Recently, I learned of two car accident victims who decided to represent themselves in their car accident. Both victims sustained concussions which, of course, are serious injuries. I was surprised the victims declined representation because injury lawyers know how to get maximum compensation for their clients. This got me thinking: What could go wrong if you handle your own car accident case?

I will discuss this issue in this post!

Questions to consider if you represent yourself in your car accident case

  1. Do you know what your case is worth?
  2. Do you understand how to prove your injuries and find insurance coverage?
  3. Will you pay back all health insurance liens and medical expenses?
  4. Are you able to identify all legally responsible parties?

Do you know what your case is worth?

This is a critically important issue: what is your case worth? Most non-lawyers, understandably so, have no idea what their injury case is worth. Injury lawyers, on the other hand, rely on their knowledge and experience to determine the value of an injury case.

In the story I shared above, the injury victims might have believed a few thousand dollars was fair for their concussion injuries. However, it is not. In fact, it’s well under the fair settlement value.

As I have written about before, studies have shown injury lawyers recover more monies for clients than when clients represent themselves. So if you represent yourself, you might be settling your case for less money than it is worth!

Do you understand how to prove your injuries and find insurance coverage?

A couple of years ago, a potential client reached out to me with her car accident case. Her car accident case was old; in fact, about 3 years had passed since her accident. Initially, she represented herself but then dropped her case when she had trouble finding insurance coverages and relating her injuries to the car accident.

She contacted me after reading one of my blog posts.

Ultimately, we settled her case – and she was thrilled! During our investigation, we were able to identify insurance coverage for her injuries and show how her injuries were aggravated by the accident.

If you handle you own car accident case, it can be quite difficult to identify insurance coverage. What is more, it may not be easy to prove your injuries are related to the car accident. An experienced injury lawyer will help with both of these tricky issues.

Will you pay back all health insurance liens and medical expenses?

Under state and federal law, injury victims must pay back health insurers. This includes, of course, Medicare and Medicaid. Additionally, all other medical expenses must be paid.

Unfortunately, most injury victims do not know this. In fact, when I explain this to my clients, they are often surprised that a portion of their settlement must go back to their health insurer!

If you represent yourself, you must be aware of this legal requirement. If you don’t pay back your health insurer (and other medical providers), you run the risk of being sued!

Are you able to identify all legally responsible parties?

In some cases, it can be hard to hard to identify what parties are at fault. In fact, it can take quite a bit of research!

For most non-lawyers, this can be a tough task. However, experienced injury lawyers will have the expertise to identify all responsible legal parties so you can obtain the best possible financial recovery.

So as you can see, representing yourself in your car accident case comes with risk. If you are involved in a car accident, think carefully before representing yourself!