HABASHY Law Firm

First, you must have suffered an injury to your person or property. Second, you should consider whether your injury was someone else's fault. It is not always necessary to have a physical injury to bring a personal injury lawsuit — some personal injury claims can be based on a variety of nonphysical losses and harms. In the case of an assault, for example, you do not need to show that a person's action caused you actual physical harm, but only that you expected some harm to come to you. Similarly, you also may have a case if someone has caused injury to your reputation, invaded your privacy or intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon you.

Every state has certain time limits, called "statutes of limitations," which govern the amount of time you have to file a personal injury lawsuit. If you miss the deadline for filing your case, you may lose your legal right damages for your injury. Consequently, it is important to contact a lawyer as soon as you suffer or discover an injury.

You should provide a lawyer with any documents that might be relevant to your case. Police reports, for example, contain eyewitness information and details about the conditions surrounding the event from which your claim arises. Copies of medical reports and bills from doctors and hospitals will help demonstrate the extent and nature of your injuries. Information about the insurer of the person who caused your injury is extremely helpful, as are any photographs you have of the accident scene, damaged property and your injuries. The more information you are able to give your lawyer, the easier it will be for him or her to determine if your claim will be successful. If you haven't collected any documents at the time of your first meeting, however, don't worry; your lawyer will be able to obtain them in his investigation of your claim.

An attorney performs a variety of complex and important tasks in any auto accident claim. First, an attorney handles all negotiations on behalf of the client. Those negotiations include the opposite party, the legal counsel for the opposite party, claim representatives and insurance adjustors. More often, the negotiations revolve around a set of complex and advanced legal documents, insurance forms and court mandated deadlines.

Second, an attorney utilizes variable set of individuals and tools to reach the best possible outcome for the claim. In addition to the attorney's own legal experience, our firm maintains professional staff who worked at insurance companies dealing with personal injury claims. Also, an attorney is capable of performing a legal research to identify regulations and case law that can advance the client's claim.

Third, attorney monitories the progress of personal injury claims. This includes collection of required documents, assembling claim packages and completion of forms. Opposite parties and their representatives often seek to dismiss or discredit auto accident claims by showing that the claimant failed to answer their requests for documents or forms. By retaining an attorney, the client answers only to his attorney instead of answering to multiple parties.

And fourth, retaining an attorney warrants against illegal actions. Auto accident claims are subject to federal laws, state regulations and case law. Claimants lack the proper foundation to understand and navigate this complex web of information, which may lead them to misinterpret laws. Such actions can cause: the denial of the claim, give birth to cross-complaint, or the initiation of criminal charges against the claimant.

An attorney will increase the value of any auto accident claim. Through extensive legal experience, an attorney can easily navigate the complex bureaucratic requirements associated with personal injury claims. Most importantly, an attorney understands the real and aggregate financial limits to insurance policies. Both those values are different from the announced values proclaimed in insurance policies.

Also, an attorney can identify the different parties involved within any personal injury claim. Parties include at least one direct opposite party, and may include multiple indirectly involved parties. Each party carries part of the liability for the personal injury claim, and unless the claimant can properly provide adequate proof of the damages and relationship between the party and the damage, the claim amount will be decreased. An attorney will be able to prove the relationship and increase the value of the claim.

In addition, an attorney utilizes his own network of professional to increase the value of your case. An attorney can send you to good doctors and negotiate cost of medical care. An attorney can also send you to reputable body-shop to fix your vehicle in accordance with state codes. And for some claims, an attorney can finance your claim by investigating the potential assets of the other parties involved and assessing the probability of success.

In case of an accident, the most important thing to do is to secure yourself. This can be achieved by examining yourself for injuries. Be careful and avoid sudden movements. If you feel dizzy, experience high fever or cold shivers, you must seek medical help as soon as possible as those are signs for complex medical conditions.

After securing yourself, you ought to examine the location to identify the parties involved. Habashy Law always recommends its clients to contact emergency services by calling 911. This will insure that any injured parties will be able to get medical attention, and a law enforcement agent will issue a report.

As a party to a car accident, you will need to collect some information about other parties involved. Ask for their driving license or other government issued identification documents that contains a picture and valid date of expiration. Write down, in clear handwriting, the other parties’ information on a separate sheet of paper. Habashy Law recommends its clients to collect the following information:

• Full name of the party;
• Type of the identification document;
• Serial number of the identification document;
• Expiration date of the identification document;
• Current address of the party;
• Primary phone number of the party;
• Information about vehicles involved, including vehicle make and model, license plate number, auto insurance carrier name, auto insurance policy number and expiration date, and registration month.

Depending on the nature of the accident, the need to maintain insurance can affect your claim in different ways. Under current California laws, drivers are required to maintain active liability insurance prior to driving. If a driver fails to maintain liability insurance, the driver will not be able to claim pain and suffrage for damages. Still, the party involved can claim loss of wages, medical bills, property damages and other expenses resulting directly from the accident.

In addition, Habashy Law will investigate the reason behind the loss of insurance. Often, clients send in their insurance payments and insurance providers delay the processing of payments to deny coverage and cancel polices. This is a complex litigation process and requires ample time.