How to Maximize Your Personal Injury Lawsuit Award: Tips, Advice, and a Warning for Accident Victims.

Even if you’ve never played Texas Hold’em or Seven-Card Stud, you probably understand the importance of holding your cards close to your chest and maintaining a poker face when you’re up against tough opponents in just about any kind of card game.

The same holds true in legal matters – especially if you want to maximize your settlement in a personal injury lawsuit. Because, in this case, you’re not merely playing a game, you’re engaging in a high-stakes battle that could affect your family’s finances and quality of life forever.

In this week’s article, we’ll offer advice on steps you can take to maximize your personal injury settlement, warn you about possible “dirty tricks” the opposing legal team might try to use on you, and arm you with a game plan designed to help you prove your case… along with winning the maximum possible settlement for the losses, pain, and suffering you’ve experienced.

Stay Off Social Media and Mind How You Behave in Public

As we discussed in detail in this helpful article, how you behave both immediately after an accident and in the months leading up to your personal injury lawsuit being placed on a court docket can mean the difference between winning your case… or having it unceremoniously thrown out of court. You can bet that lawyers hired by your insurance company or the person who caused your injuries will dig into your life – both online and in person. So, take care to guard your privacy by avoiding social media posts that could undermine your case. In other words, if you’ve been seriously injured, posting pictures of your latest water-skiing adventure in the Bahamas is a definite no-no. And beware of new “friends” on Facebook asking leading questions trying to pry into your life. They could be shills working with the other side of the case, trying to undercut your claims and force you into taking a lowball offer.

Beyond those common-sense steps, be sure to review our suggestions to avoid using marijuana, drinking, or playing sports in public. And verify that your privacy settings in any social media accounts you use are set to their safest possible options. This useful article from Experian, the credit reporting firm, will help you accomplish that goal.

Next, take care whenever you’re out in public to act appropriately and to avoid giving ammunition to attorneys from the other side who are sure to be on the lookout for you to do anything that could sway a judge or jury against you. If you make us your attorneys on record, we’ll make you aware of other “tricks of the trade” that could be used against you, and help you stay safe throughout the discovery, deposition, and trial process.

Finally, it’s vital to remember that in any poker game, your opponents will do their best to make you fold by fooling you into thinking they’re holding all the strongest cards. Likewise, in personal injury cases the opposing side will very likely make a lowball offer right away, hoping you’ll take the bait and accept a paltry settlement when you could do much better by waiting. So, before you sign anything, contact us right away. We’ll quickly assess your situation and let you know if we think you could win more through pretrial negotiations or even by going to court. It won’t take long, and we promise you won’t regret getting our opinion so you can make an informed decision.

Carefully Gather Key Evidence and Store Important Records

In addition to taking care to safeguard your privacy, it’s vital to assemble and protect essential evidence to prove your losses when you’ve been injured through no fault of your own. That’s because, from the moment you’re involved in a car accident, you’ll begin to incur a variety of costs – ambulance charges, car rental expenses, hospital and doctor bills, prescription drug charges, rehabilitation fees, and many more. And it’s very likely you’ll be unable to continue working at least for a while as you recover from your injuries, which might mean lost wages or could even result in the permanent loss of a lucrative career. Depending upon the severity of your circumstances, you might even face long-term disability or the need for extended – and costly – nursing home care.

We discussed the types of documentation and evidence you’ll want to gather in this comprehensive article. It describes such evidence as police reports, insurance documents, accident scene photography and videography, statements from eyewitnesses, W-2 forms and workplace pay stubs, and every possible type of receipt for medical services. Be sure to bookmark that article so you’ll have it at your fingertips if you ever need it.

Remember, too, that medical records and assessments of your current condition and long-term prognosis can help establish part of the compensation you might receive. However, Michigan does not limit awards given for pain and suffering (except in cases of medical malpractice where the maximum award is currently set at just over $1 million for malpractice resulting in certain permanent disabilities), or punitive damages awarded to accident victims whose injuries resulted from especially egregious behavior of those who caused them. For example, we recently won $75 million on behalf of a Michigan family in a wrongful death suit.

Finally, you’ll want to be sure to store all those receipts, records, files, and related documents in a safe place. While it might make sense to do this electronically, we also recommend obtaining and retaining paper copies of everything. Invest in a fireproof box or use a file cabinet to keep them as backup, since even in the best of times the internet can go down, or a hard drive can fail.

Choose Legal Representation Wisely and Safeguard Your Settlement Funds When You Win

It goes without saying that we believe you stand your strongest chance of winning a personal injury lawsuit if you have the state’s most experienced, largest, most successful, and most intelligent legal team on your side. Since you’re reading this article, we imagine you probably already know who that is, and maybe you even already know the right phone number to call right away if you’ve been hurt. But, if you’re having a momentary mental lapse, here it is one more time: 855-MIKE-WINS (855-645-3946).

By the way, once we’ve won your personal injury lawsuit, you’ll want to take steps to protect your newfound money so it lasts as long as possible and you can live your best possible life. This article offers some advice along those lines. We hope you’ll find it helpful (though we truly hope you won’t ever need it)! If, however, the worst happens and you find it necessary to seek legal help for an injury that was not your fault, know that we’ll be there for you. Don’t gamble on any other law firm! Do you need another reminder to call 855-MIKE-WINS if something bad happens to you or someone you care about? We didn’t think so!

Content checked by Mike Morse, personal injury attorney with Mike Morse Injury Law Firm. Mike Morse is the founder of Mike Morse Law Firm, the largest personal injury law firm in Michigan. Since being founded in 1995, Mike Morse Law Firm has grown to over 200 employees, served 40,000 clients, and collected more than $1.5 billion for victims of auto, truck and motorcycle accidents. The main office is in Southfield, MI but you can also find us in Detroit, Sterling Heights and many other locations.