Do I Need an Attorney to Sue Someone?

Not every case in which a plaintiff seeks monetary damages requires the legal support of a personal injury attorney. Each state has established a maximum value for a case to be decided in small claims court. For example, if you have a claim with a value lower than $8,000 in Florida, you can take your case to a small claims court located in the state. Other states have established lower and higher maximum values for litigating a case outside of a civil courtroom. 

Most attorneys do not want to represent a client who files a case for small claims court because of the small payout for a contingency fee. Let’s say you file a case in a small claims court in Nevada for $1,000. If your lawyer charges a 25 percent contingency fee, your legal counsel walks away from the case with just $250. Small claims court does not take as much time as filing a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages and it is much less complex than litigating a personal injury case worth a considerable amount of money.

You can consult with an attorney before a small claims court hearing, but you do not need one to represent you during the legal proceeding.

The type of personal injury case matters because you should hire an attorney who specializes in litigating your type of case. If your case involves an act of negligence that caused you to slip and fall at a grocery store, then you want to hire a personal injury lawyer who specializes in handling slip and fall cases.

Here are the most common types of personal injury cases handled by the highly-rated litigators at Morgan and Morgan.

Car Accident

Car accidents represent the most common types of personal injury cases handled by the team of personal injury attorneys at Morgan and Morgan. Negligence plays an important role in causing auto collisions, such as reckless driving and driving while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. The personal injury attorney that you hire collects and organizes evidence, from obtaining traffic camera footage to taking photographs of the accident scene.

Slip and Fall

A spilled beverage at a convenience store, a shattered bottle of milk at a grocery store, and a leaky ice machine at a restaurant all represent reasons why a customer can slip and fall. Proving negligence requires interviewing witnesses, examining security camera footage, and submitting the results of diagnostic tests. Customers also can trip and fall, such as tripping over a folded mat or carpet.

Medical Malpractice

When you receive medical care, you expect the healthcare provider to protect you from harm. Unfortunately, even the most accomplished surgeons and physicians make mistakes like misdiagnosing a patient or recommending an unnecessary medical procedure. Demonstrating an act of negligence for a medical malpractice case involves getting the results of diagnostic tests and documents that show the type of treatment a patient received.

Dog Bite

If another party’s dog attacked you and caused you to sustain one or more bite injuries, you might have a strong enough case to file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. Each state has established the criteria used to prove negligence for dog bite cases. The personal injury attorney that you work with from Morgan and Morgan will explain how your state addresses legal liability for cases involving a dog bite.

When you ask yourself, “Do I need an attorney to sue someone,” one of the best ways to answer the question is to ask another question.

Do you know the steps for suing someone? Partnering with a highly-rated personal injury attorney from Morgan and Morgan allows you to learn in more detail about the following steps.

Get Medical Care

The key to receiving compensation for your injuries is to present evidence that you received the level of medical care that is appropriate for your type of case. You should receive a diagnosis, treatments, and possibly physical therapy help to recover from your injuries. Any delays seeking medical care might raise a red flag with the judge hearing your personal injury lawsuit.

Contact a State-Licensed Personal Injury Attorney

Getting an experienced personal injury lawyer involved early in the litigation process ensures you gather the evidence you need to file a convincing personal injury lawsuit. Your attorney interviews witnesses as close as possible to the date of the personal injury incident. Witness accounts provided right after a personal injury incident are much more reliable than witness accounts given days or even weeks after you sustained your injuries.

Send a Demand Letter

A demand letter is a correspondence that demands compensation to cover all of your financial losses. Your personal injury attorney presents a detailed list of costs, from medical bills to receipts that describe the value of property damage. The demand letter provides a highly detailed account of what happened on the day of the personal injury incident, as well as a description of the medical care you received. State law gives the other party’s lawyer a deadline for responding to a demand letter.

Try to Negotiate a Settlement

Negotiating a settlement for your case can occur just about any time during the litigation process. However, negotiations often unfold during the discovery phase, which is the point when both parties exchange evidence and witness accounts in an attempt to reach a financial agreement. The other party’s attorney responds to your lawyer’s initial offer by either accepting or rejecting it. If the other party rejects your offer, then a series of counteroffers follow until your case gets resolved or it goes to the trial phase of the litigation process.

Go to Trial

Perhaps the most compelling reason why you need an attorney to sue someone is to get the type of legal support you need during the trial phase of the litigation process. Your lawyer guides you through what typically is a stressful event by coaching you on how to answer certain questions. Having legal representation also ensures the other party’s attorney follows every protocol for litigating civil cases.

Now that you know the answer to the question, “Do I need an attorney to sue someone?” the time has come to answer the question, “What do I look for in the best personal injury lawyer?”

Experience

Experience is important for several reasons. Your attorney should be able to anticipate the legal maneuvers made by the other party’s lawyer. Experience helps an attorney develop different litigation styles depending on the case, as well as the legal tactics implemented by the defendant. Gaining experience also helps an attorney develop professional relationships with other attorneys and the judges that hear civil cases.

At Morgan and Morgan, we have more than 30 years of experience litigating personal injury cases.

Specializes in Your Type of Case

Your personal injury attorney should specialize in your type of case. For example, if you sustained burn injuries as a result of the negligence of another party, the attorney that you hire should specialize in litigating burn injury cases. Morgan and Morgan assigns clients personal injury lawyers that specialize in their type of cases.

Responsive Communicator

Litigation can trigger a considerable amount of stress, which is compounded when an attorney fails to communicate with a client promptly. Morgan and Morgan offers a 24 hours a day toll-free number to answer general legal questions. For questions concerning your case, you should expect a response from your personal injury lawyer on the same day you submitted the question via email, phone call, or text message.

Represents You the Entire Time

You want an attorney to represent you from the day of the free case evaluation to the conclusion of your case. Many personal injury lawyers meet with clients for a free case evaluation only to disappear for the remaining portion of the case. At Morgan and Morgan, the personal injury attorney assigned to your case provides legal support during the entire legal process.

You have too much riding on your case to sue someone without the legal support of an experienced personal injury attorney. Unless you plan to file a small claims court case, you should contact the team of highly-skilled litigators at Morgan and Morgan on the same day when you sustained your injuries.

Schedule a free case evaluation today to determine the best course of legal action.