After an accident and before it is necessary to file a lawsuit quite a bit happens. During the pre-litigation stage, your attorney has several goals. First and foremost, his goal is to make sure that the client has the opportunity to get healthy. Between a hospital visit, visits to personal doctors, physical therapy, and chiropractic treatment. There are plenty of opportunities for clients to get the medical treatment that they need to get healthy. However, sometimes injuries are more severe and require diagnostic testing and treatment by doctors that specialize in pain management and orthopedics. All of this is done with the goal of getting the client healthy.
While all of this is happening there is the small matter getting the client’s car repaired. Before that happens and an attorney must get the insurance company to accept liability. While sometimes this is as easy as sending a police report, sometimes it can be a more difficult process. Attorneys may before it’s too convinced an insurance adjuster of the other driver’s negligence. Police reports, Google Earth, and witness statements come in handy. Once liability is established the other insurance company will provide a rental (or reimburse rental expenses) and will repair your car.
When a client’s medical treatment is complete and the car is repaired it’s time for the next step in the process. An attorney will gather all of your medical bills and Records and any additional evidence of Damages that you have. Sometimes this process can take quite some time. Once this is complete, the attorney will compile the bills and Records and send a demand to the insurance company. The goal is that all of this leads to a satisfactory settlement.
Even if the claim does settle, there is still more work to do. An attorney must ensure that all medical providers, lien holder, and subrogation interests get paid so that the client doesn’t owe anyone after they received their settlement check.
