Dealing with a personal injury is hard, regardless of the circumstances. If you didn’t cause the injury, it’s even harder.
Filing a personal injury claim is a difficult but necessary part of the process.
Many people have never had to file a legal claim before, so it’s hard to know where and how to start that process.
Once you identify a few attorneys and start to talk to them, you can typically get the ball rolling on your claim.
But what do you do if one, two, or more attorneys decline to take on your case?
What to Do When Your Lawyer Drops Your Case
It isn’t always easy to know what to do when your lawyer drops your case. Still, if you want to recover the damages you are owed, you have to press on.
The best thing you can do in this situation is talk to the attorney about why they dropped the case. Only after you know why can you take steps to mitigate the issues surrounding your case.
One thing you should always ask yourself when a lawyer drops your case is, Do I have a personal injury case?
You may think you have a claim, but if more than one lawyer is able to poke sufficient holes of doubt in your case, you may not have a valid personal injury claim.
In any case, the way forward is the same: seek more information to see if there is something in your power that will make your case more attractive to personal injury attorneys.
No Lawyer Will Take My Case: Common Reasons Why Attorneys Don’t Take Cases
There are about a million different reasons why a given personal injury lawyer would decline a given case.
That’s far too many to fit into any reasonable list, so here are a few reasons why personal injury lawyers typically drop or deny claims:
- They have too heavy a caseload already;
- The specifics of the personal injury claim lay outside their level of experience or expertise;
- Lack of evidence showing negligence;
- Lack of evidence showing fault;
- The statute of limitations expired;
- The lawyer has a conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest in taking the claim;
- There is not enough financial incentive in the claim to justify the work that would go into litigation; and
- The plaintiff and the attorney cannot agree on how to best pursue the claim.
As you can see, the number of different reasons why an attorney might reject a given claim is quite broad. That’s why it’s so important to figure out why they denied your claim.
If they are simply too busy, there’s probably nothing wrong with your case. However, if there’s a fatal flaw with your claim—for example, the deadline for filing the claim has passed—you may find yourself out of luck.
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How to Get a Lawyer to Take Your Case
If you are having trouble finding an attorney to take on your personal injury claim, you may feel like giving up. If you find yourself feeling this way, don’t give up yet.
There is still hope to find another attorney to take your case. Unfortunately, there really isn’t a one size fits all answer on how to get a lawyer to take your case.
All personal injury cases are different, so it’s impossible for us to know exactly how to get a lawyer to take your case. Similarly, different lawyers have different reasons for turning down a case.
Thus, figuring out how to get a lawyer to take your case requires you to take a step back and figure out what’s going on with your case that makes it less attractive to attorneys.
Talk to the Attorneys
The best way to figure out why attorneys aren’t taking your case is to ask them why. If multiple attorneys cite the same reason, then it’s probably something to pay attention to.
If the problem that the attorneys cite is a fixable problem, like a lack of evidence, you can take time to try to collect more evidence. Better yet, you can ask how to go about fixing the issue (if it is fixable).
Alternatively, if an attorney rejects your case because they are too busy or lack the requisite experience to help with your specific injury, all you need to do is try with a different attorney.
The personal injury lawyer who is too busy can often help connect you with one of their respected colleagues.
Let Us Help You with Your Claim
Whether you have already discussed your claim with other attorneys or are seeking a consultation for the first time, we at The Law Office of Chuck Geerhart can help you.
We’ll listen to your story and go through the basics with you to see if we are the right fit for your individual claim. Too often, large law firms take on as many cases as they can.
They often get good results, but we find we get better results. How? Because we take on only a limited number of cases. That way, we ensure that your claim gets the personal attention it deserves.
If you’re injured, you need someone to have your back. Chuck has your back, so book your consultation today!