Riverside Personal Injury Attorney

Many people associate a Riverside personal injury attorney with the courtroom. While it is a possibility that your case ends up there, your attorney does much more than just try your case if it reaches that point. After you have been injured in any type of accident, there are two different major concerns that you would have.

First, that you are getting the treatment that you need to hopefully put yourself on the road to recovery. Second, that you are focused on the legal process. Your best outcome when it comes to the legal process is that you receive fair financial compensation for your injuries. However, this does not happen overnight. In order to get to this point, it could take work and negotiation.

We Are Your Guide to the Legal Process

This is where your personal injury attorney comes into the picture. From handling your claim with the insurance company to negotiating a settlement agreement, your lawyer is your guide to the legal process. As your personal injury lawyer, we work with you directly to explain your legal options and represent you as you seek compensation. We will give you advice to put you in the strongest position to recover for your injuries. If you are unable to reach a settlement, we would then file a lawsuit on your behalf.

The legal process can be a scary and uncomfortable place for people in it, even if you are dealing with a civil matter. Sometimes, you just need a lawyer who can explain your options to you in terms that you can understand. You need a compassionate yet realistic lawyer who can let you know exactly what you are facing.

Send a Message to the Insurance Company with an Aggressive Attorney

Along the way, we fight for your legal rights as your personal injury lawyer. Insurance companies and defendants will usually not pay up without legal pressure, and that is why you need an attorney to keep them from taking advantage of you. Coming to the table with a personal injury lawyer sends a message that you mean business with your claim. Insurance companies will know that they cannot take advantage of you when you have a tough lawyer on your side.

Once you hire us to represent you, we will perform a full investigation of your case. We will seek to establish facts that show that someone else is responsible for your injuries. Along the way, we will speak to witnesses and experts as necessary. We will speak to you to learn as much as we can about what you experienced and your current situation.

Then, we will assist you in handling your claim for compensation. Simply stated, when you file a claim after an accident, you need to put your best foot forward. This means that you must make the right presentation of your claim and cannot let yourself be tricked by the insurance company.

Where We Can Help You

In reality, personal injury law is a broad category that can encompass and one of a number of different types of accidents. At the JLF Law Firm, we help injured clients in the following types of cases:

Each one of these cases will involve different facts, but the common element is that you must show that the other party was negligent. This requires an attorney who is able to get to the heart of your case and present the facts. We can understand your case because we listen to you.

We bring an aggressive brand of representation to the table, compassionate to the client but tough towards those who we seek to deny you your legal rights. Our firm believes in working closely with our clients to achieve desired legal outcomes. Every case gets our utmost attention, and we have the skill and experience necessary to take on defendants and their insurance companies.

Your personal injury case will consist of two major parts:

Proving that someone else was responsible for your injury. This depends on the individual facts and circumstances of your accident.
Fighting for the compensation that you legally deserve after someone else’s actions

Injuries You May Have Suffered in an Accident

Personal injury refers to physical injuries and/or emotional distress. Here are some personal injuries for which you may be seeking compensation:

Fractures and broken bones
Traumatic brain injuries
Back injuries
Head and neck injuries
Burns
Spinal cord injuries
Lacerations
Soft tissue injuries
Internal injuries
Crush injuries

Your attorney will review your medical records and work with experts to understand what you are facing in the future. Then, they would estimate your damages, so you can seek the appropriate amount of compensation.

Recovering Damages in Your Injury Case

In a personal injury case, your ultimate goal is to receive money for the harm that was done to you by someone else’s carelessness. Since they cannot undo your accident or restore your health, they need to pay you for the harm that was done. A court would look at your life before the accident and seek to use money to put you in the same position as you were before the accident.

We cannot give you a definitive answer when you ask us how much your personal injury case is worth without knowing everything that we can about your case. Many people approach us with that question at the initial consultation, and we tell these potential clients that each case stands on its own. We can tell you that we will aggressively fight on your behalf to maximize your recovery and advise you of the factors that will affect your recovery.

We can also explain to you how damages work in a personal injury lawsuit, so you can get a sense of how we may ultimately value your claim. There are two different types of damages in your personal injury case, as detailed below.

Economic Damages

These are meant to pay you back for actual and direct economic losses that you have suffered. They could include:

Medical expenses: This is both the cost of your surgeries and doctor’s visits and the cost of your rehabilitation. You are entitled to payment of all medical expenses related to your accident, whether you have already paid them or if they are in the future. There is no reason why you should have to pay costs because someone else was negligent.
Lost wages: Your injury may have left you unable to work either temporarily or permanently. You might not be able to do the type of work that you once did because you cannot handle the physical aspects of the job. You are legally entitled to payment for both past and future lost wages.
Property damages: Any type of damage to your home or property such as an automobile is compensable in a personal injury case.
Home health care costs: You can be paid for the cost of home health care visits or even round-the-clock care if you or a loved one needs it.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages pay you back for the bad experience of the accident and its aftermath. This is meant to value what you have gone through. They include:

Pain and suffering: These damages compensate you for not only your physical pain, but also all the anxiety and bad feeling that you have had since the accident. These damages can be considerable and can be a large part of your settlement or judgment.
Emotional distress: You can be paid for the psychological impact that the accident continues to have on you.
Loss of enjoyment of life: The responsible party can be made to pay for the fact that you cannot do what you used to do
Disfigurement: Permanent scars and changes to your appearance lead to compensation.

