Our Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Personal Injury Claims

Q: Will I have to go to court to obtain compensation for my injury?

A: Probably not. We have successfully settled over 95% of our clients cases without having to go to court.

Q: When is it a good time to try to settle my personal injury case?

A: You should not attempt to settle your case until you have fully recovered from your injuries or, if your injury is permanent, until you have reached the full amount of medical improvement you can attain. Once you settle your case, you cannot reopen it if you determine at a later time that your condition was worse than you realized. With most injuries, we recommend waiting a minimum of six months after your accident before attempting to settle your case. At that point, we work closely with your doctor to make sure your medical condition has stabilized before we begin settlement discussions with the insurance company.

Q: How much is my case worth?

A: The short answer to this question is that your case is worth whatever a court would award you if we tried the case. Insurance companies have little interest in hiring a lawyer, going to court, and having a court order them to pay what they could have paid to settle the case had they not gone to court. Under Maine law, a court can award to you damages for all reasonable and necessary medical expenses you have incurred as a result of your accident (even if other insurance has paid some of these medical expenses), lost wages (even if your employer has paid you for the time you missed), future lost earnings, future medical expenses, other out-of-pocket expenses, and a sum to fairly compensate you for the pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life you have experienced and will experience as a result of your injuries. If you are married, your spouse is entitled to recover an amount which will fairly compensate him or her for the effect your accident has had on your spouses life.

Q: If I am also fault for my accident, can I still recover?

A: It depends. Under Maine law, in order to recover any compensation for injuries you sustain in an accident, you must be less responsible for your accident than the other party or parties. If you are equally or more responsible for your injuries, you are not entitled to recover any compensation. If you are partially responsible but less so than the other party or parties, the compensation to which you are entitled will be reduced to the extent that your actions caused the accident.

Q: Should I hire a lawyer to represent me in my personal injury claim?

A: This depends upon you and the nature of your case. If you are uncomfortable or find it a hassle to deal with an insurance company, an attorney can do that for you. You should certainly obtain the services of an attorney if the responsible insurance company will not settle your case fairly. Most attorneys handle personal injury cases on a contingency basis meaning that if the attorney obtains a recovery for you, the attorneys fee will be a percentage of that recovery. If the attorney does not obtain a recovery for you, there will be no fee. The financial question in deciding whether to hire an attorney is whether your recovery will be greater after paying an attorney than it would have been had you represented yourself and paid no attorneys fee. Whether you are financially better off hiring an attorney depends upon many factors including how the accident happened, who is responsible, the severity of your injuries, and the extent of your medical expenses and lost wages. Most law offices, including ours, will be happy to provide a free consultation to anyone with a personal injury case. We recommend that you obtain a free consultation and discuss these factors with an attorney before reaching a decision concerning whether it is in your best interest to hire an attorney to represent you on a personal injury case.

Q: What can I do to assist my attorney in making my case go as smoothly as possible?

A: There are many things you can do to help maximize your recovery and put this matter behind you. First, make sure you obtain appropriate medical treatment as soon as possible and be compliant with your doctors recommendations. You should attend all of your medical appointments. If you have a scheduling conflict with a medical appointment, make sure you cancel the appointment in a timely fashion and reschedule it. You should keep a diary and record every way your injuries are affecting you. If you are married, your spouse should also keep a diary. Ultimately, your attorneys ability to obtain fair compensation for you depends upon his or her ability to communicate to either an insurance company or to a court how your injuries have effected you. Your attorneys ability to communicate this information depends upon your ability to communicate the information to your attorney. If you do not record these events as they occur, you will be unlikely to remember them once your medical condition has stabilized and it is time to begin settlement discussions.

You should also make every effort to return to as normal a life as possible as soon as possible. We have secured thousands of settlements for our injured clients over the years, ranging from modest amounts into the millions of dollars. Regardless of the size of the settlement, we have discovered that no amount of compensation to our clients has made it worth going through the ordeal which a serious injury and its consequences has upon them. The sooner you can return to good health, work, and a normal life, the happier you will be. We encourage our clients to concentrate on getting better and returning to their pre-injury lives and ask them to let us worry about the legal aspect of their case.