Chris Mazzola

When you experience a personal injury, it can be difficult to know what steps you need to take. Personal injuries are often physical in nature, but they can also be mental or emotional injuries. Anytime you are hurt because of someone else or their negligence, you may have the right to pursue them for an injury claim. If you have been negatively affected through the direct actions or neglect of another person, read on for personal injury advice.

Get The Compensation You Deserve for Your Accident Injuries

Accidents often happen to people who don’t know very much about the law or what they should do to protect their rights. Sadly, people often take steps or make decisions following an accident that damage their case or even leave them without the right to sue for compensation. If you’ve been injured, you need to hire the right personal injury lawyer in San Antonio and to do what you can to protect your rights.

Immediately After the Accident

Your immediate focus should be on your health and safety. Follow any directions you get from medical professionals or emergency responders, and answer truthfully to any questions they ask. If there’s a possibility that your head or spine was injured, don’t try to move around or operate a vehicle until you’re certain that you’re well.

If you aren’t seriously injured, you should gather as much information as possible. This includes where you are, what was happening at the time, and who may have witnessed the accident. Get contact information from as many witnesses as possible. You should also try to get photographs or video of the area. Whatever you can gather will be invaluable to your lawyer, and it’s much easier to get this kind of information at time of the accident rather than waiting until later.

Avoid Discussions or Decisions Until You Have a Lawyer

Anything you say, or sign, following an accident could potentially come back and be twisted around by the people who were responsible for your accident. They, and their lawyers, are usually eager to limit their liability. Information you share with friends and acquaintances could potentially end up hurting you, but be particularly careful not to give any recorded statements.

You should also avoid signing any kind of statement, release, or check related to your case. It may have language printed on it that releases the other party from liability. Any time you have doubts about what to do, say, or sign, you should put it off and wait until you can consult a tampa personal injury attorney about whether it’s the right thing to do.

Choosing the Right Rersonal Injury Attorney

Our San Antonio personal injury lawyers are trained in the relevant laws and how they apply to legal cases in general. It’s worth asking questions, though, about the specific types of cases an individual lawyer has handled and how successful he has been with past cases that are very similar to yours.

An attorney who often helps the victims of automobile accidents, for example, will gain a lot of knowledge and experience that goes beyond the law itself. He’ll learn more about police procedure and the language they use in describing accident scenes, so he can more effectively read the official reports to find information that might help or hurt your case. He’ll also gain experience in dealing with insurance companies along with an understanding of their policies and how to negotiate with them. If the case requires going to trial, he’ll have experience in how to explain what happened during an accident in a way that’s persuasive to the people sitting in a jury box.

There is no way to absolutely guarantee you will win a case. The people responsible for your injuries will be looking for any tool that could possibly prevent you from collecting compensation, or to at least limit how much you get. By hiring the best lawyer for your case and avoiding some of the potential mistakes mentioned above, you can greatly improve your chances of getting the money you deserve.