Car Accident Lawyer

Are you considering hiring an auto accident injury attorney? In this article we are going to talk about the 2 top things to look for in a car accident lawyer.

When you are going through the process of looking for the right auto accident injury attorney sometimes things can get pretty confusing. There are so many advertisements on television that are offering to turn your wreck into a check but how do you know if they are credible or if they are going to do a good job on your case? There are many different things that you may want to look at when it comes to doing research on the person that is going to take over your case but there are really just a few that really matter. Let’s go on to talk about the 2 top things to look for in a car accident lawyer.

Number 1 – Is This Their Area Of Expertise?

When you are looking for someone to represent you and to take care of your car wreck case you should always look for someone that specializes in the area of car and truck accident law. If you look into any profession you will see that the experts are the ones that get paid the most. Why is this? Because they have researched and learned about everything that is relative to this part of law. Since the law changes they also make sure to keep track of any new parts that are added to the law. When you have an expert auto accident injury attorney you will be sure to get the most money out of your auto accident settlement.

Number 2 – Number Of Years And Number Of Cases

After you have found an expert in the field of auto accident law then you should check up on them even further. Now you need to look at the number of years they have studied, the number of years they have practiced car accident law as well as the number of cases they have taken on in those years of practicing. I am sure that you do not want to be the first case out of the gate. After all it is your money that is on the line. You want someone that is going to fight for you and know what they are doing when they are working on your case.

You can easily find a qualified and expert lawyer on the internet. Someone that has been previously researched and has proven that they can fight for your rights.

By: Jessica L Lawson

After 22 years as a personal injury attorney there is one key principle that stands out when it comes to getting what a case is worth:

Identify all injuries and make sure each is properly diagnosed and treated.

“What?”, you say, “Isn’t that the doctor’s job?”

Maybe. But is it the doctor’s job to make sure you get maximum recovery on your personal injury case?

In this day of information overload doctors are challenged to stay on top of developments in their field and to perform their specialty competently. An orthopedic surgeon, for example, can be expected to spot a bone break. But is it realistic for him to also know symptoms of “TMJ”?

TEMPOROMANDIBULAR JOINT DISORDER (TMJ)

The temporomandibular joint is one of two joints connecting the lower jaw bone to the temporal bone (think “temples”) of the skull. It is a combined hinge and sliding joint. Temporomandibular joint disorder is an abnormal condition with facial pain and poor function of the lower jaw.

I once represented a Chinese client. He came to this country to go to school and decided to stay. While cruising the freeway in his Volkswagen bus one night, he was struck from behind by a large semi-truck.

His injuries were numerous and various. One day, after he had seen many doctors, he was visiting with me in my office discussing his personal injury case. My attention was drawn to an audible “pop” sound which coincided with the opening of his mouth.

TMJ? You better believe it. One of the worst cases I had ever seen (or heard).

Here’s a checklist of TMJ symptoms that was provided by a TMJ specialist:

1. Is there pain in or around your ears, jaw, head or neck?

2. Are there any TMJ joint noises such as popping, clicking, or cracking sounds or feelings?

3. Is it painful to eat or difficult to open your mouth?

4. Do you have frequent headaches?

Very minor TMJ ailments can sometimes be treated adequately by a chiropractor but if the disorder continues beyond several chiropractic adjustments a referral should be made to a dentist who specializes in TMJ. The dentist can fit a bracket for the patient which will, hopefully, provide lasting rehabilitation and relief.

HEAD INJURY

Another common malady in personal injury cases (especially after auto accidents) is a closed head injury. A closed head injury occurs when there is trauma (injury) to the brain that does not result in a skull fracture. One type of closed head injury is a “concussion,” which is a violent jarring or shaking injury to the brain.

Closed head injuries are actually quite common after car accidents and can occur even though the injured person is not hit on the head.

A rapid acceleration and deceleration of the head can force the brain to move back and forth across the inside of the skull. The stress from the rapid movements pulls apart nerve fibers and causes damage to brain tissue. This type of injury often occurs as a result of motor vehicle crashes and physical violence, such as Shaken Baby Syndrome. (Source: Brain Injury Association of America.)

