When is it Time to Call a Personal Injury Attorney in Houston TX?

by Attorney Todd Ivey | Sep 3, 2020 | Blog, Personal Injury

What if your entire life changed in just a few seconds?

This happens to people like you every day when they experience a serious injury. And while it’s one thing when it’s an accident, it’s another thing when the injury was caused through the negligence of another person.

At that point, you may need to call a personal injury attorney. But do you really have a case, and is now the right time to call?

Keep reading to discover these important answers!

The Sooner the Better

When should you reach out and call a good personal injury attorney? In all honesty, you should really make the call right away.

Our guide delves into different scenarios that may prompt you to call an attorney. But most of these attorneys offer free consultations. That means it won’t cost you anything to get a professional judgment on whether you have a solid case or not.

The availability of these free consultations also means you can afford to “shop around” for the best attorney. Instead of settling for the first attorney you speak with, you can interview several attorneys and go with the one that seems to best understand you and your case.

Understanding Important Deadlines

If you don’t contact a personal injury attorney right away, then when should you make the call? One factor you must consider is the rapid approach of any major deadlines.

For example, there will be a statute of limitations regarding your personal injury. In the state of Texas, you typically only have two years to file a claim for personal injury. If you are approaching the end of those two years, you’ll need to reach out to an attorney sooner rather than later.

Even if you don’t have an “official” deadline, you may want to contact an attorney pretty quickly. They can help you gather things like evidence and witness testimony that will serve to strengthen your case.

When You Notice This Is Serious

Everyone experiences minor injuries from time to time. Even when the injury is someone else’s fault, it’s easy to shrug it off, especially when you recover very quickly.

When it comes to more serious injuries, though, many people don’t realize how bad things are right away. Instead, they may not realize how serious things are until they notice that they aren’t healing very quickly.

Once you notice that the pain isn’t going away, it’s definitely time to call an attorney. Keep in mind the pain you are experiencing is may significantly impede your quality of life and cause a negative financial impact.

With the right level of medical care, you may be able to heal and return to life as normal. But without a personal injury attorney, you may never be able to get the compensation you need to fully recover from the injury.

When It Becomes Too Much

At first, you may not think you really need a personal injury attorney. After all, much of what they do (including things like gathering evidence, making calls, and completing paperwork) are things that you can do on your own.

However, you may soon be overcome with frustration from all of it. For example, you must contend with an endless stream of phone calls from multiple sets of insurance companies. And you’ll be juggling a small mountain of paperwork, all while you concentrate on simply trying to recover.

With the help of a personal injury lawyer, you can let a professional handle all of the paperwork, phone calls, and witness statements. This lets you concentrate on recovering from your injury while also ensuring that your case is as strong as possible.

Dealing With Expenses

For many injured people, ongoing pain serves as a nasty wake-up call. But if that’s not enough, mounting expenses may form an entirely different kind of wake-up call.

Some of these expenses come from property damage. If you survive a car crash caused by another person, you’ll have to shell out thousands of dollars in repairs before you see anything from the insurance company.

Other expenses come from your medical bills. Anything that your insurance doesn’t cover is going to translate into thousands more than you owe. And if you have a long recovery time, those nasty medical bills will just keep climbing.

You must also factor in lost wages. After a nasty injury, you may be unable to work, and your recovery time may take weeks or even months. And every week you are out of work is another paycheck that you’ll miss.

Finally, you need to consider your pain and suffering. It’s entirely possible that your injury will leave you with physical and psychological pain that will last a lifetime. If that happens, then you deserve compensation to make up for everything you must endure.

With the help of a personal injury lawyer, you can calculate how much money you are owed. And you’ll be in the best possible position to get everything you deserve.

Getting What You Deserve

By now, you probably understand that it’s not that easy to calculate how much money you deserve. While things like lost wages and medical bills are easy to calculate, things like pain and suffering are notoriously difficult to figure out.

If you try to proceed without a personal injury attorney, you may end up getting far less money than you deserve. And if the case goes poorly enough, you may end up getting nothing at all!

Ultimately, a personal injury lawyer is an investment in the success of your case. Such an attorney can do more than provide you with the settlement you want. They can also provide you with the justice you deserve.