If you’ve been injured by someone’s negligence, it’s important to avoid some common mistakes that could compromise your ability to collect the full compensation for your losses and damages that you are owed. A personal injury lawyer in Cheyenne, Wyoming can help you to avoid all these mistakes and more.
Common Mistakes to Avoid After Suffering a Personal Injury
Not Getting Medical Help
Even if you don’t think you’ve been badly injured, it’s very important to get medical health after an accident. For one thing, the adrenaline in your body may be masking pain from an injury that’s worse than you think. For another, some injuries don’t really show symptoms until a bit later. You won’t know until a medical professional has looked you over. When you visit the urgent care or doctor’s office, tell them what kind of accident you’ve been in so they know what type of injury to look for.
Why’s This a Mistake?
In addition to the possibility that you could suffer physically by ignoring your injuries, if you delay getting medical treatment, there can be consequences to your personal injury claim. For one thing, if there’s too great a delay between the accident and the doctor visit, the other side may be able to successfully claim that your injuries were not caused by the accident at all. For another, even if you do go to the doctor later and it is proven that your injuries were related to the accident, the other side may still be able to argue that you made your injuries worse by delaying, and thus they should not be responsible for all your medical damages.
Admitting Fault or Minimizing Your Injury
It’s natural to say you’re sorry after an accident if someone else is injured. It’s also natural in our culture to shrug off an injury and say that you’re “fine” before you actually know if you’re fine or even if you suspect you’re hurt but don’t think it’s life-threatening. But it’s very important not to say anything that could sound like you are taking responsibility for the accident or minimizing what’s happened to you. Whether you slipped and fell in a store or have been in a car accident with someone who ran a red light, be careful of what you say.
Not only should you be careful in talking to the people around you immediately after an accident, but be careful even talking to the police and the insurance company when you make reports. Stick to facts and do not speculate at all about who is at fault. Let your lawyer help you do an investigation to discover what really happened. Even in cases where you believe you are at fault, it’s still best to wait until all the evidence is in. You just don’t know what might’ve been happening around you.
Why’s This a Mistake?
Even an innocent attempt to express that you’re sorry someone else has been injured could be interpreted as you saying you’re sorry for having caused the accident. This can then be used against you to argue that you bear fault for the accident, or at least more fault than you really hold.
Wyoming has a modified comparative fault rule for personal injury, which means that anyone more than 50% responsible for an accident cannot collect any damages, and all those less than 50% at fault can only collect damages in proportion to their degree of fault. Thus, if you are 30% at fault, you can only collect 70% of your total damages. This creates an incentive for an insurance company to try to put as much blame on you as possible. Don’t give them any ammunition.
Talking About Your Case on Social Media and to Friends
Be very careful about what you say to your friends, family, and on social media about your accident. If you’re not sure what’s right to say, talk to your lawyer before you post. While it’s natural to want to talk through your emotions with friends and family, it’s often best to resist this urge after an accident where you are bringing a claim for losses and damages.
Why’s This a Mistake?
You need to be on your guard against the other side and their insurance company monitoring your social media or trying to interview your friends and family to find something to use against you. For example, say you post on social media in response to genuine inquiries about your health that you are “doing great!” Your intention in doing this could be just to relieve the minds of your followers and friends so they won’t worry about you, and that’s natural. But an insurance company might grab this and use it to argue that your pain and suffering damages should be lowered because you were not really suffering.
Signing a Settlement Too Early
Insurance companies often come to victims quickly after an accident with a settlement. These settlements are often much lower than your total losses and damages. In some cases, this is because the insurance company is beginning a negotiation. They are offering less than they actually think your claim is worth because they expect you to counter with an offer that is higher and then meet somewhere in the middle. Other times, the insurance company makes a lowball offer because they are hoping you are so desperate for money that you will just sign on the dotted line to get something, even if it’s less than you deserve. Or, they may be hoping that you don’t really know what your claim is actually worth.
Why’s This a Mistake?
This is a mistake because once you sign and accept the settlement, you won’t be able to get anything else, even if you have plenty of convincing evidence to show that your losses and damages are greater than what you were paid. The settlement is almost always final, so never sign one without your lawyer’s advice. Your lawyer will go to bat for you against the insurance company to negotiate and can also help you identify other sources of revenue or ways to hit the pause button on collections for certain bills while you wait for your settlement to be finalized.
Not Getting a Personal Injury Lawyer in Cheyenne, Wyoming
It’s not uncommon for people to figure they should avoid trying to get a lawyer in order to maximize their settlement by not having to pay legal fees. Unfortunately, it doesn’t usually work out this way. Studies show that those who bring a personal injury claim with a lawyer almost always walk away with more money in their settlement than those who don’t, even after the legal fees have been deducted.
That’s because your personal injury lawyer will help you properly calculate your losses and damages so you don’t miss anything; negotiate aggressively for you with the insurance company; protect you from making any of the mistakes listed here and more; and show the insurance company that you’re willing even to go to court if they will not negotiate in good faith.
If you’ve been in an accident, contact the Ochs Law Firm in Cheyenne now for a consultation. We also have offices throughout Wyoming.
