After sustaining a personal injury lawyer due to someone else’s negligence, it is always prudent to seek the advice of a personal injury lawyer on the best course of action. In doing so, you may be startled to discover that a lawyer does not advocate proceeding with your case, or is hesitant to assist you in doing so.
There are several instances of why a personal injury lawyer may decline to represent you, and if they do, it is usually for a good cause. However, even though the first lawyer you approach declines to represent you does not imply you should stop researching your choices
Reasons a Lawyer Might Not Accept Your Case
Reason #1 – Jurisdiction
In a legal case, jurisdiction can pertain to a variety of factors, including the sort of accident that happened, the location of the event, and the parties involved. If the attorney you seek lacks knowledge of your particular sort of damage accident, they may refuse your case because they cannot appropriately defend you. Alternately, if your injury happened in a jurisdiction where the attorney is not licensed, they cannot accept your case. And if the attorney does not feel comfortable representing specific parties involved in your accident, they may also decline to take on your case.
Reason #2 – Statute of Limitations
A statute of limitations is legislation that restricts the amount of time an injured person has to pursue legal action. It frequently relies on the lawsuit’s reason and the state where the incident happened. For example, in the state of Florida, the statute of limitations on personal injury cases usually runs for four years from the date of occurrence. Therefore, if you engage an attorney with your case at the end of the statute of limitations, he or she may refuse to represent you because they do not feel there is enough time to achieve the desired outcome.
Reason #3 – Time or Resources
If a legal practice is too busy to give your case the attention it requires due to a lack of time or resources, it is much more professional for them to be upfront about this than to attempt to take on the additional work. You don’t want an attorney who doesn’t have time for your case since they won’t be able to pursue it to its fullest extent. This might result in both parties losing time, effort, and money.
Reason #4 – Issues on Liability
Among the most likely causes, a personal injury attorney may decline to represent you after a comprehensive evaluation of your case is that they do not feel they will be able to show that the other party is fully accountable for the accident. Although they may feel that you had no part in creating the disaster, it is their responsibility to provide evidence to the contrary. If they view your accident scenario and lack confidence in your ability to do so, they may decline to hire you.
Reason #5 – Limitations on Insurance Recovery
It is conceivable for a personal injury attorney to examine your case and conclude that there is no opportunity to collect a substantial amount of money from the insurance company concerned. For instance, if the party at blame has low or no insurance coverage for your particular sort of accident, they will be unable to compensate you after a lawsuit.
What to Do After a Lawyer Refuses to Represent You
A personal injury lawsuit is a significant choice. Therefore, you should never depend solely on the first opinion you hear. If a personal injury attorney examines your case and they refuse you for whatever reason, it does not mean you should give up because you can always check out a second or third opinion about the validity of your case.
However, be cognizant of any patterns that emerge during the process. If many attorneys decline to accept your case for the same reason, especially if it has to do with a looming statute of limitations or deeper culpability concerns, your case may lack the strength to proceed to court. Don’t give up if the first lawyer refuses you because your case is outside of their jurisdiction and the second lawyer refuses you because they are too busy, this could mean that you may not be contacting the appropriate attorneys.
If, however, after three, four, or even five meetings you continue to receive similar feedback from attorneys regarding the weakness of your case, you may have your answer. Most personal injury attorneys understand that the injuries you’ve sustained are serious, which is why they don’t want to put you through the prolonged stress of managing a case that is unlikely to provide the desired outcomes. A trustworthy attorney should be forthright and truthful about their talents, your situation, and what makes more sense for both of you.
After encountering denials and opting not to pursue a case, it is time to focus on recovering from your injuries and resuming your normal life. It may be difficult to make the required modifications, but it would be far more difficult to do so after a lengthy court struggle that you ultimately lose.
How to Determine whether a Personal Injury Lawyer Is Trustworthy
The terrible truth is that the legal sector is home to its fair share of swindlers and scammers. There are a lot of people who go into the field of personal injury law with the express intention of making a lot of money off of their clients, regardless of whether or not they end up winning the case for those clients. Because of this, you can come across certain law firms who are willing to represent you in spite of the fact that they are aware the likelihood of you winning is quite low.
Finding a lawyer that takes cases on a contingency basis is the most effective approach to protect yourself from being scammed or taken advantage of in any manner. In this scenario, you will not be required to make any initial payments to the law firm in the form of fees, expenses, or retainers so that they may begin working on your case. Instead, they will only be compensated for their efforts if they are successful in obtaining a favorable verdict or settlement for their client. It is recommended that, as a component of this procedure, a free first consultation be provided. If a lawyer takes cases on a “contingency fee” basis and expresses confidence in taking them on, it’s usually because they believe there is a good chance of winning at the end of the road and aren’t as hesitant to take the risk of taking you on as a client because of this.
