What Does a Personal Injury Attorney Do?

Personal injuries are some of the most commonly filed lawsuits in the state of Pennsylvania. If you’re the victim of a personal injury, it’s essential that you act quickly to find a personal injury attorney who can help you win your case.

While you can legally represent yourself, hiring an expert personal injury attorney is always the best course of action, as their legal expertise is the best way to ensure that you get the compensation you deserve.

Whether you’re a recent victim of a personal injury or you simply want to know more about what a personal injury lawyer does, here is everything you need to know about how a personal injury attorney can help victims get compensation for their damages.

What is a Personal Injury?

Before you go hiring a personal injury attorney, it’s important to understand just what exactly qualifies as a personal injury. 

Personal injuries are any injuries that a victim suffers due to someone else’s fault or negligence. Common examples of personal injuries include car accidents, slip and fall accidents, nursing home negligence, medical malpractice, and wrongful deaths, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. 

As long as you can prove that you suffered physical injuries, financial losses, or emotional pain because of someone else’s negligent action or inaction, you are the victim of a personal injury and can seek compensation for your losses either in mediation or a court of law.

How a Personal Injury Attorney Can Help

Personal injury lawyers specialize in personal injury law and can help their clients in a number of different ways. From simply explaining your rights and providing legal advice to representing you in a court of law, the benefits of hiring a personal injury attorney far outweigh the drawbacks. 

If you’re the victim of a personal injury, here are just a few of the many ways that a personal injury attorney can help.

Providing Legal Advice

One of the most obvious ways that a personal injury lawyer can help victims is by providing expert legal advice. Navigating the complex legal system can be a significant challenge for anyone who isn’t familiar with the process, but by hiring a legal professional, you can ensure that you have an expert on your side who understands how the legal system works and what course of action will work best to help you win your case.

Evaluating Your Case

Personal injury lawyers can also help their clients by evaluating their cases and ensuring that they have a legitimate case in the first place. Some victims simply don’t know whether or not they can seek compensation for their injuries, but with a good personal injury lawyer on your side, you’ll be able to better understand if you have a case to pursue and how much it might be worth.

a closeup of a personal injury attorney shaking hands with their client

Gathering Evidence

Another key role that a personal injury attorney plays is in helping their clients collect evidence to support their case. Every personal injury case is completely dependent on the victim’s ability to prove that a third party is at fault, and legal professionals can aid in this by contacting witnesses and gathering all the crucial evidence you need to win your case. 

Negotiation With Insurance Companies

Insurance companies don’t stay profitable by simply handing out money, and they will do everything in their power to pay you as little as possible for your injuries.

Personal injury attorneys know this, and they have extensive experience dealing with these stingy insurance companies. By hiring a personal injury lawyer, you can ensure that you have an expert negotiator on your side who can employ their experience and expertise to ensure that you get the highest payout possible.

Representation in Court

While the vast majority of personal injury cases never actually make it to court, if you are unable to settle your case in mediation, a personal injury attorney can also represent you during your trial. This not only gives you more options if mediation doesn’t quite go the way you want it to, but it also guarantees that you have the best chances possible to win your case in a court of law.

Saving Time, Reducing Stress, and Maximizing Compensation

Being the victim of a personal injury can be incredibly stressful. From trying to rest and recover from their injuries to dealing with the financial ramifications of their accident, most victims simply don’t have the time or bandwidth to deal with the complicated legal system on top of it all. 

This is yet another reason why hiring a legal professional to help is so important. Not only can they guarantee that you get the maximum compensation possible, but they can also save you a ton of time and stress that you can use to concentrate on getting better.

a scale of justice on a desk next to a laptop at a personal injury law firm

Contact HoeyLegal Today

Are you the recent victim of a personal injury? Are you looking for a law firm that you can trust to maximize your compensation? Give HoeyLegal a call. 

Our expert legal team is always here to answer your questions and will happily take the time to listen to your case and tell you more about how we can help you get the compensation that you deserve. We’ll even offer you a free legal consultation so that you can get the expert legal advice you need before you ever have to think about paying the bill. 

