No Fee Unless You Win
You probably should hire a personal injury lawyer if you’ve been injured in an accident. But exactly what does a personal injury lawyer do?
Personal injury lawyers handle a variety of injury cases. For example, your injuries might be from a car accident, motorcycle accident, vehicle accident, slip and fall, dog bite, medical negligence, or premises liability case involving fire, explosion, or falling objects. Personal injury lawyers will help you obtain fair compensation for your injuries when someone else is at fault.
The accident injury lawyers at Gage Mathers Law Group represent injury victims in several practice areas that fall under personal injury law. If another person or a company injured you, we encourage you to contact our team for a free consultation.
Whether you’re hurt in an auto accident, by a dog bite, or due to some other incident, quality personal injury attorneys will want you to focus on your health while they focus on protecting your legal rights. As you focus on your health and family, your personal injury attorney and legal team will focus on building your case. As we tell our clients, “Let us take that off your plate.”
While your personal injury case progresses, you can expect :
While you might be able to handle these and other issues on your own, you are much better off having experienced professionals handle them for you. In the immediate aftermath of an injury, your sole focus should be your health not dealing with insurance adjusters or tracking down witnesses. Your personal injury lawyer will do that for you so you are not bothered by stressful aspects of the legal world.
A personal injury lawyer protects the legal rights of accident victims. To protect clients’ rights, the lawyer must know the relevant law. That sounds simple, but in Arizona, it requires the lawyer to keep up with developments in the law, including opinions from the Arizona Court of Appeals and the Arizona Supreme Court. Then, incorporating all this information, the personal injury lawyer must recognize and anticipate legal issues before they arise. Sometimes, this level of expertise only comes with experience. Most of the time, it requires the lawyer to have systems in place to ensure nothing is missed.
The success of any personal injury case depends on credibility. Your personal injury attorney cannot get you the compensation you deserve for your injuries and damages if you are not forthcoming with information. A personal injury lawyer must know the ins and outs of your situation to show your claim is just. This includes any potential conduct on your part that contributed to your injury, pre-existing medical conditions, and anything a defense lawyer can dig up to make you look like a liar.
Your credibility comes down to your version of events and whether this matches documented facts. This is important because your lawyer must rely on documented evidence in Court, unless there is good reason to believe the evidence is false. The lawyer then combines your version of events and the evidence to develop a roadmap for your case. Your lawyer’s credibility, therefore, depends significantly on your recollections.
All this requires you and your attorney to communicate openly and honestly. Great personal injury lawyers will not only listen to you for however long it takes, but they will hear you. They will understand what you are saying regardless of how you say it, and they will ask appropriate clarifying and follow-up questions.
If your personal injury lawyer correctly works up and prepares your case as if it were going to trial, there is a good chance it might settle. Part of preparing for trial is conducting an investigation that leaves no stone unturned. Your personal injury attorney might hire experts to assist with the investigation, including a private investigator. Many private investigators are former law enforcement officers, military service members, or have legal experience.
A private investigator can help your legal team:
Whether or not your legal team hires a private investigator to assist with their investigation, your personal injury attorney will use all information gathered to develop a strategy for winning. Admittedly, not all cases can be won. However, some of the best personal injury attorneys can win cases that others cannot. It is not a matter of trickery or deviousness. Instead, it is about understanding the facts, knowing the law, and combining the two into a winning narrative.
Many personal injury lawyers avoid claims where their clients have some fault for an accident or have underlying medical conditions that cause their injuries to heal slowly, such as diabetes or an autoimmune disease. The personal injury attorneys at Gage Mathers Law Group do not avoid these injury victims because they are just as deserving of justice.
While an investigation is the first phase of a personal injury claim, one task that every personal injury attorney should complete is sending a letter of representation to the insurance companies and lien claimants. The letter of representation serves as formal notice that you are to be left alone and all case-related communications must go through your attorney. This is multi-purpose. First, it keeps you from having to deal with annoying adjusters and lien representatives. Second, it allows your personal injury attorney to track insurance communications, case information, and anything critical to your case. Third, it allows your personal injury attorney to control the flow of information.
This last point is part of a good strategy. Your personal injury attorney will:
If your attorney has done their job correctly, the at-fault party, their insurance company, or their defense lawyer will approach your attorney about a potential settlement. An important part of any personal injury claim is your damages. Your personal injury damages determine the value of your claim.
