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Hiring a personal injury attorney to fight for what you deserve is a big step. Because it’s not something you do every day, you may have questions about whether you have a personal injury claim, how the process works, how much it will cost, how you’ll get medical treatment, whether you’ll have to be in a trial and more.
We’ve gathered some of the more common questions we hear at The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya. You’re sure to have others specific to your situation. Give us a call at (303) 758-4777 or email us to set up a free personal injury consultation. We’ll sit down with you, talk about your case and answer every question you may have. There’s no cost or obligation.
How do I know if I have a personal injury claim?
What if the other driver doesn't have insurance?
What if I'm injured by a hit-and-run driver?
Should I get a second opinion?
Do I really need an attorney? Can't I do this on my own?
Why do I need a personal injury attorney?
What should I look for when selecting a lawyer?
I've had a car accident. When should I hire a lawyer?
What should I know about my case before my free consultation?
What can I expect at my free consultation?
How much of my time will my case take?
How do you get paid? Will this cost me any money?
Can you lend me money during my case?
How long will it take to settle my case?
If my case goes to trial, will we win?
What if the insurance company calls me for a recorded statement?
Am I causing problems for the other person by bringing a personal injury claim?
Can you recommend a doctor to treat me for my injuries?
How do I know if I have a personal injury claim?
The main criterion is that you must have suffered harm that caused you damages. Harm may take the form of an injury to you personally, or it may mean harm to personal property you own. Your injury must have been caused by an action or omission of another party, and must not have been caused by your own actions or negligence. At The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya, we specialize in harm that has caused you injury to your person and resulted in damages. Those damages may take the form of medical bills, lost wages, or pain and suffering. If you’ve been injured through the fault of another person, such as in a car accident or semi truck accident caused by the other person, you may have a personal injury claim. Fault or negligence may not always seem obvious, though, such as if you’re injured while on someone else’s property or if you slipped and hurt yourself in a retail store. But you may still have a valid personal injury case.
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What if the other driver doesn’t have insurance?
If you have uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage on your auto policy, it may pay for your injuries.
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What if I’m injured by a hit-and-run driver?
Colorado law treats the other driver as if they were an uninsured driver. If a hit-and-run driver injures you, you may still be able to recover for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering by bringing a claim under your own insurance policy's uninsured motorist provision.
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Should I get a second opinion?
If your case is rejected by one lawyer, it is always a good idea to seek a second opinion from another personal injury lawyer. Different lawyers will see a potential case differently. The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya has obtained quality settlements and verdicts from clients whose personal injury cases were rejected by other attorneys.
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Do I really need an attorney? Can’t I do this on my own?
There are two reasons why you need an attorney if you’ve been injured:
First and most important, the insurance company – even if it’s your own insurer – may not have your best interests in mind. They’re looking out for their bottom line. The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya has a formidable reputation with insurance companies, and they know if you are represented by Dianne Sawaya, they will not be able to get away with paying you as little as possible to keep their profits up – particularly when they know she will take them to court to make them live up to their obligations. In fact, studies show that individuals recover more for their auto accident case if they are represented by a personal injury attorney.
Second, it’s always easier to preserve your legal rights if you have an expert personal injury attorney working for you. The various laws, procedures and deadlines that govern personal injuries and insurance companies are complex and demanding. You need a Colorado personal injury lawyer like Dianne Sawaya, who works with personal injury law every day, knows the requirements and time frames and can help you navigate through the process – including taking a case to a trial before a judge and jury.
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Why do I need a personal injury attorney? Can't any attorney help me?
Personal injury law is a specialty with many complex issues. The attorney who helped you sell your home or draft a contract may not know all the details of personal injury law the way personal injury lawyer Dianne Sawaya does. Just as you would want a skilled neurosurgeon to perform brain surgery, you want a skilled and experienced personal injury lawyer to handle your injury case.
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What should I look for when selecting a lawyer?
Check the credentials and background of the lawyer. Websites can give you profiles of personal injury attorneys, including their education, training, experience and what clients and other lawyers think of them. Check the lawyer’s experience. A lawyer who has been practicing personal injury law in Colorado for many years knows the ins and outs of the law and will know the court system, and the insurance adjusters and insurance company lawyers. Ask for a reference from friends, relatives or co-workers who have worked with lawyers. Look for a personal injury attorney who doesn't settle for the first offer an insurance company makes. At The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya, we aggressively negotiate with an insurer until we're sure we have their very best offer. And because not all cases settle, look for a personal injury attorney who is experienced in the courtroom and is successful in taking cases to trial.
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I’ve had a car accident. When should I hire a lawyer?
You should contact an attorney as soon as possible after your auto accident, truck accident or any personal injury. There are legal steps that need to be taken to protect your interests, and a personal injury attorney can help you preserve crucial evidence. If you miss a deadline to file a lawsuit, you are barred from ever being able to. A good personal injury lawyer like Dianne Sawaya also can help you get the medical treatment you need right away, and can get you seen by the best specialists.
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What should I know about my case before my free consultation?
At your free, no obligation consultation, we will ask you questions designed to provide us with as much detailed information as possible. Elsewhere on our web site we have several forms we use when we first open a case. Looking at those forms can give you an idea of the information to have for our first meeting. The forms include information about insurance policies and claims numbers for the accident, police reports, information about the other driver and more.
If you contact us through the “Do I Have a Case?” box, it’s helpful if you can give us a quick idea of what happened, where and when it happened, whether the police came to the accident, the nature of the injuries you sustained and if you were taken to the hospital.
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What can I expect at my free consultation?
