Sometimes lawyers get a bad rap, unfairly. People think that if they can avoid hiring a lawyer, they should. But if you suffer a personal injury as the result of someone’s negligence, you should absolutely hire a personal injury lawyer. Here’s why:
Your lawyer will preserve your rights to file a claim. In every personal injury case, time is of the essence. Pennsylvania law allows you two years from when you knew or should have known that your injury was the result of the defendants’ negligence. There are some additional exceptional rules that only experienced personal injury lawyers know, which is why it’s crucial to hire one to investigate your case. Without a lawyer, you may lose your right to file a claim at all.
Your lawyer will help retain crucial evidence before the defendant destroys it. You read that right: the defendant in your case could destroy evidence – if you don’t demand that they preserve it. This is why you need a personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia who will take all necessary actions early enough in the process to ensure that the essential evidence remains intact.
Your lawyer will hire the right (and best) experts. Your personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia has access to the best experts in the country. They will ensure that the most appropriate and qualified experts review your case. And they will ensure that those experts write a detailed and comprehensive report to bolster your claim in court.
Hiring a lawyer significantly increases your likelihood of success. An experienced personal injury attorney will have tried at least dozens of catastrophic loss cases in an actual courtroom. They know how to present a case to a jury or judge, how to write compelling memoranda of law, and how to negotiate with fellow lawyers. These are skills the layperson simply does not possess because they are taught in law school and honed in the actual practice of law.
Your lawyer will know the true value of your case and get you the highest possible compensation. A Philadelphia personal injury attorney has been through the system, has years of experience trying similar cases, has worked against many defense firms and insurance companies, and knows the ins and outs of the Philadelphia judicial system. They know how much money you can recover and because of their vast experience, they will take all necessary steps to ensure you get the highest possible compensation for your injuries. If your case can be settled before going to trial for an amount that represents its true value, your Philadelphia personal injury attorney will ensure that the case is settled so you don’t have to go to trial. On the other hand, if the defendant isn’t offering enough money to compensate you for your injuries, then your personal injury lawyer might take the case to trial. Either way, you need an experienced personal injury lawyer to help make the right decision so you can collect the most compensation.
To find an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney, contact the lawyers at VSCP Law.
A common error people make after they’ve been injured as the result of someone else’s actions in Philadelphia is to try to handle the case themselves. Instead, they should immediately contact a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer. Here’s why.
A PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER WILL INCREASE YOUR LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS
You’ve probably heard the saying “A person who represents himself has a fool for a client.” Legal rules and procedures – especially in Philadelphia – are complex. Navigating them is challenging enough for lawyers who have gone through the rigors of law school. But if you have no formal legal training and you attempt to handle your personal injury matter on your own, there is hardly any likelihood that you will achieve an optimal result. Hiring a personal injury lawyer substantially increases your likelihood of success.
A PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY GETS YOU THE MOST COMPENSATION
People tend to (wrongly) think they can keep things simple by handling everything by themselves. They don’t want to get lawyers involved because they worry that there are hidden costs or that it will take too much effort or time. When you file a claim with your insurance company, the insurance company may try to convince you that they can handle everything.
But an insurance company will undervalue your case. In other words, they will tell you that they can only collect a certain amount of money (because that is the maximum amount they’d be able to collect for you). Whatever amount the insurance company tells you is typically far less than what a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer can collect for you.
A PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY KNOWS HOW TO TAKE ON THE OPPOSITION
People tend to forget that when they sue someone, they’re often not just suing someone, a person. They’re also suing a business or corporation. This is much more daunting because corporations have deep pockets and can hire an army of high-paid lawyers to fight on their behalf. That is typically whom you’re up against.
Even when your opponent isn’t a corporation, they could still be represented by a powerful insurance company that has a team of lawyers whose number one job it is to find any way possible to get your case thrown out.
You need to understand who is on the other side of your lawsuit. And you need a Philadelphia personal injury attorney on your side – someone who can help amplify the true value of your case – so these fierce corporations don’t take advantage of you.
A PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY WILL FILE YOUR LAWSUIT ON TIME SO THAT YOU DON’T LOSE THE RIGHT TO YOUR CLAIM
In every personal injury case, time is of the essence. If your Philadelphia personal injury lawyer does not act efficiently and swiftly, you could lose the opportunity to file a lawsuit at all!
