San Diego is a thriving city with more than a million people living there. It’s one of the larger US cities, and there are individuals who drive to and from work every day. Others might drive to the grocery store, go see friends, pick their kids up at school, and so forth.
That much traffic on the roads means car wrecks are inevitable. You might be careful to follow all traffic laws, but that does not mean everyone else around you will do the same. Another car might hit you, and then you need to figure out what to do next.
There are steps you’ll want to follow any time a vehicle hits you, but you will not always need to get a lawyer. You will want to get one if the other driver accuses you of causing the accident when you know you didn’t or if your insurance company does not cover all the damages. If this happens, a lawyer can help you sue the other driver or a non-compliant insurance provider.
There are a few particular things you will want to see from your San Diego car accident attorney if you’re going to hire them. Let’s discuss just a few of those right now.
They Should Be Excellent Trial Lawyers
The lawyer or firm you hire is going to have a reputation within the industry. It’s up to you to do some research before you hire them to learn what their peers and past clients think about them. If you feel like there is a chance that your car accident lawsuit might have to go through the court system, you want your attorney to be a reputable trial lawyer.
When you meet with your lawyer, you can ask them pointedly if they have ever appeared before a judge. Maybe they know how to file legal briefs, but perhaps they’ve never spent any time trying to convince a jury of anything.
That experience, or lack thereof, makes a real difference. If it turns out that the person or entity you’re suing is not willing to settle, you want an accident attorney who can get up there in a courtroom setting and defend your position without getting flustered.
They Should Be Able to Help You Get Medical Treatment
You might also need medical treatment resulting from your car crash. You might have to deal with whiplash, soft tissue injuries, broken bones, and more. You could have PTSD after the wreck if it was particularly traumatic.
Whether you have physical injuries, mental trauma, or both, your lawyer should be able to help you obtain the medical treatment you need. Personal injury law is a field where your lawyer should know all about dealing with various medical entities. They can certainly help you navigate this difficult area while you gradually recuperate from what happened to you.
They Should Be Client-Committed
You will want to get a car wreck lawyer who will do everything they can to conclude your case satisfactorily. That means your lawyer should make themselves available to you when you feel you need to talk to them.
Some lawyers seem to disappear once you hire them. They’ll take your case, but then they will let days or weeks go by without contacting you to update you as to what’s going on. Maybe they’re conducting an investigation, or perhaps they’re not, but they leave you in the dark.
You should never accept that. When you agree to hire a lawyer, they should become part of your support network. That means being there to answer the phone when you call, or you can reach out by text message or email, whatever works best for you. Your attorney should have regular updates for you and commiserate during your darker moments.
Insurance Carriers Should Know About Their Reputation
Insurance providers can behave in underhanded and devious ways sometimes. It’s unfortunate, but these are for-profit companies, and they will often try to keep as much money for themselves as possible instead of paying out on policies, even if you have a legitimate claim.
Your lawyer should have an industry reputation that an insurance provider will respect. When an insurance company hears that you have hired a particular attorney, they should know you mean business.
Again, research is the best way to make sure your lawyer has the reputation you want. If you can ask around and determine that they know how to negotiate with insurance companies, you should feel much more comfortable about hiring them.
You Should Be Able to Find Out About Their Past Results
If you’ve found the right car wreck lawyer for your case, you should be able to find out immediately that they’ve collected large monetary compensation amounts for previous clients. They should feature the numbers prominently on their website, and these results should not be hard to find elsewhere as well.
Websites often exist that list trial results with big money settlements. You will want to see that your lawyer has brought about some of those settlements and trial wins for past clients. If they’ve brought in millions of dollars in trial wins, that’s a great sign for you.
In addition to all of this, you will probably want to get a car wreck lawyer who went to a reputable school. If you’ve never heard of the college from which they graduated, that’s seldom a good sign.
You’ll want to ensure that your lawyer has the resources to conduct a thorough investigation into what happened with your car crash. That means they should probably already have investigators ready to go, including accident scene reconstruction specialists and expert witnesses who might testify on your behalf.
Often, you can tell right when you meet a lawyer whether they will be suitable or not. If they seem like they don’t want your business, then you can always go with someone else. There is never any shortage of competent car wreck attorneys.
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