Personal injury cases can be lengthy and complex. Your chances of obtaining compensation for injuries can rely heavily on things that you may not have foreseen, making any mistakes quite costly. To improve your chances of winning a case via either settlement or trial, here are a few mistakes to avoid with personal injury lawsuits.

1 – Not Obtaining Adequate Medical Care

Medical care is extremely expensive. For some, it’s unaffordable. If you avoid seeking medical care for fear that you won’t be able to cover the expense, this could be a big mistake. Not only will you jeopardize your health, but you’ll also make it difficult to prove that you were injured, to begin with. Personal injury cases rely heavily on medical records of those injuries, so it’s critical to seek timely and thorough medical care. Additionally, the other party could argue that by not getting medical treatment when you were first injured, you could have made your injuries far worse than they would have been. It’s truly in your best interests to get the care and treatment you need for any injuries.

2 – Losing Evidence

Lost evidence is another common problem with personal injury cases. This is particularly true the more time that passes between when you were injured to when you decided to sue. For example, if there were witnesses to an accident and you lost their names and contact information, it can be nearly impossible to track that down again later. Pictures of accident scenes are another valuable piece of evidence. Be sure to keep copies of anything and everything related to an accident, whether you think you need them or not.

3 – Not Hiring an Attorney

One of the biggest mistakes to avoid with personal injury lawsuits is not hiring an attorney. Perhaps you’re hoping to get a quick and easy settlement from an insurance company and don’t think you need an attorney. Without proper legal counsel, you’ll likely make huge mistakes that cost you money. Hiring an attorney is the best way to know and protect your rights. Personal injury attorneys have extensive experience with negotiating settlements and litigating cases, both of which will lead to larger compensation for your injuries. Hire an attorney early on to ensure you have the information and help that you need.

4 – Signing Documents without Attorney Review

Unless you are an experienced personal injury attorney, never sign any legal documents without asking an attorney to review it first! You may unknowingly sign away certain rights or limit your ability to seek damages for your injuries. The devil’s in the details and it’s important to understand the fine print.

5 – Sharing Too Much on Social Media

Our last in the list of mistakes to avoid with personal injury lawsuits have to do with social media. Nowadays, we all share everything about our daily lives and those posts are not limited to your close group of friends. Anything you share can easily be used as evidence in a lawsuit. Furthermore, things can be easily misinterpreted.

For instance, perhaps you have an injury that prevents you from taking part in certain physical activities. Just for fun, you might sit on a jet ski one day and take a picture, even though you can’t actually ride it. That picture could be used as evidence that you are faking your injury. It will be difficult to prove that you didn’t ride the jet ski that day when a photo shows you sitting on one. To protect your interests, be conscious of what you post online and how it might be interpreted.

More Mistakes to Avoid with Personal Injury Lawsuits

The above are just a few examples of mistakes to avoid with personal injury lawsuits. Every case is unique and every client is unique. When you work with our team of personal injury attorneys, we’ll carefully review your case and recommend additional mistakes to avoid. Contact us to schedule a preliminary meeting to review your personal injury case.