This blog post will provide some key reasons why hiring a lawyer right away is an important part of making sure you are fairly compensated for your loss.
Have you been injured in an accident due to the fault of someone else? Examples of a few accidents may include motor vehicle accidents, slip and falls, injuries by a faulty product, or construction accidents. If you are injured, you have legal rights to compensation for your injuries and any damages that may arise such as wage loss and treatment costs. However, it is important to know that there are time limits impacting how long you can wait before you must bring a claim. Those time limits are often two years from the date of the accident if you are an adult.
This blog post will provide some key reasons why hiring a lawyer right away is an important part of making sure you are fairly compensated for your loss.
Lawyers can help gather evidence, and evidence is often time sensitive
In a previous post, we talked about how important it is to gather evidence to help assess your claim (How to Make Sure You are Fairly Compensated for Your Injuries). Sometimes, gathering evidence is a time-sensitive process. Witnesses may move away and be difficult to contact, security camera footage may only be saved for a certain period of time before deletion, and memories may fade before statements can be obtained.
If you hire a lawyer early in the process, they will know what types of evidence may exist, and can work on gathering it before too much time has passed. While you may know of some sources of evidence from your accident (for example, you might have your own dashboard camera in your car for a motor vehicle accident claim) you may not be aware of other common types of evidence (such as police reports, traffic cameras, or black box information in your car). Speaking to a lawyer early can reveal other sources of evidence and, most importantly, allow you or your lawyer to preserve that evidence before it's too late.
There are expiry dates for bringing a claim
In the legal world, the time limit to start a lawsuit is called the "limitation period." If you try to start a lawsuit after the limitation period has expired, the other side can have the action dismissed.
In Alberta, you typically have two years to bring a claim after you have discovered it occurred. However, there are exceptions to this rule, and those exceptions sometimes mean a six month, or one year limit to bring your claim. A lawyer will be aware of the relevant limitation period for your type of injury (or for the type of party you would begin a lawsuit against) and can advise you of that period.
While your limitation date will be the same whether you speak to the lawyer the day of the accident, the day before the limitation period expires, or a month after it has expired, the benefit of speaking to a lawyer early is that your risk of unknowingly letting your claim expire is much lower. Additionally, if you bring your claim to a lawyer at the last minute – just days or hours before your limitation period expires – they may not be able to assist.
Your lawyer can protect you from settling too early
Oftentimes, when you are involved in an accident, you will be contacted by the other party's insurer. The insurer will offer to settle the claim for a modest figure. If you have not contacted a lawyer, and have not assessed your claim's value, you may think the money is appealing. If you accept the offer early in the process, you cannot revoke that acceptance later. If you do not accept the offer and counter with a modest offer without settling at that time, the insurer will try to use it against you later when your lawyer is asking for more money. Sometimes, people will accept an offer or put out a modest offer with no acceptance early in the process, and then speak to a lawyer and learn their claim was worth much more.
Hiring a lawyer early in the process prevents this from happening. The insurer has to speak to your lawyer, instead of you, and your lawyer will assess your damages and provide you with an opinion as to what your claim is worth.
In conclusion, the best time to hire a lawyer is as soon as you discover you have a claim. The second-best time to hire a lawyer is now.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.