Legal Question in Personal Injury in Virginia

Yes, get a lawyer to represent you, if at all possible.

With injuries that serious, including the potential for FUTURE medical bills and continuing problems, I believe that you will be much better off getting an attorney.

While some insurance companies will usually offer you a decent amount of money, they will probably low-ball you and try to get you to sign on the dotted line QUICk for a low amount of money.

THe trade-off is that if you take a lawyer on "contingency" the lawyer will take 1/3rd of what you get or win as his fee. (You have a right to pay by the hour instead of a percentage, but this is often a problem for most people).

There are plenty of lawyers who will take such a case on contingency (as a percentage).

So the question is whether the lawyer can increase the amount of money that you get by MORE than what you will have to pay the lawyer.

For such a complicated and serious set of injuries, I think you can get a lot of moeny with good legal advice.

However, try to check if the lawyer has a good reputation for helping clients.

There is a danger of the "heat 'em up / cool 'em down" routine. A lawyer can tell you before you sign with him that you have a very great case and you will win a lot of money.

But then AFTER you sign up with the lawyer, SOME lawyers will try to get you to settle CHEAP, so that they can get a big percentage of money with very little work.

So some lawyers start out telling you you have a great case, then after you sign they try to say your case is full olf holes and you should settle cheap.

So try to find out what the lawyers' reputatiion is.

You can also pay a lawyer a few hours BY THE HOUR -- not as a percentage -- to simply advise you on how much your case is probably worth.

In this case the lawyer would NOT represent you officially. (Once a lawyer officially joins a case, he is responsible for everything and often canot leave the case.) In this case, a lawyer would only give you some detailed advice on how much you should be asking and whether the insurance company is offering too little.

Of course, everything will depend upon the expert opinion of a doctor, how serirously you are injured, etc.

You also have to consider whether you were already injured before. If an accident injured you AGAIN in the same way you were already injured before (or very similar), then it can create many problems for proving that THIS car accident is what caused your injuries.