Is the Settlement Payout Higher with a Personal Injury Lawyer After Legal Fees?
It is understandable that you might be nervous about contacting a personal injury lawyer. You may be wondering things like: “Do I really need legal representation?”, “My insurance company will handle everything for me, right?”, and “Aren’t personal injury lawyers expensive?”
Whether or not you were injured as a result of being in an accident, you should still contact a personal injury lawyer for a free consultation. An experienced personal injury lawyer knows the intricacies of the legal system. As such, he will make sure you are not missing any steps and he can give you sound advice on how to proceed.
Personal Injury and Contingency Fees
Personal injury lawyers are typically retained on a contingency-fee basis. A personal injury lawyer will only get paid if they are successful in getting you a settlement. Hiring a personal injury lawyer can help you get a better settlement offer than you would be able to achieve on your own. Moreover, they will often front the legal costs associated with your claim so that you do not have to pay out of pocket.
There is evidence from several academic research studies that suggests that having a lawyer increases your settlement amount.
According to research done by the Insurance Research Council (IRC) titled “Paying for Car Injuries: A Consumer Panel Survey of Auto Accident Victims”, the insurance payment for accident victims who retained a personal injury lawyer was increased by forty percent compared to those who did not.
The influence of legal representation on insurance settlement payouts was the subject of a second IRC report titled “Auto Injuries: Claims Behavior and Its Impact on Insurance Costs” According to the IRC, eighty-five percent of all bodily injury insurance payouts go to clients who are represented by personal injury lawyers.
Furthermore, in the IRC’s study titled “Auto Injury Insurance Claims: Countrywide Patterns in Treatment, Cost and Compensation”, twelve different private auto insurance companies provided data on more than thirty-five thousand claims for injuries. The study stated that the involvement of a personal injury attorney has an effect on the amount paid by insurance companies for claimants’ medical bills.
The findings of the research studies and reports mentioned above, offer evidence that hiring a personal injury lawyer after an accident is a wise financial decision.
Ryan Hilts is an experienced attorney who handles personal injury, workers’ compensation, and automobile accident cases. Reach out to him at Ryan L. Hilts, Attorney at Law if you have been injured in an accident and wish to schedule a free consultation.
