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7 reasons you need a personal injury attorney after an accident

Sep 19, 2014 - Uncategorized

If you’ve been injured in a car accident caused by a negligent driver in these areas: Woodstock, Marietta, Alpharetta or the Atlanta metro area, you have rights under Georgia law. Your rights must be protected so that the responsible party’s insurance policy pays out a fair settlement for your personal and financial losses. If unfruitful, you may need to file suit and let the responsible driver’s insurance company defend the case. Here are some of the top reasons why you need a Georgia car accident lawyer after a wreck:

1. You have only a limited time to act: In Georgia, the statute of limitations for a personal injury claim is two years. During that time a competent attorney will already be working to resolve your case for a fair settlement with the responsible party’s insurance company. But if that is unfruitful and your only option is to file suit, you must do so before the two year deadline from the date of your injury. If you fail to meet that deadline you forever give up your right to recover.

2. Evidence will disappear fast: Even if you are clearly the victim in an accident case, that doesn’t mean everybody will see it that way as time goes on. Evidence is what keeps the truth clear, but people are endlessly surprised how quickly evidence vanishes after a wreck if not quickly preserved through official letters from an attorney. Hiring an attorney immediately after an accident is not litigious but instead critical to preserve your case so that no insurance company can minimize your case when the time for settlement negotiations begin.

3. Even your insurance company cannot be trusted: Most people want to talk to somebody after an accident, and assume that (in the very least) they can talk to their own insurance company about the wreck. After all, your auto insurance company is looking out for you because you pay them every month, right? Wrong! No matter how friendly the adjuster, you are not “in good hands” with most insurance companies, they are not always “on your side” or “like a good neighbor” no matter what millions of dollars in marketing are designed to tell you. As soon as you start talking to an insurance company your words become ammunition against you later on. What you fail to mention may be used against you and what you do mention is often twisted to mean something else. Most people usually don’t realize one critical fact until it is too late: if the person who struck you has no insurance or too little insurance, the law places your own insurance company against you as an adversarial party to collect uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage from. Avoid all this headache and maze wandering, hire a Georgia personal injury attorney so you can forget about insurance complexities and instead focus on your medical treatment.

4. You may not fully understand all of your potential damages: There are a slew of potential damages available to people who are injured in a car accident. In addition to medical bills, you may be able to recover for lost wages, pain and suffering and emotional distress. Your family members may even be able to recover for the loss of your companionship if you have become incapacitated. If you don’t hire an attorney, you may not be aware of all of your potential legal rights to recovery.

5. Proving liability can be complex: Even if eyewitnesses and the police correctly place blame on the other party, proving that they were negligent can be difficult. There are many elements that go into winning a personal injury lawsuit in Georgia, and you need to hire an attorney who understands this area of law well enough to provide applicable case law, statutes, insurance rules and other sources of law in order to establish the negligence of the responsible party.

6. You need to understand settlement options: Most cases settle out of court, which means the defendant or his insurance company is likely to make you an offer. Your attorney can help you understand the implications of accepting this offer, since once you accept, you give up your right to sue forever. He can also help you to evaluate whether settling is the best option in your case or not.

7. You may not realize how injured you are until it is too late: If you hire the wrong attorney or try to handle your case on your own, you may quickly wind up with an unfair settlement that, once paid, forever blocks you from recovering another cent – even if you later discover previously undetected injuries from your body. No matter how large or small, any impact that creates damage to a metal car can lead to immediate soft tissue injuries that may slowly spiral into other serious conditions later in life. In the very least you owe it to your family to get completely checked out by medical professionals for all reasonably related pain or injuries stemming from the accident so that any and all treatment to help you heal can be paid while the claim window is still open.


The Gumprecht Law Firm is ready to serve you after your accident. We provide 100% free legal consultations from a real attorney around the clock, 24/7. Call us now at 678-800-1050, you have nothing to lose. The Gumprecht Law Firm – Helping Georgia Recover.