Nevada offers perfect routes for motorcyclists, with plenty of options for your preferred destination. Besides the pure joy of riding, motorcycles help save money on gas. Equally, they have their downsides because you are more prone to accidents which often lead to severe injuries or fatality. Again, motorists barely notice or fail to respect motorcyclists around them, making these crashes a daily occurrence.
When you or a loved one is a motorcycle crash victim, your health and well-being are on the line. You must seek monetary compensation to seek quality medical care and meet your daily costs. Negotiating a settlement or making an injury claim in court without a law expert is not advisable. Nonetheless, not every legal expert can help you with your case. You need an experienced, skilled, and knowledgeable lawyer to guide you through the process. This blog discusses considerations for choosing a motorcycle injury lawyer and their role in your claim.
Reasons for Hiring a Motorcycle Injury Lawyer
How is a personal injury law expert pivotal in your case? Should you hire one for your motorcycle injury claim? The answer is an absolute yes. Motorcycle accident injuries are life-altering and sometimes fatal, making it vital to seek compensation from the liable parties. Additionally, through adjusters, insurance companies will employ every trick to lower the payment amount or deny the claim entirely. When they approach you for the first time, they will sound compassionate and friendly, but all these are tricks intended to manipulate you to accept a minimum settlement.
Insurers care about increasing profit margins and will try to shift the blame for the accident on you to reduce the number of damages you are entitled to. When you are unwell, it is hard to negotiate with an insurance adjuster. If you are injured, it will be overwhelming, and you could be pushed to accept a low settlement or stressed enough to delay your recovery.
The right injury attorney is not concerned about the insurance company’s profits. They focus on fighting for your interests and protecting you from insurance adjusters. Therefore, do not represent yourself in the claim. Your lack of personal injury law knowledge and understanding of insurance language puts you at risk of accepting the first offer or giving up the claim altogether.
Again, insurers have the resources and a solid legal team to make your life difficult. This defense team will attempt to evade liability by producing needless evidence and bringing motions that you have no experience in contesting. You risk losing due to avoidable mistakes when you proceed with the case without a lawyer.
What you need to level the playing ground is an experienced injury lawyer. These experts partner with other professionals like investigators and medical experts to build a solid claim that will ensure you obtain the proper compensation to help with your healing. Insurers will loosen their purse strings once you lawyer up and will be more willing to offer a reasonable settlement than when you lack legal representation.
However, not every lawyer is right for your claim. Just because a lawyer rides a motorcycle does not mean they are suitable for your case. You need a board-certified injury attorney and a trial lawyer.
Choosing the Right Motorcycle Injury Lawyer
When looking for legal representation, finding someone you can trust is critical. Otherwise, you end up with compensation that cannot cover all your losses. Have you been injured in a motorcycle accident caused by another person’s negligence? Finding the right and reliable motorcycle injury lawyer will benefit your claim. With legal representation, you can build a solid claim and obtain maximum reimbursement. Otherwise, you risk paying for medical bills or other damages out-of-pocket, draining your finances. Do not seek compensation without a lawyer.
Discussed below are tips for choosing the right lawyer for your claim:
1. Consider the Years of Experience
Nevada has many lawyers, but few have the experience you can count on for a fair settlement. You want an experienced law expert on your side; the best way to achieve this is through research. Visit the local bar association sites or personal injury directories. Here, you will find the names of lawyers and the duration they have been practicing. Check out the experience of the legal experts and develop a list of professionals that interest you.
Pick lawyers who have been practicing for at least a decade. Their experience will be crucial in building a strong claim. A lawyer who has been practicing for a long time understands personal injury law and the claim procedures, bettering your chances of reasonable compensation. Further, because judges consider previous rulings when determining particular compensation, an experienced lawyer will know the recent cases they can cite to impact your case.
Conversely, picking a novice can be a waste of time and resources. They will struggle to build a factual claim or make mistakes that could cost you compensation.
