Accidents bring a lot of pain, and moreover troublesome. Along with financial loss, accidents can cost your valuable time as well. The first thing a person thinks about after accident is to reach an insurance company. But, it is a known to everyone that insurance companies can’t be dealt without an expert auto injury lawyer.
However, it is being seen that people in modern times are hesitating to contact auto injury lawyers. Such people become the victims of prejudices about auto injury lawyers. Given below is the compilation of some of such common prejudices heard about
auto injury lawyers.
1 An auto injury lawyer can be in comparison with the amount to be recovered through the claims: Some people do not even think about claiming insurances just because they have to take help of an auto injury lawyer. They have the perception that hiring an auto injury lawyer would cost them more than the insurance amount. Anyway, all such perceptions can simply be termed as myths.
First of all, an auto injury lawyer is not going to charge you anything for simple consultations. Moreover, an auto injury lawyer is always going to keep you at the beneficial side. The simple thing one can do to stay away from all sorts of doubts is to ask the concerned lawyer about his “fee structure”.
One can get about different
types of charges that the lawyer is going to charge you for different types of services. A professional auto injury lawyer will never ask you anything beyond that. If someone asks beyond what mentioned over the fee structure, he or she is not truly a professional lawyer, and you should not pay anything extra.
Another way such misconceptions arise among people is when they compare the charges demanded by the
lawyers of other departments with that of auto injury. For example, a criminal lawyer or the one dealing with income tax affairs is obvious to demand more in comparison with an
auto injury lawyer.
It is good to compare charges before hiring anyone; but, make sure you compare with someone of the same department only. Some important points here is to mention about the auto injury lawyers is that they start the processing of your case without any fee, and the lawyer may or may not add the joining fee with the total fee, only after the case is closed. Moreover, the fee is added only if the lawyer wins the case for you.
In short, an auto injury lawyer is not at all expensive in comparison with others.
Talking about the perception that the cost of hiring an auto injury lawyer exceeds the insurance amount, all it can be said that such thoughts rubbish. Some unprofessional lawyers are responsible for the perceptions of such. Various negativities are spread regarding the insurance companies as well. It is here to note that the insurance companies pay about half of the expenditures that are associated with the
damages of the vehicles, and the accident victims pay little more than 25 percent of the crash expenditure.
2 Lawyers play with emergencies of their clients and demand more: It is a common misconception that the auto injury lawyers demand more during the emergencies. Such people do not file auto injury lawsuits immediately after getting injured. This can simply be termed as a blunder. Rather, it is important to understand that you can’t file an auto injury lawsuit after a couple of years from the day of injury.
Moreover, as the auto injury lawyers offer a free consultation, one should not hesitate to ask about the costs and other aspects for better assurance. Filling lawsuit should not be your last option; rather, you should immediately go for it post-injury.
3 What to do if the client has to shift to the other state? Some people do not prefer going with the auto injury lawyers as they have to shift to another state shortly. Well, it is true that the same lawyer can’t straightaway handle your case at another state. This is because they are licensed to practice at the specific state only. It will be illegal for them to handle the case at another state.
However, it is not a concern as they can get court permission and handle the case at the other state. There is no cost involved in the whole procedure. In general, the auto injury legal procedures do not take much of the time. Hence, shifting to another state should not be the reason for you to avoid hiring an auto injury lawyer.
4 Lawyers deliberately delay the court procedures: People have the perception that as they are not aware of the legal affairs, hence a lawyer can easily trap them and take excessive amounts simply by delaying the court procedures. However, this should not be a reason as you always have the option to terminate the lawyer. People again have the perception that the
legal process might get affected by changing the lawyer, which is not true. You can change your lawyer anytime, and it is not going affect anyway.
All you need is to intimate about the same in writing to the first lawyer. The first lawyer can in no way manipulate the documents or the case; you should not fear this at all. However, it is true at the same time that a lawyer can withdraw the case from its side. But, this also should not be a matter of worry as they can’t simply quit the case anytime they wish. They have to follow the proper procedure in this regard, which ensures the client gets enough opportunities to hire another lawyer, without the case being affected.
5 Lawyers trick clients with fee agreements: It is a common misconception that the lawyers trick the clients regarding fee arrangements. If you too have any confusion like this, the best suggestion would be to know about different types of fee arrangement. A lawyer can use either charge as per hourly fees, contingent fees, or simply the flat fees. There can’t be any other way of charging. An hourly fee is when the client pays per hour.
