If you’re the victim of an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, experienced San Diego injury attorneys can best protect your vital legal interests. Indeed, representation by skilled and tenacious San Diego injury attorneys can make all the difference in obtaining the justice you deserve in your case, including appropriate compensation for your injuries, damages, and losses. There are a number of reasons why retaining the services of a capable personal injury lawyer enhances the prospects that you will be able to obtain justice in the aftermath of an accident:

• San Diego injury lawyers know how to take on insurance companies
• Personal injury attorneys know how to effectively negotiate with insurers and other lawyers
• San Diego accident attorneys understand the judicial process
• An accident injury lawyer best ensures optimizing compensation

Taking on an Insurance Company

A key reason San Diego injury attorneys are important to your accident case is found in their ability to take on insurance companies. If you have been injured in an accident, you need to bear in mind that insurance companies have a primary objective of enhancing the bottom line, of making as much money as possible for their shareholders and other stakeholders. One way in which insurance companies up their revenues is to limit the amount of money that they pay out to injured claimants.

Insurance companies use a wide range of aggressive tactics to block an accident victim’s ability to obtain the compensation they deserve. This can include what truly are unfair claims settlement practices.

By hiring experienced San Diego insurance attorneys, victims of injury accidents have fighters on their side that understand the tactics used by insurance companies when it comes to claims and lawsuits. In simple terms, San Diego injury lawyers have the experience, skills, and tenacity to take on even the most obstinate insurance companies effectively.

An experienced accident injury lawyer is in the best position to be able to ensure that a client’s interests are not derailed even when an insurance company demonstrates no willingness to attempt to resolve a case in a manner that is appropriate to obtaining justice and suitable compensation. The training and experience of a personal injury attorney place that professional in a truly unique position to aid a person in obtaining justice even when an insurance company is attempting to ever thing in the book to prevent an injured person from obtaining appropriate financial recovery in a personal injury case.

Effective Negotiation with Insurance Companies and Other Attorneys

More personal San Diego personal injury cases end up settled and never see a courtroom for the purposes of a trial. Settlement of personal injury cases can happen during the insurance claim settlement process or after a lawsuit is filed. This necessitates negotiation with insurance company representatives as well as attorneys.

Another reason why San Diego injury lawyers are important, indeed vital, to your case is the fact that they have the skill and dexterity to effectively negotiate with insurance company representatives as well as fellow members of the bar. Because of the well-tuned ability of San Diego injury lawyers to negotiate effectively, their clients have enhanced opportunities for more favorable resolution of their cases. In other words, people injured in accidents are able to obtain more appropriate financial compensation for their injuries, damages, and losses because of the ability of legal counsel to skillfully negotiate with the proverbial opposition.

Knowledge of Judicial Process

In addition to being able to negotiate effectively and placed their clients in a better position to obtain a favorable settlement of an injury claim, San Diego injury lawyers also have a solid understanding of the judicial process. The stark reality is that when an accident victim in a lawsuit is not represented by legal counsel, that individual literally can get lost in the judicial process. When that occurs, the risk of a lawsuit going off the rails becomes very real. For example, a very dangerous prospect is that an unrepresented plaintiff may end up failing to meet important deadlines in a lawsuit.

The failure to comply with deadlines in a lawsuit can result in the imposition of sanctions. In the worst case scenario, a lawsuit can end up being dismissed with what is called prejudice. When a lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice, the case can never be refiled in court. An injured person can be left completely without any remedy for damages and losses arising from an accident caused by the negligence of someone else.

Justice and Optimization of Compensation

Many people indicate that they have delayed retaining the services of San Diego injury lawyers because they don’t want part of their claim settlement to be lost to attorney fees. In other words, these injured individuals have concluded that they will end up with more money in their pockets in a settlement of their case by not having to pay attorney fees.

The idea that you will lose compensation in an accident case by retaining the services of a seasoned San Diego injury attorney is something of myth or misconception. The reality is that in case after case, injured Californians actually end up with a higher level of compensation in an accident injury matter when they retain legal counsel. Injured people end up with more financial compensation even when attorney fees are taken into consideration. (As will be discussed in greater detail, most San Diego personal injury lawyers use contingency fee agreements. A person pays a reasonable percentage of compensation once it is paid to an injury accident victim.)

There are personal injury cases in San Diego in which the conduct of the negligent party is particularly egregious. In such situations, an experienced San Diego injury law firm may be able to obtain what are known as punitive or exemplary damages for a client. Punitive damages represent additional compensation when the conduct of a person that caused an accident is deemed reckless or (as mentioned a moment ago) egregious.

The reality is that making a case for punitive damages can be a complex, challenging endeavor. There exists only a relatively narrow line of cases that qualify for punitive damages consideration. An experienced injury attorney is in the best possible position to make an effective case for the award of punitive damages or exemplary damages in a lawsuit,

The first step in retaining the services of a capable San Diego injury attorney is having what is known as an initial consultation with legal counsel. There are a number of important elements of an initial consultation with an injury lawyer:

• Legal counsel will provide a preliminary evaluation of your case
• You will be able to get answers to any questions you have about the accident and your injuries
• A lawyer will lay out the process for pursuing an injury claim as well as a lawsuit
• An attorney will lay out the specifics regarding attorney fees

As a matter of general practice, San Diego injury attorneys utilized what is known as a contingency fee agreement in a personal injury case. Pursuant to a standard contingency fee agreement, a client in an accident case pays no fee unless and until legal counsel obtains a favorable settlement or decision in a lawsuit.

Legal Aid is available.