To many of those who are involved in a
car accident, the question of whether to press the button for an out of court
settlement or sue in court can be a perplexing one. However, the fact is that
the vast majority of those would like to settle. In the same way, most victims
resolve their insurance claims via a settlement without any lawsuit being
filed.
Yet, there can be advantages if you file a lawsuit and let a
judge or jury determine your case. All injury cases aren’t alike and there can
be several factors to consider which your Savannah, GA accident lawyer will go
over with you from top to bottom. Therefore, it would be wise to understand
the pros and cons of both options.
An
Out of Court Settlement
Advantages
There are many individuals who would
rather settle a car accident claim than file a lawsuit at court, as such a
course offer some advantages. They are…
- You can receive the compensation faster
- You can avoid the high fees charged by legal professionals
- You need not appear at several court proceedings such as hearings, trial, and depositions and also avoid unpredictable jury decisions
- The possibility of losing at trial with zero compensation
A demand letter is usually the customary
way of settling injury claims prior to going to court. Before you can begin
writing a demand letter, a lot preparation as well as gathering evidence must
be completed. If you have undergone medical treatment, you must request for
your entire medical records from your health care provider. This might take a
few months and medical providers might charge you a fee for making the records
available to you.
In case you have missed work, you should
make a request for your relevant employment records that shows your usual hours
and the salary received before the injury, and also the missed time due to the
injury, including hours and or days missed for the appointments with your
doctor. Your Georgia accident attorney will let you know that this information
is vital. You must also collect any proof of legal liability for the car
accident.
After gathering all the relevant
records, draft a concise and well-written demand letter in which every
important date is mentioned in the right chronological order. Narrate all the
incidents concerned with the injury, such as what occurred, witnesses, and
other necessary details, and also write down the precise sum of money you have
spent on your medical treatment, if possible.
Many Savannah, GA accident lawyers
recommend that you enclose all the key medical records with the demand letter.
Once the letter is written to your satisfaction, send it to the wrongdoer, or
his/her insurance company or attorney by mail.
The next step obviously is the usual
settlement talks. Having a legal representative with you while engaged in
settlement talks can prove invaluable. You can find an excellent lawyer who
knows these legal accident channels on this site: https://usattorneys.com/.
Going
to Court
First, you or your lawyer should file
the lawsuit at court by presenting a legal complaint and submitting it to the
right court. You must serve the legal complaint on the other driver as well,
through a law enforcement officer or process server. Usually the defendant has
20 days to respond to the complaint.
Next, you will participate in the
discovery process. At the time of discovery, you can ask for information from
the defendant, and he/she can seek information from you. You can obtain this
information by certain processes called interrogatories, and depositions. Your
lawyer will guide you through these processes.
Trial is your last step of a car
accident lawsuit in which a judge/jury will weigh the evidence presented and
determine your case. The preparation as well as representation during trial can
be both expensive and time-consuming. But without a Georgia accident lawyer you
will receive a fraction of what your case is really worth. You will not pay
your legal representative until you are paid. They only take a percentage of
the settlement or the verdict. Hiring a lawyer will pay
dividends in the end, and actually from the beginning as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment