Pittsburgh Personal Injury Lawyers

What to do after an injury in Pennsylvania

The days right after an injury shape what evidence still exists months later, when the claim is actually being evaluated. A few things are worth doing early.

• Get medical attention, even if you feel able to walk away. Gaps between the incident and the first treatment are the single most common argument insurers use to dispute that an injury came from the crash or the fall.
• Report the incident — a police report for a crash, an incident report for a fall on someone's property, an injury report to your employer for a workplace injury.
• Photograph the scene, the vehicles or the hazard, and your visible injuries, before anything is repaired or cleaned up.
• Get names and phone numbers for anyone who saw what happened. Witnesses become very hard to find later.
• Keep every bill, estimate and out-of-pocket receipt, and note each day you miss from work.
• Tell your own insurer that you were in an accident, but decline to give a recorded statement to the other side's insurer until you have spoken with a lawyer.

How a personal injury claim moves forward

Most people have never been through this before and expect it to look like it does on television. In practice, a claim moves through a fairly predictable sequence.

Investigation. We collect the police or incident report, the medical records, the wage records and any available video, and identify every insurance policy that could apply — which is often more than one.

Treatment and evaluation. A claim is not usually worth resolving until your treating physicians can say where your recovery has settled. Settling before that point means guessing at the cost of care you have not received yet.

Demand and negotiation. We present the claim to the insurer with the medical, wage and expert support behind it. Many cases resolve here.

Suit and discovery. If the offer does not reflect the harm, we file. Both sides then exchange documents, take depositions and retain experts.

Mediation or trial. A large share of filed cases settle at mediation. The ones that do not are tried — and preparing a case as though it will be tried is what gives it value either way.

Who pays your medical bills while the claim is pending

The at-fault party's insurer does not pay your bills as you go; it pays once, at the end, if the claim resolves. In the meantime, care is generally covered by the medical benefits portion of your own auto policy in a motor vehicle case, and by your health insurance otherwise.

Any insurer that pays for injury-related treatment may later assert a lien or subrogation claim against your recovery, and Medicare, Medicaid and employer ERISA plans each follow different rules about what they can recover. Identifying those liens early and negotiating them down at the end is part of the case, and it is what determines the difference between the headline settlement figure and what you actually keep. We handle injury cases on a contingency fee, so there is no fee unless we recover compensation for you.