Let me paint an all-too-common picture: you’re headed out to dinner on a Friday night. You walk into the restaurant in Minneapolis and your legs suddenly fly out from under you. The tile in the lobby is in a total state of disrepair, and the uneven flooring has become a booby trap. It’s caused you to fall and break several bones. Once you’ve sought medical attention, where do you go from here?
Becoming the victim of a slip and fall accident is no one’s idea of a good time, but your primary objective now is to ensure you’re fairly compensated for the company or individual’s negligence and your subsequent medical bills. Negligence or carelessness can be difficult to prove in court, but not when you work with the right Minneapolis personal injury attorney. So, don’t waste your time on a case just to come away empty handed. Instead, ask yourself these three questions to pick the best Minneapolis personal injury lawyer for your case.
Does the Attorney Have Personal Injury Law Experience?
The first thing you should be sure of when you are about to hire a slip and fall accident attorney is that they practice personal injury law. Regardless of the details of your personal injury case, an attorney who is in general practice and doesn’t have much personal injury experience will not know the best legal strategies for you to use to win your case.
As attorneys, we learn a lot when we work the same type of case over and over. An experienced personal injury attorney will have the required background necessary to notice the intricacies and subtle differences of each specific case. A local personal injury lawyer will also have a better understanding of the legal system in your area in regard to a slip and fall case.
Have the Lawyer’s Past Clients Been Satisfied?
There are a few ways you can determine an attorney’s clients have been satisfied with his representation. First, you can read feedback directly from these clients in their online reviews. Google is a great place to start; the reviews should pop up as soon as you search the attorney or his firm. The downside to Google reviews is that people tend to be more likely to write an unsolicited negative review than a positive one – just take the information with a grain of salt.
Some attorneys will have information about past cases posted right on their websites. You can really get a feel for a lawyer’s personality and approach by reading these reviews; take note of the types of cases he chooses to highlight when posting these reviews. While you’re on the website, take a look around for any general information that may pertain to your case – it’s not necessary, but it will save you time later if you already understand how personal injury cases work.
Is the Minneapolis Personal Injury Attorney Prepared to Go to Trial?
In some areas of law, it might be best to accept a settlement and move on with your life. That’s generally not the case in personal injury law. Insurance companies may try to get you to accept a settlement because they know they’ll end up paying more if they go to trial – but that’s not your problem! You deserve to be compensated for your injuries and ensure the property owner is held liable.
Certain attorneys are hesitant to go to trial in a slip and fall case because it takes them more time and energy than settling. Whether consciously or not, some personal injury lawyers in Minneapolis do want an open and shut case that will net them a big paycheck quickly.
You want to be able to trust your attorney and take his advice without worrying about it being self-serving on his part. If you’re offered a settlement, you’ll need to have a lawyer who gives you an honest opinion about your options and steers you in the right direction. For this reason, I believe that your “gut feelings” about a prospective attorney should weigh heavily in your decision of whether or not to work with him on your case.
Are you ready to start consulting with personal injury attorneys for your slip and fall case? Contact Sieben Edmunds Miller to learn about the personal injury cases our attorneys have taken on and the positive resolutions we’ve obtained for our clients.
