Ask A Lawyer About Serious Injuries

How would you describe a serious injury?

A serious injury, I think it’s a little bit of a misnomer. Whenever it’s you, it’s a serious injury. But you’re talking about making a legal claim and, when do you need a lawyer involved in that sort of thing? The way I usually look at it is if you have broken bones, if you have scarring, if you need surgery, or you have any sort of injury that’s going to limit your income-earning ability now or in the future, that’s a serious injury where you probably ought to consult with an experienced serious injury lawyer who can help guide you and let you know whether you need representation or not.

If my serious injury involves permanent physical limitations, how much more important is it to speak with an experienced attorney?

Obviously, the worse the injury, the greater the need to have an attorney involved in the case. Now, if you’re dealing with permanent injuries, a permanent impairment to your income-earning ability, or permanent physical limitations that change your life, and some of those can be absolutely devastating, that’s where you really need an experienced attorney involved, for several reasons. One is an experienced attorney may be able to investigate additional avenues of insurance coverage or other areas of recovery that may not always be readily noticed or available. The other thing is the forecast of future damages that someone has to go through. That can be very complicated. It involves other experts like economists, life care planners, vocational experts. People like that, that just quite frankly in everyday life we don’t think about or deal with. An experienced law firm, we deal with those sort of people all the time. We know how to adequately document and then prove those damages.

Why is it important to contact an attorney as soon as possible following a serious injury?

The reason somebody with a serious injury should contact an attorney as soon as possible is because the workup, both of the liability, which means proving who’s at fault, and of the damages, what you’re going to have to go through in the future, the sooner we can begin working up those, the more adequately we can get you compensation for all that you go through, will go through, have been through. And that’s serious, when you have a devastating injury, a permanent injury, lifelong limitations. The sooner we can get started on the case, the better able we are to not only document the case, but figure out all the legal issues including all the avenues of recovery that we may need to pursue.

How important is time when dealing with evidence for a case?

Evidence can disappear over time. We like to gather evidence as soon as possible. For example, we have a situation with a tractor trailer that blew a tire causing a severe injury. We want to get the pieces of that tire, the inspection reports on the tractor trailer. All the various evidence that’s out there, we know where to get it. We know where to find it, but it still has to be available. So the sooner we’re involved, the more likely it is we can obtain that evidence and use that to help prove a case.

IF someone has a question how do they reach your firm?

We are happy to answer questions and talk people through their unique individual situation. 1-800-815-5500. Or visit us on the web at www.DaggettShulerLaw.com.