Erase the Grey: When You Don't Know the Law, You Need to Contact a Professional for Help and Here's Why

Car accidents happen in a blur. There’s an impact seemingly out of nowhere. The car spins out of control. And, you are left confused and perhaps injured.

Maybe the accident was your fault, and maybe not. But, depending on the circumstances, you may need help in recovering your health, repairing the car, and making up lost wages. Or, you may be liable for the losses sustained by other parties to the accident. Sometimes, it’s difficult to tell who is right and who is wrong.

When you don’t know the law, the most you can see are grey areas. Issues are clouded by emotions, liabilities are undetermined, and costs ill-defined. So, you need to contact a professional for help.

Here’s why —

• Legal Knowledge: Even if you feel certain about what happened, you don’t your state’s law inside and out. Only a lawyer with heavy car accident experience can cut to the center of your situation. With the lawyer’s help, you can identify the core problems and expedite the solutions.

As Frank Wu said in Huffington Post, “The most fundamental error in approaching law is the assumption that there is a single, simple correct answer to a single, simple clear question.” Until the accident, most people haven’t asked the key questions about who pays what to whom in what circumstances. After the accident, you find yourself overwhelmed and needing answers and advice.

• A Place to Start. If your problem started with a minor rear end bumper tap and no personal injury, you can usually solve the problems with the other driver. Whether or not your state is a “no-fault” state, if the damage is significant or the bodily injuries serious, you need an attorney to point you in the right direction.

In the more serious accident, all the injured parties want to be made whole. That is, they want their vehicle repaired to “like new” condition. They want their health restored, and they want lost wages replaced.

• Loss Calculation. If you suffer an injury to your leg, for example, there is the medical expense involved in fixing the healing the leg. But, there are additional costs in medications, physical therapy, and medical equipment. The lawyer’s experience can estimate the costs you wouldn’t think of.

But, that same injured leg may have some continuing limitations. The restrictions on its use may keep you from working for some time or from returning fully to the work you qualify for. You need help in determining what that loss might come to, so you have a benchmark to begin negotiating.

• Communication and Advocacy. When you don’t know the law, you need a spokesperson, someone with the knowledge, skills, and ability to represent you well. You need a voice to communicate with insurance companies, police investigators, and other parties to the accident.

Insurance companies are not in the business of making things difficult for you. But, it is in their interest to move forward. They will make an offer to settle the accident claim and avoid a lawsuit. It’s just as likely their offer will be low. With the right experience, the best attorney for car accidents will recognize the legitimacy of any offer and counter aggressively with an offer in your best interest.

• Investigate and Negotiate. Accidents are frequently not cut and dry. Circumstances and results require investigation. For instance, the driver in the other car may claim to be unable to work, but investigation will show that they are involved in a fraud.

They must also represent your pain, suffering, and emotional loss, putting a reasonable and honest value on the cost. With comprehensive information comes confidence and a point from which leverage will negotiate the results.

Pick a lawyer, now, and carry the contact info with you!

Icebike reports that 2016 saw 33,242,213 people injured at a cost of $491,984,757,484. Insurance surrounding an accident can be a maze better left to a professional. It’s not just the paperwork. It means dealing with an navigating a layered bureaucracy that can confuse average people.

Your insurance company may offer to represent you in the process and any possible lawsuit, but you should be more comfortable working with your own designated advocate once you have erased the grey. When you don’t know the law, you need to contact a professional for help.