Pennsylvania law allows you two years from when you knew or should have known that your injury was the result of the defendants’ negligence. There are some additional exceptional rules that only experienced Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers know, which is why it’s crucial to hire one to investigate your case.
A PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY WILL RETAIN CRUCIAL EVIDENCE BEFORE THE DEFENDANT DESTROYS IT
An experienced personal injury attorney knows what actions must be taken early in the process such as ordering medical records; reviewing police reports; and collecting witness statements, photographs, and videos. The presence or absence of these crucial forms of evidence could determine whether your lawsuit is successful or not.
If you were injured in a slip and fall, your premises liability attorney might collect building records, weather history, janitorial schedules, etc. If you were injured in a car accident, your accident attorney might gather auto mechanic invoices, cell phone records, and the defendants’ driving records.
And remember: Much of the critical evidence is in the possession of the defendant and if those items aren’t requested early in the process, the defendant could destroy them.
Thus, you need a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer to preserve any and all necessary evidence.
A PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER WILL HIRE THE RIGHT (AND BEST) EXPERTS
In many cases, a personal injury lawsuit is complicated and requires expert review and analysis. Your personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia has access to the best experts in the country. They will ensure that the most appropriate and qualified experts review your case. And they will ensure that those experts write a detailed and comprehensive report to bolster your claim in court.
To find an experienced personal injury attorney in Philadelphia to represent you in your personal injury case, contact the attorneys at VSCP Law.
The difference between handling a personal injury case yourself or with an inexperienced attorney and hiring an experienced personal injury attorney could be tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Maximize your personal injury compensation with the following essential tips and strategies.
Follow Up with Medical Care
If you are injured, do not try to self-diagnose and self-treat. Your leg might be broken, but you just take fistfuls of ibuprofen and put your leg up on a chair. You might be doubled over in abdominal pain, but you just drink ginger ale and lie down. Or maybe you were taken to the hospital following your injury and you didn’t like the doctor who prescribed you some sort of treatment plan. So, you don’t follow up with it; you’re exhausted and you just don’t feel like it. These are detrimental errors. Top personal injury attorneys in Philadelphia will help you connect with the right doctors to ensure you get the critical follow-up healthcare you need to heal and recover.
You Need a Lawyer, an Experienced Lawyer
If you are injured and you file a claim with your insurance company, the insurance company may try to convince you that they can handle everything. More often than not, an insurance company will undervalue your case. In other words, they will tell you that they can only collect a certain amount of money (because that is the maximum amount they’d be able to collect for you). Whatever amount the insurance company tells you is typically far less than what a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer can collect for you.
And no matter how straightforward your case seems, it’s actually not. Let’s say you were driving and the car behind you rear-ended your car, causing you to suffer neck and back injuries. You may think this is a straightforward auto accident because you learned that people who rear-end the drivers in front are always at fault. But there are many factors to consider in auto accidents including the usage of handheld devices (like your cell phone) while driving, whether there were other distractions, whether the cars involved were compliant with state inspection laws, whether there were any recalls of parts on either of the cars, etc.
And what about the various laws and rules of procedure in the Pennsylvania courts? No layperson is expected to understand how the law and procedure work in any particular case. Sadly, even many practicing attorneys who spent three years in law school don’t understand all of Pennsylvania’s complicated rules and regulations!
So, you may think your case is simple, but it’s not. You need a personal injury lawyer — an experienced personal injury lawyer — to help you.
Preserve Evidence
People who suffer an injury and don’t consult with a lawyer often learn after it’s too late that they made critical errors early on. Often, it’s that they failed to preserve key evidence that would have helped their case. An experienced personal injury attorney knows what actions must be taken early in the process such as ordering medical records; reviewing police reports; and collecting witness statements, photographs, and videos. The presence or absence of these crucial forms of evidence could determine whether your lawsuit is successful or not.
Much of the critical evidence is in the possession of the defendant and if those items aren’t requested early in the process, the defendant could destroy them.
Thus, you need an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney to help you avoid common missteps that could otherwise hinder the success of your lawsuit.
