Yes, there are no laws in place that require a victim to retain the services of a lawyer in order to pursue compensation for their pain and suffering after a car accident. However, many people choose to turn to a lawyer to help them negotiate a settlement and handle other legal proceedings on their behalf.
While reaching a settlement for a car accident without a lawyer is possible, especially if an insurance company reaches out to you to offer an out-of-court settlement deal, you might risk undervaluing your case if you are unaware of what personal injury law entitles you to receive. Our legal team can review your case and explain your legal options and rights before building your case.
Our Personal Injury Lawyer Can Calculate Your Case’s Value
As car accidents vary in intensity, there is no set amount that a case will be worth. For example, even if two separate victims have the same type of car accident with the same type of injuries, their cases may result in different levels of compensation due to mitigating factors that the court considers.
A personal injury lawyer from our team can review your car accident case to see how your physical injuries, financial hardships, and mental anguish affected your life. Our team can assign values to non-financial damages, then calculate an approximate figure of how much your case may be worth based on these damages.
Examples of recoverable damages in car accident cases can include but are not limited to:
- Damage to property, including electronics, the vehicle, and other valuables
- Medical bills, including costs for rehabilitation services, medications, surgeries, prosthetics, and hospital stays
- Hardships you faced at home since the accident, such as strains on your marriage or lost passions you once enjoyed
- Loss of income, including missed paychecks or a loss of permanent employment while you were too injured to work
- Future loss of income if your injuries are expected to be long-term or permanent
- Emotional distress, as well as mental conditions brought on from the accident, including anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Pain and suffering you experienced, both physically and emotionally
You may be entitled to other damages not listed here, which our team will discuss in a future consultation if so.
Surviving Families May Qualify for Additional Damages
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 90 people die on U.S. roadways every day from car accidents. If you lost a loved one in a car accident, you may be eligible to file a wrongful death action on behalf of your late loved one and pursue additional damages, such as:
- Costs for arranging your loved one’s funeral
- Loss of current and future financial support you would have received from your loved one
- Loss of companionship, guidance, love, and affection
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of society
- Your loved one’s final medical expenses
While you may be able to reach a settlement for a car accident without a lawyer by your side, trying to manage a case while grieving might obscure your judgment and make you vulnerable to accepting a deal worth less than you deserve. Our team wants to make sure you fight for fair compensation, so allow us to help you do so.
A Lawyer from Our Team Can Help You Prove Who Was Responsible for the Accident
What are some benefits of working with a personal injury lawyer? Beyond getting legal representation, when you work with a lawyer from our team, you gain access to multiple resources to help you build your case. Rather than do everything singlehandedly, you can focus on your recovery while our team begins taking steps to prepare your case for you.
A personal injury lawyer from our team can investigate all the factors that led to your accident in the hopes of proving who was liable. They will attempt to prove liability by collecting evidence, such as:
- Cellphone records
- Eyewitness testimonies
- Testimonies from industry professionals, such as medical examiners, economists, and accident reconstruction experts
- Forensic evidence
- Medical records and other medical documents
- Police reports
- Witness statements
- Video footage of the accident, such as traffic cameras or CCTV footage
Those who choose to attempt to get a settlement for a car accident without a lawyer may find it confusing to perform these tasks on their own, especially when also juggling their injuries and personal lives. With our help, you do not have to worry about collecting evidence, as we can do this for you.
Our Legal Team Can Provide Other Services to Help You Build Your Case
Overall, think of a lawyer as someone who will be there to provide peace of mind while you continue working to get back to a sense of normalcy after your accident. Hiring a lawyer does not ensure that you will receive compensation, but it can make the confusing field of personal injury law seem less taxing to navigate.
Besides offering to conduct a private investigation into your car accident to collect evidence, our team can also perform the following services:
- Identifying the liable party or parties in your case
- Filing your insurance claim
- Filling out paperwork and submitting it to the court system on your behalf
- Communicating with insurance companies and legal attorneys on your behalf to protect your case
- Engaging in settlement negotiations
- Reviewing settlement offers you receive and advising you on their fairness
- Keeping you updated as you receive messages, court notices, and other new information in your case
- Requesting information or evidence from the opposing party if necessary
- Attending meetings to negotiate a potential insurance settlement on your behalf
- Appearing in court to present your case if necessary
You shouldn’t have to handle your injury claim alone and don’t have to. An accident attorney from our team can manage your case from start to finish while you focus on your recovery; it’s a priority right now. Our priority is recovering the compensation you need to move forward more comfortably.
We Will Be
There To Help
You All The Way
We Want to Prevent You from Accepting a Low Settlement Offer
In some cases, the fault party, as well as their employer or insurance company, may reach out to the victim to offer a settlement for the damages they have caused. While this may be enough for some victims who are looking to put the ordeal behind them as quickly as possible, these settlements can sometimes fail to properly compensate a victim for everything they have gone through.
If you receive a settlement offer, there are a few things you should consider before accepting the deal:
- Does the offer also consider potential future expenses you might face, such as future medical bills?
- Does the offer factor in damages for your pain and suffering?
- Does the offer account for your total financial damages or only a partial amount?
A personal injury attorney from our team can negotiate with these parties and take your case to court if those parties fail to cooperate or otherwise do not give you what you may be entitled to receive.
Remember, Your Case Also Has a Legal Deadline
According to Ohio Revised Code Section 2305.10, Ohio has a two-year statute of limitations on personal injury cases, which include cases involving auto accidents. This statute means victims have a limited time to pursue damages after an accident, as the clock begins ticking on the day the injuries occur. (There are exceptions that may apply.)
Our team can review your case to determine how long you have left to file and alert you when the deadline is approaching. This can be beneficial if you want to negotiate an insurance settlement first but keep filing a lawsuit later on as a potential option.
We Work on a Contingency-Fee Basis
At The Fitch Law Firm LLC, we take cases at zero upfront cost. You also never pay out of pocket. If we secure compensation for you, our fees come from your settlement or court award. If we are unsuccessful, we do not get paid anything. So, there are no financial risks when you team up with us.
Our Car Accident Lawyers Will Fight to Protect Your Right to Compensation
If you have further questions about your car accident case, The Fitch Law Firm LLC is happy to answer any questions you may have about your case. If you choose to retain our services, we can investigate what occurred in your case and fight to prove liability so that you may have the opportunity to be compensated for your losses.
Our personal injury attorneys proudly serve the Ohio area, including Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati. To learn more about compensation through personal injury law, call The Fitch Law Firm LLC today to receive your free consultation with one of our team representatives.