If you’ve called several lawyers in your area and they are reluctant to take on your personal injury case, it’s because of several reasons. Unfortunately, many lawyers will not give you the real reason why they do not want to handle your case. Hopefully, we will be able to shed some light as to why no one wants to take your case and you will be able to figure it out for yourself. Alternatively, if you are in Providence, RI, and you would like to know if you have a solid personal injury case, you can contact our offices by calling 401-751-0101 for a free initial consultation.
7 Reasons Why Personal Injury Lawyers Won’t Take Your Case
1. Liability Issues
Liability here means fault. If you are partly or fully liable for your injuries then most lawyers will not take your case unless you have significant damage that is over $100, 000 for partial fault or more if you are mostly at fault.
If, for example, you were involved I a slip and fall accident where there were obvious hazards then your case will likely have liability issues. Another example is whereby you were involved in a car collision at an intersection whereby the lead driver made a sudden stop.
In cases where law enforcement wrongly cited you as the at fault driver, most lawyers will be reluctant to take on your case. You are better off trying to beat the ticket in traffic court and even if you do beat it, there is still a low chance a personal injury lawyer will want to take on your case.
If you slipped over an obvious hazard such as a floor display or brightly colored liquid such as paint, then it would be difficult to establish liability. However, you can still say that you did not see a floor display because you were looking at items on a shelf or you did not see the floor display because you were carrying bags of shopping and they were obstructing your view.
2. Damages Issues
Your case might have established liability but the damages are not significant. Keep in mind that personal injury attorneys work on a contingency basis and they cannot afford to take on cases that do not have significant damages.
If your medical bills amount to hundreds of dollars or you only suffered from minor injuries such as bumps and bruises then you should expect your case to be rejected by most lawyers.
We caution against over treating your injuries in order to drive up the medical costs because this will backfire and it might lead to a case that will cost you a lot more to settle.
In such situations where liability is very clear but damages are not a lot, you can pursue your own case in a small claims court.
The small claims court dollar limit in Rhode Island is $2500 so keep this in mind if you want to pursue your case in a small claims court and you reside in Rhode Island.
3. Insurance Issues
If the defendant does not have insurance, most attorneys will instantly reject your case. You can still sue the defendant and try to recover damages from their personal assets but most lawyers rarely want to go down this path especially if the defendant can’t satisfy a judgement. Additionally, uninsured defendants rarely agree to settle large amounts of money from their personal assets.
4. Defendant Issues
You may have a problem finding a lawyer if your case is against local law enforcement, a wealthy business man, politician, lawyer and so on. This isn’t an indicator that your case doesn’t have any merit; it’s might be a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”. This means that it’s their preference not to deal with that particular defendant.
Additionally, some defendants might be a source of client referrals or they may belong to the same social groups.
If you are having difficulty finding a lawyer within your local area because of who the defendant is, you can try your luck by looking for lawyers in neighboring cities.
5. Attorney Issues
If you have fired several attorneys then this may raise a red flag with every other attorney that you try to hire. They’ll conclude that your case has some serious holes in it or you just have a poor rapport with attorneys and this is a burden any new attorney will not want to take on.
6. Statute of Limitations Expired
This one doesn’t need a lot of explanations. The only reason a personal injury lawyer will take on your case after statute of limitations has expired is when:
- A minor was involved in the accident
- Your injuries appear several decades after an initial injury. For instance, inhalation of chemicals while at work may cause illnesses that will only appear after a number of years and so this calls for a longer statute of limitations
7. Conflict of Interest
Persona injury lawyers are required to stick to a strict set of ethical guidelines failure to which they might lose their practice license.
Unfortunately, some lawyers may state a conflict of interest when they do not want to tell you that your case sucks. Other times it’s because they might not be the best lawyer for you because your case falls under an area of expertise where they fall short. Therefore simply stating a conflict of interest avoids that unpleasant conversation where they have to explain why they can’t or don’t want to take on your case.
A Free Initial Consultation will Help
Over the years, at Kevin P Landry Offices, we’ve found that it takes a much shorter time to be honest with potential clients instead of making up stories as to why we can’t take up their cases. We will listen to your side of the story and if your case has merit, we will give you the number of options available so that you are able to make an informed choice.
We have a team of lawyers who are both experienced and skilled in different areas of personal injury law. If your injuries are too severe, we can come to you instead and from there we can chart a way forward. Contact us at 401-751-0101 to book your free initial consultation.
