Frequently Asked Questions
**Click on the following bullet points to see answers to your frequently asked questions. To return to the top of the page, click “Back To Top” link below each question.
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- What Should I Do After A Car Accident? – Immediately after an accident
- What Should I Do After A Car Accident? – The days following the accident
- Do I Need An Attorney?
- Do I Have To Pay Up Front, Or Out Of Pocket, To Hire You To Represent Me In My Personal Injury Claim?
- When Should I Hire A Personal Injury Attorney?
- Is My Case Big Enough For Your Firm To Handle?
- What If I’ve Already Given the Insurance Company a Recorded Statement, or Provided Them a Medical Authorization, or Spoken to the Adjuster?
- The Insurance Adjuster Said What They Have Offered Is The Most They Are Going To Pay Even If I Get A Lawyer. Is That True?
- The Insurance Adjuster Is Downplaying My Injuries And Telling Me My Claim Isn’t Worth Anything. Should I Just Take What They’re Offering?
- How Long Will It Take To Resolve or Settle My Claim?
- What If The “At-Fault” Driver Does Not Have Insurance – Will I Be Able to Recover Anything?
- Why Should I Carry Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist Coverage On My Automobile Insurance?
- Will All Of My Damages Be Covered If I Have “Full Coverage?”
What Should I Do After A Car Accident?
Immediately after an accident:
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- Call 911 and report the accident;
- Do not move the vehicles in question until instructed by law enforcement;
- If possible, get the names and contact information of any person who you believe may have witnessed the accident;
- If possible and your injuries do not prohibit you from doing so at the accident scene, take numerous photographs of the vehicles and the accident scene, or get someone else to take photographs. Make certain that you can tell the vehicles’ location in the road from at least some of the photographs. Photograph the vehicles’ location in the road, the damage to the vehicles, any skid marks or other marks in the road created by the vehicles and their location in the road, and any debris from the crash (pieces of the automobile, etc.) and its location in the road. The more pictures, and the more angles the pictures are taken from, the better. If your injuries prevent you from doing this, return to the scene as soon as possible and photograph all that is possible that is mentioned above;
- Seek medical attention immediately after the accident. In some instances, you may only feel “shaken up” at the time. However, many injuries, such as spinal disc injuries or soft tissue injuries, worsen with time. Oftentimes, things that appear minimal at first, such as tingling in fingers or toes or minor stiffness or headache, are signs of more serious injuries. Even car wrecks occurring at very low speeds can cause injuries — and in some instances injuries that are serious in nature and only fully manifest themselves over time;
- Describe truthfully and completely each and every symptom that you have to your doctor. This includes anything that is abnormal, such as blurred vision, ringing in your ears, tingling, etc.;
- Follow your doctor’s advice. Get any prescriptions filled that are prescribed and follow up as ordered.
- Contact a personal injury attorney as soon as possible after the accident.
Following the day of the accident:
- If you are having problems, make a list of them when seeing your doctor so that you describe them as thoroughly as possible. Undergo all treatment that is recommended and do not miss any appointments or therapy sessions;
- Never give an oral statement to anyone other than law enforcement. Oftentimes, the other driver’s insurance company will try and obtain a statement from you. Under no circumstances should you speak to the other driver’s insurance adjuster about the accident or your injuries without first consulting with a personal injury attorney.
- Report the claim to your own insurance company within the time stated in your policy of insurance. If you have injuries, convey those to your insurance adjuster, or if you haven’t been diagnosed with injuries but are suffering from pain, describe the pain to your insurance adjuster;
- Maintain a calendar of post-accident events and problems you had since the time of the accident, keeping notes on a daily basis. Make note of each visit for treatment or therapy and keep records of days that you were unable to work.
Do I Need An Attorney?
You may believe that you do not need an attorney to represent you because the insurance adjuster is discussing settling your case quickly. Be aware that an insurance adjuster is a professional who has received much training in negotiating claims, and in many instances, the adjuster’s promotions and advances within the company are driven by his or her ability to pay you less than your claim is worth.
There are some instances where you do not need an attorney. For instance, if you’ve been in an accident but have suffered no injuries and have only property damage, you generally do not need an attorney to handle your claim.
On the other hand, if you have been injured, hiring an attorney that deals exclusively with personal injury claims as soon as possible is very important. While many attorneys dabble in several different types of law, it is important to seek out an attorney who only handles personal injury clients. You wouldn’t go to a family doctor to undergo a surgery. And for the same reasons, you shouldn’t hire an attorney who handles cases other than personal injury claims. Only a skilled personal injury attorney knows all the complexities of the steps to take, and ways to maximize your recovery so that you are fully compensated for your injuries and losses.
The longer you wait after an accident to hire an attorney, the longer the insurance company has to start building its case against you. If you’ve been injured in an accident, you should contact The Hamilton Law Firm immediately and let us help you from day one.
Do I Have To Pay Up Front, Or Out Of Pocket, To Hire You To Represent Me In My Personal Injury Claim?
