Why Might a Lawyer Decline Your Personal Injury Case?

Personal injury lawyers handle a wide variety of cases, including auto accidents, premise liability, and slip and falls. When you search for a lawyer to represent you for a personal injury case, you want to work with a litigator who specializes in your type of personal injury legal practice. A car accident attorney might not be the right fit to litigate a nursing home neglect case.

Regardless of a personal injury lawyer’s specialty, your legal counsel completes several tasks to provide you with the best legal representation.

Conducts a Thorough Investigation

Conducting a thorough investigation allows an attorney to determine whether you have a strong enough case to get an insurance claim approved. Your legal counsel also wants to know if the other party committed one or more acts of negligence. For a serious case such as a car collision, your lawyer reviews the official police report to discover whether another party should assume legal liability for causing your injuries.

Collect and Organize Evidence

The formal police report or incident report provides the foundation for proving negligence. However, your legal counsel collects and organizes more evidence to bolster the strength of your insurance claim and possibly a civil lawsuit. Additional evidence can come in the form of photographs taken at the scene of the incident, as well as video footage that captures what happen before, during, and after a personal injury incident.

Your legal counsel also organizes all the copies of your medical bills and the repairs done to property damage.

Send a Demand Letter

Sending a demand letter to the other party kicks off the legal process. The demand letter you send to the other party should include a detailed description of what occurred before, during, and after the personal injury incident. It also should state how much you want in compensation for your injuries, as well as how your lawyer calculated the value of the proposed compensation.

Negotiate a Settlement

One of the most important questions to ask a personal injury lawyer during a free case evaluation involves negotiating a settlement. Most personal injury cases never get filed as civil lawsuits because all parties involved reach a favorable financial settlement. The best personal injury attorneys know how to negotiate legal settlements to avoid the costly and time-consuming litigation process.

Provide Legal Support During a Trial

Although the highly-skilled personal injury lawyers at Morgan & Morgan try to negotiate favorable settlements for our clients, they do not hesitate to file a civil lawsuit if negotiations stall or break down. If your case goes to trial, your attorney prepares you for litigation by explaining what questions you can expect from the other party’s legal counsel. Your personal injury lawyer follows court customs and procedures to ensure the validity of the legal proceeding.

Scheduling a free case evaluation is important for several reasons, one of which is allowing an attorney to determine whether your case is worth pursuing. There are several reasons why a lawyer might not take your personal injury case.

Unable to Establish Negligence

The key to winning an award for monetary damages depends on whether the other party committed one or more acts of negligence. If a lawyer cannot prove negligence, your only legal option is to file an insurance claim that seeks compensation. Although you can hire a personal injury to help you file a convincing insurance claim, most lawyers prefer to work cases that end in a lucrative settlement or an award for monetary damages. At Morgan & Morgan, our team of personal injury attorneys provides legal support for every client that needs help filing a successful insurance claim.

Low Value of Monetary Damages

Personal injury lawyers have plenty of options when it comes to taking on new clients. A lawyer must justify taking the time and using the financial resources required to win a civil lawsuit. Because most personal injury lawyers operate on a contingency fee basis, they tend to turn down clients that have cases with a low value of monetary damages.

Defendant Has Limited Financial Resources

You can build the strongest case possible and still lose out on money if the defendant cannot pay the full amount of monetary damages. If an attorney determines the other party is unable to meet the financial commitment made by the awarding of monetary damages, the lawyer might turn down your case. Judges hearing civil cases try to find ways for cash-strapped defendants to meet their financial obligations. However, some cases involve defendants that are on the brink of bankruptcy or some other form of financial insolvency.

Time Constraints

Personal injury lawyers handle several cases at the same time. If a potential attorney does not believe there is enough time to take on your case, the legal counsel might turn it down. Some litigators take on a case when they already have a full litigation schedule. During the free case evaluation, you should ask the lawyer sitting across from you if the attorney will work your case from start to finish.

At Morgan & Morgan, the lawyer you meet with during a free case evaluation is the attorney who represents you during every step of the legal process.

Lack of Expertise

As we mentioned earlier, you should work with a personal injury attorney who specializes in handling your type of personal injury case. For example, if you want to file a product liability lawsuit, a lawyer might turn down the opportunity to handle your case because the legal counsel specializes in litigating medical malpractice cases.

Conflict of Interest

Of all the reasons why a lawyer might not take your personal injury case, conflict of interest represent the most compelling reason why an attorney turns you down. Conflict of interest is possible with several types of personal injury cases. For instance, you want to file a civil lawsuit against a nursing home for neglect, but a lawyer on your shortlist has represented the nursing home in at least one other case.

Expiration of the Statute of Limitations

You have a certain amount of time to file a personal injury lawsuit. Most states have established a statute of limitations for filing personal injury lawsuits between two and four years. If you fail to meet the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit, no attorney will take your case because the court will dismiss it.

The amount of potential monetary damages represents one of the most important factors personal injury lawyers analyze before agreeing to take a personal injury case. At Morgan & Morgan, our primary objective is to get you the compensation you deserve for sustaining one or more injuries caused by the negligence of another party.

Special Compensatory Damages

Special compensatory damages cover your financial losses. Medical bills represent the largest category of special compensatory damages. Healthcare costs include running diagnostic tests, receiving numerous treatments, and participating in physical therapy sessions. You also have the right to ask for compensation that covers lost wages and the value of the repairs done to personal property.

General Compensatory Damages

Unlike special compensatory damages, general compensatory damages do not generate tangible costs. Instead, general compensatory damages cover issues such as mental anguish and emotional distress. Your personal injury lawyer calculates a value for general compensatory damages based on a formula that includes the value of special compensatory damages.

Punitive Damages

Judges and juries award punitive damages to deter defendants from committing the same acts of negligence. If the other party planned to hurt you or was particularly careless, you might receive a substantial award for punitive damages. For example, if the driver of a vehicle that struck you was under the influence at the time of the incident, the judge hearing your case might award you punitive damages that run into tens of thousands of dollars.

You can do your part to eliminate the reasons why a lawyer might not take your personal injury case. By taking action immediately, you provide a personal injury attorney with plenty of time to investigate your case and gather the evidence needed to file a persuasive civil lawsuit. The key factor for our team of highly-rated personal injury attorneys involves being able to demonstrate the other party committed one or more acts of negligence.

Take action today by scheduling a free case evaluation with a state-licensed personal injury lawyer from Morgan & Morgan. We charge on a contingency fee basis, which means we get paid when you receive compensation to cover the costs that are associated with your injuries.