I want to address some misconceptions and thoughts about whether or not someone needs to hire a personal injury attorney after a car accident or other injury resulting from negligence.  It is a big decision whether or not – and if so, who – to hire as your personal injury lawyer in Spokane.  There are a lot of choices.  These are some important things to keep in mind if you are considering hiring a Spokane personal injury attorney.

“If I hire a lawyer after an accident, all of my settlement will go to pay fees.”  Well, you will have to pay your lawyer, yes.  And you will have to pay back some costs.  But it has been my experience that having a lawyer conduct negotiations with the insurance company almost always results in a much higher settlement figure than one negotiated by the injured person alone.  There are several reasons for this:  an experienced personal injury lawyer knows what the insurance company needs to hear to justify paying out a larger settlement.  A good personal injury attorney knows the key terminology that insurance adjusters need to hear, and the records they need to paper their file for the superiors to sign off on bigger offers.  And, I have never taken a fee from a client that resulted in them taking home less than they would have if they had not hired me.

Even more importantly, a good personal injury attorney can help you manage your medical treatment after an accident.  If you are in a car accident, a slip and fall, or suffer another injury because of someone else’s negligence, your injuries may not be readily apparent.  Some injuries take a long time to manifest.  Other times, injuries present as one thing, but either progress into something more serious, or actually are a serious injury masked as something less so.  A good personal injury attorney can guide you to the right doctors.  And, the right personal injury lawyer will help you sort out all of the confusing insurance paperwork, billing, and can even make arrangements with the doctors to put off payment until after you receive compensation in some cases.  That can be very important when surgery or other expensive treatment becomes necessary after an accident.  Most people cannot pay for that out of pocket if their insurance coverage is exhausted, but the right personal injury lawyer can help you work with the medical providers through a Letter of Protection or other agreement.

Many times, even when you know you are completely without fault for an accident, the other party involved will change their story and claim they didn’t cause your accident and injury.  Even when they admitted fault at the scene of the accident, often times their insurance company, lawyer, or someone else can change their memory of how things happened.  If liability – or fault – becomes contested, you need an experienced personal injury lawyer to help you put together your case if you are going to get a reasonable settlement.  And if the other side won’t settle, you need the knowledge and resources of a good personal injury lawyer to take your case to trial.  If that lawyer has been with you from the beginning, hopes are he or she has managed your medical care, done the right investigations, and prepared your file from day one, so you will have the best chance for a positive outcome.

There are a lot of personal injury lawyers in Spokane, WA.  It is hard to know how to choose one.  Before I opened my own practice in 2010, I spent 8 years working for the major insurance companies defending hundreds of personal injury lawsuits, working with adjusters, learning how insurance companies work behind the scenes and what they need to justify paying out a settlement.  I have worked on every kind of personal injury case:  car, truck and bus accidents, slip and fall injuries and other premises liability cases, product liability cases, dog bite cases, serious injury and wrongful death cases.  Additionally, I have lived almost my entire life in Spokane, WA, and have deep ties to the medical community so I know the right doctors for my clients.

Hiring a personal injury lawyer in Spokane is a very serious decision.  Contact the Green Law Office to speak with Alan and see if he is the right fit for you and your family.

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