No. You do not have to pay us up front to take your case on, to work on your case, or for the expenses of pursuing your case. We operate under what is called a “contingency fee agreement,” meaning that we are paid an agreed-upon percentage of the amount that we recover for you. That percentage is not impacted by how many hours, weeks, or months that are spent working on your case. And while we have a better than 99% success rate for past clients, if for some reason there was no recovery in your case, you wouldn’t owe us anything for the time or expenses that were paid to pursue your case. The contingency fee, and the expenses in pursuing the case, are paid to our firm upon the successful resolution of your case.
When Should I Hire A Personal Injury Attorney?
You should contact a personal injury attorney immediately. From the moment that the at-fault party’s insurance company receives notice that you’ve been injured, they begin gathering information to try and use against you. They do this by trying to get you to give a recorded statement, which they will likely try to use against you at a later date. They try to get you to sign a medical authorization so that they can gather your medical records, but they don’t tell you upfront that they oftentimes use that same authorization to try and gather previous medical information that helps them to build their case against you.
An experienced personal injury attorney can determine what information to provide to the insurance company and they can also begin taking the steps needed to build your case in the same way that the insurance company is building its case against you.
Is My Case Big Enough For Your Firm To Handle?
We have had clients tell us that they didn’t know if they should call us because they thought their case might not be important enough or big enough for us to take. At The Hamilton Law Firm, we help clients who have cases that might be viewed as small cases all the way up to cases that would be considered very large injury cases. While many of the cases on our results page highlight some of the larger cases that we’ve handled successfully for our clients, not shown there are the thousands of clients whose cases involved less serious injuries who we have helped to recover their damages for medical bills, lost wages, and the harm and pain caused by their injuries. If you’ve been injured due to the fault of another, contact us, and let us see if we can help you. It costs you nothing to have us review your case.
What If I’ve Already Given the Insurance Company a Recorded Statement, Provided Them a Medical Authorization, or Spoken to the Adjuster?
If you have not done one of those things, then great! However, oftentimes, our clients will have done at least one of these things already. Like the old saying goes, the best time to plant a tree may have been twenty years ago, but the next best time to plant it is right now. Even if you have begun the process of trying to handle your own claim, you have likely found out how stressful and complicated it can be.
Once you hire us, we begin to gather the necessary information, revoke any authority that you’ve provided to the insurer to gather your information, and take over all communications with insurers related to your injuries and treatment. It is our goal to remove the stress of your injury claim from you so that you can focus on getting the necessary treatment to get mentally and physical health again.
The Insurance Adjuster Said What They Have Offered Is The Most They Are Going To Pay Even If I Get A Lawyer. Is That True?
This is one of the many things that an insurance adjuster may say to try and bully you into settling your injury claim. The adjuster may tell you that you’ll end up getting less in your pocket if you hire a personal injury lawyer because their fees will just end up taking away from your bottom line. Contrary to what insurance adjusters will tell you, statistics have shown that persons injured in accidents that choose to hire an attorney to represent them in their claim typically recover more than the insurance companies best offer to an unrepresented person, even after taking into account the portion paid to the attorney. In fact, one of the largest insurance company’s own internal documents, which were recently ordered by a U.S. court to be released to the public, show that the insurance company at issue found that “[attorney] represented claims settle for 2-3 times more than unrepresented claims.”
The fact of the matter is that insurance companies have numerous factors that they use when evaluating a claim. An unrepresented client is going to get less than the full amount that the insurer is willing to pay every time. And a big part of the reason for that is, not only do clients who have not retained an experienced personal injury attorney not know the things that drive the settlement value of a case higher, but clients also aren’t equipped to file a lawsuit and take the insurance company to court. Because there is no real threat of litigation, they know that they have the leverage to dictate the terms of any settlement to you.
The Insurance Adjuster Is Downplaying My Injuries And Telling Me My Claim Isn’t Worth Anything. Should I Just Take What They’re Offering?
There are many things that adjusters do to discourage you from seeking the assistance of a lawyer. Some of them are:
- Rushing to settle your bodily injury claim while you are still being treated by the doctor.
- Telling you that you don’t need a lawyer because you’re not going to get any more in settlement or if you go to court.
- Telling you that a lawyer is just going to charge you a third or more of your settlement and that you would end up getting more for yourself if you settled without a lawyer.
- Trying to shift the blame for the accident to you when you aren’t at fault, or trying to put more of the blame on you that is yours.
- Telling you that your injuries aren’t serious and that your “soft tissue” case isn’t real because these injuries don’t show up on an MRI or an X-Ray.
- Telling you that because the damage to your vehicle was minor, you can’t possibly be injured.
These are all tactics that insurance adjusters use to bully injured individuals into settling their claims for less than they are worth. Don’t let these types of comments keep you from seeking professional representation.
Adjusters are in the business of “adjusting” — or, put differently, minimizing — claims. Their goals are to maximize the insurance company’s profits, which means to settle your claim for less than it is worth. A personal injury attorney knows how to combat these tactics and how to maximize your settlement. Contact The Hamilton Law Firm and let us fight the insurance companies and big businesses to help you get the settlement that you deserve.
