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You can find all sorts of trouble in Las Vegas. They do not call it Sin City for nothing. You can sometimes suddenly find yourself in a dangerous situation there, even if you try to mind your own business.
If someone does something in Las Vegas that injures you or makes you ill, then you can sue them. If you do, then presumably, you want to get as much money out of the lawsuit as you can.
Understanding the timeline of a personal injury settlement process becomes crucial, though the defendant won’t settle every time. They might want to dispute the matter in court, though that’s relatively rare.
In this article, we will discuss how you might get the largest possible payout for your Las Vegas personal injury lawsuit. If you feel certain the defendant hurt you or made you sick, you might have no trouble trying to make them to pay financially for what you experienced.
Get the Right Lawyer
You might file a Las Vegas personal injury lawsuit for many reasons. Maybe a doctor operated on the wrong body part, and you’re filing a medical malpractice suit. Perhaps a drunk driver hit your vehicle and injured you.
Maybe you’re suing a company because one of their products hurt you. Perhaps a dog got loose and bit you and you’re suing the owner. Slip-and-fall incidents in stores being on many personal injury lawsuits.
No matter the reason, if you’re going to sue someone, you need to make sure that you get yourself a competent lawyer. Maybe you know someone who practices personal injury law. If not, maybe you know someone who once used such a lawyer and got a positive result.
If you don’t know any personal injury lawyers or individuals who used one, you will need to do some of your own research. If you go online and look around a little, you can probably find plenty of personal injury attorneys nearby.
Find one with excellent online feedback. Then, go talk to them. Explain what happened and ask if they feel you have a valid case.
If they think that you do, and they’re willing to represent you, then you can move forward. Just make sure they have experience with the kind of lawsuit you’re bringing and they’ll willingly set up a contingency payment plan.
Get Their Investigator to Uncover as Much Evidence as Possible
To try and get as much money out of the lawsuit as possible, you next need to have the attorney’s investigator collect evidence that proves what you allege happened. Usually, a civil lawyer will have an investigator on the payroll. If you are using a larger and more prestigious firm, they may have a whole team of investigators standing by.
Either way, they can try to collect documents that will help your case. They might get a doctor’s report that describes your injury or illness. They may obtain a copy of a police report if the incident that injured you necessitated one.
They might try to find photos that show what you say happened. They may look for video evidence. For instance, if you are suing a drunk driver who hit you, then maybe some traffic camera footage caught the crash.
The more evidence the investigators can collect, the better for your case. If you have a ton of irrefutable evidence that proves what you say happened, then the defendant must almost always try to settle before the suit ever sees the inside of a courtroom.
You Should Do Your Part as Well
You can also help during the discovery phase of the trial by collecting any evidence that proves what you say happened. If you have any paperwork such as medical documents or a police car wreck report, then you can save some time by providing it.
You may also think about whether anyone saw the incident that hurt you. Maybe you remember a store employee seeing when you slipped and fell.
If so, you can tell your lawyer about it, and they can have a judge subpoena that individual. If you can come up with any witnesses or additional evidence, you’re helping your own cause significantly.
Consider Whether to Take a Settlement Offer
You can next consider whether you should take a settlement offer, assuming the defendant gives you one. It almost always happens, especially if you have more evidence than the defendant might reasonably overcome.
Assuming the defendant makes a settlement offer, think about it carefully. You should probably talk to your lawyer about it and get their opinion.
Maybe your lawyer feels that you can get more if you turn down the first settlement offer and take the case to trial. You might think about getting a settlement like playing tennis. You can think about the first offer like an initial volley.
If you feel you should take that amount, then you can accept. However, you might also volley the offer back by demanding more. It’s part of the negotiation process.
You should think about the pain and suffering this person or company put you through. If you feel the first offer doesn’t match what think you should get, you can always demand a larger amount to see what the defendant says.
Testify and Explain the Incident or Accident’s Impact on Your Life
Let’s say you turn down the settlement offer, or maybe the defendant digs in their heels and doesn’t offer one. If so, you must then go to the trial phase.
At this point, you might collect more money if the case goes to a jury’s verdict if you testify on your own behalf. You may tell the jury and judge all about what happened. You can mention a corrective surgery you needed, physical therapy, or feelings of loss if you can no longer do things that you once could because of the defendant’s actions.
This testimony will almost always help you increase your winnings.
