You suffered personal injury in an accident and want to know when you should first contact an attorney. The accident wasn’t even your fault.
Whether your injury was caused by a car accident, medical malpractice, a defective product, a slip and fall, or a dog bite, the answer to your question would be the same. You should contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as you can after an accident. There are several reasons why that is the case.
THREE GOOD REASONS TO HIRE A PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY IMMEDIATELY
First, THERE ARE TIME LIMITS TO TAKE LEGAL ACTION to win monetary compensation. If you miss a deadline, you will likely never be able to get any compensation. No matter how much the other party was at fault, or how bad your injury was.
Second, CRUCIAL EVIDENCE MAY DISAPPEAR over time. Witnesses’ memories fade. Stores and the police discard surveillance video. Skid marks fade. You need such evidence in order to win your case. If it disappears, you may not win. Important evidence can start to disappear less than 24 hours after an accident. An experienced personal injury attorney knows how to preserve such evidence.
Third, INSURANCE COMPANIES MAY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF AN UNREPRESENTED VICTIM. The person who injured you will likely report the incident to their insurance company. At that point, the insurance company may try and settle the claim cheaply with you, for much less than you deserve, before you can hire a lawyer. Or, the insurance company may call you, record the conversation, and try to get you to say something that will hurt your case. Once you hire an attorney, neither of those things will likely happen. One of the first things that a personal injury attorney will usually do after an accident is to contact the other insurance company and demand that all future contact be made through the attorney’s office.
One more tip. Make sure you CHOOSE AN EXPERIENCED PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY to represent you in your New Jersey accident case. An EXPERIENCED lawyer will know how to best address all three of the above concerns.