Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorneys

This article explores common misconceptions that keep down-to-earth, deserving people from receiving compensation for accidents and injuries caused by someone else’s negligence. Scan the bolded questions to find concerns that relate to you and your situation.

Why Deserving People Don’t Call Car Accident Lawyer

(Pixabay / MichaelGaida)

1. How could I afford a lawyer?

Most personal injury lawyers (including our attorneys here at Tingey Injury Law Firm) only charge their clients if the client wins the case. If you don’t win your case, you will not owe your lawyers a dime.

Called ‘contingency payment,’ this kind of percentage-based payment literally makes it impossible for you to be hit with hidden legal costs. Contingency payment means that your personal injury lawyer will receive a percentage of the money you receive from your suit and nothing more.

Related questions and answers:

  • What if my suit settles for some amount of money, but the lawyer fees are more than the money that I receive? Won’t I be stuck with the bill if this happens?

Most personal injury lawyers charge a standard percentage of the money that they win on your behalf (usually a slightly higher percentage if the case is won in trial vs. settled out of court). Because the lawyers take their payments out of the winnings, you will never be in a situation in which you would owe your lawyers more money than you win,

  • What if I can’t even pay for the initial consultation?

Reputable law firms don’t charge fees for the initial consultation. The law firm will review your case and decide if it’s worth pursuing. Because lawyers are only paid as a percentage of winning, the lawyer won’t take your case if he or she doesn’t think there’s a very high chance of winning.

With a reputable law firm, you won’t ever be in the situation where you are asked to make payments in anticipation of winning.

  • Won’t the legal fees mean that my losses won’t be fully compensated, even if I do win my case?

Some deserving people avoid hiring a car accident lawyer because they assume that once the legal fees have been paid, there won’t be enough money left over to really make much of a difference. This is a prevalent but false notion. The final settlement that you receive after winning your case will include money to cover all costs associated with the injury, including enough money to cover the legal fees. Compensation usually includes money to cover expenses incurred, lost wages, pain and suffering, and legal fees.

2. I’m not that kind of a person.

One potential client wrote the following thoughts about her reluctance to consult a personal injury lawyer:

I can just imagine the side-eye that I’d get from my extended family if I said that I’d hired a lawyer. It would even be worse if I said that I’d ‘retained an attorney,’ so I try to stick with the most non-threatening words I can find. My family would think something was wrong with me if they ever found out that I was suing someone. In general, suing is seen as something that entitled, complain-y people do, not something for down-to-earth, hard-working people like us.

Many people have little or no experience with personal injury law and harbor misconceptions. Frivolous lawsuits are outrageous and often make the evening news. However, if you are suffering the consequences for someone else’s mistake or negligence, then you are not part of one of those ‘frivolous’ lawsuits.

Don’t let other people’s expectations and preconceived ideas dictate how you will react to a costly accident or injury. Down-to-earth, hard-working people are also the people who stand for justice. If someone else’s mistake is taking a toll on you, and by extension, your family, then the most sensible reaction is for you to gather the resources you need to compensate for your family’s loss.

Related questions and answers:

  • The other person just made an honest mistake, so how could I feel right about suing?

Most people purchase auto insurance policies and property insurance properties because they understand that they may inadvertently hurt someone (in this case, you). Personal injury lawyers mainly communicate with insurance companies in order to get clients the money which the insurance agency is already legally contracted to pay.

Bottom line: they engage in a professional exchange with highly profitable insurance companies who can easily afford to compensate people for the damages they have incurred through no fault of their own.

In general, nice people own insurance so that they can properly reimburse others if mistakes are made. Filing a personal injury claim can be described as requesting that the insurance company honor their end of the contract that they willingly made with you.

  • How can I move forward with my goal to forgive the person who hurt me, if I am also suing them?

Once you have forgiven an offender, you will be able to remember that person without animosity. Receiving appropriate compensation may be a crucial step in the process of forgiving, allowing you to feel compassion for the offender as you work toward having both of your needs met.

Forgiving someone means working to remove animosity and resentment towards them from your heart. You can sincerely wish them well, and you can lose the desire to punish them or watch them suffer. Removing responsibility from the person to whom it rightly belongs will not speed the process of forgiveness.

If your partner yells at your kids, you forgive by retaining (or regaining) a personal warmth for your partner, but it’s his job to repair the relationship with your kids. There is nothing honest or noble in your trying to compensate for your partner’s yelling, while he watches from the sidelines.

Similarly, you can work toward a feeling of personal warmth and generosity toward the person who has injured you or caused your accident, but they are still responsible for setting things right from their end.

Conclusion

Don’t be the hard-working, down-to-earth person who doesn’t get the compensation you deserve simply because you didn’t know how to ask. It’s not fair to you, or your family, to pay the cost of someone else’s poor judgement. If you have incurred medical expenses, lost wages or experienced significant negative effects from an accident or injury that could have been avoided, consult with a trusted accident lawyer in the Las Vegas area.