What Is a Personal Injury Lawyer?

When you get hurt because of someone else’s negligence or recklessness, you may be wondering how you will get your damages covered. From slip and fall accidents to being in a motor vehicle crash on a busy highway, the injuries you suffered have likely changed your life. Personal injury lawyers are highly trained legal professionals who focus on personal injury cases where someone in your situation needs to recover compensation for their losses.
 
From lost wages to medical damages and mental anguish, talented personal injury lawyers are invaluable when pursuing the losses you suffered from an accident. But, at Morgan & Morgan, we also safeguard our clients against greedy insurance corporations who will try to manipulate the case to make them settle for less than they deserve.
If you or a loved one has experienced such an injury, you can complete a free, no-risk case evaluation to get more information.

What Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Do?

It's important to remember that attorneys in this field deal in tort law, which involves civil matters. Their primary goal is to make you whole again financially and hold the liable parties involved responsible for the hurt they caused you. Personal injury attorneys are one of your strongest and most compassionate advocates when seeking compensation for the damages you've suffered. As civil litigators, these attorneys focus on demonstrating the liability of the at-fault party. Whether it was a city truck running a stoplight that caused your accident or you broke your ankle after slipping on ice, your attorney will be ready to help you in countless ways.
 
At Morgan & Morgan, we have represented individuals and families dealing with the devastation of an injury caused by someone else's negligence. Because navigating personal injury law is complex and often frustrating, most injury victims rely on a personal injury lawyer to handle negotiations with the insurer(s). Below are some of the primary services we offer that have benefited our clients for over 30 years:

Legal Advice

Morgan and Morgan personal injury lawyers provide their clients with sound legal advice throughout the claim process. One of our most important responsibilities is to ensure that you understand the consequences of any decisions you make regarding your injury case. With over 30 years of experience representing these types of cases, our attorneys are eager to answer any questions you might have and give you informed legal guidance.

Build a Strong Case

Personal injury lawyers have a lot to do when representing an accident victim, and building a solid case is a crucial aspect of their services. Pursuing compensation involves gathering a significant amount of evidence and knowing where to find it all. This makes our legal team an invaluable asset because we handle all aspects of this process, including:

•       Requesting medical records
•       Obtaining witness statements
•       Getting copies of police reports
•       Gathering medical bills
•       Hiring expert witnesses
•       Tracking down copies of any accident scene video footage and pictures
•       Accident reconstruction
•       Investigation of the facts of your case
•       Analyzing your lost earnings
•       Communicating and negotiating with the insurer and the adjuster

When calculating your compensation request, the personal injury attorneys of Morgan & Morgan consider many factors, especially your ability to recover and return to work. Therefore, we never accept settlement offers that fail to address your injuries' full scope and impact.

Take on the Insurance Companies

Insurance companies only have one goal in mind when faced with an injury claim: Pay as little as possible at any cost. Unfortunately, this often means purposeful delays on claim decisions, ignoring your phone calls and emails, and even trying to push fault on you. To accomplish this, these corporations rely on a team of attorneys to aggressively pressure victims into accepting unfair compensation offers or outright deny the injury claim being made.
 
How can the average person fight back, especially if they are severely hurt and still receiving care to recover? Personal injury lawyers are your primary source of advocacy and aggressive representation to stop these abusive negotiation tactics by insurers. Your counsel knows the laws of your state in these matters and will hold these companies responsible when employing bad faith tactics to pressure you into giving up.

Negotiate Your Settlement

It's hard for the average person to know what constitutes a fair accident settlement payout. However, personal injury lawyers have years of experience, having represented numerous cases similar to your own. As a result, they know what to expect when negotiating with particular insurance companies and will ensure that nothing gets left out of any offer sent your way.
 
Their presence can make the difference between receiving a low-ball compensation package that ignores the future cost of your injuries and ensuring upcoming medical needs are provided for. As your personal injury lawyer, Morgan and Morgan will never pressure you to accept an offer that isn't comprehensive of your damages.

Go to Trial

Sometimes insurance companies simply won't negotiate or even consider giving you compensation of any kind, despite their liability. When this happens, going to trial may be your best option. This is also an important step in situations where your attorney knows that the insurer should pay more and knows a jury will agree. You need to hire a personal injury lawyer that can judge these circumstances confidently and recover an award you deserve. Sometimes, merely filing a lawsuit is enough to bring an insurer back to the table and genuinely begin negotiating reasonably.
 
At Morgan & Morgan, we have an eye for trial. Our years of experience have helped us win over 15 Billion in verdicts and settlements. Before you agree to any compensation offer, be sure to schedule a free consultation with one of our attorneys before agreeing to anything. We can assess its provisions and determine if the settlement includes the entirety of your loss.

Signs That You Need to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer

No matter how minor your accident or minimal you believe your injuries to be, you should always first consult with an experienced personal injury lawyer immediately. At Morgan & Morgan, we hear from our clients all the time about how the insurance company acted like it was there to help at first but later proved otherwise.
 
Below are some of the most common signs you need a skilled attorney by your side when asking for injury compensation:

You Sustained Injuries Because of Someone's Negligence

Anytime you get hurt because of someone else's reckless actions, you should seriously consider hiring a personal injury lawyer. The insurance company will have a team of attorneys to defend against your claim—shouldn't you?

You are not responsible for injuries that result from negligence. It wasn't your fault, and you deserve to be compensated.

Your Injuries Left You Temporarily or Permanently Disabled

Accidents can have tragic results that permanently alter the lives of individuals and their families. If you are in this situation, you must have proper legal representation to determine the full extent of your disabilities and what their impacts will be going forward. Unfortunately, the insurance company will likely try to avoid evaluating your lost earning capacity. Still, a personal injury lawyer has the training and experience to do so and get you compensated fairly. 

You Are Only Receiving Low Settlement Offers

One of the most prevalent tactics by insurers to help them save money is to offer low settlements. They know your medical costs and everyday bills are piling up. Adjusters count on your desperation to persuade you to accept these small offers. Unfortunately, the average person can't fully understand all the factors that should be accounted for in a personal injury settlement, either. Hiring Morgan & Morgan to represent your case and best interests aggressively will ensure you receive a fair offer.

You Keep Getting Claim Denials

Accident claim denials, while sometimes legitimate, are often used to discourage injured parties from pursuing compensation. Nothing is as deterring as a denial, but the good news is you have the right to fight back. If you keep receiving claim denials, contact a skilled personal injury lawyer right away.