There are three types of personal injury damages: general, special, and punitive. Each type of damage is meant to compensate you for different types of “harms and losses.”
General damages compensate you for harms that cannot easily be calculated. There is no set dollar amount assigned to these damages. General damages may include compensation for:
Special damages compensate you for financial losses. These are easily calculated because they are associated with a specific dollar amount. Special damages may include compensation for:
Punitive damages do not compensate you; instead, punitive damages usually punish the at-fault party for either intending to cause injury, acting out of spite or ill will, or pursuing a course of conduct knowing that it created a substantial risk of significant harm to others. That said, there are two primary purposes for awarding punitive damages:
Punitive damages may be available in cases when people’s reckless conduct causes injury. Here are a few examples:
National statistics show that personal injury attorneys settle 95% of the personal injury lawsuits they file. In fact, Arizona courts encourage settlement by requiring the parties to participate in private mediation, judicial settlement conferences, or arbitration before they will schedule a trial. In other words, attempting to settle cases is mandatory.
There are many factors that come into play when negotiating a personal injury case. We’ve discussed many of them above, but one we did not address is insurance coverage. Before conducting any negotiations, your personal injury lawyer will have reviewed all available insurance coverage information including health insurance. Health insurance coverage is important because some health insurers are entitled to reimbursement from personal injury settlements, like Medicare, Medicaid, work-based health insurance, and military coverage. This information is also vital because it could prevent some health care providers from also trying to collect money from your personal injury settlement, called a provider lien or balance billing.
Reimbursement and subrogation are complicated issues that your lawyer should be able to explain. The only thing you need to know now is that your personal injury attorney is legally and ethically required to protect the rights of companies and medical providers who are entitled to reimbursement subrogation.
Once your personal injury attorney understands the world of insurance coverage applicable to your case, the attorney can conduct meaningful negotiations and be able to explain to you how much money you will walk away with after everyone is paid.
Personal injury attorneys handle a variety of cases where someone else’s negligence causes injury. This includes:
Many personal injury lawyers, including those at Gage Mathers Law Group, do not charge fees unless you collect compensation. In other words, you pay nothing upfront for the time and energy of your legal team. You should not have to pay any costs either. The only time you should have to pay your personal injury lawyer is if they obtain a settlement or judgment in your favor, then you would pay the lawyer a percentage of your compensation and reimburse them for their expenses incurred in pursuing your case. That is the benefit of a contingency fee–the lawyer takes all the risk and the injury victim has one less thing to worry about.
Typical personal injury contingent fees start at one-third (33-1/3%) of the total settlement or judgment; however, more complicated or risky cases, like medical malpractice and product liability cases, start at 40%. The contingency fee rate increases if the case requires a lawsuit or an appeal.
Again, if your personal injury attorney fails to get you any compensation, they get nothing.
Gage Mathers Law Group is an award-winning firm known for its results. We win 99% of our cases and have recovered over $275 million for our clients. Clients love the results and really appreciate the personalized attention they receive. We provide large law firm results while maintaining a boutique feel. Every staff member is friendly, approachable, and compassionate.
Gage Mathers Law Group has successfully litigated and negotiated a wide variety of personal injury cases. Our reputation for results has led to involvement in high-profile cases, including those involving celebrities, prominent business owners, and large corporations. Lawyers and clients from around the world routinely contact our team to assist with their legal matters.
Gage Mathers Law Group has a track record of taking and winning cases that other attorneys viewed as unwinnable. We also use the best technology and investigative methods without losing sight of the human element of our work. Our team stays in touch with our clients throughout their case and picks up the phone whenever they call, or makes sure someone returns their call within a short period of time. We are here to address our client’s needs, concerns, hopes, and fears.
If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, you need a personal injury law firm that’s willing to work hard for you. Gage Mathers Law Group is prepared to take on that challenge. Our personal injury lawyers have both the resources and experience to handle your case. Contact Gage Mathers Law Group to see how we can make your injury case less painful and more successful.
Personal Injury & Accident Lawyers in Arizona
Speak to one of our personal injury attorneys and learn more about the legal options for your accident claim.
To schedule a free consultation and case evaluation, please call us at (602) 258-0646 or contact us online today.
Gage Mathers Law Group, PLLC
2525 E. Arizona Biltmore Cir #A114
Phoenix, AZ 85016
(602) 258-0646
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2525 E Arizona Biltmore Cir #A114, Phoenix, AZ 85016
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