Haddock, GA Personal Injury Law Firms & Lawyers | Page 4 Results

You really need to retain a lawyer if you want to determine the value of your case. Lawyers have three years of legal education, after which some focus their practice on personal injury cases. Those who do not focus on personal injury, such as real estate lawyers or Family Court Lawyers are not qualified to determine the value of a case. I cannot think of any way for you to learn to make this determination. The good news is, since you have received an offer, the attorney should only charge a percentage of what he/she could obtain above the amount you have been offered. I would need to know a lot more about your case to try to give you my opinion as to the value. I do not even know if this case is worker?s compensation case or some other type of personal injury case. If it is worker's comp, the factors that are used to make an award are your average weekly wage for the 4 quarters preceding the accident, the impairment rating assigned to you by your doctor, and how the injury will affect our ability to be employed in the future. If it is another type personal injury claim, the things to consider are set out below: I am often asked by individuals who have been injured in an accident to give an opinion as to what would be a fair settlement in their case. Often, they give me a brief description of their injury, such as, ?I suffered two broken ribs, or ?I am now suffering back pain?, or ?I hurt my leg and had to have surgery? and give no further details. I cannot possibly give an opinion as to the value of their case without more information. I find myself repeating over and over some of the information set out below. The information below is an attempt to shed some light on what an accident injury victim should consider in determining a fair settlement. However, presenting damages to an insurance adjuster, and ultimately to a jury, is an advanced and complicated task. It not adequate to simply say ?I?m hurt?, describe your injury, and then hold out your hand and ask for money. I have practiced law since 1985, and still attend seminars and read books on the subject of presenting personal injury damage claims to juries. The information below will not be enough to make you a personal injury attorney, but hopefully will enlighten you regarding some factors that should be considered on evaluating your claim. Maximum Medical Improvment First, one needs to understand the concept of Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI). MMI is the point at which the condition of an injured person is stabilized. No further recovery or improvement is expected even with additional medical intervention. Basically, a condition is at maximum medical improvement if it is not believed that the condition will change or progress. In laymen?s terms, this is often referred to a ?being released by the doctor?. This term is most often used in the context of a worker?s compensation claim. An inquired employee usually receives temporary benefits until reaching maximum medical improvement. However, it also has significance in general personal injury cases. Insurers for at fault drivers, manufacturers of unsafe products, owners and operators of unsafe premises, and doctors guilty of malpractice do not normally make incremental payments as medical bills and lost wages are incurred. Rather, these insurers normally settle claims with one payments, which represents the final settlement. For this reason, the accident victim must have evidence of all past and future damages to present to the adjuster. This means it is premature to begin evaluating your claim before you reach MMI because you do not yet know how much your medical bills will be, nor do you know how severe the injury will ultimately be - which is the main factor in damages for pain and suffering ? until after you have reached MMI. After you have reached MMI, four basic factors that should be considered in evaluating your case are 1) special damages, also known as tangible damages, 2)