Top 6 Things NOT To Do In A Lawsuit
Clients don’t know, along with their chosen Orlando personal injury lawyer, that they are one of the most significant factors in their case. A colleague and I recently discussed that reputation is potentially the single most significant factor in the outcome of any case of injury. The explanation is that insurance firms (who choose to give settlements or not, and in what amounts) and juries (who in the unlikely event that your case actually goes to trial, make dollar value verdicts) can never believe you again if they catch you in a single lie. The conversation made me think of several other ways in which customers could harm their case, so I decided to share. Here are 6 things NOT do in a lawsuit.
1. Choosing Not To Call A Lawyer After The Accident
In the immediate aftermath of an accident, several things need to occur quickly for you to get the most from your lawsuit. Among them, you must report the accident to the insurance provider and the at-fault team. If that does not occur within a certain time-frame, depending on the relevant insurance contract language and conditions, the claim could be totally lost.
2. Not Listening To Doctors and Not Treating Injuries
You will need to get the best sources of medical care (and a good attorney can guide you in making numerous critical decisions regarding proper medical care). To make sure they do not neglect critical accidents, you need an attorney to watch over the doctor. Let’s say, for instance, you go to a chiropractor or even an orthopedic surgeon for back pain, but all of you ignore when your head hits the windshield, and you encounter signs of brain damage but ignore them because your back hurts more. You may think that you can only cope with one pain at a time, but from a legal point of view, the timing of care is also crucial to proper diagnosis and connection of injury with an accident, among many other factors related to the timing of your treatment.
3. Not Thinking The Attorney Has Work To Do
Even the best attorney will just tell you what you need to do with your own case to collect crucial facts. You will be guided by lawyers on what proof is needed, and when and how you can get that evidence, but in many cases, without your active and timely participation, they can not really get the facts (and can not support the case). Let’s assume that you are self-employed, for instance, and your solicitor tells you that to support your future wage loss claim, they need separate receipts and invoices. They also advise you that they immediately need this information and they need to provide an insurance provider with facts of any accidents and lawsuits linked to a proposed letter of settlement with a time limit. If, although they should have done so an insurance provider may not settle a lawsuit in good faith, they will be entitled to an excess verdict, which means that in some cases, the insurance company will be required to pay the entire jury judgment regardless of the amount of insurance coverage. In some circumstances, this can be critically necessary, particularly given that Florida drivers are only expected to hold 10K in compensation, but serious injury or death cases can result in hundreds of thousands or even millions of damages. but the law allows the insurance provider to be able to determine all claims equally at the time when any compensation offer is made. So often it can make a big difference in the final outcome of your argument to obtain all available facts in a timely manner.
4. Not Listening To The Lawyers Advice
An attorney does not establish the truth or modify it, but they will tell you what proof they need in order to prove your case best, and that also includes endless policy choices that include following the advice of your attorney. Clients often do not partially follow the advice of their counsel because they do not appreciate the vital meaning of each recommendation. I invest a lot of time and energy trying to persuade consumers that they need to obey the letter’s advice. This usually includes clarifying specific legal criteria that they probably don’t really understand the conversation, but I do my best to invest whatever time is needed to clarify how my ideas will have a positive effect on their lawsuit. Many leave the discussion persuaded, but if you are the hesitant or cynical kind, you certainly need an attorney who can spend that amount of time convincing you that you should follow their advice.
5. Destroying Evidence
For deliberately destroying facts, there are several penalties in the law, so you should always keep something that may be important in litigation. Except in the absence of deliberate damage and the laws punishing the litigant who destroyed evidence, prosecutors also need items like photos and the vehicle itself in car accident cases. Plaintiffs’ lawyers also use specialists in accident analysis to better explain just what occurred during an accident. For instance, let’s assume there is a problem with whether your headlights have been switched on, but during a car accident, they have been damaged or lost. An accident reconstruction specialist may be able to decide if when they separated, the headlights were “hot”, but if you sell the vehicle or repair the headlights, the proof can be gone forever. In your own case, because you have the burden of evidence, your failure to prove what happened will sink you.
6. Lying
Orlando attorneys, and their prosecution colleagues, have endless ways to determine if the truth is told by an injury complainant. They can review all types of relevant records, speak to witnesses, examine physical evidence, have physical evidence reviewed by experts, and talk to professional medical witnesses. If you employ an Orlando accident lawyer who follows your case closely and offers highly customized service, they can tell you truthfully if something you have said does not add up. Often a simple error in your memory can lead to the appearance that, when that is not your intention at all you are being deceptive. Other times consumers have a natural propensity to believe they will benefit from exaggerating such claims when, because of their lost reputation, the exaggeration alone actually costs them several thousands of dollars. Jurors and insurance providers prefer to pay more for accidents that have been confirmed, substantiated, and actual. If they have some reason to doubt your integrity, you might lose it all, and if you’re severely injured, there’s no need to lie about stuff you may think would raise your payout (for instance, fudging loss wage claims), but it simply damages your reputation, and your claim’s value rises relatively marginally.
