Do You Have a Personal Injury Case?

The factors personal injury attorneys typically evaluate include injury severity and treatment, clear fault on the other party, timing within applicable deadlines, the insurance situation, and how well the events are documented. This tool surfaces those factors as a triage; only a licensed attorney can evaluate whether your specific facts support a viable case. Most personal injury attorneys offer a free initial consultation.

Most personal injury attorneys in the US work on contingency, meaning they only get paid if they recover compensation for you. Typical contingency rates are 33% if the case settles before filing a lawsuit and 40% if it proceeds to litigation. Costs (filing fees, expert witnesses) are usually advanced by the firm and deducted from any recovery. Always confirm fee structures in writing before signing.

Personal injury filing deadlines vary by state and by type of claim, generally ranging from 1 to 6 years. Some specific situations (against government entities, minors, medical malpractice) have different rules. This is general information, not legal advice; only an attorney licensed in your state can confirm your actual deadline. Waiting to act often forecloses options that early action preserves.

Insurance companies often make low initial offers, especially before an injury's full impact is known. Most personal injury attorneys recommend not accepting any offer or giving a recorded statement until you have at least had a free consultation. An attorney can usually tell you in 15-30 minutes whether the offer is reasonable for the type of situation you describe.

Most people finish the personal injury case assessment in four to six minutes. The seven questions cover injury severity, fault clarity, treatment sought, insurance situation, quality of evidence, documented losses, and timing against the applicable statute of limitations. Pausing on the timing and fault questions is worthwhile because those two inputs carry the most weight in the triage result; errors on either produce a materially different recommendation than the underlying facts warrant.

General-practice attorneys handle a range of matters and are common in smaller towns. Specialists focus on one practice area (PI, family, criminal, IP, etc.) and bring deeper expertise to that area.

Small claims court is designed for lower-dollar disputes (commonly $5,000-$10,000 depending on state), with simpler procedures and often without attorneys. It works well for unpaid invoices, security deposits, minor property damage, and consumer disputes where the documented amount is clear and modest.

The most useful urgency markers are: a court date or response deadline in the near term, an active arrest or law-enforcement matter, evidence at risk of being lost or destroyed, safety concerns, and active financial exposure (wage garnishment, lien, foreclosure).

Common inflection points are: first hire (employment law exposure), first significant commercial contract, first IP filing or trademark dispute, expansion into a regulated activity, or any litigation threat.

State lemon laws typically require the manufacturer to refund, replace, or repurchase a vehicle (or sometimes a major appliance) when the same defect cannot be fixed in a reasonable number of repair attempts (often 3-4) or the product is out of service for a defined number of days (often 30 cumulative days).