An injury or damage caused to a person not the result of their own fault, is considered a personal injury. The injury may be caused by any negligent activity on the part of another person. If a person is found to be negligently responsible for an injury, they may be required to pay damages. But what are the compensations and costs if you are in this situation?

It isn’t easy to directly answer this question because the amount injury compensation will vary from case to case. Nevertheless, there are some standard costs involved, and they can be negotiated to some degree.

What Are The Most Common Types Of Personal Injury?

• Automobile accident: Perhaps the most common as everyone uses a car in their daily lives. This could be from vehicle on vehicle or vehicle on a pedestrian.
• Medical malpractice: These cases can be complex and require a knowledgeable lawyer.
• Product liability: If you get injured from using a defective product, you could be liable to receive damages.
• Slips/ Falls: These can be difficult to prove, but when it is evident that warning signs should have been placed, you might have a chance.

What Is Classified As A Personal Injury Claim?

If you are involved in an accident that results in an injury, you might be entitled to compensation. If you are injured, you can file a personal injury claim to seek damages due to your injuries. Depending on the lawsuit you are suing for, your results would be different. There are also specific procedures you should go through for your lawyer to get a full assessment. These Louisville personal injury lawyers point out that the process from your injury to making a claim will involve seeking medical treatment initially and then contacting an attorney for help in the claims process. Your attorney will then begin to make arrangements that include investigating your injury’s circumstances and presenting a claim to the insurance company involved.

Personal Injury Lawsuits: What Influences Their Outcomes?

Insurance companies will have some set rules regarding the payouts they offer in pretrial settlements, and they are based on a couple of factors:

• What injuries you sustain: Severe injuries typically result in higher medical costs and higher “pain and suffering” damages, which generally mean higher settlements. Your attorney must prove this by evidence from medical bills.
• Insurance policy for the defendant: The settlement you receive will depend on what insurance policy you have taken out (regarding auto accidents).
• Whether it goes to trial: If you are unable to reach a civil settlement and go to trial, it will be in the hands of the court to determine an outcome. This could be subtlety more or less than the initial offer.

What Are The Fees Attorneys Typically Charge?

It is typically the case that your attorney will receive the compensation check in a successful outcome and then pass on to you that amount minus their costs. This can further reduce the amount you receive. However, there are many different ways in which an attorney will charge you, ranging from their fees – often expensive due to the risk they take in representing you – to other costs involved like police and medical reports.

Contingency Fees

Personal injury lawyers generally charge a fee, called a contingency fee, only if they win your case and obtain monetary compensation for you. If you lose the case and are not compensated for your injuries and losses, the lawyer will not receive any money from you. A lawyer’s services are generally provided on a contingency basis in personal injury cases. Essentially, it means the settlement or damages award after a successful trial will be reduced by the attorney’s fees, and the amount you receive will be representative of that. For example, if you win $50,000 in court, you will not get a check for that amount, but it will be $50,000 minus the lawyer’s contingency fee plus other expenses.

Why Are Contingency Fees So High?

This amount reflects the lawyer’s willingness to take a risk and that you won’t have to pay anything upfront. In personal injury claims, a lawyer usually charges 33% to 40% of the settlement or verdict they win for the client. Using this calculation, the insurance company will sometimes pay the lawyer much more than the client’s amount. This is because other costs are involved. However, the main point is that there could be a chance that you might lose your injury case, and if that is the case, your lawyer will walk away with nothing. In some extreme cases, they will lose money from the time and effort invested and the cost of ancillary items needed for the case.

More often than not, a lawyer will only take a case if there is a reasonable chance that they can win, but as with anything in life, nothing is entirely sure. In any case, it is always possible to negotiate the legal fees of a person injured in an accident. Some standard negotiation methods include:

• Applying the threat factor: It is sometimes the case that the act of hiring a lawyer will convince an insurance company to provide a reasonable offer to stop any further action. This is because they understand that if they are to lose, their costs involved could be substantially higher than merely paying you what you are owed. Thus, you could agree with your attorney that they will receive a reduced contingency fee since they will be working much less than running the case.
• Pay by the hour: If you are comfortable that you can win your case, you could discuss with a law firm if you can pay them per hour for general legal advice relating to your lawsuit. They would not represent you nor appear in court on your behalf, so you must be comfortable with representing yourself.

Other expenses that might come directly from your attorney include:

• Records of medical care.
• Reports from the police.
• Costs of expert witnesses.
• Researchers and experts.

The amount you receive from a personal injury claim can vary significantly due to the type of injuries you receive, loss of earnings, and lawyer fees. Although you may negotiate to reduce some costs, others are fixed and part of the system.