Day Injury Law Blog
When you’ve been involved in an accident, seeking medical treatment should be your top concern. In this blog post, we will explore why seeking medical treatment as soon after you’ve been injured in an accident is so important: 1. First and foremost, we want to protect your health. Even though you may initially feel fine after an accident, certain injuries may not show immediate symptoms and may take time to appear. Some of the injuries may even worsen with time. That is why, after you have been involved in an accident, you must go to at least your local urgent care to be examined by a doctor. They can identify hidden injuries, provide appropriate treatment, and prevent long-term complications. The time to seek treatment is now! If you wait, as we will soon discuss, it could hurt your claim and hurt your ability to recover fair compensation. 2. Practically speaking, it is good for your case. When you seek treatment immediately following an accident, it establishes a clear connection between your injuries and the accident. We do not want to give the insurance company an “out” and an excuse to not pay for your treatment. If they can easily allege that the injuries and the resulting treatment you received were caused from something other than the accident, they may refuse to pay for the treatment. Insurance companies and defense attorneys often scrutinize the gap between the accident and the medical treatment sought in an attempt to undermine the severity of your injuries. Again, we do not want to give them an opening to decline payment for your treatment. 3. The medical records produced by the treatment serve as evidence of your damages. This medical treatment helps to establish causation by documenting your injuries, symptoms, and treatment as close to the accident as possible. 4. Seeking treatment quickly after the accident ensures you are adhering to legal guidelines. There are deadlines known as statutes of limitations that determine how long you have to file a claim. In Georgia, for bodily injury, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of accident. If you wait longer than that to try and obtain a recovery, you will be prevented from doing so. Seeking treatment soon after the accident ensures that you will be able to get as much treatment in as possible before the statute of limitations becomes an issue in your case. Seeking immediate medical care after an accident is very important both for your well-being and for your personal injury claim. The treatment helps to establish a clear link between your injuries and the accident, strengthens your case against any disputes, and helps you receive the correct treatment for a faster recovery. By taking action soon after your accident, you are able to protect your legal rights and maximize your chances of obtaining fair compensation. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions.
Let’s talk about the difference between these two terms. “Pre-lit” is all of the time in your claim before a lawsuit is filed. When I initially open a claim with the insurance company for a client, we have not sued them. I have not filed a lawsuit with the Court, served the Defendant with paperwork, etc. All we have done is open a claim. Hopefully, we are able to resolve the claim in the “pre-lit” stage. During this stage, we will open the claim, you will receive the treatment you need, and I will send a demand to the insurance company. If we are able to come to an agreement with the insurance company regarding the value of your claim, then your claim will settle. However, if the insurance company is not being fair and is not offering a fair value, then we may choose to file a lawsuit. If we decide to file a lawsuit, then at that point the claim would move from “pre-lit” to litigation. Litigation is an all-encompassing term that just means a lawsuit has been filed. When a lawsuit is filed, the Defendant gets served with paperwork and we begin the process. Typically, the insurance company will hire a defense lawyer of their own. There is still a good chance that, despite us now being in litigation, your claim could settle before we reach a jury trial, but, if we are unable to come to an agreement with the insurance company throughout the litigation process, your claim would go to a jury trial and we would let a jury decide the value of your case. Resolving a case via settlement in pre-lit is usually pretty quick and pretty inexpensive as far as costs are concerned. If we can come to an agreement with the insurance company during this phase, then that is great for everyone. However, when we can’t come to an agreement and we file a lawsuit, it gets more time consuming and more expensive for all involved. However, despite the time and expense, litigation can be a great option to hold the insurance company accountable and to make sure we are receiving the maximum value for your claim. If you have been injured in an accident or have any questions about the above, feel free to reach out to me at (706) 425-4500 or via email at [email protected] .
Let’s talk about going through the claims process for a personal injury accident in Georgia. Let’s assume for the sake of this blog post that you were injured in a motor vehicle collision (MVA) aka a car accident. You are not the at-fault or negligent driver which means that you did not cause the accident – the other person did. We call that person the Defendant. You are now the Plaintiff. After you’re involved in a car accident, it can be a confusing and frustrating time. After you call the police, wait for them to show up, write the report, and leave, you may be left without a car. You may be driving a damaged car. And, more importantly, you may be in pain. As a result, you may be taking an ambulance ride to the emergency department. Regardless of your exact situation, you now have problems to sort out that you did not have when you woke up this morning. To make matters worse, you’re dealing with these massive insurance companies that can be ridiculously hard to work with. Where do you even begin? It is at this point that you should consider calling a knowledgeable, experienced, and driven personal injury attorney. A good lawyer will be able to set your mind at ease, get you to doctors that can help you get better (whether or not you have health insurance) and make sure you don’t have to do anything but show up to your doctors’ appointments moving forward. At Athens Personal Injury Attorney, LLC it says Athens in the name, but I practice all over Georgia. Once you hire me, I obsess over making sure your needs are met and your life begins to immediately improve. We will meet either on the phone, via Zoom, or in person (I will come to you) for a no cost initial consultation. Once we have an agreement to move forward with my representation, I will get to work. I will set up the claim with the Defendant’s insurance company, get your property damage situation resolved, and get you to the correct doctors for care. You will have my cell phone number so you can get in touch with me whenever you need to. Once you are setup with treatment, I will guide you through that process and answer any and all of your questions. Once you and your doctors agree that you have reached maximum medical improvement (MMI), I will acquire all of your medical bills and records and send them along with a demand letter to the insurance company. It is my goal to move as quickly as possible while also ensuring that you receive the best medical care. We also (of course) want to maximize your recovery. If the insurance company does the right thing and offers a proper value for your claim, we, after some negotiating, may accept and settle. Settlement allows for a quicker and less expensive option to the alternative – litigation. Litigation means we will be filing a lawsuit (not just a claim) against the Defendant and we will be suing them. In other words, we will be using the courts to prove your damages such as medical bills and/or lost wages. At the end of the day, you and I will have a discussion about settlement and if it makes sense for you in your case. Most cases do settle. If the insurance company does not offer the proper value, we will file a lawsuit and litigate. I love being in a courtroom but this is the more expensive and time consuming option. We will go through a period called discovery which means the Defendant is asking you questions and I am asking the Defendant questions. It is possible for your case to “settle” during this time as well. If we still can’t come to an agreement with the opposing side, we will have a jury trial to let a jury decide your damages. Bottom line, no two cases are the same. There are tons of factors that play into the above scenarios. I would be honored to walk through this process with you and help you obtain an excellent result. Give me a call or shoot me a text at (706) 425-4500 or you can always email me at [email protected] with any questions.