On your own, you might not have any idea what your case is worth. Sometimes, the difference between a $500,000 settlement and a $1,000,000 settlement is an injured person who did not know how much compensation they should receive or someone who may not have had the ability to fight for what they deserve.

In addition, you can also file a lawsuit if your loved one died because of their personal injury. Here, you would seek wrongful death damages.

How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Riverside Personal Injury Lawyer?

To be clear, a personal injury does not take your case with no expectation of receiving any compensation. However, their compensation is on a contingency basis.

The reason why it is called “contingency,” is that an attorney’s compensation is contingent on you winning your cases. For purposes of the contingency system, “winning” is defined as receiving any money for your case, whether it is through a settlement or a jury award. Before that point, you would not need to pay your lawyer anything for their services, allowing you to get legal help even when you do not have money to spare.

If you do not win your case, your lawyer is not paid for their time. Thus, your lawyer’s incentives in your case match yours. A lawyer will generally only take your case if they believe that there is a strong chance of winning.

Otherwise, they could invest a large amount of time in a case that does not pay them anything. Lawyers need to earn a living, and they will not do so if they consistently take cases that are a longshot.

What if I Am Partially at Fault for the Accident?

No matter how much you try to exercise your own due care, there are times that you may share in the blame for what happened. Even if you are partially at fault, it is not an absolute bar to recovery in a personal injury case. In California, the law is that of “pure” comparative negligence. For personal injury plaintiffs, this is a bit of good news. You are able to receive some type of financial recovery for your injuries, so long as you are not 100% to blame for what happened. Your recovery is reduced by the percentage of fault that you bear.

For example, you may have been struck by a driver who ran a red light while you were speeding. If you were determined to be 20% at fault, and you suffered $100,000 of damages in the crash, your recovery would be reduced to $80,000.

Still, you need to be wary when comparative negligence comes into play. Insurance companies have been known to be aggressive in pointing a finger at claimants to reduce their own tab. Your attorney would need to defend your own actions in the accident, especially when you are being wrongfully blamed, or your fault is being exaggerated.

FAQs About Personal Injury Cases

Below are the answers to some common questions that people frequently ask us about personal injury cases. To learn more about your rights and options in your specific situation, however, please contact our law firm directly.

How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

The usual rule in California is that you have two years to file a personal injury lawsuit from the time that you were injured or should have known that you were injured. This means that you would need to begin the process of filing an insurance claim not too long after your accident, so you do not miss this deadline. If you do not file your case in time, you will lose the right to file a lawsuit entirely.

You do not want to be caught unprepared at the last minute because lawsuit complaints take time to draft. Your lawyer would need to have time to investigate the facts of your case and be able to lay them out persuasively. This is why you need to begin looking for a personal injury lawyer as soon as you can after your injury.

What Happens at the Initial Consultation?

This is where we both get to know each other and learn the details of your case. Both you and your attorney need to decide that you want to work together on your case. From our standpoint, we need to learn more about your case to know if you have a good chance of receiving financial compensation. Since we are not paid unless you are, your attorney wants to know that you at least have a strong case.

From your standpoint, you should learn more about the lawyer who you may be working with for years. You need to have a comfort level with that attorney since you are trusting them with what could be your financial future. You want to know that your lawyer will fight for you and is up to the job. When you speak to the JLF Firm at the initial consultation, you will understand how passionate we are about fighting for our clients’ legal rights.

Will My Personal Injury Case Go to Trial?

Many clients do not know that very few personal injury cases will ever end up going to a full trial in court. This is because most personal injury cases end up settling before trial. Either your attorney will help you negotiate a settlement with the insurance company without needing to file a lawsuit, or you will reach a settlement agreement at some stage before a hearing.

You would still benefit from the help of an attorney even if you settle your case. Settlements do not just happen. They are the product of negotiation and back-and-forth between you and the insurance company or the defendant. In the end, the way that you get the best settlement possible is by hiring an attorney who knows the value of your case.

After you have suffered an injury, you may be afraid to hire an attorney thinking that you do not have the money for it. You may think that you need to write a large check upfront and pay the attorney for every hour of their time.

In a personal injury case, you would be relieved to know that it does not work this way. As your attorney, our representation of you is on a contingency basis. This means that the only way that we are paid is if you either settle your case or receive a jury award. Then, we are paid from the proceeds of your compensation. If for some reason, you do not receive compensation, we are not paid. Therefore, there is no risk to you to hire the JLF Firm for your case and to put our experience and tenacity to work for you.

Contact a Riverside Personal Injury Attorney

If you or a loved one have been injured in any of the accidents listed above, you need a Riverside injury lawyer on your case as soon as possible. Time is of the essence when you need to preserve evidence. The longer that you wait to get started with an attorney, the longer that you may have to wait for the financial compensation that you need. Call The JLF Firm at 888-341-3071 or contact us online to schedule your free initial consultation. We can evaluate your case and get right to work on helping to secure financial compensation for you and your family.

Riverside Personal Injury Attorney