What Should I Bring With Me To An Initial Consultation With An Attorney?
If you’ve been seriously injured in an accident, chances are you’ve never hired an attorney before, let alone filed a personal injury claim. You probably have many questions, including what you should bring with you when you meet with an attorney for your initial case consultation. This article will discuss each piece of information that you should try and bring with you to your initial case consultation.
The attorneys at Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers offer a free initial consultation to all of our potential clients. That way, you can determine whether we’re the best fit for your case without worrying about any potential fees or costs.
Call us today at (404) 939-9470, or reach out through our online contact form to schedule a free, initial evaluation of your case.
What To Bring To Your Consultation
Below is a list of information and documents that you should bring with you to your initial case consultation if they’re available.
1) The police report.
The police report is typically available for you to purchase within 72 hours of the car accident. If you haven’t purchased the report before meeting with us, that’s OK. We’ll purchase the report for you. The police report contains important information regarding the identity of the drivers, the drivers’ insurance information, and the police officer’s description of how the collision occurred.
2) Photos of the vehicles involved in the collision.
Collision photos contain important information about how the collision occurred and the severity of the collision impact. For instance, if the damage to your vehicle is on the front end of your vehicle, and the damage to the at fault driver’s vehicle is located on the passenger side of the vehicle, that typically demonstrates that the at fault driver turned in front of you and failed to yield to your vehicle. That can be very useful information if the at fault driver denies liability.
3) Your auto insurance information and the at fault driver’s auto insurance information.
If the at fault driver won’t give you his or her auto insurance information, that’s OK because the police officer will get it from the driver. You should also bring your own insurance information to the initial case consultation. In many cases, the at fault driver’s auto liability insurance isn’t sufficient to cover a victim’s losses. In those cases, the victim needs to also file an underinsured motorist claim against his or her underinsured motorist insurance carrier.
4) Your medical bills and medical records.
Your medical bills and records typically won’t be available until at least 30-60 days after you complete your medical treatment. However, if you went to the emergency room, you might receive your bill within a few days after you are released. That bill can help your attorney determine whether the at fault driver’s insurance coverage is sufficient to cover you for your injuries. If the emergency room bill is $15,000 and the at fault driver only has $25,000 insurance coverage, the at fault driver likely won’t have sufficient insurance to cover your injuries because your bills will likely exceed $25,000 before you complete your medical treatment. In that case, you would likely need to file an underinsured motorist claim against your own insurance carrier, assuming that you purchased that type of coverage on your policy.
5) Contact information for witnesses.
If there are any witnesses that observed the collision, you should approach them and get their contact information. If the at fault driver denies liability, the witness’ testimony can be a very important piece of evidence that proves that the at fault driver is responsible for causing the collision.
6) Your health insurance information.
Your health insurance company is responsible for paying all of your medical bills. Therefore, your attorney will want to submit your medical bills for payment to your health insurance company. The sooner that your attorney has your health insurance information, the sooner those bills can be processed and paid.
7) A list of questions.
A list of questions is a helpful way to ensure that you ask your attorney each question that’s on your mind. Of course, if something else comes to mind after your consultation, you are welcome to follow-up with your attorney.
Contact Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers Today
It’s possible that you may not have all of this information when you are ready to contact an attorney about a potential case consultation. If so, that’s OK. The attorneys at Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers can help you acquire that information. The above list of information is just a suggestion that may make your consultation appointment more productive.
Call us today at (404) 939-9470, or reach out through our online contact form to schedule a free, initial evaluation of your case.