Dennis Hernandez suggests to hire a personal injury attorney immediately if you have been hurt. Gone are the days when insurance companies out of the goodness of their corporate hearts paid claims made by innocent people without a fight. What this more than likely means for you is a long, drawn-out battle even if you did nothing wrong. The insurance company most likely will not pay you except for a limited amount to cover some of your medical bills, until a lawsuit is filed. Even after you file a lawsuit, the insurance company’s lawyers will go to great lengths to prove the guilty party did nothing wrong or if s/he did cause the accident, you really are not hurt as much as you and your doctors say you are.
Preserving Evidence from a Personal Injury
Therefore it is very important to preserve all of the evidence. Even if you did nothing wrong, you will have to prove you were not at fault. No matter how you were injured, there is a lot of evidence to be preserved.
For example, if you were injured when a semi-truck struck your vehicle, it is important to make sure the trucking company does not destroy the driver’s logs and the truck’s black box information, among many other documents. The driver’s log along with other electronic data will show whether or not the truck driver was in compliance with the Department of Transportation’s hours of service requirements, for example. In other words, was the truck driver
legally on the highway when the wreck occurred?
Another example includes if a careless physician has injured you or a loved one, all of your medical records will need to be preserved.
When Should I Hire Personal Injury Attorney?
If a defective product like a tire, seatbelt, or airbag or other product injured you, you will almost always need to preserve the product to prove it is defective. This is true, even if you were injured in a car accident. An accident reconstructionist will need to examine your car and the vehicle that injured you to determine who was at fault. If your car has been “totaled” by your insurance company, do not let your insurance company sell it for salvage until you have talked a lawyer. You will need to find an attorney who has experience representing people injured in auto and trucking collisions. No matter how you were injured, your attorney should request all of the evidence be preserved for later testing if necessary and reviewed.
The bottom line is that if you have been seriously injured or a loved one was killed, it is important to contact a Tampa personal injury attorney immediately. Do not wait until a few months before the statute of limitations (the time period for which a lawsuit must be filed) expires. If you wait, important evidence will most likely be gone and memories will have faded, making your case difficult to prove.
If you have been hurt in an accident, call Dennis Hernandez to help make things right at (813) 250-0000.
