If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you may be wondering if a personal injury lawsuit is the right recourse for you. The best first step is to speak to a local Sarasota or Tampa personal injury lawyer to understand if pursuing a lawsuit is in your best interests. If moving forward is the right choice, there are some steps you should take. Personal injury settlements can be dramatically increased or decreased based upon how you approach the process.

Here are some tips to make sure you maximize the money you have coming to you. Remember, calling a personal injury attorney as soon as possible may make all the difference for your success.

What Affects Personal Injury Settlements?

When you are first injured, you may not be thinking of the long term affects of your accident. You may not be thinking immediately of how to document the scene and the situation. But how well these things are handled may have a significant impact on your ultimate settlement. Here are the factors which may affect your outcome.

Medical Bills, Actual and Forecasted: With any major injury, your medical bills will begin to mount quickly. From your ambulance ride to the emergency room costs, your hospital stay, any x-rays, surgeries or treatments, as well as medications – actual medical costs are easily quantifiable. However, the prognosis and long-term forecast of how this injury will affect your livelihood and well-being will be equally important.
Wage Loss Short and Long Term: How the injury affects an individuals ability to earn a living will affect the level of the financial settlement of the case.
Level of Impairment: Even if your injury is long-term, personal injury settlements may reflect lower awards if you did not lose your ability to work or earn a living. They may also consider if you lost the ability to pursue a favorite hobby, such as a runner or skier no longer being able to participate in their sport – or if you can still enjoy these pastimes.
The Reputation of the Doctor: If your medical professional is your regular doctor, or a specialist you were referred to by your own doctor – this adds credibility to your case. A known “ambulance chaser” (someone who specializes in treating individuals for personal injury claims) may cause jurors to look at your case with some skepticism. You may also be met with some skepticism and lower settlements if the original physician’s report did not indicate an injury, but a later report from another doctor did.
Likeability of the Parties: This may not seem fair on the surface, as you may think the facts of the case should be the sole determinant of a financial award. But if the injured party is a sympathetic figure and the defendant is not, personal injury settlements tend to be higher. For instance, if a mother walking with a stroller was hit by someone speeding who then left the scene, the judge or jurors are likely to sympathize more with the victim.
Attorney Experience: The insurance companies will try to get you to take a lesser settlement to make the situation go away. An inexperienced lawyer may not be aware of the strategies of the opposition, or the reasonably expected dollar amounts based on the above factors. Hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer is your best protection against accepting personal injury settlements which are too low and not reflective of what your injury is worth.

The attorneys at Probinsky & Coleprovide expert personal injury representation to clients from Tampa to Sarasota. Call us today to learn what your injury claim may be worth to you.