Missouri Injury Law Blog

Laura A. Wright is a guest author, who contributed this post. Laura writes on the topic of online paralegal degree . She can be reached at her email id: laura.wright@radiffmail.com

When you or a loved one is injured in an accident or hurt in some way by the wrongful actions of others, you may have a personal injury case on your hands. This means that you can sue the person who was responsible for your accident or misfortune and ask a jury to award you a certain sum of money for all the losses you have suffered and the pain you were forced to undergo. But is this case worth your time and energy? Will the outcome be satisfactory? Or are you going to be in a worse position than when you started at the end of the case? Your personal injury case is worth fighting if:

• You have a strong case: (Legal Liability) When you know that you’re not in the wrong and when you can prove this fact, you could file a personal injury case. While it’s true that juries have awarded millions in damages to a woman who was stupid enough to pour hot coffee on herself, most panels award money only when they know the case is airtight and that you’re in the right.

• You have a good lawyer: When you have a skilled and able lawyer on your team to fight for you, you know that you have a good chance of winning the case. A qualified personal injury attorney who is well versed and has experience in personal injury cases could analyze your case, put together the facts and ensure that he/she does all they can to win.

• You have the time to dedicate to a lengthy trial: Some complex personal injury cases could go on for some time and you may have to put your life on hold till they’re over. This means revisiting the accident in your mind every day, a feat that is going to be difficult especially if you’re still suffering nightmares from the horror of the accident. You also have to give up your source of income and devote all your energies to the cause of your case, no matter how long it drags on.

• You don’t pin all your hopes on the outcome of the case: While you may win a huge amount of money, you could also end up with nothing. So don’t pin all your hopes on the jury awarding you a large sum in compensatory and/or punitive damages, because even if it does, an appeal could take it all away from you. You will have to spend some money from your bank balance, because even though your attorney is paid on a contingency basis (a percentage of your settlement), there may be other incidental expenses that you have to bear.

• Take a settlement when it’s good enough: If the opposition offers you a reasonable settlement, take it and end the legal battle at the earliest. If you’re greedy for more, you may end up with nothing except wasted time and efforts. Talk to your lawyer and other well-wishers before deciding to accept or reject a settlement.

To know if you have solid grounds for a personal injury case, seek out a lawyer and discuss your case at the earliest. The longer you wait, the colder the trail of evidence and harder to prove that you are responsible for your injury and condition.

St Louis Personal Injury Lawyer Benjamin Sansone's comments on the above article:

While I agree with most of the above article, my Missouri personal injury clients and Illinois personal injury clients do not have to expend costs or expenses in their case. Also, while some complex cases, i.e. Missouri wrongful death claims or Illinois medical malpractice claims involve a lot of the client's time, most Missouri and Illinois auto accident, slip and fall, premise liability, or other personal injury type cases actually require very little of the personal injury client's time.

One aspect of the article above that I strongly agree with, do not pin your financial hopes and future on money you expect to recover from your case. While 99.9% of my Missouri and Illinois personal injury clients see a good to excellent recovery, do not make financial plans that rely on a future recovery. This inevitably will put yourself in a financial bind and then your financial needs will dictate what you want out of the case and when, which often times compromises the case. The value of a personal injury case depends on many different categories of recoverable damages, one factor that does not determine the value of your case is your financial wants and needs in life.