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.
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.
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.