Legal Question in Personal Injury in Louisiana

Re: 454353881

If you are still in pain and your treating doctor recommends that you continue treatment, you should not stop going to physical therapy. You need to talk to a competent personal injury attorney regarding fees and filing a lawsuit. Most attorneys charge a percentage of any settlement amount that they are able to obtain for you. I would definitely suggest going to an attorney to file suit because you even if you file the lawsuit yourself, you are going to eventually have to turn it over to an attorney to represent you.

Re: 454353881

Dear Question # 172423726:

A contingency fee personal injry lawyer in Louisisana usually charges 331/% before a lawsuit is filed and 40% after a lawsuit is filed. They are responcible for advancing all costs to prosecute your claim. They should not charge a retainer of any amount. In Louisiana, you have a on (1) year prescriptive period which means you should not even get close from one year to the date of accident to be safe before a lawsuit is filed. Yes, you can represent yourself pro se (for yourself) but it is ill-advised as the Louisiana Rules of Civil Procedure must be followed and you do not know them (I assume). The lawyer should work on a ?No Recovery then No Fee or Advances" policy. Unfortunately, the minimum limits laws in Luoisiana are very low and, if you are seriously injured, after lawyers' fees, lawyers' expenses and medical costs are taken out, you may not be left with much! If you have undeinsured insurance, you may also be able to go after that if you exhaust the person who hit you insurance. You should stop getting physical therapy if you are not getting relief from it. DO NOT DELAY!!

Good Luck!!

Re: 454353881

If physical therapy is helping, you should continue to go. If it is not helping, you need to go further and figure out why. You may need to have an MRI to figure out why you are not getting relief. Most soft tissue injuries are resolved within 6-8 months or so (for most people and for most moderate injuries). If you have been going longer than that, your doctor would want to start looking deeper. In any event, your health comes first. Don't just stop going to therapy.

As for filing suit, you certainly have every right to represent yourself, but it is very difficult for someone who doesn't know the law and the court costs alone can get expensive for some people. You should at least talk to a personal injury attorney in your local area. They are not hard to find and they all work on what is called a contingency basis. That means that if they don't win your case, you don't owe them anything.

While some attorney's fees go as high as 40% and higher, many do not charge fees that high even after filing suit. Our rates are 33% prior to filing suit and 35% after suit is filed and I know several attorneys that charge that amount. Ask around a little.

More important than the fee percentage, though, is that you need to find an attorney you trust. The best way to find a lawyer is to ask friends who have been represented by one that they trust and had a good experience with. Good luck.

Re: 454353881

Keep going to physical therapy. 1/3 contingency is usual but could be higher. No retainer should be paid. You definitely need to find an attorney in the jurisdiction(parish) where the accident happened.