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If you are wondering if you really need a lawyer after a minor car accident in Minnesota, you are not alone. However, if you want the most possible compensation for your claim, retaining an attorney is the best option, as insurance companies have been known to offer smaller settlements to unrepresented individuals. While a lawyer might not be needed in every case, research shows that represented individuals receive higher settlement offers compared to unrepresented individuals.
It’s important to remember that in personal injury cases, the lawyer is only paid if a settlement is achieved. Contacting a lawyer for a consultation on your case has many advantages. If you would like a free consultation regarding your case, call BK Law Group at (952) 314-5101, and we would be more than happy to discuss your case with you and see how we can help.
Most personal injury cases arise from bodily injury or underinsured/uninsured motorist claims rather than no-fault claims. If you were in a minor car collision and had minor injuries, you should first set up a no-fault claim to obtain up to $20,000 in medical expense coverage from your auto insurance. If, during the course of your treatment, you have incurred more than $4,000 in medical expenses, excluding the cost of any diagnostic services (e.g., MRI, EKG, X-ray), then it would be advisable to contact a personal injury attorney to discuss your case and the best next steps. By incurring over $4,000 in medical expenses, you have crossed the bodily injury threshold and are able to recover for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering.
In Minnesota, in order to recover non-economic damages in a bodily injury claim, you will need to incur up to $4,000 in medical expenses, not including any diagnostic services. While there are other avenues to recover the non-economic damages from the bodily injury claim, the $4,000 threshold is the most common.
If you didn’t incur the full $4,000 to meet the threshold, it would still be advisable to contact an attorney so you can discuss how to best handle your claim. Personal injury attorneys have extensive experience dealing with insurance companies and the negotiations that occur during the settlement proceedings. If you would like to discuss your case and the options available to you, call BK Law Group, and our dedicated legal team would be happy to help.
A study conducted by Nolo in 2017 showed that among surveyors who retained an attorney, 91% received a payout, while surveyors who had not retained an attorney received a payout in only 51% of cases. The Nolo study went further and found that those who retained an attorney received higher settlement amounts than those who didn’t. The study found that surveyors with an attorney who received a settlement had an average settlement amount of $77,600.00, while those without an attorney who received a settlement had an average settlement of $17,600. This is a $60,000 difference between retaining an attorney and not retaining one in personal injury cases. The Nolo study also accounted for the attorney’s contingency fee and found that after the fees were subtracted, the surveyors who retained attorneys received payouts that were, on average, almost three times more than surveyors who didn’t retain an attorney.
While retaining an attorney might not be your ideal option, it might just be the best option to get you the most possible compensation for your personal injury case. If you have received a settlement offer and would like a second opinion, contact BK Law Group, and we would be happy to set up a consultation to discuss your case and see how we can help.
When you sign a settlement agreement, you are forever waiving your rights to reopen this claim or claim any further damages from this collision; the amount you signed and settled for will be the last check the insurance company will send you, and they will not pay any additional medical expenses. If you signed a bodily injury settlement agreement for only $1,500.00, then that is the full amount of compensation you will receive from this collision. It’s important to carefully review all settlement offers you receive and clarify what the settlement entails. A no-fault claim does not account for pain or suffering, but a bodily injury claim accounts for pain and suffering, property damage, out-of-pocket expenses, wage loss, and medical expenses. When settling a claim, you are settling all aspects of the claim. If you settled the bodily injury claim for $1,500.00, that would account for all pain and suffering, medical expenses incurred, property damage, wage loss, and out-of-pocket expenses. If you accepted a settlement offer early on and are still experiencing pain from the injuries sustained from the collision, that settlement you had accepted will forever prevent you from reopening the claim or opening a new claim associated with the same collision. It’s vital to regain your pre-accident condition, or as close to it as possible, before considering a settlement.
At BK Law Group, our priority is to ensure you receive all forms of recovery, including physical, mental, and financial. We dedicate ourselves to handling your case with the utmost care while you continue to treat the injuries you sustained in the collision.
While you might not need a lawyer after a minor car accident in Minnesota, studies have shown that retaining a personal injury attorney will likely yield a higher settlement offer and allow you time to focus on your physical and mental recovery while your lawyer and dedicated legal team focus on monetary recovery.
If you would like a free consultation of your case or to discuss the personal injury process, contact BK Law Group at (952) 314-5101, and our dedicated legal team would be more than happy to help.
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