars at best.

The property owner is denying liability and paying you out of its med pay coverage. If "sprain" is a technically accurate diagnosis, you have no permanent injury and your recovery would be nominal, even assuming that they accepted liability. If there was a broken-off or rusted-off piece of pipe protruding from the parking lot, an attorney could compel them to accept liability but your recovery would be nominal. If you have lost wages or other quantifiable damages, hire an attorney. If you do not, you may not find an attorney willing to open a file.

It is almost never advisable to handle something like this without at least consulting with an attorney. I cannot answer the question of how much you should seek in compensation without knowing more about the case, such as the size of the medical bills, whether you suffered lost wages, the severity of the symptoms, etc. An attorney would meet with you to get information from you, would obtain and review your medical records, would collect information pertaining to lost wages, etc. and would present this information to the insurance company in order to attempt to negotiate a reasonable settlement. An attorney can also negotiate with medical providers regarding their outstanding bills to ensure that the portion of the settlement going to you is maximized. If the insurance company failed to offer a reasonable settlement, the attorney could then file a lawsuit in court and litigate the case for you. All of these things are what attorneys are trained to do. You should at least discuss the matter with an attorney to find out what he or she thinks of your case. Assuming that an attorney thinks the case is worth pursuing, should strongly consider hiring counsel. Nearly all attorneys practicing in the area of personal injury will work on a contingent fee basis, meaning that they are paid a portion of the settlement or judgment, and do not require you to make any up front payment. Under most circumstances, if they don't collect, they don't get paid - and you owe nothing.

I would recommend waiting to make sure you have made a full recovery before you even think about settlement. It is important that you get back to normal activities for a month or two before you try to settle. Usually when people get hurt they take it easy. Consequently they often think they are fine only to find out once they start normal activities they are not okay. If you made a full recovery quickly and you are sure that you are as good as you were before the incident you may be able to handle without an attorney.

You should consult with a lawyer. Most personal injury attorneys are paid on a contingent basis, meaning they take a percentage of the settlement that they get for you. An attorney familiar with the laws will most likely be able to negotiate a better settlement for you. It's difficult to provide an estimate of a settlement amount for you without more information regarding your injuries, course of treatment, and the specifics of the accident. Please feel free to contact my office if you wish to discuss this in detail.

Unfortunately, you have not provided enough information for me to assess your situation properly. I would need to know a lot more details regarding how the accident happened to determine if there was negligence or wrongdoing on the part of the parking lot owner. In addition, I do not know the extent of your injuries, the kind of treatment you received, for how long, and whether you are still suffering. These are all factors that go into determining value, amongst others. I strongly suggest you contact an experienced personal injury attorney to discuss - it is a free consultation.

You should retain a lawyer anytime you feel you cannot adequately represent yourself. In most cases, it is a good idea to retain an attorney, however, that attorney will most likely take close to 1/3 of whatever settlement is reached. With regard to how much your case is worth, there are too many variables to consider before formulating an opinion about the value of a case. The duration of the pain/suffering, disability that may have been caused, impact on a person's life, lost time from work, and other factors can increase or decrease the value of a case. You should consult with an attorney in your area to determine further what course of action to take.

$1000 for pain and suffering.

You should at least consult with a plaintiff's personal injury lawyer for sound legal advice and possible assistance. That attorneywill evaluate your case, including your injuries and total medical treatment and expenses, and inform you of its estimated value.

If they will pay your medical bills, you probably ought to take that deal and not hire an attorney. An attorney is going to cost you at least 30% of a recovery and it is unlikely that you would receive a large settlement for pain and suffering.

If your injuries are simply a sprain with no permanent injuries or broken bones, you will likely be hard-pressed to convince an insurance company to pay anything at all for pain and suffering. However, you should confirm this with a personal injury attorney in your area. Most will meet initially with you at no charge.

You should definitely contact a lawyer to represent you. To determine how much a case is worth varies depending on treatment, length of recovery, if there are lost earnings and the amount of medical bills.

You should not handle the case yourself as insurance companies are much more willing to negotiate under the threat of litigation. A competent personal injury attorney will attempt to negotiate a settlement with the insurance company, and may put the case in suit if the insurer is not willing to settle. Even if the case is in suit, your lawyer will continue to try to negotiate the settlement as the facts come out in the discovery process.

There are two types of insurance that a property owner might have. The first is medical payments coverage which will pay for the medical expenses from an injury regardless of whether the property owner was negligent in any way. It sounds like the property owner may have that kind of coverage that is paying the bills. The second type is liability insurance which will pay for all damages including pain and suffering and medical bills if the property owners negligence caused the injury. You should consult with a local attorney to determine whether you have a valid negligence claim.

Yes. Pain & suffering is subjective. Nevertheless you need to be compensated for it fairly.

Most personal injury lawyers work on a contingency basisyou do not pay them unless they collect money for you. Most will do a free consultation, in which you can learn more about what they can do to help you with your case. Typically, people get more money when they hire a lawyer than when they do not. Also, insurance companies often try to settle claims quickly before the person realizes their injury is worse than they thought. Bottom line: It would be a good idea to at least talk to one or two lawyers before settling.

It depends if they are liable for your injuries. If they are not at fault, your case is worth $0. There is no way to tell the value without medical records and bills.

You should retain a personal injury attorney at once and stop all negotiating with the insurance company yourself. An attorney will be able to negotiate a better settlement for you. The amount you receive will depend on the insurance policy, the specific nature of the injury, and the manner in which it has affected your life.

If you have no continuing medical conditions and you did not lose wages, general rule of thumb is 3 times the medical bills. This sounds like a small claims case for less than $7500.

You should at least consult with a lawyer. The pain and suffering portion of your claim is dependent upon the amount of your medical bills, how much you or your health insurer has paid for your medical care, the type of treatment you received, the severity of your injuries, and other fact sensitive matters.

You should consult with an attorney. The attorney will be able to get you more than your medical expenses. You are also entitled to any loss of earnings, and as to your general damages, the amount depends on the severity of the injury, the types of treatment rendered, the time it takes to heal, activities missed due to injury, future potential medical care, any permanent residual disability and many other factors. Each claim is unique.

If you do not have an attorney, the insurance company will typically only pay for your medical bills. This is because they don't see you as a threat. If you have an attorney, you will often be compensated for your pain and suffering in an amount equal to double or triple your medical bills. A skilled attorney can get you even more. I settled a case last week for a client for $100,850 when the medical bills were only $11,202, because the insurance company knew we were serious and would put up a fight.

No one can say without speaking to you about how the injury has affected your life and without seeing photos of the defect. That said, a sprain is not worth very much by itself.