However, on a practical note, it is impossible to calculate the number of hours a lawyer spends. Hence, they normally charge the monthly bills, which can be negotiable. Talking about the contingent fees, it is one of the most favourable ways from client’s perspectives as here the client pays a lawyer only if the case is successfully handled. In other words, the client pays only when his money is recovered.
Most of the
auto injury lawsuits are handled in this way only. However, the lawyers generally make agreements to take a certain percentage of the recovered amount. In general, the lawyers charge one-third of the recovered amount for auto injury cases. It is only the rare of the rarest cases where the lawyers charge more than this amount. Ultimately, it can be assured that the client is going to be on the beneficial side.
The other method is the flat payment method. In this method, the lawyers demand a fixed amount for successfully handling your case. Lawyers do not charge anything extra for consultation in either of the above methods. The newbie lawyers mostly follow flat payment procedures. However, it can certainly be claimed that the contingent method is the most preferred way of payments over all the ways mentioned above.
6 Confusions on how to resolving the dispute with the lawyer regarding payment: Many people remain in confusions on how to resolve a dispute with the lawyer regarding payment related aspects. The best recommendation on this context would be to agree with the condition that any fee disputes are going to be arbitrated. It is here to note that upon getting referrals through bar association or any organisation affiliated to the concerned bar association is always a safer option.
Through the process, a client can seek help from the association if any inconvenience is faced. The chances of inconveniences are less as the members of bar association often have to meet certain standards set by the association. If the association finds that the member has violated any standard or rule, it can terminate their membership and help the client by providing them with the new lawyer.
Hiring a lawyer through the association is indeed a safer option. However, nothing is to worry as well even if you have hired the lawyer through any other method, like through internet or someone else’s reference. If any inconvenience appears or any issues appears from the lawyer’s side, the client can expect help from licensing authority. In simpler words, they can expect help from the office of court administration, disciplinary committees, and other legal bodies. They conduct investigations regarding any misconduct.
In some occasions, people wish to arbitrate the fee disputes, but they often remain in confusion whether the agreement provides for arbitration. The best recommendation in such occasions would be to take help of the state bar association at which the concerned lawyer practices. One can get all sorts of information regarding fee arbitration through this way.
Moreover, the clients should understand it well that any specific resolution of fee dispute is a much favourable option in comparison with the litigated resolution. These aspects are essential to be addressed. If necessary, one may take help of third-party arbitrators for quicker processing.
7 Lawyers often do not communicate: This is indeed one of the craziest misconceptions people lead with. They often complain that they can’t communicate with the lawyer. Well, the best recommendation would be to follow the official procedures of communicating, like through emails or only the official phone numbers. They have to answer your query as it is their profession after all. If you realized the lawyer is intentionally avoiding your calls, the methods mentioned above are always there.
Simply complaining at the bar association at which the lawyer practices is enough to get a satisfactory result. Every bar association often have its review procedures and ways of receiving complaints. Good news is that such review procedures do not take much of your time. Moreover, they take decisions like suspending and even removing the attorney if the attorney is found guilty.
Things can be even quicker if you hire the lawyer through the concerned bar association lawyer reference cell. They can fix any issue between you and the attorney in case any issues appear. Hiring through any other way, you have the only option to complain near the licensing authority.
In short, one should not fear about any injustice or should not feel helpless.
8 Auto Injury Lawyers and Insurance companies have tie-ups: It is a strange misconception people have in mind about the auto injury lawyers that they often have tie-ups with insurance companies. They believe such tie-ups ultimately are going to put them at the losing side. All it can be said is that such perceptions are rubbish. If you have the requisite documents, there is no reason you should fear such aspects.
Every lawyer is serious about his career; they know it well that a single complaint at the bar association where they practise can affect their entire career. Also, no insurance company would wish to get involved with such unwanted legal affairs. The amount of time or the expenditure they have to bear with the lawyer is obvious to get way higher than the recovery amount. In short, the claims of such are absolute myths; those have no base.
Above all, one should always see the positive sides rather than the negative ones. It is evident that some people benefited from auto injury lawyers are pretty huge. One should not have any fear simply because of prejudices or myths. Moreover, with so many options available to complain, no lawyer would wish to do such cheap things at the cost of his or her career.
Author Bio: Crystal J.Pace is a Professional legal writer
worked with many companies. She is currently associated with West Coast Trial Lawyers,
Largest Personal Injury LawFirms. She loves to share her views regarding law.
