Do I really need a lawyer for my injury case?

It’s one of the most common questions we hear at Ready Law, and we hear it from all directions. It comes in through phone calls, it fills up Reddit threads (where insurance adjusters love to chime in), and it shows up in the comments on almost every personal injury video on the internet. People want to know: is a lawyer really necessary, or can I just handle this on my own?

The short answer is yes, you almost certainly need one. Here’s why.

Insurance companies are not on your side

This part is not a secret, and people always nod along when they hear this, but then seeing the reality of it in practice still surprises people. Insurance companies exist to make money, and one of the primary ways they make money is by paying out as little as possible on the claims that cross their desks. And yes, you might be thinking, but that’s why people have insurance, just in case something happens. We think so too. In the event something happens, they exist to do what? Pay claims! That’s it. But the mission, as we have observed it, isn’t that.

When you call an adjuster without a lawyer, they know exactly who they are dealing with. They know you don’t have experience with the process. They know you don’t know what your claim is actually worth. They know you don’t know their playbook. They know you are not equipped or likely to sue them. And they use all of that to their advantage.

An attorney changes the equation. Not because lawyers have magic words, but because we know the rules, the tactics, and the pressure points. We know when an offer is low, and we know how to push back. Insurance companies also know which lawyers are willing to go to trial and which routinely settle for the early offers. That’s why it’s doubly important to choose an experienced trial lawyer to represent you. You can benefit from our experience and reputation. Even if your case doesn’t go to trial (and many don’t, for a variety of reasons), you can be confident that an experienced trial lawyer like Vern Ready will maximize the value of your case.

Yes, there is a fee

If you hire a personal injury attorney, you are going to pay a percentage of whatever that attorney recovers for you. That’s a real cost, and it’s fair to think about it before you sign anything. Comments on the “do I really need an attorney?” posts area almost always to this tune: “Yeah, but you’ll have to pay them.”

But this is where the math matters. People asking themselves this question early in their case are typically thinking of their recovery as something close to the current offer or a multiple of their out-of-pocket expenses for medical billing, etc. Good trial lawyers don’t help people or build successful businesses by putting clients into a worse position than they were without help.

Let us give you a real example.

From $400 to $50,000: A Ready Law Case

Our firm recently settled a case for a very deserving client for $50,000. That number wasn’t the total value of her injuries and damages. It was every last dollar of insurance coverage available on the case. We recovered until there was nothing left to recover.

But here’s what you should know: Before we filed a lawsuit, the insurance company’s offer was $400. Not $4,000. Not $40,000. Four hundred dollars.

Same client. Same crash. Same injuries. Same medical treatment. Nothing about her situation changed between the $400 offer and the $50,000 settlement. What changed was the fight. Fully working up the case, filing the lawsuit, advocating at every step, and refusing to accept an offer that had almost no relationship to what her claim was actually worth.

That fight is very hard to bring on your own. If you don’t know what the insurance company is doing, you can’t push back against it. If you’ve never stood in front of a jury, you don’t carry the same weight in negotiations as someone who has.

What to do next

The good news is that finding out whether you have a case, and how exactly a lawyer would help, usually doesn’t cost anything. Most personal injury attorneys, including our firm, offer free consultations. This is the part that people, for whatever reason (even some attorneys), can’t seem to truly believe. Most personal injury lawyers will meet with you and talk about your case, based on your specific facts, and answer your specific questions about what they could and would do to make your outcome better, for free. You can sit down with a lawyer, walk through what happened, talk about your injuries and treatment, and get an honest read on whether legal help would make a difference in your situation.

Any person who was injured by someone else’s negligence, and is wondering whether hiring a lawyer is worth it or if they really need one, can talk to actual lawyers, have their questions answered, and get those answers with no obligation to actually hire the lawyer, and with no cost for the lawyer’s time. Those free consultations that are advertised really are free. By simply taking advantage of a free consultation, you can go to straight to the people with the most knowledge about how a lawyer could or could not help you, get real answers that are specific to your situation, without any obligation to move forward.

It’s better than asking Reddit.

The bottom line

Do you really need a lawyer for your injury case? In almost every situation, a lawyer will benefit you. Insurance companies count on unrepresented people not knowing their own claim’s value, and the numbers they offer usually reflect that. An advocate levels the playing field, and the difference on walk-away day is often significant.

We’re going to keep answering this question and talking about this topic in future blog posts. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel, @ready-law, so you don’t miss them.

If you’ve been injured in Colorado and want to talk through your case for free and with no obligation, reach out. We’re here to help.

Get Ready.