3 Situations to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer

Getting injured because of someone else’s carelessness throws your life into chaos as the medical bills stack up. You might also be unable to work, have lingering pain, and need help just doing your everyday tasks. The good news is that you do have options, and a personal injury lawyer in Merrillville, IN can help you explore them all. Let’s walk through some scenarios where reaching out to a personal injury lawyer can turn things around.

3 Situations to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer

1. After a Car Wreck

If you’ve been rear-ended, sideswiped, or hit in a multi-car pileup caused by a careless or distracted driver, you might think it would be simple to get compensation. Instead, you might face pushback from an insurance company. They could argue you share fault in an attempt to reduce what you can recover under Indiana’s modified comparative negligence law, which says that if you’re 51% or more responsible, you get nothing, and if you’re less responsible than that, your award drops by the same percentage as your blame. 

A lawyer digs into police reports, witness statements, and traffic cam footage to prove what really happened and negotiate a settlement that accounts for your medical costs, lost wages, and ongoing rehab while protecting you from attempts to minimize your losses or assign you extra blame.

2. After a Truck or Motorcycle Accident

Truck and motorcycle accidents amp up the stakes even more. Because trucks are so large, collisions often result in especially severe injuries. These cases involve federal regulations; often multiple parties, like the driver, a trucking company, and cargo loaders; and liability questions that can be tough to untangle. Insurers for big rigs also know how to play hardball to protect their bottom line. 

Motorcycle crashes can be tough, too. Drivers failing to check blind spots or turning left without yielding can often cause wrecks with bikers, but bias against bikers is commonplace and insidious. You might be facing claims that you were speeding or not visible enough.

Having a lawyer means you have someone on your side to level the playing field. A lawyer can coordinate with accident reconstruction experts to show what actually happened, push for payouts that include your pain and suffering (which insurers often undervalue), and protect you from motorcyclist bias or a powerful trucking business that doesn’t want to take responsibility for the damage their trucks might cause.

3. After a Slip and Fall

Slip and fall incidents can happen in grocery stores, apartment complexes, or icy parking lots during winter. Property owners have a duty to keep things safe, but you’ll have to prove they knew about the hazard and ignored it; and if they can argue that you weren’t watching your step like you should have and are partially at fault, they could slash your compensation significantly.

A lawyer knows how to handle these kinds of premises liability claims by investigating quickly before evidence vanishes, piecing together the full story using evidence and witness testimony, and defending you and your rights in negotiations and in the courtroom. 

Whatever type of case you’re facing, a personal injury attorney helps you protect your rights. Contact us at Tanzillo Stassin & Babcock P.C. in Dyer, IN for help in Merrillville and all surrounding areas.

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