Personal injury lawsuit is highly complex. PERIOD.
What makes it more complex is filing it without taking assistance from any lawyer. One of the common questions widely discussed in the United States is: How To File A Personal Injury Claim Without A Lawyer?
To understand this, the first thing that needs to be addressed is: Can you file a personal injury claim without a lawyer? The answer is “Yes.” However, you need to understand every single corner of a personal injury lawsuit on your own.
Sounds difficult? Yes, but with this guide, your problem will be solved. Stay tuned with us and read till the end to learn how to file a personal injury claim without a lawyer?
What Is A Personal Injury Lawsuit?
The first question we will be addressing here is: What Is A Personal Injury Claim Or Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Well, personal injury lawsuits are those cases filed against people who have caused injuries or damages. To be very precise, personal injury is the physical harm suffered by or done to someone.
One example situation includes persons suffering harm from injury or accident and someone else legally responsible for the damage.
The two possible outcomes of the case will be:
- Informal Settlement: Generally, through informal settlement, most disputes over the fault for an injury or accident. This happens among the involved persons, including their attorneys, insurers, etc.
- Formal Settlement: A formal personal injury lawsuit case begins while the plaintiff files a civil complaint against the defendant (corporation, business, etc). The allegation comes in this way: they acted irresponsibly, which caused harm. Best personal injury lawyers can solve these cases in no time.
What Are the Types Of Damages In Personal Injury Lawsuit Claims?
Now that you know what is a personal injury claim, it’s time to know the common damages related to it. Basically, there are three types of damages a personal injury claim can cause. Check them out below:
- Non-Economic Damages
These are just the general damages and are not measurable since it relates to psychological pain, suffering, ignominy, and emotional distress. There are specific parameters to understand them.
- Economic Damages
These are the special damages as the losses are measurable and calculatable through bills, medical expenses, time away from work, and property vouchers,
- Punitive Damages
These are the punishable offenses accompanied by a higher mass of compensation. This occurs when a jury or a judge grants or punishes the plaintiff for making an example of the defendant.
| Bonus Point: Some of the common personal injury lawsuit cases in the U.S. eligible for suing are: Auto accident injury (Car accidents, motorcycle accidents, Pedestrian accidents, etc), Slip and fall accidents, and medical malpractices (Surgical errors, childbirth errors, failure to treat). |
How To File A Personal Injury Claim Without A Lawyer?
How To File A Personal Injury Claim Without A Lawyer?
I am going to assist you at this point. Follow the step-by-step guide below to know how to fight a personal injury lawsuit on your own. This section is equally important for those who are looking for the answer to “ Personal injury claim filed against me, what to do? ”
Step 1:
- Claim the settlement to the insurance company of the defendant or simply to the defendant with the evidence.
- In case you don’t receive a satisfactory response, file a complaint to the personal injury lawsuit or civil court.
Step 2:
- The civil court would allow the defendant 20-30 days to provide a response to the personal injury lawsuit that’s been sued against him.
- The defendant will now try to disprove or prove the allegation or may also admit to the claim to be true.
Step 3:
- On a personal injury claim, both the plaintiff and defendant will try to stay updated with the proceedings.
- They will also apply for the information sharing deets: issue conditions, deposition, factual materials, etc.
Step 4:
- Both the parties will come to understand the truth of the claim and its transformation – possible claims, the severity of the injury, etc.
- Both the parties can now sit for meditation, arbitration, or settlement (pre-trial phase).
Step 5:
- In the trial phase, the plaintiff will do everything without the lawyer
- If either the defendant or plaintiff rejects the settlement, they would have to go through the trial where the judge would assess the testimony.
- As per the documents, proofs, injury’s severity, etc., the jury would offer proper instruction and solution.
- The jury will then provide the verdict – whether the defendant will have to pay the ransom which the plaintiff has demanded.
- Finally, the court of law will tell the compensation amount considering the negligence and the intent.
| How long does it take to settle a personal injury claim? The case is expected to last 6 months – 1 year from the date of complaint filing. When it comes to self-filing, it may take 2-3 years to settle. |
Should You File A Personal Injury Claim Without A Lawyer?
After reviewing how to file a personal injury claim without a lawyer, I hope you have got that it can be difficult to gather all the documents and negotiate a fair settlement by yourself.
If a victim chooses not to hire a lawyer in case of a personal injury lawsuit, a number of challenges become prominent. He may lack the experience and strategies to identify, value and pursue the damages.
Definitely, you can file a personal injury claim without a lawyer but keep in mind the pros and cons of doing it alone.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Cost becomes zero. | Limited knowledge and less experience about the personal injury underpinnings |
| No middlemen are involved. | Minimum confidence to handle cases with minimum statutes or data. |
| The plaintiff gets to know the state laws | You cannot give any clarification to the jury. |
| It raises the confidence to handle similar personal injury claims thereafter. | It enhances the power of the insurance company lawyer. |
Beware Of The Cost You Have To Incur For Representing Yourself
After “ How To File A Personal Injury Claim Without A Lawyer? ” the next frequent question is “ How Much Cost I Have To Incur For Settling A Personal Injury Case By Myself?”
The answer is not fixed since a lot of factors regulate the cost.
In the United States, the common costs for hiring a personal injury lawyer include: Court costs, deposition costs, investigation costs, expert witness fees, travel expenses, cost of gathering evidence and information. In these cases, the personal injury lawyer’s fee is 33% to 40% of the amount the lawyer will get for the client.
On a summative note, your loss will be less while filing your own personal injury claim since you don’t have to share the payout with anybody out there.
All you have to do is remember some crucial questions:
- Do you know how to navigate the process
- Do you know how much your case is worth?
- Do you have the time to dedicate to the process
Frequently Asked Questions
Some of the most common personal injury claims are: Assault, car accident claims, medical malpractice claims, wrongful death, workplace accidents, slip and fall accidents, etc.
The largest personal injury settlement in history is: $206 Billion Dollars For The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.
You or your insurance company will file a response having a range of attempts to disprove the plaintiff’s case.
To know how to fight a personal injury lawsuit, check out the stepwise procedure we have laid out in the above segment.
Concluding It
Now that you know how to fight a personal injury claim without a lawyer, you also have developed an idea of what does a personal injury lawyer do.
If you come across a personal injury claim car accident, I hope you will be able to sort out the problem alone. Believe in yourself, and the door to solutions will open in front of you. Why waste a lump-sum amount of money when you can settle the case by yourself?
See you in the comment section if you have further questions or ideas to share with us.
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Mashum Mollah is the feature writer of Search Engine Magazine and an SEO Analyst at iDream Agency. Over the last 3 years, He has successfully developed and implemented online marketing, SEO, and conversion campaigns for 50+ businesses of all sizes. He is the co-founder of Social Media Magazine.
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