Ways an Attorney Can Help if You are in an Accident

The typical line of thinking is that any adult should handle a car accident claim on their own. Unfortunately, the insurance companies have created this fictional image that there always around to help you when you’re in a crash. That couldn’t be further from the truth because these insurance companies want to keep as much money in their bank as possible, which means giving you minimal payouts even when you’re the victim.

Birmingham car accident attorneys offer a wide array of resources and provide assistance in a way that should benefit your case. We understand that you’re the victim of a car accident, and you really shouldn’t have to fight for full compensation. To help ensure that you can put your energy and efforts into your recovery, a Birmingham auto accident attorney should handle the heavy-lifting in your car accident claim.

Guidance on Handling Evidence and Making Statements

Most drivers are pretty comfortable getting out of their vehicles and taking photos on their phone for evidence. What they might not be comfortable doing is approaching businesses for surveillance footage, locating their crash report from the Police Department, and taking statements from witnesses.

An auto accident attorney, either in Birmingham or anywhere throughout Alabama, should understand the importance of all variety of evidence types and how to acquire them for your claim.

Additionally, you should expect help when making a statement to give to your insurance provider. People often make the mistake of giving a statement over the phone when they’re initially calling to report the accident, and they may unintentionally say things that could compromise their ability to obtain compensation at all.

Building a Strong Foundation for Negotiations

Negotiations are their own step, and handling evidence is one step, and between those two steps, your attorney should work to build a foundation for the upcoming negotiations. That means they should not only go through the evidence but compile it in a compelling way to show that you’re the victim, you did not contribute to fault, and that you deserve full compensation for any injuries or damages.

Taking on Settlement Negotiations

Settlement negotiations can help Avoid costly legal fees are going to court. Additionally, most consumers believe that car insurance providers have an obligation to provide full compensation to the victim. That’s not an unreasonable expectation, but most consumers are not well versed in settlement negotiation tactics.

Before going into settlement negotiations, an attorney will help you explore the best case scenario possible, the next best alternative, and the absolute bottom line. Of course, ideally, you’ll get that best-case scenario figure where it covers all of your economic and non-economic losses. That’s not common, but the next best alternative usually is, and that’s where your settlement covers all of your economic losses and some of your non-economic losses.

Approaching settlement negotiations with this in mind and tours that you have a clear figure to hit before deciding to move forward to court.

Moving the Claim to Court if Necessary

Moving a claim to court can be extremely expensive for the insurance company, and for you. Most attorneys work on a contingency fee agreement, and those usually contain a clause or a statement that outlines how the fee system changes when you decide to go to court. Average contingency fees across the nation are about 33% of the recovery, which is under the scenario of reaching a settlement outside of court. That percentage can fluctuate, but typically when a claim goes to court, attorneys will increase that percentage to the maximum 40% for contingency fees because of the additional time and effort the case will take.

Finding a Birmingham Car Accident Attorney for Your Crash Claim

Alabama relies on a pure contributory negligence system, which for many people, can become problematic quickly. Most Alabama car accident attorneys will help you focus on building a strong foundation for reasonable negotiations and helping to ensure that you don’t get saddled with even a bit of fault. Even a 1% finding of fault can make it so that you can’t recover anything, which is why Birmingham auto accident lawyers understand this is a serious issue to handle.

Protecting the victims of car accidents is what the attorneys of Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton do. Our team of skilled and knowledgeable lawyers can help you negotiate for better settlements, and even take the claim to court. If you’re worried about not getting full compensation or not knowing how to handle the involved insurance companies, contact a local Birmingham car wreck attorney.