Dealing with a personal injury can be incredibly stressful, but you don’t have to go through it alone. You don’t even have to worry about figuring out how to find a personal injury attorney to represent you because we’re always here to help. Contact HoeyLegal and get the trusted advocate you need to win your personal injury case today!

Distracted Driving

Pennsylvania defines distracted driving as “an activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving.” Drivers have to focus on driving, so they can react to the information on the road, such as road conditions, hazards and other drivers. Distracted drivers do not react appropriately and thus put others at risk for severe injury or death. Examples of distractions, besides using cell phones and texting, include drinking, eating, adjusting the radio, adjusting climate controls, adjusting seats, combing hair, putting on make-up, daydreaming, reaching for dropped items, engaging in heavy conversations, and focusing on events outside of the car.

Driving Under the Influence

Driving under the influence typically refers to alcohol use, but drug use can also impair drivers and cause severe car accidents.  In either situation, enjoying cocktails at happy hour, celebrating with drugs or alcohol, drinking too much wine for dinner and unwinding after a long week at work results in too many motorists driving under the influence.  Controlled substances impact each person differently, making it common for someone to misjudge his or her level of impairment.  These poor judgments can lead to severe and sometimes fatal car accidents.

Driver Fatigue

Driving without enough sleep is commonplace for many in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and across the nation. Truck drivers, shift workers, and those with sleep disorders are most vulnerable to causing an accident because they are drowsy or fatigued. Not having enough rest slows down reaction time and impairs the senses. In fact, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) claims that eighteen (18) hours without sleep impairs a driver to the same extent as someone who has a 0.08 blood or breath alcohol concentration after consuming alcohol.

Speeding

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that one-third of all car accidents involve speeding. Drivers who rush, run late, or simply lack patience may choose to speed when they get behind the wheel. Speeding makes it more likely that a driver will lose control of his or her vehicle and makes it more difficult to react to road hazards and other vehicles. Speeding also increases the impact of a car accident and makes it far less likely that a negligent driver may maintain control of his vehicle sufficient to prevent a collision. High speed car accidents make it far more likely that those involved will suffer severe injuries or death.

OBTAIN NECESSARY COURT ORDERS TO PRESERVE EVIDENCE

At HoeyLegal, we know from our litigation experience that tractor-trailer drivers often operate at least one cellular phone which is in use at, during, or immediately prior to a tractor-trailer accident. Additionally, most tractor-trailers are equipped with data recorders which capture, in real-time, important vehicle operation events including speed, hard braking and other evasive maneuvers taken by the operator and the tractor-trailer.  It is imperative that this evidence be obtained before it is destroyed.  At HoeyLegal, our trial attorneys will obtain any necessary court order to preserve this evidence for trial.

IDENTIFY ALL AT-FAULT DEFENDANTS

Oftentimes, there are several defendants responsible for the tractor-trailer accident. In most cases, at least two defendants are responsible for the ownership and operation of the tractor-trailer.  There may be additional defendants responsible for the hiring and retention of the tractor-trailer driver.  At HoeyLegal, our investigators will promptly identify the responsible defendants and immediately request the preservation of all evidence related to the hiring and retention of the driver, inspection of the vehicles and the supervision and drug/alcohol testing of the vehicle operator.

LOCATE, EXAMINE AND INSPECT THE TRACTOR-TRAILER

Our accident investigators include mechanics who will immediately respond to the accident site and the location where the truck has been impounded in order to photograph the truck and conduct necessary mechanical inspections of the vehicle. In the event that a court order is necessary to examine and inspect the trucks, HoeyLegal Attorneys will promptly file the necessary motions to enable the HoeyLegal mechanics and inspectors to conduct a prompt evaluation of the mechanical function of the at-fault tractor-trailer

ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTION

Our expert accident investigators include former Pennsylvania State Police accident investigators and nationally recognized engineers who will carefully photograph the accident scene and conduct all necessary measurements of skid marks, yaw marks, displacement of debris and thoroughly examine the accident site to preserve all evidence for the time of trial.

INTERVIEW ALL WITNESS

Our investigators will promptly interview and record all witnesses that observed the accident and collect all biographical information from the witnesses so they will available to testify on your behalf at trial.