How can you tell if you should get an attorney to help with your injury case? In most cases, if your medical bills or lost wages already are over $1000 or seem likely to reach that level, it makes to consult an attorney. Even the insurance industry’s own studies have shown that most people can end up taking home significantly more compensation from insurance with the help of an attorney than they could on their own.
A 1999 study commissioned by The Insurance Research Council (IRC), an organization of insurance companies, compared settlements paid to accident victims who hired lawyers with the settlements received by people who handled cases on their own. The IRC study showed that, on the average, people represented by a personal injury attorney received 3 ½ times more money than those who didn’t hire a lawyer.
In fact, insurance company instruction manuals train their adjusters to discourage people from hiring attorneys, because the insurance companies know that they can pay less for claims that are not represented by an attorney.
The Allstate training manual advised adjusters on how to discourage people from hiring attorneys because Allstate’s own internal data showed that overall, claimants with attorneys generally recovered 2 to 3 times more than self-represented claimants. [Allstate Insurance Co., Unrepresented Segment Training Manual, 15-30, July 1995]
Bottom line: Even after attorney’s fees, using the services of a personal injury attorney will result in more compensation for you in the vast majority of cases.
