Health Upp Medical Care in Personal Injury Claim
Personal Injury Claim – The first step of the personal entry process is medical care. This is important for two reasons. First, obviously, you must get the medical care you need to make a recovery from your injury. Secondly, your medical records will be valuable evidence in your personal injury case with your Yakima personal injury lawyers. This is why it is important that you go to a doctor and have both your injury and treatment fully documented. In fact, your medical records may be the most important evidence used to determine the value of your personal injury case.
Consult an Attorney
You should begin getting medical care before you consult an attorney. This is because attorneys will want to learn about the prognosis and treatment of your injury at the first consultation. This is how they will determine if you have a worthwhile case or not. You do not necessarily have to receive all of your treatment for your injury before you consult an attorney. However, it is a good idea for you to at least have some medical records that describe the extent of your injury and the treatment that you will have to undergo. This will be important for attorneys who are considering whether to take on your case, even an attorney who has agreed to take your case will need this documentation to determine how much of a settlement they will demand from the other party.
Your Law Firm Collects Information
Once my attorney has agreed to take on your case, they will begin the process of collecting the necessary information. This can take quite some time, as your attorney will want to make sure they have collected all the evidence that will help them get a fair settlement. The majority of this evidence will be in the form of your medical records. One of the most important components of a personal injury case is the medical expenses you have incurred as a result of the injury.
This is why you should submit all the relevant medical records to your attorney. You should make sure to request all of your new medical records from your doctor as soon as possible and send these records to your attorney right away. This will help your attorney with your case. It can take several months for an attorney to collect the information they need to come up with a settlement. This amount will be taken from your lost work and your pain and suffering. Once your attorney has collected all the information they need and calculated a fair settlement amount, it is time for them to negotiate with the other party or the other party’s law firm.
Your Attorney Attempts to Negotiate with the Other Party
Once your attorney has determined a fair settlement amount, the negotiation process will begin. Your attorney will negotiate either with the other party directly or with an attorney that has been hired by the other party. Sometimes, the other party’s law firm will feel that your attorney’s initial settlement offer is fair. In case, it will be paid, and you will be compensated for your personal injury. However, it is much more common for the other side to try and negotiate down your settlement. If they make an offer that your attorney feels reasonable, they may advise you to accept the offer. Of course, this is up to you in the end. If an agreement on a settlement cannot be reached, the lawsuit will actually be filed.
The Suit is Filed
After the first attempts to negotiate and have failed, it’s time for the lawsuit to be filed. Keep in mind that it can take a year or two for a case to actually go to trial after a lawsuit is filed. Your attorney and other party’s attorney will continue to negotiate during this time.
Discovery
After a lawsuit is filed, the discovery procedure will start. Discovery is when your attorney and the other party’s attorney are required to share all the evidence they have collected. Each party will investigate the other party’s side of the case to try and come up with a favorable outcome for their client. Once each party has thoroughly investigated the other party’s case, the case will move on to mediation.
Mediation
Mediation is the final step before a trial. Both parties will present their case in front of a third-party mediator, who will suggest a solution that may be acceptable to both parties. The mediator is often a retired judge. Any suggestions by the mediator are not legally binding. Either party can reject the settlement proposed by the mediator. However, many cases are settled in the mediation process before the case goes to trial. If a settlement is not reached through mediation, the case will finally go to trial.
Trial
The vast majority of personal injury cases are settled before going to trial. However, this is less likely for personal injury cases where the claim is for millions of dollars. If your case goes to trial it will be heard before either a judge or a jury, depending on the laws of your state. Both your attorney and the other party’s attorney will present their evidence and argue their cases in court. The trial process can take anywhere from a day to several weeks. The decision reached by a judge or jury after the trial is legally binding. Keep in mind that it is still possible for a case to be settled out of court during the trial process. If this happens, the trial will stop.
