How do you increase the value of your car accident or personal injury case?

Wondering if you should hire an attorney after an accident? Learn what impacts the financial value of your case and how our car accident lawyers obtain maximum compensation.

The value of your car accident or personal injury case is determined by several factors which I detail in 10 factors that determine the value of your car accident case. Within those factors there are a few things that you can do to increase the value of your case that I will discuss below.

Medical Treatment. Get checked out by a hospital emergency room, urgent care, or your primary care physician as soon as you can after the car accident or incident. Follow up regularly with your doctor if your problems persist. Follow the doctor’s treatment recommendations and try not to miss any appointments or therapy sessions. Take the prescribed medications or tell the doctor why you are not taking them to see if there are alternative choices so that it does not look like you are being noncompliant. Continue with the treatment plan and follow up regularly until you have healed up. A long paper trail of medical records to document your problems and treatment clearly shows how long the problems lasted. Documented ongoing medical problems have a far greater value for your case, then just witness testimony that the problems continued.

When you are in the doctor’s office or getting treatment from your therapist or chiropractor, make sure that you fully describe your symptoms and problems at every single visit. The more detail that you provide to your medical providers, the more likely that the provider will include that information about your injuries in their medical records. A significant portion of the case value is determined by the contents of the medical records. The insurance companies do their case evaluations based upon the records and car accident lawyers make medical arguments from those records. If your injuries or problems are not listed in the medical records, it will be very hard to argue that you sustained those injuries or have those problems from the car accident or incident.

Medical Expenses. Keep a file with all your medical bills and receipts for prescriptions, co-pays, deductibles, or outstanding balances. Without documentation of the medical expenses, you will not be able to make a claim for them and it will decrease the value of your car accident or personal injury case. If you have thrown all those bills and receipts in a folder, you can simply turn them over to your lawyer to calculate and present those losses as part of the case value. If your health insurance company sends you a letter asking you questions about how you were injured or they claim that they have a right to get their money back through reimbursement or subrogation, give that letter to your car accident or personal injury attorney immediately. If your health insurance plan has the right to get their money back, this could ultimately increase the value of your case. You will be able to make a claim for that money against the parties who caused your injuries and damages, and then your lawyer can negotiate with the health insurance plan to take less than the full amount which will increase the bottom line value of your case.

Wage Loss. In many cases, you will miss some time from work because of your injuries. Make sure that your doctor knows about the duties of your job so that they can take you out of work or give you work restrictions to limit the duties of your job; if necessary. Having a doctor’s note to explain why you have lost wages from your job will increase the value of your car accident or personal injury case.

Documenting the Impact on your Life. If your case takes several months or years, you will not remember all the ways in which your life was impacted. If you keep a journal or a list of the ways, then you do not have to remember them all. Your lawyer can use the list to show all the ways that you have been impacted and this will increase the value of your car accident or personal injury case.

Hiring the best car accident personal injury lawyer. One of the easiest and best ways to increase the value of your car accident or personal injury case is to hire a great lawyer. The clients at Rankin & Gregory, LLC (RG Injury Law) think their lawyers are the best around (add link to reviews).

Taking the above steps and having a great personal injury or car accident lawyer are the best ways to increase the value of your case and get the maximum that you deserve and need to take care of yourself.

Contact Attorney Chad Rankin, recognized as a leading Pennsylvania injury, illness, and disability lawyer with offices in Lancaster, Rohrerstown, Columbia, and Leola, PA, (Lancaster County). Chad fights for victims of car accidents, personal injuries, and wrongful death. Call us for a no-pressure, free consultation at 717.656.5000. Clients pay NO FEES unless we win money for you.