How Long Will It Take To Resolve or Settle My Claim?
The short answer is that “it depends.” Every single case that walks through the doors of our office is different. Each involves different facts, injuries, types of treatment, length of treatment, prior medical issues that may come into play, and a host of other unique factors. Generally speaking, however, the more complex the case is (whether because of more serious injuries, disputed facts on fault, or the more money involved), the longer it will take to resolve. In most cases, the settlement process does not begin until you are released from treatment by your doctor. From there, certain steps are taken to see if the parties can come to an agreement on a settlement. From the time that you are released from treatment, in some instances, cases are able to be settled within a matter of a few months. Other cases end up as lawsuits filed in court, which can extend the time needed to resolve your case. However, as the client, you will always be the one to choose whether your case settles or not.
What If The “At-Fault” Driver Does Not Have Insurance – Will I Be Able to Recover Anything?
If the other driver does not have insurance coverage, but you have purchased Uninsured/Uninsured Motorist coverage (or if you are a passenger in a vehicle that is covered by UM/UIM coverage), then you will still have an avenue to recover compensation for your injuries. When this happens, your insurer steps into the shoes of the at-fault party in terms of what they are required to pay you in compensation.
Just like the at-fault party is responsible for your pain and suffering, medical bills, lost wages, etc., so is the Uninsured Motorist insurance company.
Why Should I Carry Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist Coverage On My Automobile Insurance?
Mississippi law requires that every driver maintain insurance of at least $25000 in liability coverage per person and $50,000 in liability coverage per accident in the event that more than one
person presents a claim to the liability insurer. However, liability coverage only protects you if you are the person who is deemed to be at fault in an accident, and it only offers you protection from being exposed financially up to the liability limits of your policy. Liability coverage on your own policy provides you with no protection whatsoever for damages that you suffer due to the fault of another driver.
Assuming that the at-fault driver carries the requisite minimum limits of $25,000 in liability coverage, in many instances, this amount is insufficient to cover your damages when you’re involved in an accident. If the person who is at fault carries liability coverage that is less than the damages you incur, this can leave you under-compensated so that you actually end up being held financially responsible for things such as medical bills that exceed the amount of the other driver’s liability insurance. This is especially true in light of the skyrocketing cost of health care, where it is not uncommon for an overnight hospitalization to cost you upwards of $10,000 without even taking into account the physicians’ fees and testing or imaging that may be required in your treatment. Also, you must take into account any lost wages, future medical treatment that may be required, and compensation to offset the harm that you’ve suffered. It is easy to see how being involved in an accident can quickly result in damages in excess of $25,000.
And unfortunately, it is not uncommon to encounter a situation where the other at-fault driver has failed to comply with the law and is entirely uninsured. If this is the case, the only way that you will be compensated for the costs of your past medical treatment, lost wages, future medical treatment, and any compensation to offset the effects of the accident on you will be through UM coverage.
Simply put, the only way to ensure that your interests are protected is to secure your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage, or UM coverage, and underinsured motorist coverage, or UIM coverage, are purchased by you and are a part of your own automobile insurance. Uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage provide with you a means to recover for your damages in the event that you are involved in an accident with a person who has failed to secure liability insurance or that has liability insurance in an amount that is insufficient to cover your losses.
Will All Of My Damages Be Covered If I Have “Full Coverage?”
We have all heard the catchphrase “full coverage” insurance. And such a term would leave you to believe that you are covered for your own losses in the event you are injured in an accident with another driver who is at fault. However, this could not be farther from the truth. The term “full coverage” does not have any real legal meaning. To some insurers, it may mean that you are being provided the minimum limits that are required by Mississippi law so that you do not receive a citation for failing to carry to minimum required coverage. Other times, the term “full coverage” may mean that in addition to having the required minimum liability limits, that you also have comprehensive and collision coverage. While that may sound like something that protects you in the event of an injury, it does not. Those types of coverages only pay for damage to your vehicle in an accident.
The only way to make sure that you have some level of coverage for your injuries if you’re hurt by an uninsured or underinsured driver is to purchase Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage. Whether you have purchased this type of coverage can be determined by reviewing a copy of your coverages from your insurer. These are typically found on a document called your Declarations Page. In addition to providing you with this when you first get your insurance, most companies provide you a copy of this at each period of renewal.
To clarify, your insurer is not required to provide with you UM / UIM coverage in Mississippi — they are only required to offer it to you. So full coverage insurance is really a misleading label for what should be called “minimum coverage.” And while an insurer in Mississippi is required to offer this coverage to you, more often than not, the insurer fails to explain what the coverage is or why it is needed. Instead, they simply present you with what is called a waiver of uninsured motorist coverage. By signing this form and waiving or rejecting UM coverage, your own insurer is not required to compensate you in the event that you are injured in an accident with an uninsured or underinsured motorist. While accepting this coverage does require an additional premium charge, the benefits to you in carrying such coverage far outweigh the costs of not carrying UM/UIM coverage. For these reasons, it cannot be emphasized enough the importance of securing uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage to protect you in the event of an automobile accident.