Common Mistakes People Make After An Accident

Common Mistakes People Make After An Accident

One of the number one mistakes that people will make after an accident is trying to handle the case on their own and not hiring an attorney as soon as possible. Sometimes we’ll get a case that’s maybe six months into the process and the client had been handling it on their own, so they’ve given recorded statements to the insurance company, they’ve said all these things about their injuries, or the insurance companies got them tripped up in their recorded statements that they’ll use against them later, maybe there’s some sort of gap or delay in treatment. There’s a number of things that can go wrong when a client doesn’t have an attorney by their side advising them. Another common mistake that clients make is not getting medical treatment. I think it’s common for people to get in some sort of accident, whether it’s a car accident, a slip and fall, or whatever it may be, and to feel like “ok, I’m going to go home, take some pain medication and try and ride this out, let my body heal.” And two or three weeks go by, maybe a month goes by, and they’re not better, so then they go to the doctor. Well the insurance company’s argument is “why did you go so late?” And what I always tell clients is, it’s about documentation and being able to show the other side and to prove to them that you were hurt. If it’s not in a medical record, the insurance company and their defense attorneys aren’t going to believe you. In a jury, if the case goes to trial, a jury may have a hard time believing that you were hurt if you didn’t get medical treatment. So delays in getting treatment at the beginning of a case, and gaps in treatment as the case goes on can really, really harm a case.