Experience, experience, experience! In my opinion, the most important thing to look for when hiring a personal injury lawyer to handle personal injury or wrongful death claims in metro Atlanta and north Georgia is experience. And not just any legal experience. It needs to be experience handling these types of cases. Having experience with divorces, real estate, criminal matters, business disputes, etc., is not sufficient. Knowing the ins and outs of personal injury law is key to understanding the issues surrounding these types of cases. Without this type of experience, your lawyer may not get you the best result or may hurt your case.
For example, your lawyer must know the time within which to bring your claim. The statute of limitations for most personal injury and wrongful death claims in Georgia is 2 years, but there are regular questions about when the time period begins and what might toll the statute (put the time period on hold). There are also situations where even though there is a 2 year statute of limitations, if the at fault party is not provided with notice within a shorter period, the ability to bring the claim and a later lawsuit is forever lost.
Your lawyer must also understand who are all the appropriate potential defendants to sue. Oftentimes drivers who negligently cause accidents do so while employed. In these situations, it is appropriate to sue not only the driver, but also the company the driver works for. If it is the driver of a tractor-trailer that caused the accident, it might also be appropriate to sue the insurance company that insures the driver and the company.
Knowing all the proper parties also helps find all the possible insurance that might be available to pay a claim. This is very important. Regardless how badly a person is injured, or even if a person is killed, the claim or lawsuit seeking damages for the injuries or death may only yield the amount of insurance coverage that is available. This might be one of the most important reasons for having an experience injury lawyer help you with your case. The more experience the lawyer is in finding available coverage, the more you may possibly recover.
Understanding the medicine of an injury claim also mostly only comes from handling many injury claims. It is very important for your lawyer to understand the medicine to be able to properly communicate with your doctors and with the insurance company when making a demand for your claim. The value of your claim is contingent on many things; one of the most important being the severity of your injuries and how they will affect you. Understanding the medicine is critical.
These are just a few of the issues that are not readily known by lawyers that do not regularly practice personal injury law. Your lawyer must understand these things, as well as many, many others. The lawyers in our office have the experience you need and would expect. Please do not hesitate to contact us and speak to one of our attorneys if you have been injured or someone you know has been injured or killied.
