How do you find the best lawyer for your car wreck? Kervin Law is trying to help prospective clients figure out who the best lawyer for their car accident will be. I have been representing people injured in car wrecks for about 20 years now. I have created a rating and measurement system to help people choose the best attorney for their car wreck. Here are our criteria: How do I know if a lawyer is great at handling car accident cases? Choosing the best traffic accident lawyer isn’t easy, but we are working on helping you make an intelligent decision. Each criterion is important but some are more important than others. Results usually matter more than experience because many young lawyers are often much better at maximizing the value of your car wreck claim than older, less skilled attorneys. Likewise, “Trust” is crucial because what good does it do you to work with someone you can’t trust? You want to know that the lawyer has your back. “Resources” is an often overlooked criterion because it sometimes takes a lot of money to bring a case to bear on the insurance company. Surgeries and treatment from medical specialists like neurosurgeons is expensive. Expert witnesses are also expensive. You want to know that your lawyer has the means to hire the right people to present your case in the best light. It’s therefore hard to judge the quality and capability of your car accident lawyer based on reviews or their website alone. You want to know if they have settled cases for policy limits without having to file suit. This means the lawyer knows how to present a compelling case to the insurance adjuster. The car insurance adjuster is the actual person who makes the decision to settle or go to trial, not the insurance defense lawyer. You therefore must convince the adjuster that your car accident claim is meritorious. There are a lot of car accident attorneys to choose from because the money can sometimes be really good. There thousands — maybe tens of thousands — of personal injury attorneys who primarily focus on automobile accidents. Why do these attorneys do this? Because auto liability cases are usually pretty straightforward and there’s insurance that can pay. Thus, a car wreck claim can lead to a pretty quick and painless payday for the lawyer. Let me explain… Whenever someone causes a car accident, the police are usually called who in turn arrive at the accident scene and investigate the collision. The officer then writes a “crash report” and files it with his law enforcement agency. In that crash report generally contains important facts such as, the weather conditions, the traffic control devices, whether there were any defects in the cars or the road, who was at fault and what specifically they did wrong. The officer also usually draws a diagram of the collision at the end of the report. This diagram shows the movement and positions of the vehicles in order to demonstrate how the accident occurred and who was at fault. The police report also usually contains statements of each driver and passenger, and any witness statements if bystanders saw the crash. Importantly, the report contains the insurance carrier and policy number for each driver. The personal injury lawyer takes this information in order to file an insurance claim on the at-fault driver’s insurance policy. If liability is clear from the crash report and the other evidence (photos, witness statements, medical records, etc) then the adjuster usually settles the case. The lawyer will usually get 1/3 to 40% of the total settlement amount. The lawyer knows the insurance company is good for the money so they don’t have to worry about not getting paid. If the case is clear and treatment for the injuries is resolved in a finite period, the case can usually be settled. The lawyer knows he or she will get paid. And sometimes the injuries and medical treatment is such that the amount if high — maybe over $100,000. This is why lawyers really want car accident cases. Do you want a billboard lawyer or a smaller, more “boutique” car accident firm? A top rated auto accident attorney doesn’t have to be the one that runs a bunch of TV commercials or has billboards along the highway. The best attorney for your car crash might be a small, local law firm nearby. You should therefore call around and ask if the lawyer handles car accident cases and, if so, ask them about their recent results. If they hesitate, maybe they aren’t the right lawyer for you. You want to work with a lawyer who deals with car accident claims on a regular basis. They don’t have to handle hundreds of cases a year, but they should do them on a regular basis. Your skills as a car accident attorney grow as you experience grows in this field.

If you have been hurt by another person’s negligence, you will invariably ask this question at some point. You may research what your injuries are worth online or call around asking lawyers. The answer to this question is it depends. Some back injuries are only worth $15,000, while others are worth $40,000,000. Why the disparity? The biggest driver of a personal injury claim’s value is the extent and severity of the injuries and how much past, present and future medical care those injuries will require. People who are paralyzed and require around the clock care will require millions of dollars in future medical costs. People who only have soft tissue injuries which resolve in a couple of months may only get $10,000 for their claim. Experience in this area has shown me that unrepresented people do not get anywhere near as much as those who are represented by a really good personal injury lawyer. Adjusters are not intimidated by unrepresented people and usually low ball them when making a settlement offer. This is why it’s important to speak to an experienced injury attorney who can help you get a better idea of what your injury claim is worth.

So you need to get a police report, but how do you do it? Each law enforcement agency has their own system of obtaining a police report. In Texas, you have to either be someone involved in the car accident or their retained attorney. In Covington, Louisiana, for example, the police officer who investigates the accident scene will usually hand you a slip of paper called an “item number.” This will have a number you can use to locate the actual Uniform Crash Report. That’s what they call it in Louisiana when a police officer writes a detailed report after a vehicle collision. The law enforcement agency usually needs a few days to actually complete the police report so you may have to wait just a bit before requesting the report. From there, you can search online for the police department’s website and look for “request a police report” link. You will usually have to fill out a form of who you are an pay a fee of around $20. Then, the department will usually email you a copy of the police report with any corresponding photos if they took them. For example, the Covington Police Department website explains their process of requesting a police report. Of course you can always call us if you have been in a car accident and we can do all of that leg work for you. What’s in a police report? The names of all drivers involved in the crash, their addresses and their insurance companies and policy numbers will be included. The police do not post your insurance coverage limits, however. The office will also mark whether there were any observable defects in the car or road, and whether any of the drivers did anything improper or violated any traffic or other laws. The officer will also note the road and weather conditions (is it dry, raining, etc.) At the end of the police report will be a narrative of what each driver said and any witness statements. The officer will usually draw a diagram of the vehicles before and after the collision.