Personal Injury Claim: Should You Hire An Attorney?

I'll answer that question with a few questions:

Should you use a realtor when you sell your home? Should you use an appraiser to value your home? Should you use a title company when it comes time to have the transaction closed?

Let's say you want to sell your home that you bought 40 years ago for $10,000.00. Someone offers you $35,000.00, you decide to sell because it sounds to you like a good offer. In reality, your home is worth $60,000.00 and you just gave up $25,000.00 because you took what sounded good, and not what it was worth based on current market values.

If you had consulted an appraiser he would have told you that your home was worth $60,000.00. Perhaps then you would have made the decision not to sell.

Let me give you a personal injury example. You're injured in an auto accident. The day after the accident you're contacted by the other party's insurance carrier. They offer you $2,000.00 for your pain and suffering. That sounds like a good offer, so you take the $2,000.00 and sign all the releases.

Two weeks later your neck is really hurting you. You spend the $2,000.00 plus an additional $2,000.00 to get treatment for your badly injured neck.

The value of an attorney to personal injury claimants was conceded by a noted critic of personal injury attorneys. In his book "The Injury Industry and the Remedy of No-Fault Insurance" Jeffery O'Connell stated the following:

"Studies tend to show that hiring an attorney not only increases the chance and amount of payment but leaves more net payment for the claimant even after deducting his attorney's fee.

"According to one statistical study conducted at the Columbia Law School, `the claimant who retains an attorney improves his chances of recovery; and, in addition, `the increment to the victim who retains an attorney is large enough so that, even after the attorney's fee is deducted, he will "net" more than if he had handled the case himself.

"Insurance companies seem willing to pay claimants, when they retain attorneys, a sufficient increment to more than cover the attorney's cost. In other words, in the tough test of the marketplace, the contingent fee seems to prove its worth."

Additional support is found in a 1994 study by the Insurance Research Council which shows that, on average, claims resolved without an attorney settled for $9,000 less. According to that study the average settlement when no lawyer was involved was $3,262.00 compared to $11,939.00 when a lawyer handled the case. The difference: $8,677.00. A little arithmetic shows that, after deducting a typical contingency fee and some costs the represented party made out better--much better.

Another reason to hire a lawyer on your personal injury case: stress reduction. Without the pressure of self-representation you are likely to heal up much faster.

And, finally, you could make a mistake and screw up the case and end up with far less than you deserve.

Be wise, make sure you have competent legal counsel to represent you in your personal injury claim.

Rex Bush is founder of Bush Law Firm near Salt Lake City, Utah where he handles personal injury cases in Utah and throughout the United States and Canada. For information on personal injury issues visit his website: Utah Personal Injury Attorney