2. Consider Practice Area
Finding a proficient personal injury lawyer is not enough for your case. You must narrow your options to the specific practice area because injury lawyers handle multiple issues, from car accidents to medical malpractices. You should break down these categories further and find a legal representative experienced in motorcycle crashes. Doing so strengthens your claim because these legal experts understand the paperwork, procedures, and challenges faced while filing motorcycle injury claims.
Additionally, the right injury lawyer has a partner network of experts, including expert reconstruction experts and medical professionals. The doctors will help prove the injuries are related to the crash, while reconstruction experts will explain the events leading to the collision, thus confirming the defendant was at fault.
Furthermore, an experienced lawyer will work with private investigators to conduct an independent investigation and find facts the police missed in their reports that could help build your case.
With knowledge of previous motorcycle accident injury claims, a proficient lawyer can help you build a solid claim and obtain maximum compensation.
3. Consider a Valid License
When choosing an injury lawyer, you must ensure they are licensed to practice in the area you need help. Visit the local bar associates and check whether the lawyers on your list are licensed to practice motorcycle injury law. Apart from licensing, you must check whether the license they hold is valid. If it is not valid, scratch them from your list and look elsewhere. Again, their area of practice must be Las Vegas. Even if they have decades of experience in a different location, they will not add value to your case.
4. Consider the Lawyer’s Success Rate
Another consideration is the success rate of the legal expert. You do not want a loser on your side because you will be expecting a loss. When you want a win in your claim, you need a winner, which is where the success rate issue comes in. You want peace of mind after hiring a lawyer, and the best way to achieve this is by considering the legal expert’s record.
Start by checking the overall motorcycle accident injury claims they represented in the previous year. Out of these cases, consider those they have won. If the lawyer has won more cases recently and lost a few or none, you can count on them for a positive outcome.
5. Find a Law Expert with Courtroom Experience
Although most personal injury cases do not go to trial, a few end up there. Therefore, when hiring, do not overlook the lawyer’s courtroom experience. Many people tend to focus more on the lawyer’s negotiation skills and forget that the case will go to trial if there is no settlement. Whether the matter is complex or not, you must anticipate and prepare adequately for the court to avoid an unfavorable outcome.
Be wary of lawyers nervous about going to court because they can accept an unfair settlement from the insurer just to avoid going to trial. Instead, find a law expert who is confident about trial and understands court procedures. To be sure the legal expert has the experience, check whether they are board-certified civil trial attorneys. If they are, it shows they have extensive trial experience, which gives you peace of mind knowing that even if the insurer does not settle, they will represent your best interests in the courtroom. Steer clear of lawyers with no courtroom experience because you will have minimal chances of a favorable outcome when the case proceeds to trial.
6. Read Customer Reviews
Every attorney claims to be the best in the industry, but this is not always the case. Do not take the legal expert for their word. Instead, do the due diligence and read customer reviews from independent sites like Better Business Bureau and other online directories. Reviews reflect clients' feelings about their experience working with a law firm or lawyer. You should seek help with your injury claim elsewhere if they are negative. Positive reviews show customers are happy about their injury claims, and you should consider the law firm for your case.
Alternatively, you can request a client list from the lawyers you are considering and contact their previous clients directly. Speak to clients whose injury claims are like yours and learn about their experiences. If they are happy and satisfied with the outcome of their injury suits, you should hire them.
7. Request a Free Case Evaluation
Most lawyers offer a free consultation. Use this opportunity and schedule one with a few names on your list. A face-to-face meeting will let you meet the lawyer and make an informed decision. An experienced lawyer will not make promises or guarantee a positive outcome. Instead, they will manage your expectations by assisting you in anticipating the possible claim results.
An excellent lawyer will request a copy of the police report regarding the motorcycle collision, medical info, and bills. After evaluating these, they should advise you on the strategy to employ in the case to obtain a fair payment.
During this meeting, you should ask about their rates and determine if they are willing to work on a contingency basis. If the answer is yes, then you can hire them.
The Roles of a Motorcycle Injury Lawyer in Your Claim
When you find the right injury lawyer, they will do everything in their capacity to earn maximum reimbursement for your claim. Some of the Services the lawyer will offer to you include:
Listen to Your Case and Make an Evaluation
After the injury, you will want to report the motorcycle collision to your insurer and make the claim official. Nevertheless, it is critical to talk to an injury lawyer for guidance on approaching the issue.
