How long should I wait before contacting a personal injury attorney?

Hi, this is Tom from Hal Waldman and Associates and today we’ll be talking about how long a person should wait or what’s the appropriate amount of time to wait before contacting a personal injury attorney. And this is kind of a weird subject because there’s no rule or policy. It’s it’s just kind of how you feel.

And what I mean by that is that, as an attorney, my feeling is you should always contact a lawyer as soon as possible. Because most people don’t understand what their legal rights are, in any situation. Whether it’s a dog bite, a slip and fall, or a car accident situation. Most people don’t know what they’re doing or what steps need to be taken. And you should call an attorney as soon as possible.

So that you don’t make mistakes in your case. So that for example, if you have a picture of the sidewalk that you tripped on, it doesn’t get destroyed. So that the insurance company is notified on time so that your medical bills claims are open on time. Those are all just kind of examples of why it’s important. And in the negative sense, I can tell you that people will sometimes call me months after a car accident, and they haven’t opened claims with their medical insurance or with their motor vehicle insurance, because they didn’t think they had to. And by that time, their medical bills have either been sent to collections, or they’ve been billed to their private health insurance.

And now it’s a big mess that needs to be untangled. Had that particular person called me the day after their car accident, that medical claim would have been opened with their automobile insurer, and we wouldn’t have that problem. People who give recorded statements to insurance companies before they speak to an attorney, you might say something in that statement that doesn’t help your case.

Those are reasons that you need to call an attorney as soon as you can. You want to make sure that your claim is set up in a proper fashion, and that the wrongdoers know that you’ve got a lawyer that’s on your side and is going to handle things on your behalf. So, again, there’s no rule. My recommendation is always to call an attorney as soon as you can.