You’ve consulted with numerous lawyers in town, and none of them seem eager at the prospect of taking up your case. You’re at a loss. You don’t understand why the best personal injury lawyer, Austin won’t take your case?
Well, just because they are the best doesn’t mean that they have to take every case they are presented with. If you’ve been to a couple of great lawyers, but none of them seem interested in handling your claim, don’t take it personally.
There are several reasons why even the best personal injury attorney, Austin won’t touch your case with a 10-foot pole. This article delves into some of the reasons why lawyers turn down certain personal injury cases.
1. Cause of the Accident
Before an Austin car accident lawyer can take on your case, they have to consider how the accident occurred. They need to be able to find someone whom they can hold responsible for causing the injury.
Just because an accident happened in someone’s premises or that the injuries they sustained were severe doesn’t mean they were in breach of a legal duty. For instance, imagine that you were riding your motorcycle and you got to a crossroad where you were supposed to yield the right of way.
Instead, you failed to do so, and as a result, an oncoming vehicle rammed into you. You sustained serious life-threatening injuries from the accident. Unfortunate as the incident was, there’s not much an Austin motorcycle lawyer can do for you in that instance.
For a claim to be successful, the injured party has to be able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that their contribution towards the accident was less than 51%. Any lawyer will likely turn down your case if they establish that you are the party at fault.
If a case has the potential to negatively impact the monetary compensation that would be awarded, they are likely to pass on it. What’s more, lawyers in Austin also wouldn’t take up personal injury cases against governmental bodies or school districts since these entities enjoy governmental immunity.
2. The Injury Isn’t Severe Enough
While the accident you suffered could have potentially been fatal, it doesn’t play a direct role in the amount you can be awarded in damages. The sad reality is the severity of your injuries matters a great deal in the success of your lawsuit.
If your injuries are minimal, you might have a hard time finding an attorney to represent you. What’s more, they also have to factor in the cost of developing a worthwhile testimony that would hold up in court.
This involves costing for depositions which can rack up their bill. So if the expected return is not worth the cost of testimony, then they’ll pass on your case.
Sure, you could have lost your life in a bicycle accident and that it is a matter of principle to hold someone accountable. This, however, doesn’t translate to cold hard cash in the eyes of a successful Austin bicycle accident lawyer.
3. It Looks like You’ve Been Around the Block
Before you settle on a personal injury attorney to represent you, you need to look around first. You have to be sure that the attorney who’ll represent you has the right set of skills to deliver a favorable outcome in your claim.
However, many lawyers turn down cases when it appears that the client is looking to make a decision based on the figure the attorney thinks they can receive in compensation. If the number in question doesn’t match the client’s expectation, they look for another attorney who can tell them what they want to hear.
An attorney, no matter how experienced, cannot give you a realistic value without all the facts of the case. These include the defendant’s insurance coverage. If you come across a lawyer who gives you a number after the initial consultation, you should run for the hills.
Additionally, when an attorney learns that you’ve been released from another law firm, they are less likely to take up your case. They might view you as having unreasonable expectations or that your case will be a liability to them.
4. The Case Doesn’t Make Economic Sense
Whether you’re dealing with an Austin truck accident lawyer or and Austin dog bite injury lawyer, all personal injury attorneys have one thing in common. They take cases based on a contingency fee.
This means that their fees are calculated as a percentage of what their clients are awarded in damages. Therefore, they have to be very careful about which cases they decide to take on.
During the litigation process, the lawyer has to foot all the expenses incurred out-of-pocket. So the time and effort they put into a case have to be worth it. The more experienced and well-established the attorney is, the higher their contingency fees will be.
To paint a clear picture, look at it this way. Attorneys are paid an hourly rate for the time they spend working on a case. They also require that the client pays all expenses associated with the case upfront.
Regardless of whether the attorney wins or loses the case, they still have to get paid. This financial arrangement is out of reach for most personal injury victims who, more often than not, are already spending a substantial portion of their income on medical expenses. It therefore only makes sense for the lawyer to charge their fees on a contingency basis.
It’s Not Personal – Just Business
You are entitled to get the best representation possible. If a particular lawyer isn’t willing to take up your case, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t another one who will.
But, you need to go into the process with an open mind. Consider what a realistic compensation amount looks like with regards to the injuries you sustained. At the end of the day, some money is better than no money.