One of our experienced personal injury lawyers will meet with you and go over the details of your situation. We’ll talk about the options you have for getting medical treatment for your injuries, and the process we use to develop your case and negotiate with the insurance company. And we’ll talk about how long your case may take to resolve and what it will mean if we decide to go to trial.
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How much of my time will my case take?
The amount of time your medical treatment takes will depend on your injuries. But the legal part of the process won’t take very much of your time. After our first meeting, our personal injury attorneys, paralegals and support staff will do almost all of the work for you. If your case goes to trial, it will require more of your time. However, only a small fraction of the cases for which we file a lawsuit actually go all the way to a trial.
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How do you get paid? Will this cost me any money?
The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya represents you on a contingency fee basis, spelled out in paperwork you sign at the time you hire us as your attorneys. It's a written contract saying that we will take as our fee a percentage of any settlement or judgment the opposing party pays you. More simply, it means that we don't get paid unless we get you a settlement or judgment.
This arrangement has several advantages for you. One, there is no risk that you will have to go through months of turmoil and stress, wind up without a settlement or lose at trial, and then still owe an attorney a hefty fee. Two, you probably have a pretty good case if we're willing to be your partner. And three, a contingency fee arrangement gives us a lot of motivation to get the most recovery for you that we can.
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Who pays the medical bills?
If you have medical payments coverage (“med-pay”) on your auto policy, it will pay for your medical treatment up to the limits of the coverage. Colorado law requires insurance companies to offer you at least $5,000 of med-pay coverage, although you do not have to accept the coverage.
If you don’t have med-pay coverage or you use up what you have, you may have health insurance that will cover some or all of your medical bills. If you do not have medical payments coverage or health insurance, The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya will work with our network of medical specialists to get you treated, and work out details of paying the medical bills at the end of your case.
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Can you lend me money during my case?
Colorado law prohibits attorneys from lending money to clients. If bill collectors are bothering you, The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya can contact them on your behalf and try to make arrangements to pay your bills at the end of your case.
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How much is my case worth?
Predicting a settlement value or possible jury award is almost impossible. Your personal injury attorney at Dianne Sawaya’s law office can talk with you about a very general range of possible settlement values based on the thousands of similar cases we have handled over the years. But your attorney can’t predict the specific amount you might receive.
How much a jury might award you at a trial – if anything at all – is even more difficult to predict. Our advice is to steer clear of any lawyer who after a short initial consultation promises to get you a certain settlement amount or jury award.
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How long will it take to settle my case?
That depends on how complex your case is, how much medical treatment you require and whether we need to go to trial. If your case is not complex and your injuries are minor, it may be resolved fairly quickly. But if you have catastrophic injuries, require complex medical treatment or we need to litigate your case, it may take much more time.
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If my case goes to trial, will we win?
As successful as The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya is in settling cases and as aggressive as we are in litigating cases, it’s impossible to predict the outcome of a lawsuit. You should avoid any lawyer who does.
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Will I have to go to court?
The personal injury lawyers at The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya are very successful at preparing car accident and medical injury cases in such a way that insurance companies offer a fair settlement. However, if the insurance company refuses to budge from an offer you and your injury lawyer think is unreasonable, filing a lawsuit is an option. Your lawyer will advise you, but the decision to go to trial is entirely up to you.
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What if the insurance company calls me for a statement?
We recommend that you never discuss your case with the other party’s insurance company. You have an obligation to cooperate with your own insurance company, but you aren’t required to talk to the other person’s insurance company. The other insurance company's representative may sound friendly and helpful, and their request may sound harmless. But they have an ulterior motive: to get you to say something that they can use against you later to reduce or even deny your claim. If they call you, tell them to contact your personal injury attorney at The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya. If you've retained an attorney, the insurance company is not allowed to discuss the details of the accident with you.
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Am I causing problems for the other person by bringing a personal injury claim?
No. Most people don’t generally set out to cause an accident and harm another person. But if that happens, that’s what their insurance is for. If the other person is found to be at fault for causing an accident that injures you, their insurance policy will pay. In fact, if the other person’s insurance company pays out a settlement it may not even increase their premiums.
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Can you recommend a doctor to treat me for my injuries?
Yes. If you’ve been injured, you likely were treated by medical technicians at the scene or by doctors in the emergency room. Maybe you’ve already seen your personal doctor. After that – or if you don’t have an existing health care provider – your attorney at the Colorado personal injury firm The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya can help. We have an extensive network of skilled medical providers and treating specialists who can work with you and get you on the road to recovery. In any event, it’s important that you contact us as soon as possible so we can make arrangements for your medical care.
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A new law takes effect in Colorado on August 11, 2010 – a law that has a big impact on personal injury cases and settlement amounts. The law affects three areas:
Collateral source rule. This says that the fact or amount of any collateral source payment (such as from a plaintiff’s medical insurance) shall not be admitted as evidence in an action against a third-party tortfeasor. Discussion of the amount of medical bills must be based on the amount billed, not the amount paid.
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There’s no special definition of “serious personal injury,” and everyone likely considers their injury to be serious. But when evaluating a case in terms of negotiating with an insurance company or preparing for trial, there are certain hallmarks of a serious injury.
Generally, serious injuries have long term or permanent consequences. They involve physical, psychological or economic disability or a significant impact on a person’s life. Broken bones, herniated discs, significant burns and injuries that req Read more >>
You never know when you’ll be in a car accident. But when you are, having a few resources close at hand can be useful.
That’s why we’ve developed the DLS Law SmartKit.
After many years of working with clients who’ve had car accidents, we’ve realized there are a number of things that would be handy to have at the scene of an accident. So we’ve put together a kit of resources that you can keep in your vehicle’s glove box.
The DLS Law SmartKit contains first aid supplie Read more >>