When Should You Get A Personal Injury Attorney?
Michael Babboni
Personal Injury
Under ordinary circumstances, a day in court is something that most people in Florida don’t see, and most hope to not see it. A court case means something drastic has happened, perhaps a criminal charge, a custody battle during a divorce, or, in some cases, a lawsuit. None of these things are pleasant affairs, but all of them are necessary if there’s a dispute and it’s up to the law, be it a judge, or a jury, to step in and provide a conclusive resolution.So when it comes to a court case for personal injury, things are just as serious. You may be owed money, or you may be entitled to some kind of financial compensation as a result of something that happened to you. But at what point do you know you should talk to a personal injury lawyer in St. Petersburg? What conditions need to be present before this becomes viable? Here are a few of the factors you should be keeping an eye on.
An Injury Has Been Sustained
This seems like a no-brainer, but there are subtleties to it that may surprise you. You’ll obviously need a personal injury lawyer if you’re injured, but there are many different types. You might be fooled into thinking that someone who’s law firm describes them as an auto accident lawyer is someone you should go to if your car is damaged in a fender bender, but in actuality, most auto accident lawyers are personal injury lawyers with experience in auto-accident related injuries, not the property damage of the car itself.
On the other hand, there may be situations where you get into an accident, and you think you’re fine at the site of the accident. However, days later, you find you sustained an internal injury that you weren’t aware of—muscular injuries can be like this—that only shows symptoms after the fact.
There Is Clear Fault
You’ll probably want to approach a personal injury lawyer if, not only have you gotten hurt, but you know that someone else was responsible for it. You can’t, for example, go to a personal injury lawyer if you were golfing during a thunderstorm, contrary to everyone warning you not to do it, and got struck by lightning while outside. No one, not even the golf course, can be held responsible for that.
However, if your child, for example, is playing at someone’s home, picks up a loaded gun that was left on the coffee table by the homeowners, and accidentally shoots him or herself, that is clearly the fault of the home-owners. Your child would not have been injured were it not for the carelessness of the homeowners in leaving a loaded weapon in an easily accessible place such as the coffee table.
Conversely, if you find yourself on the other side of the equation, and being served notice that you are being sued, for being at fault in a personal injury case, you’ll probably want to contact a personal injury lawyer to defend you.
The Compensation Is Significant
If the type of injury you’ve sustained requires significant medical treatment, or, in the worst case scenarios, has resulted in a permanent disability, or even the death of a family member, then the financial compensation owed is both dramatic and understandable. An injury that can fundamentally change the way you live, and not for the better, deserves legal representation.
On the other hand, if the injury you’ve sustained is fit only for something like small claims court, to recover the costs of spending some money on off-the-shelf painkillers, for example, this is not the type of case a personal injury lawyer would take on.
Always remember that consultations with personal injury lawyers are often free, so be sure to ask ahead of time what type of case you may have.