There at least twelve (12) common symptoms of closed head injury. I obtained a list of these common symptoms from a neuropsychologist. (A “neuropsychologist” is the medical professional who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of closed head injuries.) The list was developed for a research project: “Behavioural Outcome in Head Injury” by Sureyya Dikmen, Ph.D., Principal Investigator.

Here are the symptoms:

1) headaches;

2) fatigue;

3) dizziness;

4) blurred vision;

5) trouble concentrating;

6) bothered by noise;

7) bothered by light;

irritability, lack of patience;

9) loss of temper easily;

10) memory difficulty;

11) anxiety;

12) insomnia.

For head injuries involving injury to the brain the recognized specialist is the neuropsychologist. If the patient shows some of the above symptoms and, especially if these symptoms persist for longer than 18 months, a referral should be made to one of these experts who can perform a battery of tests to accurately assess how the accident has affected the mental abilities of the injured person.

WHERE DO YOU HURT?

In addition to these checklists, one way to spot undiagnosed injuries is to ask yourself: “where am I still in pain?”. Let your doctor (or lawyer) know and get a referral to a doctor who is skilled in treating that part of your body.

Here’s an example: pain radiating down arms or legs can be a symptom of a disk herniation. Intervertebral disks are soft “pads” that separate the bones of your spine. An accident can rupture the disk’s outer covering (annulus fibrosis) causing the inner substance (nucleus pulposus) to push outward. This is called herniation and it can create pressure on surrounding tissues, most importantly the nerves which exit from your spinal cord. This pressure at the spinal level can cause pain all the way into your fingers or toes. Sometimes surgery is required to fix it.

The point here is that if you have the symptoms of a disc herniation you probably need an MRI or CT scan. (Note: symptoms of disc herniation need to be observed by a competent medical professional to determine if one of these tests is needed.) If you have a disk herniation which is properly diagnosed through one of these “imaging studies” your case will increase in value.

More importantly for you, in the long run, something can be done to treat it. If no MRI or CT scan is done then you don’t get compensated for the injury and you suffer from it without proper treatment.

By: Rex Bush

In Boston, Massachusetts, personal injury attorneys have filed and represented numerous victims of drunk drivers. Throughout the entire state, there is a wide need for such attorneys as more and more victims are clamoring for coverage for their medical costs, lost income, and other sorts of damages. 171 out of the 442 auto accidents have been filed to be DUIs (this is according to the 2005 Massachusetts traffic records).

Statistics also prove further that thousands of Massachusetts drivers have been involved in many serious motorists’ accidents (numbers go up as high as 87,000 drivers who suffered from accidents from the years 2002 until 2007). A Boston car accident lawyer definitely has a lot of work up his sleeves as there are more victims that suffer needlessly each year. His job requires that he would file the police report for the victim and that he would also be the one responsible in filing a case at court (one that would fetch the coverage for the damages sustained by the victim).

For people who have already encountered auto accidents in the state of Massachusetts, they would also be able to attest that there are some laws there that could be bent by the guilty party if not known to the aggrieved individual. For a driver who becomes injured or encounters a car accident in Massachusetts, there are some possibilities that he would file for an underinsured motorist claim-more so if the driver who caused the injury does not have sufficient BI or bodily insurance.

BI’s cover for the expenses incurred during injuries and when these are not sufficient to pay for such expenses, the aggrieved party’s recourse is to look for his car insurance carrier’s benefits for the underinsured motorist. Unfortunately, Massachusetts law dictates that before filing for such, the injured party should first obtain permission from his car insurance carrier before the settlement of claims with the guilty driver’s bodily injury carrier. Another thing, the aggrieved party can only be entitled to underinsured benefits when his coverage surpasses the BI of the driver who caused the injury.

These are just some of the reasons why a Boston car accident attorney should have sufficient knowledge of the Massachusetts set of traffic laws. There are a lot of accidents out there on the road that are still waiting to happen and it is these lawyers’ responsibility to settle all such commotions in an orderly manner. Without the assistance of car accident lawyers, people would just tend to point at each others’ faults and refuse to settle-and that is an alarming scenario.

By: Caitlina Fuller