Do You Need A Lawyer For A Head Inury Settlement?

If you have suffered a head injury, you may be offered a head injury settlement. This may happen in a number of situations depending on what the cause of your head injury was. If your head injury was from a car accident, the car insurer of the responsible driver may be offering you the settlement. If your head injury resulted from slipping and falling at a grocery store, the liability insurer of the grocery store may be offering you the settlement. Regardless of who is offering the head injury settlement, you should have an attorney review that settlement for you.

Why You Need an Attorney

You may believe that you do not need an attorney. After all, if you are being offered a large sum of money for your claim from an insurance company, you may decide that the amount of money is more than fair and you may think that you should accept the settlement.

However, once you sign a settlement, you release the insurance company (and their client, who was responsible for your injuries) of all liability. This means you cannot later go back and sue for more money. If your injury turns out to be worse than you thought it was or if you didn't realize that there were some additional damages you were entitled to, you will be out of luck- once you sign a liability release, it is typically binding.

How an Attorney Can Help

When you have been injured and are entitled to damages, there are a number of different potential things you should recover for. These damages include:

Medical bills
Lost wages
Pain and suffering
Emotional distress
Punitive damages (in certain cases where the defendant was grossly negligent)

If your settlement does not cover all of these injuries or damages, then you may be accepting much less than you could have received had you taken the case to court and let the jury decide your damages.

Your attorney can provide you with an analysis of the strength of your case and let you know the likelihood of winning in court. He can also review past verdicts and help you to estimate what the verdict would be if a jury made the decision. With this information in mind, you can make an educated decision about whether you are better off filing a lawsuit or whether you should accept the settlement.

Getting Help

Make sure to consult with an attorney before signing any papers or accepting any settlement. Getting expert legal advice is the only way to protect your rights after a head injury and to make sure you are fairly compensated for all the damages you suffered.

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