Manage Expectations
Even if you file your personal injury lawsuit promptly, there will still be a wait time of at least a couple of years before your case goes to trial. Between the time your attorney files the Complaint and the actual trial is a lengthy period called “Discovery,” in which both sides to the lawsuit request, exchange, and examine information and evidence pertaining to the case. This includes depositions of parties, experts writing reports, and often a series of motions and hearings on evidentiary issues.
And notwithstanding the considerable length of the discovery period, another delay looms large in Philadelphia: cases then need to be scheduled for a trial and that usually happens months after all discovery is over. So, there is a long line of previously scheduled trials that get priority over recently filed cases.
Follow the above strategies to maximize your personal injury compensation. To talk with an experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyer, contact VSCP Law.
Did you ever hear the popular saying, “A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client”?
It’s no stretch to conclude that a non-lawyer who represents himself is foolish.
If you suffered an injury in Philadelphia, you should not represent yourself in your personal injury lawsuit. Read on to learn the seven benefits of hiring a personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia to represent you in your Philadelphia personal injury case.
In every personal injury case, time is of the essence. If your Philadelphia personal injury lawyer does not act efficiently and swiftly, you could lose the opportunity to file a lawsuit at all! You need to hire an experienced attorney who appreciates the time-sensitive nature of your personal injury claim.
Pennsylvania law allows you two years from when you knew or should have known that your injury was the result of the defendants’ negligence. In the case of a deceased party, Pennsylvania law allows you two years from the official death date to file a wrongful death personal injury lawsuit. There are some additional exceptional rules that only experienced personal injury lawyers know, which is why it’s crucial to hire one to investigate your case.
An experienced personal injury attorney knows what actions must be taken early in the process such as ordering medical records; reviewing police reports; and collecting witness statements, photographs, and videos. The presence or absence of these crucial forms of evidence could determine whether your lawsuit is successful or not.
If you were injured in a slip and fall, your premises liability attorney might collect building records, weather history, janitorial schedules, etc. If you were injured in a car accident, your car accident attorney might gather auto mechanic invoices, cell phone records, and the defendants’ driving records.
And remember: Much of the critical evidence is in the possession of the defendant and if those items aren’t requested early in the process, the defendant could destroy them.
Thus, you need a Philadelphia personal injury attorney to preserve any and all necessary evidence.
An experienced personal injury attorney will have tried at least dozens of catastrophic loss cases in an actual courtroom. With each case, the Philadelphia personal injury attorney becomes more and more capable because they learn something new every time. And not only do you want an attorney who has tried many personal injury cases, but you want an attorney who has tried many negligence cases successfully. So, it’s not just experience, per se, that matters – success rate is important as well.
In many cases, a personal injury lawsuit is complicated and requires expert review and analysis. Your personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia has access to the best experts in the country. They will ensure that the most appropriate and qualified experts review your case. And they will ensure that those experts write a detailed and comprehensive report to bolster your claim in court.
People tend to forget that when they sue someone, they’re often not just suing someone, a person. They’re also suing a business or a corporation. This is much more daunting because corporations have deep pockets and can hire an army of high-paid lawyers to fight on their behalf. That is typically whom you’re up against.
Let’s say you were visiting a family member in a nursing home. While you were entering the building, a heavy piece of metal fell off the door frame and onto your head, causing catastrophic injuries. That nursing home is a national conglomerate and has the top corporate law firm on retainer. Imagine how easy this case will look to the behemoth corporation you’re up against if you don’t have a premises liability attorney representing you.
Even when your opponent isn’t a corporation, they could still be represented by a powerful insurance company that has a team of lawyers whose number one job it is to find any way possible to get your case thrown out. At times, insurance companies might reach out to you and try to settle the case early “before getting lawyers involved.” This is a mistake. Whatever amount the insurance company tells you they will settle the case for is typically far less than what a Philadelphia personal injury attorney can collect for you. Don’t be tempted to settle the case early with an insurance company. Get a lawyer involved so that your lawyer can get you the highest possible value of your case.
You need to understand who is on the other side of your lawsuit. And you need a personal injury attorney on your side – someone who can help amplify the true value of your case – so these fierce corporations don’t take advantage of you.