In the initial meeting, your lawyer will request you to explain the events leading to the collision and whether the other party had a hand in what happened. If the motorcycle crash is your fault, the law expert will assess the case and establish if you should pursue a claim. Further, the legal professional will guide you in approaching your insurer to close all gaps that could have you blamed for your injuries.
Collect the Necessary Evidence to Back your Claim before Meeting the Insurance Adjuster
Before meeting with the insurance adjuster assigned to your lawsuit, the right motorcycle injury lawyer will gather all the evidence relevant to the case, including weather reports, surveillance footage, and witness testimonies. The move eliminates counterclaims or ambiguities the adjuster can rely on to reduce or deny your claim.
The evidence the lawyer will require for the meeting depends on your injury claim and the treatment you received for the injuries. When you lack legal representation, it is easy for the adjuster to counter your claims because you will not remember most of the crash details due to the confusion that kicks in after an accident. The adjuster will request copies of medical reports, receipts, and treatments. They will justify their decision to deny you compensation if you cannot produce the evidence.
However, when you have the right lawyer on your side, they will arrange for the treating doctor to obtain the relevant documents. This will save you the hassle of traveling to medical facilities to obtain these documents.
Ease Communication With the Adjuster
The proper law expert will facilitate or enable communication with the adjuster. When you are alone, you will feel nervous about the meeting, and the adjuster could use the vulnerability to their advantage. Nevertheless, the negotiations will be successful with legal representation because they have training for this work. Besides, they understand adjusters' tactics to reduce claims, thus protecting your grievances.
Similarly, your legal representative will attend the meeting on your behalf and represent your interests for maximum compensation. You can focus on healing from motorcycle accident injuries with them appearing on your behalf.
Request an Increment in the Compensation Amount
Having the relevant evidence in negotiations makes a significant difference. As the adjuster maintains that their first offer is the best and final, your lawyer will use the evidence collected to push for a better settlement.
An insurance adjuster will cite delayed medical treatment as a reason for denying a claim or reducing compensation. Nonetheless, when your lawyer has the medical report and can prove you sought treatment on time, the adjuster will have no grounds for denying the claim.
Taking the Case to Trial
When the insurer maintains lowballing or all the negotiations with the adjuster fail, your lawyer will take the case to trial. Adjusters stick to their employer’s instructions and cannot accept a settlement above the monetary bracket, which explains their counterclaims. You do not need to engage in these futile negotiations if they are unwilling to settle.
Instead, your injury lawyer will advise you to proceed to trial, where a judge or jury will determine the proper compensation based on the evidence presented.
Bringing an injury lawsuit is more demanding than negotiations. Further, it is the last resort after all negotiations have proved futile. A lot is involved in a trial proceeding, and you need someone with courtroom experience for a favorable outcome. When you have partnered with a lawyer, they will prepare the necessary documents and file them with the court to initiate a trial proceeding. They will file the suit in the jurisdiction of the collision or where the motorcycle manufacturer is based if they are liable for the accident.
Even after your case has proceeded to trial, it can be settled through negotiations. However, as the talks continue, other litigation procedures like exchanging evidence, attending negotiations, and answering interrogatories will follow. If the case happens to reach the trial stage, your lawyer will present the following evidence:
- Weather reports
- Medical reports
- Surveillance footage of the road condition or incident leading to the crash
- Statement from expert reconstruction experts
In the end, the jury will give a verdict. The court’s ruling can be appealed, but you cannot appeal the decision if you settle out of court. The right injury lawyer will be with you, so choose wisely.
Find the Right Nevada Personal Injury Attorney Near Me
When you obtain injuries in a Nevada motorcycle collision, you should immediately talk to an experienced injury lawyer. Insurance adjusters and defense attorneys are ready to play ball when you lawyer up. At the Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney Law Firm, we are willing to represent you in your case and ensure you receive the proper compensation during negotiations or in the trial. Call us today at 702-996-1224 for a zero-obligation consultation.
