Posted on Jul 5, 2019 in Personal Injury
Personal injuries can be physically, emotionally, and financially devastating. It is natural to feel angry and victimized when the injury occurred due to another’s fault.
You may seek legal representation from a competent personal injury attorney in New Orleans to recover your rightful compensation.
However, in some situations, the lawyer may refuse to accept your personal injury case. Here are four probable reasons why a personal injury lawyer in Louisiana won’t take your case:
1. Your accident does not qualify under Louisiana laws as personal injury
Under the personal injury laws in Louisiana, a personal injury constitutes bodily harm, and not property damage. Secondly, the injury must have occurred due to another’s fault, whether intentionally or due to negligence.
Proving fault is critical to the success of a personal injury case in Louisiana. If the attorney believes proving fault in your case is near impossible, or the accident does not qualify as a personal injury, they may not accept your case.
2. Your bodily injuries are minor or became aggravated due to your neglect
While the accident you were involved in may have been potentially deadly, you could be fortunate enough to escape with minor scratches or a small, superficial cut in the skin.
In such a situation, the personal injury lawyer in New Orleans may conclude that you don’t have a case for any significant personal injury settlement even if the accident was clearly the fault of the other party.
In rare cases, it is possible that the initial personal injury was minor but you chose to ignore it, and the wound festered to turn into a more serious medical complication later on. For this reason, it is always important to visit a doctor following an accident. Even if you don’t believe you have sustained any serious injuries initially, some injuries can be internal or take time to manifest. If the facts related to your medical neglect are obvious, the lawyer may not take your case.
3. Your New Orleans personal injury case is not economically viable
Louisiana is a comparative fault state, which means that if you were partly responsible for your injuries, your claim will reduce in proportion to your fault. For instance, if you were 70% responsible for your injuries, you may only recover 30% of the damages from the other party.
While this could still be a substantial amount, your personal injury attorney in New Orleans may evaluate what kind of time, effort and expense may have to be invested to establish evidence and build a robust case.
If the costs appear to be equivalent or more than the potential personal injury settlement, it may be economically unviable to pursue your case for damages.
4. You delayed approaching a Louisiana personal injury attorney
Louisiana has a strict statute of limitations for personal injury cases. In Louisiana, this is called prescription. You can only file a personal injury lawsuit within one year after the accident occurred. If you initially tried to negotiate a personal injury settlement with the other party or the insurance company on your own and lost a lot of time, you could be at a disadvantage.
Evidence could have disappeared or weakened during this time lapse. And once the date for filing a lawsuit as per prescription has been exceeded, the insurance company will have an upper hand in the negotiations because they know you cannot sue them now.
In this type of circumstance, when you have lost the support of the law, a New Orleans personal injury lawyer may not want to take your case.
No Hard and Fast Rules: Speak to a Second Personal Injury Lawyer
All the reasons discussed above represent a general trend, but they are not applicable to every case. Each case is unique, and an experienced Louisiana personal injury attorney will evaluate the case on its individual merit.
Similarly, each lawyer will have their own opinion about the potential of a particular case. There is no rule that says you cannot approach a second or third personal injury lawyer, if the first lawyer won’t take your case.
Schedule a Personal Injury Consultation with Bloom Legal Today!
If you or a loved one has suffered injuries due to another’s fault, the experienced personal injury attorneys at Bloom Legal in New Orleans will offer you the best possible legal advice. If we cannot help you directly, we will try to point you to someone who can. We are available 24/7. Contact us today for a free case evaluation.
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