We understand the difficulty in discussing dollar amounts when it comes to personal injury settlements; especially in the face of injuries so severe they irrevocably change a person’s life forever. Money most certainly cannot undo what has been done. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, it’s important to speak to a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible to ensure the best settlement.
What money does do is help accident victims obtain the medical attention and rehabilitation they need, and ensure that they receive the compensation needed to make up for such things as lost income (past, present and future), a need for housekeeping and home maintenance services, or a need for care giving assistance or services. Accordingly, settlement figures are hugely important to ensure that accident victims are provided with enough compensation to secure the best future quality of life possible.
Here are three quick tips on how to obtain the best settlement possible:
- Document your injuries. As in any litigation matter, personal injury litigation requires gathering of evidence. Your personal injury lawyer is responsible for ensuring that you have the evidence needed to establish your case at trial. That evidence includes such things as: specialized medical assessments, expert medical reports, accident reconstruction reports, income loss reports, future care cost reports, etc. Where it is truly up to the client to assist their lawyer in gathering evidence is with respect to documenting their immediate injuries and day-to-day limitations. Here are some ways you can document your injuries:
- Visit your doctors regularly: To best document your injuries and limitations, it is essential that you are consistently and regularly visiting your family doctor and any medical specialists you are referred to. When visiting with your doctors, it is important that you express all of the symptoms and limitations you are experiencing. Even if your symptoms have not changed and you feel your doctor has heard it all before or cannot help, it is important to convey that you continue to experience those symptoms so that your medical records accurately reflect the ongoing and continued nature of your injuries.
- Take photos: The immediate shock that follows an accident makes this a difficult task to carry out. However, photos can be a great source of documenting your injuries, at the scene of the accident and thereafter. If you have visible injuries, or require surgery which leaves you with stitches, bandages, or a cast, photos are a good way to capture the exact nature of your injuries and the progress of their healing, which can be used as evidence in your case.
- Keep a diary or journal: Personal injury litigation can span over the course of several years. You can imagine then, that memories of your initial injuries and limitations begin to fade by the time that your case reaches trial. A journal or diary, if diligently kept, can be a useful tool to document your injuries and limitations which can be used to refresh your memory. It is also useful for your lawyers to have, when the time comes to negotiate a settlement with insurance companies.
- Seek and obtain treatment. Visiting with your doctors is the first step in achieving the best settlement, as it assists to document your injuries. The next step, after you have visited with your doctors, is to actually take their advice and recommendations when it comes to treatment.For example, if your doctors recommend that you go for physiotherapy, attempt at-home exercise, receive injections, or have surgery, it is important that you carefully consider these recommendations. If the benefits of the recommended treatment outweigh the risks, it is important to seriously consider taking your doctor’s advice. The alternative, when it comes to your personal injury case, is an insurer suggesting that you are not “mitigating” your damages which can hinder achieving an adequate settlement.
- Obtain expert reports. This is where having a personal injury lawyer is especially helpful, as lawyers have the experience to determine when expert reports are necessary, and what specific expert reports may be required in your particular case. Expert reports are hugely important in obtaining a good settlement, as reports are often relied upon to quantify key damages such as income loss or the cost of future care.
At times, expert reports such as accident reconstruction reports may also be necessary to establish liability. Though they often come at a high price they are worth the cost, as expert reports can be the key in obtaining the best settlement.
Following these steps will benefit you and get you the best settlement in your personal injury case.
