Car wrecked? Personal Injuries? Remember 3 Things

After contacting a qualified personal injury lawyer, you must continue to look after three things: your car repairs, your medical care, and your job. There’s more, but these three things are the biggies on your own To Do list.

First, take care of the car as soon as you can, and don’t overspend. Move your car where you can store it for free. Don’t have the car repaired until an adjuster comes to makes an appraisal, because the shop will probably agree to fix your car for this lesser, appraised amount. Your jaw may drop once you learn how much the shop will cut from the estimate. Also, if you already have car insurance, don’t buy extra insurance on your rental car, because you won’t recover this amount.

Second, make and keep all necessary medical appointments. Call ahead and reschedule if needed, but don’t miss recommended tests, doctor visits or therapy dates. Don’t create the impression you don’t want to get better, or, that you weren’t hurt as bad as you say you were. Also, tell the doctor all of your complaints, because your personal injury lawyer can’t do much with a claim that lacks medical support. And follow your doctor’s advice. Don’t be seen engaging in activities your doctors have warned you to avoid.

By the way, follow your health insurer's rules. If your referral has expired, get a new one. And pay your co pays! While we can advise you, we can’t pay your bills. Even if you can’t pay everything, you can call health care providers and try to work something out. Ignoring them is the worst thing you can do.

Third, and finally, follow your employer’s rules about sick leave and disability. If you need a doctor’s report or other proof to obtain leave, or to recover private disability insurance benefits, take care of it. If you now have a disability that requires an accommodation, follow your employer’s rules to show them you are entitled to that accommodation. Confused about all of this? Ask us for advice. We can talk to you about Social Security Disability, too.

Your personal injury lawyer is dedicated to helping you resolve your claim, but you must be a responsible member of your own recovery team. Don’t just sit back doing nothing, expecting your personal injury lawyer to produce a windfall. Miracle awards? That happens only on television. Personal injury claims involve a lot of hard work, and, ahem, much of it is yours.  

We teach our clients how to protect themselves. We explain how to maximize their ability to recover costs and to obtain appropriate compensation. Sometimes there are several avenues of recovery that need to be pursued. We will discuss them with you.

Finally, don’t accept this blog as a substitute for legal advice. It isn’t. Pick up the phone!