What to Provide a Personal Injury Attorney

Considering the huge physical and recuperative challenges that many auto accident victims face, it can often be difficult for a still-injured individual to even think about going to court to fight for all those medical and rehabilitation costs brought on by a negligence-related passenger car or commercial trucking collision. With the constant pain and discomfort that can accompany serious bodily injury, it should come as no surprise that recovering auto accident victims may prefer to mend rather than enter the fray by filing a personal injury lawsuit against a negligent driver.

As Maryland automobile and trucking injury attorneys, the legal team at the law offices of Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, understand the trepidation that some potential clients may feel going in, but the important thing to remember is that, when it comes to one’s wellbeing and that of one’s family, there is no reason not to expect just compensation for injuries incurred as an innocent auto accident victim. Beyond the tragedy of a serious and possibly life-altering traffic collision, it would be tragic to allow the responsible party(s) to avoid paying for medical care, pain and suffering, and even lost wages that their negligent actions ultimately caused.

Of course, many innocent victims who have been caught up in a bad roadway wreck may not even consider that they could recover all or most of the costs that typically come following a severe traffic crash. Whether one is injured by another driver who was operating his or her vehicle while intoxicated, distracted by a cellphone, or simply not paying sufficient attention to the traffic conditions, the law provides for victims to file suit with the intention of recovering damages caused by the other motorist.

And why not try? The costs of emergency medical treatment and an extended hospital stay by themselves can be overwhelming, let alone the expense of any continuing rehabilitation and physical therapy, skilled nursing supervision, and long-term care. If you or someone you know has been injured badly in a car, truck or motorcycle crash, consulting with a personal injury lawyer may be well worth the time. At Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, your initial consultation is free, and there is no obligation to use our services.

Typically, most automobile or commercial trucking collisions are the result of a negligent act on the part of another person, often because of DUI, texting while driving, road rage, or reckless driving. Once one has found the best and most capable attorney, the hardest part may be over. The next step will be to provide your legal representative with the proper paperwork, documentation and other evidence to support your claim against the other driver. Our legal staff will help guide you through the steps to a successful personal injury claim.

Speeding the process of collecting damages arising from an injury-related road accident is in every victim’s best interest. Knowing what information or documentation to submit to your personal injury attorney can go a long way toward reducing the amount of time it takes to be reimbursed for medical and related expenses necessitated by bodily injuries received in a car crash. When considering what to present to your attorney in preparation for your auto or trucking accident injury claim, it is best to keep the following items in mind.

Checklist of Relevant Accident Details

Most of the basic details that one should provide his or her lawyer includes information collected at the scene of a crash. The following is a checklist of items relevant to almost any injury-related auto accident case.

• Your name, automobile insurance policy ID number, and driver’s license number
• Date/time of the accident
• Location of the crash
• Weather/roadway conditions at the time of the accident
• Names, driver’s license numbers, and car insurance policy carriers of other drivers/passengers involved in the crash
• Copy of the official police report (plus other accident reports that may have been filed)
• Copies of traffic tickets issued to other drivers at the scene of the collision
• Whether or not an involved driver was charged with DWI/DUI

Checklist of Personal Injury Details

Because a personal injury lawsuit usually involves a claim for damages that include medical costs and hospitalization, a claimant should provide his lawyer with documentation from a healthcare provider detailing any and all injuries related to the traffic accident. If you haven’t been treated at an emergency room, it is wise to visit your personal physician and let him or her know that you have been involved in an auto accident.

Ask your physician to order tests or scans of the injured areas. Also, be sure to obtain copies of any reports or images of the areas that were judged to be injured or damaged prior to the accident. Doing so will allow your attorney to assess whether additional damage occurred to those areas as a result of your traffic accident. The following items are typically quite useful when perusing an auto injury claim.

• Physician’s report
• Medical bills and hospital statements
• Billing receipts for ongoing medical treatments or physical therapies
• A tally of work days lost and the equivalent loss of income due to the accident
• Copies of any accident-related correspondence between you and your insurance carrier

As part of the claim preparation process, your personal injury attorney might suggest that you return with him to the accident scene to take pictures and make any observations of the roadway and surrounding area. In many cases, an experienced auto injury lawyer may wish to interview the witnesses to your injury accident in order to obtain statements from each of them.

As experienced Maryland personal injury attorneys, the legal team at Lebowitz & Mzhen knows that the victims of car, truck and motorcycle accidents can be very concerned about receiving appropriate compensation for the medical care and lost wages, as well as any pain and suffering that may have accompanied their injuries. Because many serious and life-threatening injuries can adversely affect one’s long-term quality of life, not to mention one’s ability to pursue his or her career in the future, some settlements can reach into the millions of dollars.

While it is very difficult to predict the value of any potential settlement based on a variety of factors, a qualified Maryland personal injury attorney can help victims to understand what may be possible. Circumstances have a great bearing on the outcome of a personal injury lawsuit. Multiple factors, such as underinsured motorist benefits, personal injury protection (PIP) coverage, collision coverage, as well as liability insurance will all need to be taken into consideration during a trial, some or all of which will drive the final outcome.

Juries will usually be directed to examine the specific aspects of the victim’s accident and the resulting physical injuries and other effects before they can settle on any award amount. Some factors that can influence the outcome of a personal injury lawsuit include the following:

• Severity of the victim’s bodily injuries
• Whether those injuries are temporary or permanent
• Condition of the involved vehicles (before and after the collision)
• Whether the accident was attributable to drunken driving
• Whether there were eyewitnesses to the crash
• Credibility of any eyewitnesses
• Amount of available insurance money
• Total lost wages due to injuries suffered in the crash

As professional trial attorneys, the expert legal staff at Lebowitz & Mzhen has represented numerous individuals who have been seriously hurt in a variety of traffic collisions, from passenger car, SUV and minivan accidents to commercial trucking collisions and motorcycle wrecks. As the victim of a road accident, it is very important to remember that settlement values can dramatically increase between the time of one’s initial insurance claim and the trial date of a personal injury lawsuit.

This means that if an insurance carrier offers an auto injury victim a certain settlement value shortly after the injury accident, one may find that the value of that settlement may increase many times over by the time a trial is set to commence. By hiring a skilled automobile accident lawyer who will aggressively pursue his client’s claim, there is a good chance that one may be able to maximize the value of that settlement.

For our part, Lebowitz & Mzhen firmly believes that severely injured victims of a negligent motor vehicle accident should not have to bear the costs of their medical care by themselves. When an accident results in serious bodily injury, through no fault of one’s own, there is no reason why the negligent party shouldn’t be held responsible for paying for those damages resulting from his or her careless actions.

Whether you or your family needs to pursue a personal injury case or wrongful death claim, our helpful staff is ready and willing to assist. If you have been badly hurt in a car, motorcycle, trucking or other traffic-related injury accident, we encourage you to contact our auto accident lawyers for a free, no-obligation consultation. We will listen to the details of your car or truck accident and explain your rights and options under the law. Simply call us toll-free at (800) 654-1949; or email either Jack Lebowitz or Vadim Mzhen to schedule a face-to-face meeting.