"I've been injured! What should I do?"

It’s happened. You’ve been injured. Now what? While every case is different, there are some basic “dos” and “don’ts” just about everyone should follow in a personal injury case. Here’s our 8 step guide.

1. Tend to your own health and well-being. This is a no-brainer. The most important thing to do after you’ve been injured is to get appropriate care. Make sure that this happens before you worry about anything else!
2. Document, document, document. Your next step is to collect hard, verifiable evidence of what happened. Get the names and phone numbers of any witnesses. Write down an exact account of the accident, always being as specific as possible: exact times, exact locations, names of everyone involved, and who did what. Take photos of the scene if possible. If there’s a chance that you were captured on (surveillance) video, write a registered letter to the keeper of the video asking that it not be destroyed or overwritten. Save any letters or other correspondence you receive, and any medical or other bills. Take careful notes of any phone calls regarding the accident.
3. Don’t accept an insurance settlement until you’ve consulted with an attorney. The insurance companies have their own, and their clients’ interests, in mind. If you are pressured to accept a settlement right away, document the fact that you’ve been pressured. It’s very, very unlikely that the “first” settlement offer you receive is also the “best.”
4. Select a competent personal injury attorney. This is so important, we’ve got a separate post devoted to it. By the way, don’t try to “do it yourself.” Remember the old saying: “he who is his own attorney has a fool for a client.”
5. Cooperate with your attorney to the fullest. Don’t hold anything back from your attorney. If you don’t trust him or her, you’ve chosen the wrong attorney.
6. Do as your attorney says, whether there’s a trial or not. Your attorney will know best whether to settle out of court, or go to trial.
7. If you lose, ask your attorney about any potential other steps. If you win, invest your money wisely! You may even want to take a structured settlement.
8. “Back to step 1″: take care of yourself! Just because you’ve won a settlement doesn’t mean it’s over until you have recovered as much as humanly possible. Follow your doctor’s, and other health care professionals’, advice to the letter.