Getting Ready For The First Meeting With A Personal Injury Lawyer
Sometimes it is easy to know procedures but implementing can be difficult as it happens when you suffer serious injuries in an accident and think about protecting your rights by seeking compensation for personal injury. First, you must engage the best Injury Lawyer LA and then work together to build a case for filing the claim for compensation. But looking for lawyers could be the first hurdle because after the accident you may remain in a state of shock for some time and the entire world goes topsy turvy. The state of disorientation can continue for days, weeks and months after that and it can be quite challenging to organize yourself which is so important for starting your journey in seeking compensation for personal injuries. You must stay well organized to initiate the process in the right way.
After you appoint a personal injury lawyer, you must prepare well for the first meeting with him or her by providing as much information as you can. You must make the lawyer understand the circumstances of your case as much correctly as possible so that together you can work out an effective strategy to build the case quickly. Although it is not mandatory to file the claim soon after the accident, to keep options open you must notify the people who you feel were responsible for causing harmto you almost immediately. The process being the introductory step in filing a claim, gathering information promptly after the incident remains equally important.
When you are meeting the lawyer for the first time, you must come prepared with all documents well organized in files, folders, and envelopes. Try to organize the documents according to the sequence of events so that you can quickly share it when the topic comes up for discussion. To know what kind of documents you must keep ready, please keep reading.
Table of Contents
Personal information
Introducing yourself to the lawyer with proper supporting documentation is the first thing to do during the meeting. Carry some documents of personal identification like the social insurance card and driver’s license. In addition, carry some document to prove your date of birth and complete contact details including your postal address, phone numbers, and e-mail. If your family members like spouse and children are party to the accident, then similar personal information about them with supporting documents would be necessary.
Have the employment details and history ready right from the beginning to the present. Provide details of your income from various sources and how the accident is going to affect it adversely. Tell the lawyer your health status including pre-existing and current issues like allergies, hospitalization history, and surgeries undergone. This should help to draw the picture of your health condition just before the injuries happened.
Details of the accident
Gathering information of the accident is most important to recreate the incident in detail. Immediately after you recover from the initial trauma of the accident write down everything that you recollect about the accident including the injuries and its effect on your daily life. The notes should help to re-create the incident to make the lawyer understand exactly how things happened. Take note of anything that you feel would be useful for filing your personal injury claim. From what you were doing at the time of the accident, where you were going, the time and weather, the people who were with you, note down everything. Include all that you saw and felt before, during and after the accident. All conversations that you had with people involved must be on record, and you must take note of it including the date and time of conversations.
Note your injuries
After the first shock, start noting all discomfort and pain caused by the injuries. Whatever you feel like anxiety, loss of sleep and discomfort no matter how inconsequential it might be, keep note of it as it can be part of additional compensation. The note should help to make a claim quite exhaustive and easy to visualize.
Medical information
The lawyer’s task is to establish the facts and demonstrate how the accident impacted your health and quality of life for which they must know your medical condition in detail before and after the accident. You must share with them all the information related to medical care after the accident including institutions and specialist health-care providers involved and the reason for visiting. Also, provide a list of future medical treatment that you would require.
In addition, you must tell the lawyer how the accident affected your daily life including recreational activities and job. Provide details of the emergency room where you had to go and whether it followed hospitalization. Mention if an ambulance was necessary and if you received any medical treatment at the scene of the accident.
Details of insurance
Insurance companies are the most important entities that are part of accident claims, and you must share your insurance details with the lawyer. Tell the lawyer about your automobile insurance and health insurance policies to know what kind of coverage you have. Even the homeowner’s insurance policy that covers personal property is essential for the purpose of filing a claim. In short, bring along with you all insurance policies and disclose the details to the lawyer and let him or her decide which are useful.
You might have spoken to the agent or representatives of your insurance company or adjuster and share their contact details as well as the conversation summary with the lawyer. Even if you have spoken to the insurance company of other parties involved in the accident, tell the lawyer about it. If you have given any statement to some insurance company, keep a record of it for sharing with the lawyer. Bring with you documents related to extended health care insurance.
Following the above steps will make it easy to help your lawyer paint the correct picture and build a case for filing claim for personal injury compensation on a positive note. Although it is not possible to predict the outcome, the comprehensive information and documentation give the confidence of obtaining a fair settlement with adequate compensation.