Bernie Tully Personal Injury Lawyer. Phone: 412-281-8700
A client recently asked me this question. “I had an auto accident and I hurt my back. Should I try to settle the case on my own or should I get you involved?” Obviously, we have an interest in answering that but I will tell you what I told her. You can try to settle the case yourself. That is your absolute right to do. A lot of times when you do that, it is successful. However, there are risks involved with settling a serious back injury case. I am going to give you an example of one of the risks.
I had a client who tried to settle her own case. It started to get closer to the statute period. In Pennsylvania the statute period is 2 years. She filed the writ herself to try to stop the statute of limitations. She thought that if you filed a writ or a complaint that it would stop the 2 year running of the statute of limitations.
However, this is where an experienced personal injury attorney for her back problem could have helped her. It is not enough JUST to file a writ. You have to take the additional step of having the sheriff’s office serve the defendant with the writ. Because if you just file the writ and you don’t have the sheriff’s office attempt to serve the defendant you have blown the statute. As in no $ for your back injury.
So even though you had a serious back injury and possibly even surgery, you are out the door. You lost the case because you blew the statute. That is where an experienced attorney in personal injury (which I have been doing for 35 years) can help you.
You can try to settle the case yourself and good luck in doing it. I can even give you a free list of questions you should ask the insurance company if you try to settle it yourself. But bear in mind that there are risks involved and that was just one of them. If you really want the best representation, you should go with an experienced personal injury attorney. It may give you great peace of mind.
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Bernie Tully Personal Injury Lawyer. 412-281-8700 and 1-800-518-0050