Your personal injury lawyer has years of experience trying similar cases, has worked against many defense firms and insurance companies, and knows the ins and outs of the Philadelphia judicial system. If your case requires experts, your Philadelphia personal injury lawyer will find the right one to make your case stronger. If your case can be settled before going to trial for an amount that represents its true value, your Philadelphia personal injury attorney will ensure that the case is settled so you don’t have to go to trial. On the other hand, if the defendant isn’t offering a sufficient amount of money to compensate you for your injuries, then your experienced personal injury lawyer might take the case to trial. The resolution of your personal injury lawsuit could take years to come to fruition. But your experienced personal injury lawyer will be there every step of the way to ensure a successful outcome.
A personal injury attorney has been through the system, represented several clients, tried several cases, and knows how to craft a strategically worded Complaint, discovery documents, and motions to ensure that your case is being built compellingly. They will hire the proper experts and write persuasive court filings, all to ensure that you can be compensated fairly and abundantly for your injuries.
To find an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney, contact the lawyers at VSCP Law.
Two common mistakes people make after they’ve been injured as the result of someone else’s negligence are: (1) they think they don’t need a lawyer so they try to handle the case themselves; or (2) they know they need a lawyer and they call the first law firm phone number they see on a bus sign without doing any research.
First, you’ve heard the saying “A person who represents himself has a fool for a client.” Legal rules and procedures – especially in Philadelphia – are complex. Navigating them is challenging enough for lawyers who have gone through the rigors of law school. But if you have no formal legal training and you attempt to handle your personal injury matter on your own, there is hardly any likelihood that you will achieve an optimal result.
Second, there are many personal injury lawyers in Philadelphia. But there aren’t many personal injury attorneys in Philadelphia who can represent you well and secure a successful outcome for your case. Below are reasons you need to find an experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyer to represent you in your case.
YOU WILL BE ABLE TO FILE THE LAWSUIT IN TIME
In every personal injury case, time is of the essence. If your Philadelphia personal injury lawyer does not act efficiently and swiftly, you could lose the opportunity to file a lawsuit at all! You need to hire an experienced attorney who appreciates the time-sensitive nature of your personal injury claim.
Pennsylvania law allows you two years from when you knew or should have known that your injury was the result of the defendants’ negligence. In the case of a deceased party, Pennsylvania law allows you two years from the official death date to file a wrongful death personal injury lawsuit. There are some additional exceptional rules that only experienced personal injury lawyers know, which is why it’s crucial to hire one to investigate your case.
YOU’LL BE ABLE TO RETAIN CRUCIAL EVIDENCE BEFORE THE DEFENDANT DESTROYS IT
An experienced personal injury attorney knows what actions must be taken early in the process such as ordering medical records; reviewing police reports; and collecting witness statements, photographs, and videos. The presence or absence of these crucial forms of evidence could determine whether your lawsuit is successful or not.
If you were injured in a slip and fall, your premises liability attorney might collect building records, weather history, janitorial schedules, etc. If you were injured in a car accident, your accident attorney might gather auto mechanic invoices, cell phone records, and the defendants’ driving records.
And remember: Much of the critical evidence is in the possession of the defendant and if those items aren’t requested early in the process, the defendant could destroy them.
Thus, you need a Philadelphia personal injury attorney to preserve any and all necessary evidence.
YOUR LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS IS INCREASED SUBSTANTIALLY
With each case, an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney becomes more and more capable because they learn something new every time. And not only do you want an attorney who has tried many personal injury cases, but you want an attorney who has tried many negligence cases successfully. So, it’s not just experience, per se, that matters – success rate is important as well. Ask the attorney you’re thinking of hiring about their record. If they don’t have a good answer, you’ve been given all the information you need. Find a better lawyer.
A PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER WILL HIRE THE RIGHT (AND BEST) EXPERTS
In many cases, a personal injury lawsuit is complicated and requires expert review and analysis. Your personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia has access to the best experts in the country. They will ensure that the most appropriate and qualified experts review your case. And they will ensure that those experts write a detailed and comprehensive report to bolster your claim in court.
To find an experienced personal injury attorney in Philadelphia to represent you in your personal injury case, contact the attorneys at VSCP Law.
The most detrimental mistake you can make in your personal injury case is doing nothing. This sounds overly simplistic but the truth is a lot of people make this mistake. Inaction – that is, not taking action – can mean the difference between no money and hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions. It can also mean the difference between life and death. Read on to learn about the detrimental mistakes of inaction a person can make in their personal injury lawsuit.
