Do you need a lawyer after you’ve been in a bike accident?

 

If you’ve been in a bike accident and have suffered any injuries or property damage, you may be entitled to have your resulting costs covered or reimbursed. Unfortunately, getting those sometimes significant costs covered is not usually an easy task, which means it can be worthwhile to hire a lawyer to help you with your claims.

Most of the time, your potential payout will be coming from insurance companies whose primary motivation is to pay you as little as possible. As for-profit companies, it is not in their interest to give out any more money than they absolutely have to, and they will work hard to discredit, manipulate, and confuse you to avoid paying your full claim.

As a result, it helps to have an experienced partner to work with you in the aftermath of your bike accident. In this post, we’ll help you determine if your bike accident case is one that would benefit from having an attorney’s help, and how exactly an attorney can help you.

We always advise anyone who has been in a bike accident to contact us for a free consultation, to see if and how we can help, since one blog post cannot encompass the many details of your specific case. However, this article should give you a start for knowing whether or not you might want or need a lawyer after your bike accident.

When you might not need a lawyer for your bike accident case

Although we always advise that you speak with an attorney in a free consultation after a bike accident — just in case — there are some cases where you may benefit from handling the situation on your own.

Since attorneys generally work on commission for about 1/3 of your total settlement value, if your claim is fairly small (for example, you only have minor injuries and a very small amount of medical bills you are responsible for paying), then it may make more financial sense for you to handle the claim on your own.

Although this will require more time and work on your end than having an attorney handle the case for you, a smaller claim is usually more manageable for most people and often worth it to receive a good payout without having to pay for a lawyer.

 

When you do need to hire a lawyer if you’ve been in a bike accident

It is always advisable to seek the assistance of an attorney when you have a more serious injury (such as a concussion, bone fracture, or muscle tear), especially when you have had to receive extensive medical treatment like surgery. Because the costs of these more serious injuries can become very expensive very quickly, you will want to make sure that you are going to be covered for what you have to pay as a result of your accident.

Insurance companies are not happy to pay expensive claims like these, unfortunately, which is why it is so important to have an experienced, competent attorney on your side. Insurance companies will look for any reason they can find to reduce the amount they pay out, and a trained attorney will be far more prepared to combat and overcome the manipulative tactics these companies use, and ensure than you are reimbursed for the expenses you incur following your accident.

 

What a lawyer can do for you in a bike accident case

The biggest benefit of hiring a lawyer for your bike accident case is the expertise they can offer in dealing with insurance companies.

Insurance companies are for-profit, which means they like to make money — not give it out. It is in their best interest to pay you as little as possible, or not pay you at all, and so they will look for every chance they have to reduce the amount of money they give you. They can and will use manipulative tactics and your ignorance of the law to avoid paying you what you are owed.

An experienced attorney won’t fall for the tricks most insurance companies employ. In fact, bringing an attorney to the table often gets the insurance company to sit up and pay attention; it shows them that you are serious about the case and that you aren’t willing to be taken advantage of.

In addition, bringing in a lawyer shows the insurance company that litigation is possible, and they want to avoid that costly possibility. Instead, they will be more likely to settle favorably for you to avoid court when you bring a serious attorney to the case.

In addition to the tactical benefits an attorney can offer, there are also the practical benefits. After a bike accident, you have enough to deal with already without having to fight your own legal battle on top of your regular responsibilities at home, work, and more.

An attorney’s whole job is to handle your case for you, which means you can hand off the time and intense detail-work necessary to win a case to someone who can commit to it full time. This means you can focus on getting better and getting your life back on track after your accident.

 

Don’t be afraid to consider hiring a lawyer for your bike accident case

For many of our clients, working with us is the first time they’ve ever hired an attorney. It’s not something the everyday person often has a need to do, and so it can feel intimidating to consider hiring an attorney. Maybe you’ve even convinced yourself that your case isn’t really a big enough deal to hire an attorney for.

However, the effects of a bike accident and the payout you are able to get from the insurance companies involved can affect your life for months, and even years, into your future.

The hassle and time commitment of handling your own case can often be more than one person feels capable of handling on their own, on top of any injuries or suffering caused by the accident. You don’t have to do it alone.

At Bay Area Bicycle Law, this is all we do. It is literally our job to spend time wading through details, sparring with insurance companies on your behalf, and figuring out the best strategy to get you what you are owed in your case using our years of experience helping people who have been in bicycle accidents.

We are attorneys working directly on every case we handle. We never have paralegals negotiate for us; we negotiate directly with the insurance adjusters to make sure you get the maximum that you are owed.

If you want a partner in handling your claims after your bike accident, you can contact us and speak to one of our bicycle attorneys personally about your needs. Reach out today for a free consultation to get our expert advice on your case, what you should do, and how we can help.