Five Things to Do When Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit

1. Get immediate care for your injury.

If you are injured, the first thing to do is to seek medical attention. When you are speaking with your treating physician, make sure that you describe your medical condition as accurately as possible. Some people with injuries say that they feel better or great when they don’t. Others exaggerate their conditions. Do neither. Affording a medical doctor the opportunity to care for your injury means that you must provide accurate information, and providing inaccurate or incomplete information will not be helpful to your case. 

2. Document the incident and injured areas with photos and videos.

Along with accurate reporting, documentation is helpful when managing a personal injury case. Be sure to take photos (and videos if possible) of any injured areas. If you notice that your injury has worsened with time, you may also find it useful to take more photos and videos to track its progression.

If you were in a car accident, take photos of the vehicles involved if possible. The more documentation, the better.

3. Report the accident to your insurance company. 

If you are injured, the first thing to do is to seek medical attention. When you are speaking with your treating physician, make sure that you describe your medical condition as accurately as possible. Some people with injuries say that they feel better or great when they don’t. Others exaggerate their conditions. Do neither. Affording a medical doctor the opportunity to care for your injury means that you must provide accurate information, and providing inaccurate or incomplete information will not be helpful to your case. 

4. Do NOT respond to calls from an investigator or insurance companies without advice from a lawyer.

5.  Call a lawyer.

The more recent an accident or injury has taken place, the easier it is for a lawyer to gather evidence. At GKWW, we use a hands-on approach to ensure we can make the best possible case for our clients. We travel to the accident site, speak with witnesses, and when appropriate, hire experts to review the vehicles involved to determine liability.

If you have suffered a personal injury, reach out to us today at [email protected] or by phone at (312) 362-0000.

 

Thomas G. Gardiner is a founding partner of Gardiner Koch Weisberg & Wrona. Tom’s work on behalf of injured individuals covers matters from medical malpractice, personal injury, products liability, wrongful death litigation and nursing home litigation to civil rights actions. Over the course of his sterling career, Tom’s efforts have resulted in the awarding of many millions of dollars to his clients.

Shannon V. Condon joined Gardiner Koch Weisberg & Wrona as an associate attorney in March 2013. Ms. Condon concentrates her practice in the areas of general civil litigation, as well as medical malpractice and personal injury litigation. Since joining GKWW, Ms. Condon has played an integral role in recovering millions of dollars for injured clients in medical malpractice and catastrophic injury cases.

What would a law firm blog be if it didn’t contain a disclaimer?

We appreciate your interest in GKWW and that you have taken the time to read this post.  If we have represented you in the past, we thank you for your trust.  If you are considering working with in the future, we would love to meet with you and see if we can work together.  That said, our ethical rules require us to identify this blog for what it is—advertising material.  We aren’t specifically seeking a case or giving advice on potential cases that you have.  All cases are different, so we’d need to sit down with you and evaluate if we could help you. Our past successes don’t guarantee or predict future results, but we’ll work hard to try to have success in the future.