What Does a San Diego Car Accident Lawyer Do?

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You may have heard that if you’ve been hurt in a car crash in San Diego, CA, one of the first things you should do is talk to a car accident lawyer. Maybe you’ve heard talk about compensation and contingency fees and million-dollar settlements. But what does a San Diego car accident lawyer really do, and do you need one in your case?

Hiring a car accident lawyer can give you the best shot at recovering a settlement in your case. Mission Personal Injury Lawyers has decades of combined experience handling car accident claims. We’ve recovered millions for our clients. We can help you with your personal injury case.

Contact us today at (619) 777-5555 to schedule a free consultation with a San Diego car accident attorney. Read on to learn exactly what they do and how they can help you get the money you deserve.

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How Mission Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help After a Car Accident in San Diego

If you’ve been injured in an accident, the attorneys at Mission Personal Injury Lawyers want to help you get the justice you deserve. We know how hard it can be to take on the insurance companies, and we’re familiar with every dirty tactic they use to cheat you out of a settlement. We know how to fight them all, and we’re ready to go to bat for you.

Our lawyers have over forty years of combined experience, and we’ve recovered tens of millions of dollars for our clients. We are among the top-rated accident attorneys in San Diego, and we’ve won multiple seven-figure settlements in previous cases. We’ll fight for your case like it’s our own and get you the justice you deserve.

When you hire Mission Personal Injury Lawyers, we can

Investigate your claim to make sure it will hold up in court
Gather evidence to support your case, including police reports, medical records, and witness statements
Talk to expert witnesses who can support your claim
Carefully tabulate every bit of compensation you’re owed
Send demand letters to the insurance companies requesting a fair compensation offer
File a lawsuit if that’s what it takes to get you the money you deserve

We’ll do everything we can to settle your case quickly without ever compromising on your settlement offer. Our San Diego personal injury lawyers will fight for your rights and make sure you get the compensation you deserve. Schedule a free consultation with us today to get our award-winning trial lawyers in your corner.

Investigate Claims

One of the first things a car accident lawyer does is investigate their client’s claim.

Most personal injury lawyers work on a contingency fee, meaning they take their fee from a portion of the money they recover for their client. If they don’t get a settlement for the client, the client often won’t owe them anything at all.

Because of this fee structure, most personal injury lawyers are very selective about which cases they take on. The first thing they do is investigate a claim and make sure it’s actually likely to result in a settlement.

If a case doesn’t have enough evidence or a strong enough foundation, the lawyer may refuse to take it.

Gather Evidence

Once a car accident lawyer decides to take a case, they get to work gathering evidence. Often, they start with the police report about the accident to start getting the official record of what happened. They may also gather medical records from their victim to get full documentation of their pain and suffering.

From there, they start digging deeper, gathering bills their client has incurred and documents from their employer. They may look for camera footage and even reach out to witnesses from the accident scene to get their accounts.

Their goal during this stage of the process is to support their client’s claim that the car accident was the other party’s fault and document all the damages they incurred.

Negotiate with Insurance Companies

Once your car accident lawyer has gathered the evidence for your case, their next step will likely be negotiating with the insurance companies.

These companies are invested in getting you to accept the lowest settlement they can. In fact, they will often reach out in the days after your accident with a lowball offer hoping you’ll take it without question.

Your lawyer will start by negotiating with the insurance company to get you the best settlement possible. They’ll review all the fine details of your policy and see what your company is required to cover. They can also protect you from accidentally saying something that your insurance company could use against you in your case.

Send Demand Letters

If negotiations with the insurance company don’t go well or depending on the circumstances of your case, your lawyer may send a demand letter.

As you might guess from the name, a demand letter outlines demands for a settlement. Instead of giving the insurance company an opportunity to make an offer, this letter asks for a specific amount.

This demand letter will state the facts of the accident, including what happened, and what injuries you received. It will use these facts to establish how much compensation you’re entitled to. And it will demand that the insurance company pay that compensation amount in full.

Prepare Complaints

Often, personal injury cases can be settled through negotiation and demand letters. But in the cases where those measures don’t work, your car accident lawyer will prepare a complaint for you.

A complaint lays out all of the legal arguments for the defendant being at fault in your injury case.

In addition to explaining the legal reasons the defendant is liable, the complaint will also include the amount you’re owed in compensation. Once this document is ready, your lawyer can have it served to the defendant.

They will typically have thirty days to respond to the letter before further action will be taken.

Conduct Discovery

If you aren’t able to get the settlement you deserve after a complaint, your lawyer may decide it’s time to move on to the discovery process.

Discovery allows your lawyer to gather more information and evidence from your case. This includes getting information and official documents from the defendant’s side.

Your lawyer will send lists of questions called interrogatories to the defendant to gather more information from their side of the case. They may also talk to witnesses and experts on both sides of the case to start building a stronger defense.

All of this is preparation for the possibility that your case will need to go to trial.

Represent Clients at Trial

It’s rare, but some personal injury cases have to go all the way to trial to get a fair settlement for the victim.

If your case winds up going to trial, your lawyer will represent you throughout that process. They will have already built a strong defense for you, but they’ll also guide you through every step of the trial.

Car accident lawyers know the rules and procedures that must be followed in a courtroom and will abide by every one. They’ll use every tool they can to argue your case, including calling witnesses to the scene, expert witnesses, your medical team, and more. They’ll also show the documents recording the details of your accident, your medical history, and what your insurance company legally owes you.

Get the Representation You Need, Speak to a San Diego, CA Car Wreck Attorney Today

When you’ve been injured in a car accident, you need someone on your side advocating for your rights. Your car accident attorney will investigate your case, gather evidence, and open negotiations with the insurance companies. If those negotiations don’t result in a fair settlement for you, your lawyer will take the case to court to get you the money you deserve.

At Mission Personal Injury Lawyers, we are ready to stand up to the insurance companies and get you the compensation you’re entitled to. We have over four decades of combined experience and have recovered millions of dollars for our clients. Schedule a free consultation with us today to discuss the details of your case.

Common Car Accident Claims We Cover

Our law firm handles all types of car accident cases involving: