If you were injured in a car accident and are considering filing or have already filed a car accident claim in St. Louis, it’s helpful to know what that process looks like. Contacting a St. Louis car accident lawyer is often the best first step to protect your rights and ensure your receive fair compensation. It can be overwhelming for someone who isn’t trained in the law and who hasn’t been through it before. Here’s an overview of what this process generally looks like.
Initial Consultation With a Car Accident Lawyer in St. Louis
The first meeting with a St. Louis car crash attorney is an opportunity for you to explain exactly what happened in your own words. Bring along any evidence such as paperwork, photos, copies of accident or police reports, and the names of your doctors. This will help your attorney understand the case and know what steps to take next.
Investigation and Case Building
Once you choose to proceed with this auto accident lawyer, they will conduct a thorough investigation. They’ll collect police and crash reports, more medical records, speak with witnesses, request 911 calls, and look for video footage of the accident or moments leading up to it. Their goal is to determine who caused the accident and is therefore legally liable for both your economic and non-economic damages.
The Demand Letter
After the investigation, your car accident attorney in St. Louis will prepare a detailed demand package for the insurance company. This tells the full story of your accident, explaining who was responsible and why. Your attorney will list all of your losses – tangible and intangible – and request that they pay you a certain amount of money.
Negotiating With the Insurance Company
Once the insurance adjuster receives your demand, they’ll carefully review the evidence and arguments before coming back with an initial settlement offer. These first offers are usually on the low side, but this is just the beginning of the bargaining process. Your St. Louis accident attorney will explain why that offer falls short or may counter with more supporting evidence to try to get them to make a better offer. In some situations, the case could end here.
Filing a Lawsuit if Settlement isn’t Fair
If negotiation with the insurance company doesn’t result in an acceptable offer, your lawyer might recommend filing a lawsuit. Your lawyer identifies who to file the lawsuit against and does the paperwork to get it started.
Discovery Phase
Discovery is the phase when both sides share information and evidence with each other. Parties involved in the lawsuit might also answer interrogatories and do depositions. This gives both sides an idea of the other party’s case and tries to ensure that there are no surprises at trial.
Mediation and Settlement Conferences
Before your case actually goes to trial, it will likely go through mediation or a settlement conference. These are supervised negotiations involving both sides, their attorneys, and a neutral third-party mediator, whose goal is to find middle ground and resolve the dispute without a full-blown trial. It’s common for cases to get resolved at this stage.
Trial
If a settlement truly can’t be reached, your St. Louis car accident attorney continues the case and prepares for trial. A case begins with jury selection and once that is finished and the trial actually starts, both parties will present their opening statements.
Each party will get a chance to present their side of the case, which usually includes testimony from the injured party, witnesses, possibly the defendant, expert witnesses, and anyone else who either party decides may be helpful in their case.
Both attorneys will do their closing statements, and then the jury will deliberate and come to a decision about whether you’re entitled to monetary compensation.
If you have any questions about how these cases work or you want to discuss any particular aspects of your accident, our team at Meyerkord & Kurth, LLC are here for you. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation today.