What to Know Before Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit

An experienced lawyer can help you with your lawsuit, but that’s only the beginning of what you’ll need. Let’s take some time to talk about what you’ll need to know before filing a personal injury lawsuit.

How Much Should You Try to Get?

Some people think that if they file a personal injury lawsuit against a person or business entity that they allege harmed them or made them ill, then they can collect damages fairly easily. If you have a situation with a defendant who’s eager to settle, that’s always possible. More often, though, this situation will play out over weeks or months, and a lot of effort and energy must go into it.

Let’s say you feel that a person or company harmed you. You start reaching out to some personal injury attorneys in your area. You do some research and find a few that you feel might represent you best.

You can go and meet with one of them. You can explain what occurred and ask them if they think you have a case. You can probably trust their judgment, assuming they have a good deal of expertise in this particular niche.

You will need to ask about how much you should try to get from the defendant if you decide to move forward with the lawsuit. You might have a number in mind, but if you are not an expert in personal injury law, you can’t tell if it is at all realistic.

 
Your lawyer can talk to you about that and tell you the number for which they think you should aim. However, in order to determine that, they will probably have a lot of questions for you that you must try to answer as best you can.

Should You Attempt to Collect Non-Economic Damages?

The lawyer will no doubt ask you about the economic damages that you are trying to get from the defendant. These will form the lawsuit’s foundation.

 
You will try to get back any economic losses that you believe the defendant caused. Those might include the money to repair your vehicle in a car crash lawsuit. If you needed to miss work while you recovered, then you might try to get back lost wages. You may have additional economic losses that you’re trying to recoup as well.

You might need to talk with the lawyer about whether feel you should get money for non-economic losses, though. If you feel that the defendant caused you pain and suffering, or you have mental anguish because of something they did, then going after them for damages becomes likely.

You can ask the lawyer about how much they think you should ask for if you feel that you should get some money for non-economic losses. They can probably look at precedent from similar cases to help you come up with an appropriate number.

Do You Have Enough Evidence to Make This Effort Worth It?

You will next probably need to talk about evidence with your would-be lawyer. Maybe you feel certain that this person or company harmed you through some action or inaction on their part. Can you produce any tangible evidence that proves it, though?

Your lawyer will probably ask if any video evidence exists. Maybe someone recorded the incident on their smartphone. If a car crash injured you, then maybe a store or traffic camera picked that up.

 
They may ask if you have any documentation that can help prove your case. That might include a doctor’s report that details your injuries or the extent of your illness. If you got in a car accident, then maybe there’s a police accident report that you can use.

If the lawyer feels you might not have enough evidence to prove your case, then they may not willingly take it on. In most instances, though, they’re at least willing to investigate to see what evidence they turn up.

Have You Considered How This Will Disrupt Your Life?

You also need to think about how filing this lawsuit will disrupt your life before you go forward with it. Personal injury lawsuits take up a lot of your time.

 
You will probably have to meet with your lawyer many times. You must drive to go visit them at their office or have someone else drive you. If you don’t want to do that, then you may have a series of Zoom calls.

You will probably have to appear in court. If you’re still trying to work while all of this goes on, you may have to miss some days to pursue lawsuit-related matters. If you’re taking a leave of absence from work, your boss might not like that.

Have You Talked About This Action with Your Family?

You will also probably need to talk with your family about whether you want to move forward with this lawsuit or not. This decision will impact them as well.

If you’re going to a lot of court dates and meetings with your lawyer, then maybe you’re not around to help your kids with their homework. Perhaps you can’t drive them to school. You might not have the time to cook meals, so maybe the family will need to order in a lot.

If you have a spouse or partner, this will impact their life quite a bit. They may need to take over a lot of the chores and tasks they you normally do.

 
You must talk about all of this with them and determine whether you think it’s worth it. If you feel that you badly need the money in damages that this lawsuit might provide, then you may have little choice but to move forward.