Experienced Sarasota Personal Injury Lawyers

If you were injured in an accident caused by the negligence or careless act of another person, business or public entity and suffered injuries severe enough to generate medical expenses, affect your ability to earn an income, or reduce your quality of life, you should contact a personal injury lawyer. Insurance companies employ lawyers to help them keep settlement offers as low as possible. Without your own legal representation, you are at a distinct disadvantage.

Our firm deals with the insurance industry every day. We are well aware of the kind of tactics they use to try to dodge responsibility for your claim and minimize your overall settlement. Our legal team has been working together for more than 20 years. By hiring Greg Linehan Law, you get the benefit of more than 26 years of experience practicing law. Our firm will work hard to make sure you get a settlement that is fair and equitable.

The very first thing that you should expect from your personal injury lawyer is compassion, personal attention, and attentive listening. You should always feel that your lawyer is making your case a priority and giving your case the time and attention, that it deserves.

You should also expect your lawyer to ask you a lot of probing questions about the accident and your physical and mental health following your accident.  These questions are not because your attorney doubts your account of the accident or the injuries that you are claiming.  This is because there are almost always differences between your account of events and the story presented by the defendant. 

Hiring a personal injury lawyer will involve a lot of participation on your part.  Your lawyer and legal assistant will need to be updated on the status of your medical treatment and injury progression, lost wages, out-of-pocket expenses, and any contact from the insurance company.  You will need to be an active participant in your case in order for it to be successfully resolved.

Your lawyer should represent you in all interactions with the insurance company as soon as you agree to representation and sign the contract. At that point, all requests and inquiries concerning your case from the insurance company will go directly to the law firm, not to you. You should expect your personal injury lawyer to keep you informed of all developments in your case. You should receive regular updates from the attorney or staff and should always understand exactly where you are in the legal process.

The first question you should ask a personal injury lawyer is why you should hire them versus another firm.  You should ask how much experience they have working on cases like yours, ask to see examples of the results they have delivered, and ask to speak with clients they have helped in the past.

Greg Linehan Law prides itself on the fact that our staff works with personal injury clients every step of the way.  With our firm, you are just as likely to receive a call from the attorney on your file as you are to receive contact from the legal assistant.

You should also ask what the attorney believes your case is worth. Keep in mind that it is an estimate based on limited information, but they should be able to give you a ballpark figure with a few disclaimers. You should also ask if they believe your case will go to trial and what their success rate is.

A personal injury lawsuit begins by filing a complaint that states the compensation you are seeking, explains the facts of the case, and provides a legal argument for why you deserve the compensation you are seeking. The person or entity that you are suing will file a response and the litigation will move on to the discovery phase.

Discovery is the process of exchanging information between the prosecution and the defense. This includes getting statements from people involved in the lawsuit, medical records and other documents, and interrogatories (lists of questions created by both sides that each side is required to respond to).

Once the discovery phase is complete, the trial is set. However, most personal injury claims never make it to trial. There are usually pretrial motions filed concerning the use of evidence and negotiations go on throughout the process. A settlement can be reached at any time during the lawsuit, including during the trial before the judge renders a verdict.