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If you or a loved one suffered a spinal cord injury, choosing the right attorney can have a major impact on the outcome of your case. A Rutherfordton spinal cord injury lawyer can guide you through the legal process and help you pursue fair compensation. To determine if a law firm is a good fit for your case, come prepared with a list of questions and concerns.
Knowing which questions to ask your spinal cord injury lawyer can help you understand their experience, communication style, and approach to handling claims. Their answers can give you peace of mind and help you feel more confident moving forward. The more information you have during your consultation, the easier it will be to make an informed decision.
1. How Much Experience Have You Had With Spinal Cord Injury Cases?
Finding a lawyer with the right experience is vital. Merely hiring a personal injury lawyer may not be enough. You want a lawyer who has specific experience with:
- Cases involving spinal cord injuries. These are potentially catastrophic injuries that require extensive medical care and may never fully heal. Your lawyer should be aware of these complexities and know how to pursue fair compensation for such severe, permanent injuries.
- The kind of accident that caused your spinal cord injury. For example, if you were hurt in a car crash, your lawyer should have experience with car crashes. If you were involved in a motorcycle accident, they should know about motorcycle accident cases.
Every type of personal injury case comes with potential obstacles that are specific to that case type. If an attorney has not handled cases like yours before, there is no guarantee that they will be ready if and when those obstacles come up.
Not only has our law firm managed spinal cord injury cases, but we also have attorneys with experience in other areas of the law. For example, if you decide to file for Social Security Disability due to a permanent injury, we can help you file a Disability claim as well as a personal injury case.
2. What are the Results of Past Spinal Cord Injury Cases?
Some case results are confidential, and of course, your lawyer cannot share personal details about past clients. However, they should be able to provide general overviews of how some of their past clients were injured, how they overcame challenges associated with the case, and how much money they recovered for the client.
Note that past successes cannot guarantee future outcomes, and that your attorney probably will not be able to provide a specific estimate of how much your spinal cord injury case is worth: the amount you can collect depends on factors like how serious the injury is and how it has impacted your life. Your main goal in asking about past results is to:
- Confirm that the attorney has had spinal cord injury clients before
- Get a general sense of how much your case might be worth
- Determine if the lawyer has any past successes to report, which shows that they know how to handle cases like yours
Personal Injury Lawyer Near Me (828) 286-3866
3. How Might Your Lawyer Handle Your Spinal Cord Injury Claim?
During your first meeting with a personal injury lawyer, it is important to get clarity on how they manage cases like yours. This includes:
- How they talk to insurance companies that are reluctant to negotiate
- How they go about investigating accidents and building case files
- How often they stay in touch with clients
- If they are willing and able to go to court for you
- What, if anything, they expect clients to do
Regarding this last point, your attorney probably will not require much from you beyond regular availability to discuss case updates and any relevant materials you have collected, such as medical bills or accident scene photos. They will also ask you to share your story and answer questions about the accident, such as:
- How and where did the accident happen?
- What were you doing at the time of the accident? Did you notice what the at-fault party was doing?
- What did you do immediately after the accident? What did the at-fault party do? Were there witnesses or anyone who tried to help you?
- What has your doctor said about your injuries?
- How has your life changed because of your injuries?
Just as your lawyer should be prepared to answer your questions, you should come to your first meeting ready to discuss the purpose of your visit. Your personal injury attorney understands that this may be emotionally difficult for you, so please do not worry if it takes you a while to get through your story or if you need occasional prompting from the attorney.
4. How Does Your Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Get Paid?
It is understandable if legal costs are a primary concern for you and your family: after all, you have just been through a devastating accident and suffered an injury (perhaps more than one injury) that is notoriously expensive to treat. One 2021 study found that medical care for spinal cord injuries could run into the tens of thousands of dollars or even more than a million in the first year alone.
For this reason, many spinal cord injury law firms work on contingency. This means they only get paid after you receive a payout—in other words, their attorneys’ fees are contingent on their ability to recover damages for you.
When you speak to your attorney, ask if they work on contingency or if they use another fee structure (e.g., an hourly fee). If they do accept a contingency fee, make sure they explain to you what percentage of your settlement they will receive and when. Neither side wants any surprises when it comes to payment.
Our Spine Injury Lawyers Are Happy to Answer Your Questions
Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC, understands how devastating spinal cord injuries can be. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to ask questions of your spinal cord injury lawyer and get the legal support you deserve as you recover. Call now to get a free consultation from a firm that has represented 10,000 clients in cases of all kinds.