FAILURE TO FOLLOW UP WITH A HEALTHCARE PROVIDER
When someone is injured, they often try to self-diagnose and self-treat. Their leg might be broken, but they just take fistfuls of ibuprofen and put the leg up on a chair. They might be doubled over in abdominal pain, but they just drink ginger ale and lie down. Or sometimes the person will be taken to the hospital following their injury and the doctor prescribes them some sort of treatment plan, which includes following up with the healthcare provider in a certain number of days and weeks. And the person feels exhausted and decides they don’t want to go back to the doctor. So, they never get the critical follow-up care they need.
FAILURE TO GET AND MAINTAIN THE CARE YOU NEED
In addition to seeing a healthcare provider after your injury and following up with them, per their instructions, it’s important to maintain your health. This may be monthly or yearly visits to your family medicine doctor or a specialist. This may be consistent exercises that are part of a physical therapy routine. This may be taking a daily medication. This may be regular visits to a mental health counselor. Whatever it is, you need to do it to keep yourself as healthy as possible. Your health and wellness are paramount – treat them like the priority they are.
FAILURE TO CONTACT A PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY
While it’s imperative to seek out medical experts and get the care you need, it’s also imperative to seek out an experienced personal injury attorney in Philadelphia. This Philadelphia personal injury lawyer will guide you through getting the best healthcare you can to help you heal. They will also bring a lawsuit on your behalf. Your personal injury attorney in Philadelphia will investigate all the facts and evidence that led to your injury and will pursue the highest possible compensation for you.
GIVING UP ON YOURSELF
You may receive a devastating diagnosis. Whether it’s late-stage cancer or paralysis of a limb, it is common to feel overwhelmed when envisioning the difficult road ahead and just want to give up. This is a common reaction to terrible, life-altering news. And after you’ve let yourself grieve the loss of the life you once knew, it’s imperative to shift into a new mindset. Imagine the day you tell your story of how you overcame what you went through and it inspires someone else; it becomes their survival guide. Investigate ways to bring joy into your new life. Find activities that you can do well and take pleasure in. Pursue community service – statistics show that engaging in some sort of community service improves self-worth, increases confidence and hope, and decreases stress. And, again, make your health – both your physical health and mental health – a priority.
Don’t allow hopelessness and inaction to thwart your ability to thrive. As soon as you can after your injury, contact the experienced personal injury attorneys at VSCP Law so they can help you get the care you need and successfully represent you in your lawsuit against the defendants.
A term that you may hear in the context of personal injury cases is “catastrophic loss.” And you may wonder how a catastrophic loss case differs from any other personal injury case. A catastrophic loss case involves the death of a person — or a person with a very serious, life-altering, and permanent injury. It might include permanent disfigurement and/or disability.
In the event of a catastrophic loss, you shouldn’t just hire any personal injury attorney in Philadelphia. Your legal journey in these cases can be transformed upon hiring the right personal injury lawyer with adequate experience trying catastrophic loss cases.
If, for instance, your loved one was killed in a car accident, you shouldn’t simply hire an accident attorney. You should hire a motor vehicle accident attorney who has handled catastrophic loss accident cases. Read on to learn more about why your case can be successful and your legal journey transformed upon hiring the right personal injury lawyer with catastrophic loss experience.
In every personal injury case, time is of the essence. If your Philadelphia personal injury lawyer does not act efficiently and swiftly, you could lose the opportunity to file a lawsuit at all! You need to hire an experienced attorney who appreciates the time-sensitive nature of your personal injury claim.
Pennsylvania law allows you two years from when you knew or should have known that your injury was the result of the defendants’ negligence. In the case of a deceased party, Pennsylvania law allows you two years from the official death date to file a wrongful death personal injury lawsuit. There are some additional exceptional rules that only experienced personal injury lawyers know, which is why it’s crucial to hire one to investigate your case.
An experienced personal injury attorney knows what actions must be taken early in the process such as ordering medical records; reviewing police reports; and collecting witness statements, photographs, and videos. The presence or absence of these crucial forms of evidence could determine whether your lawsuit is successful or not.
If you were injured in a slip and fall, your premises liability attorney might collect building records, weather history, janitorial schedules, etc. If you were injured in a car accident, your accident attorney might gather auto mechanic invoices, cell phone records, and the defendants’ driving records.
And remember: Much of the critical evidence is in the possession of the defendant and if those items aren’t requested early in the process, the defendant could destroy them.
Thus, you need a Philadelphia personal injury attorney to preserve any and all necessary evidence.
An experienced personal injury attorney will have tried at least dozens of catastrophic loss cases in an actual courtroom. With each case, the Philadelphia personal injury attorney becomes more and more capable because they learn something new every time. And not only do you want an attorney who has tried many personal injury cases, but you want an attorney who has tried many negligence cases successfully. So, it’s not just experience, per se, that matters – success rate is important as well.
In many cases, a personal injury lawsuit is complicated and requires expert review and analysis. Your personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia has access to the best experts in the country. They will ensure that the most appropriate and qualified experts review your case. And they will ensure that those experts write a detailed and comprehensive report to bolster your claim in court.
To find an experienced personal injury attorney in Philadelphia to represent you in your catastrophic loss case, contact the attorneys at VSCP Law.
It is every parent’s nightmare to consider their child suffering a serious injury. Children can be injured in a variety of contexts: a serious automobile accident, a medical error, a workplace injury, an assault, or a product defect. And when a child is injured, the parent will undoubtedly want to hold the wrongdoer accountable. The parent may also wish to be compensated for the child’s injuries, in particular, when there are considerable costs to pay for the medical and rehabilitative care for their child.
Personal injury lawyers in Philadelphia can assist you every step of the way, relieving you of certain burdens so you can focus your attention on the care and well-being of your child. Philadelphia negligence lawyers will also help you understand the important laws that apply to your rights as a parent. For instance, you have the right to bring a personal injury claim on behalf of your child, so long as your child is under the age of 18.
That may sound strange: a parent is always a parent to their child – why would the right to sue on their behalf change at the age of 18? As you may have guessed, the age matters because at the age of 18, the child becomes a legal adult and as a legal adult, the child will have the right to sue on their behalf.
So, age matters, and timing matters.
In Pennsylvania, you can file a personal injury claim up to two years after the child turns 18 (i.e., up until their 20th birthday). But you should never wait that long to consult a lawyer. If your child suffered an injury, you need to contact a Philadelphia personal injury attorney as soon as possible to preserve your claims.
And while your child’s case doesn’t expire until your child turns 20, YOUR case expires two years after you knew or should have known that your child’s injury was someone’s fault. It is thus critical that you connect with an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney as soon as you suspect your child was injured.
It’s important to note, as mentioned above, that once your child turns 18 years old, they can sue on their behalf. But the same statute of limitations applies to their case. In other words, they have two years from the time they knew or should have known that their injury was the fault of someone else.
In Pennsylvania, there are two main categories of compensation: economic and non-economic. Economic damages are quantifiable, the exact figure can be established with documentation. Examples of economic damages include past and future medical expenses (often incredibly expensive), loss of future earnings, and lost wages (for parents who had to stop working to care for their injured child).
Non-economic damages are not quantifiable – they are more of a subjective assessment of the sad consequences of a birth injury. Examples of non-economic damages include loss of companionship, loss of life’s pleasures, pain and suffering, humiliation and embarrassment, and disfigurement.
No amount of money will take away the pain a child and their family feel after their child gets injured. But, with an experienced personal injury attorney in Philadelphia, you can at least rest assured that you will get the most compensation possible for your case.
Learn more about the rights you have as a parent to file a personal injury claim on behalf of your child. Contact the experienced personal injury lawyers at VSCP Law today.
Philadelphia personal injury lawyers know that one of the most important actions they can take to increase the value of a personal injury case is to aggressively pursue and preserve evidence. They know what actions must be taken early in the process such as ordering medical records; reviewing police reports; and collecting witness statements, photographs, and videos. The presence or absence of these crucial forms of evidence could determine whether your lawsuit is successful or not. Much of the critical evidence is in the possession of the defendant and if those items aren’t requested early in the process, the defendant might destroy them, even inadvertently. And of course sometimes the defendant has the evidence in their possession and still fails to hand it over. In that case, your personal injury attorney can file a motion to compel the production of the evidence. If the motion is successful, the court will order the defendant to hand over the evidence. Thus, you need an experienced Personal Injury Attorneys in Philadelphia to know what to ask for, how to ask for it, when to ask for it, and what to do if the defendant fails to produce it.
