If you’re in a car accident and the other driver was at fault, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. To receive a settlement, you must file a personal injury claim with the help of an attorney. With so many different types of personal injury claims, there are also several ways they can be resolved. A personal injury attorney in Sarnia can help you settle your case quickly and efficiently so that you can focus on recovery instead of legal documents.

Common ways personal injury cases are settled:

Negotiation and Mediation: These are often used to reach an agreement between parties that both sides can agree on. Negotiation can take place either before or after a lawsuit has been filed. Mediation involves both parties submitting their offers to an impartial third party who hears both sides and then suggests a settlement offer based on the evidence presented by each side. A lawyer will know how to pursue fair compensation from each party involved to reach an agreeable settlement that works for everyone involved.

Jury Trial: If all other efforts fail, your case will go before a jury, who will decide whether or not you are awarded damages based on the evidence presented during the trial. This is known as a bench trial because there is no jury present during proceedings, but instead, one judge makes all decisions regarding your claim’s legitimacy and how much compensation should be awarded if it is deemed legitimate.

Tips for settling your injury case:

• Don’t sign anything without reading it first. You should never agree to pay your claim without fully understanding what you are signing. If you feel pressured into signing something, don’t sign it! Your lawyer should explain everything in detail before asking you to sign anything.
• Do not accept any offers until you have consulted with an experienced lawyer. The offer may sound good at first glance, but there could be hidden costs or other fees associated with the settlement that might not be immediately apparent when asked about them by the insurance company representative on the phone or in person.
• Always have your attorney look over any settlement offer before accepting it or rejecting it outright. This will help ensure that you receive fair compensation for your injuries and losses from someone else’s negligence or wrongful conduct.

There are several options available to choose from when settling a claim. The two main options are filing a complaint through the small claims court or having a lawyer, file the lawsuit for you. The approach you choose will vary depending on how much your case is worth, the extent of your injuries, and whether you want to deal with the paperwork associated with filing suit.

Injured victims that do not live in a no-fault state must arrange for payment of their medical bills. The payment could be made during settlement negotiations, or during a scheduled trial. (more…)

If you have been involved in an accident and received injuries, you may be asking for compensation from the other party to help pay some of the expenses you now have thanks to your accident. The other insurance company or other party may want you to get a medical examination from a neutral doctor in order to verify that you really do have injuries. It’s not uncommon for an insurance company to require a person who is asking for compensation be checked out by a doctor other than their own. The new doctor will then confirm what your doctor has been saying and will provide the proof the insurance company has been asking for. (more…)

If you’re the plaintiff in a car accident, you should know that you’re entitled to a settlement that will cover any bodily injuries or property damage that you may have incurred in the accident. Know that it won’t be an easy process since the defendant’s insurance company will try to lowball or avoid paying you the settlement that you want, need, and deserve. (more…)