Today’s post discusses the shifting landscape of personal injury cases over the past decade, and stresses the importance of minimizing your mistakes, errors and oversights in your case. If you are in need of any help with your personal injury case, you can contact one of our Durham Personal Injury Attorneys or Greensboro Personal Injury Attorneys by email at info@kregerthacker.com, by phone at (888) 820 – 5885 or by completing the contact form to the right.
There are a lot of differing opinions out there regarding personal injury cases and personal injury litigation. Some people believe that the right to bring a personal injury claim or personal injury lawsuit should be limited to only the most legitimate and severe injuries, in order to lower insurance costs (these people will sometimes provide anecdotes of runaway jury verdicts and exorbitant insurance rates). Other people believe that the right to bring a personal injury claim or personal injury suit should not be limited, fearing that limiting a person’s right to sue will result in a lack of compensation for injured people and also create an imbalance in favor of the medical profession, the insurance industry and big business in general.
The more popular view over the last decade has been that personal injury cases should be limited (you see evidence of this in state-level tort reform, among other areas). As a result, the average personal injury case will (a) receive a lower offer of settlement, (b) receive a lower award at arbitration, (c) receive a lower jury verdict, (d) receive a more intensive investigation of the personal injury claim by the insurance company and (e) take a much longer time to settle. Personal Injury cases that used to take 2 months to reach a favorable settlement now take significantly longer and almost always require the filing of a lawsuit.
Accordingly, it is becoming increasingly important that you keep your case almost perfectly documented, and avoid any missteps in your case. If your case is defective in any way, you can expect the lower offers, intensive investigation, and delay to settlement that has become common. In addition, you have to expect to become the subject of investigation and attack, as your credibility, past medical history and choices are the foundation of your personal injury claim and what can diminish or increase the value of your personal injury claim.
If you have any specific questions about your personal injury case, or would like to set up a free consultation with an attorney, our Durham Personal Injury Lawyers and Greensboro Personal Injury Lawyers can be reached by completing the Free Consultation Contact Form to the right, by phone at 888-820-5885 or by email at info@kregerthacker.com.