And while personal injury attorneys will aggressively seek as much evidence as possible, the clients, themselves, need to do some work too. Personal injury clients usually have firsthand access to medical records, financial documents, police reports, photographs, and videos, and all of these items can be useful in increasing the value of your personal injury case.
Your Philadelphia negligence attorney will review medical records, health summaries, hospital notes, lab results, police reports, workplace reports, insurance documents, and all other necessary paperwork to fully understand what took place that led to your workplace injury, slip and fall, car accident, or other catastrophic personal injury case. Your personal injury lawyer knows how to analyze piles and piles of records and determine which pieces of evidence are key to the success of the case.
An experienced catastrophic injury attorney evaluates your case with knowledge of all possible causes of action and claims for damages, and will draft your Complaint utilizing that key knowledge. The Complaint will also comply with all applicable statutes. In other words, an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney knows how to craft your claim in the way that puts you in the best position to win.
Even if you file your personal injury lawsuit promptly, there will still be a wait time of at least a couple of years before your case goes to trial. Between the time your attorney files the Complaint and the actual trial date, there is a lengthy period called “Discovery.” Discovery is where both sides to the lawsuit request, exchange, and examine information and evidence pertaining to the case. This includes depositions of parties, experts writing reports, and often a series of motions and hearings on evidentiary issues.
And notwithstanding the considerable length of the discovery period, another delay looms large in Personal Injury Attorneys in Philadelphia: cases are backlogged due to the COVID pandemic. So, there is a long line of postponed trials that get priority over recently-filed cases.
This is why it’s essential to connect with a Personal Injury Attorneys in Philadelphia as soon as you are injured; it will help your personal injury lawyer to get the ball rolling so that you can be compensated for your injuries as swiftly as possible.
To find an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney, contact the lawyers at VSCP Law.
Personal injuries can range anywhere from a minor nuisance to a life-altering tragedy. What people don’t often understand is the wide range of financial implications of personal injuries. Read on to learn about possible financial setbacks caused by personal injuries.
Lost wages. If you were working at the time you were injured, it’s possible that your injury could cause you to miss work for a temporary amount of time. If your injury is serious enough, it could prevent you from returning to work altogether. In other words, you may miss a set amount of time (say, 6 months) of work and related wages – or, you may have to quit your job because you are no longer physically or mentally able to continue working. If you have to quit your job, you are likely losing a significant source of steady income.
Household and living services. People often take it for granted when they are physically and mentally well enough to cook dinner, pack a child’s lunch, vacuum a carpet, dust a mantel, replace a lightbulb, carry a laundry basket, lift a young child, shovel a driveway, drive to the supermarket, etc. When your injury prevents you from executing these common household and family tasks, you may have to pay someone else to do them.
Medical expenses. Your personal injury may require you to go to a doctor, a hospital, rehabilitation center, or other facility that will help treat your injuries. You may need to begin taking prescription or over-the-counter medicine to help treat your injuries. You may need to purchase crutches or a cane or compression socks. All of these purchases fall under the category of medical expenses. Some of your medical bills might be covered by insurance, but some may not.
Travel expenses. When people are injured, they may have to travel to deal with the consequences of their injury. For instance, suppose someone is injured who lives several dozen miles away from the nearest hospital or from the appropriate rehabilitation facility. And they have frequent follow-up appointments or a rehabilitation program that requires them to drive to the rehabilitation center multiple times per week. Gas and tolls and wear-and-tear on your car add up and can be financially crippling.
Property damage. In many cases, along with injury to your person, you may also suffer damage to your property. The most common example of this is a car accident where your car may have been significantly damaged and would require repair. As some injuries to your body may be minor and some may be catastrophic, some damage to your property may be minor and some damage may be catastrophic (and, in the case of serious injuries, irreparable).
The above expenses can be financially devastating. Filing a personal injury lawsuit could help you become financially secure. For premium legal advice about how to go about this, contact the experienced personal injury lawyers at VSCP LAW.