Personal Injury Claim Lawyers Guide
Time and time again as a Senior Personal Injury Lawyer, I see clients who have been injured and have a personal injury claim be lost and confused which is understandable. That is regardless of whether it’s a Total and Permanent Disability, car accident injury, psychological injury or industrial deafness. Whilst hiring a personal injury lawyer for your claim is essential in my opinion, your claim’s success is mostly if not wholly dependent on not only your injuries and losses but also on what actions you took during the claims process. Here are the most important 4 things you need to know when claiming compensation for your injury.
Credibility – will you be believed?
At first, you may think this is strange to be the first thing a personal injury lawyer would bring to your attention but, your credibility, which you can think of as your trust factor, is important to your injury claim because if your credibility is weak then your chances of achieving any compensation, let alone maximum compensation for your injury is low. Think of credibility like a magician in front of an audience. The audience would understandably be skeptical of a magician right? What about purchasing a vehicle from a buyer without proof of ownership. Wouldn’t you be skeptical? That’s how an insurer or decision maker can feel when it comes to considering your compensation claim. Without credibility, the insurer or decision maker does not take your claim seriously.
When you make a compensation claim, regardless of the type of claim, you need to understand that the insurer is receiving thousands of similar claims all claiming similar injuries.
For you to receive compensation, the insurer or decision maker, if the claim doesn’t resolve first with the insurer, needs to agree with your claim which means needs to accept your claim, including what you have said you can and can’t do. How can the insurer or decision maker accept what you are saying or claiming as true if they do not trust what you are saying, or claiming is true? For example, you may claim that you have never experienced or suffered from injuries before the accident despite your medical file revealing that you did suffer or experience injuries in the past. Now, you may also claim that you did not remember that and that may be true, but it will depend if that will be accepted as true or not. See the thing is, when it’s considered convenient or when one may think that you were not honest about something that could impact your claim negatively then the insurer may successfully argue that it is convenient for you to claim that. As much as I would like to boast about how good of a personal injury lawyer I am and how I could successfully argue out of that, facts outweigh submissions.
Being upfront means being trusted and believed. Had you been upfront and not denied facts, you are more likely to be trusted and believed when you say or claim something that, if accepted, could positively help your compensation claim. Had you informed your personal injury lawyer at the outset, then depending on the circumstances that may not even affect your claim and regardless, will assist your lawyer and all parties in moving your claim forward based on accurate information, allowing them to discuss more fun things like entitlements and damages. Of course, you are not expected to remember everything that occurred to you before the accident however it is important to appreciate that by providing an honest and accurate history you are not only doing the right thing but the best thing for your claim and all the parties involved. I can personally attest to the benefits of being honest as I take pride in knowing I get the best possible result for my injured clients in their personal injury claim not just because of our hard work but also because of our credibility with the various insurers. a
Entitlements – what you should know
Knowledge is success and success in personal injury are the best compensation benefits and/or payout you are entitled to claim. Despite having over 14 years of experience, I still nod my head at the amount of time I see injured people not understand what actual compensation they are entitled to and what time limits apply to their compensation claim.
Yes, your compensation claim lawyer should tell you, clearly, what compensation benefits and/or compensation payout you are entitled to and what time limits apply. However, in my own experience, I have seen that I get better results than others due to my clients’ knowing the details of what compensation we are claiming, why, and what time limits apply. For example, in a worker’s compensation claim, it is not good enough for you to know that you are entitled to wages, medical expenses, lump sum, and a lump sum payout if your injuries are 15% or greater whole person impairment. You should also know the details such as for how long are you entitled to wages, and medical expenses, for example, and on what basis.
It is overwhelmingly missed despite it being one of the most important things to know when making a compensation claim. If you as the client don’t understand what you are entitled to and what you are not entitled to, how can you and your personal injury lawyer be on the same page as to what compensation should you claim and in what time frame? What if for you, resolving your claim in a certain time frame is more important than going down a certain path for claiming something else or vice versa?
The only way you will know you are receiving the maximum compensation for your injury is if you know the maximum entitlements for a claim like yours. A personal injury lawyer can only act on instructions and if you are not aware then how will you be able to provide proper instructions that will allow your lawyer to claim maximum compensation? It goes both ways.
What about time limits in a personal injury claim?
There are strict time limits that apply to all personal injury claims and being aware of those time limits is important because it could mean that you could miss out on claiming compensation due to not following those time limits. Each personal injury claim has its timeframes and time limits. Feel free to click here for the specific time limits or please contact us and I will tell you once I understand the details of your injury in our free claim check.
I take pride in breaking down the law for our clients to ensure they understand exactly what their entitled to and how to claim those entitlements, what it will mean in terms of the time frame, and what time limits apply.
Evidence – what’s required for your claim
Again, that may sound simple, but it is unflattering when compensation claims are claimed without the necessary evidence. Again as much as I may like to boast about making legal submissions or the like, evidence like facts outweigh submissions.
Yes, your personal injury lawyer would usually obtain evidence on your behalf. That evidence includes medical reports, medical records, tax returns, statements, photos, and third-party documents supporting your claim. Here, the more, the better. There are usually two reasons why evidence is not provided in a personal injury claim. Either you can’t provide it or you were not told the importance of it and what evidence is required when making a claim. For example, and I have seen this happen, a client made a worker’s compensation claim for their psychological injury. Their injuries reached the 15% whole-person impairment threshold, allowing them to make a work injury damages/common law claim claiming a payout. To be successful in a work injury damages/common law claim you need to establish that your employer was negligent and in doing that, testimony evidence in the form of a statement from another witness, if any, is key.
They had a contact number of a witness who was available to provide a supporting statement which would have on the client’s instruction, corroborated what they instruct, except they had lost the contact details of the witness when they updated their phone. The client did not know that a year into their worker’s compensation claim, such evidence would be critical and as such did not take note of those 10 digits and had no other contact details!
Evidence is crucial. To achieve the best possible result and maximum compensation, you need to prove what you claim with evidence and that evidence needs to be accurate with your claim. Whether it’s factual or medical, lacking evidence is one of the most significant missteps we see in poorly managed personal injury claims.
Expectations – understanding the likely outcome of your claim
The simple yet powerful word. Discussing expectations is just as important as gathering evidence. Whilst your friend may have received a certain amount for a certain claim which may be the same type of claim as yours, each personal injury claim is unique. For that reason it’s crucial you understand what your compensation claim is worth as soon as possible. Especially, before rejecting a reasonable offer and/or proceeding to court. Just because your claim proceeds, doesn’t mean your compensation entitlement will. What increases are the legal fees due to your compensation claim continuing?
You should weigh up all the options before rejecting an offer and before putting in an offer. Even if you could obtain greater compensation, consider whether that compensation will still be greater for you after legal costs and disbursements are deducted. You need to consider whether it will make a difference to what you receive in hand. Having noted that, of course, there are many situations when it is important to reject offers and continue until the end, however, do it based on knowledge and reasonable expectations rather than emotions and logical fallacies. Although it may be difficult to know exactly what your claim is worth at the outset of your claim once your personal injury lawyer has enough evidence and medical information in support of your claim you should understand the range of what your claim is worth.
Free
personal injury claim assessment
Our team consist of TPD lawyers, motor accident lawyers, workers compensation lawyers, medical negligence & public liability lawyers. If you have any questions or require more information on your claim please contact our experienced lawyers for a free claim assessment on 1800 952 898. Our offices conveniently located in New South Wales and Western Australia.