If you have been injured in an accident, and you are asking yourself the question in the title, then you need to pose these queries as well.
What you should consider, before choosing to do without any form of legal representation
Do you have enough knowledge and organization to keep the insurance company from paying you an unfair compensation?
Do you know for sure that none of the sustained injuries could cause the victim to become permanently disabled in some manner?
Has the victim, or each of the possible victims received medical attention. There must be a report of an effort to mitigate injuries, in case some slow-to-appear symptoms would show up in the coming weeks or months.
Has the treating physician made any reference to a likelihood for the appearance of such symptoms? A “yes” answer to the 3 preceding questions would suggest that you might encounter a real challenge, if you were to try handling your case without a Richmond Hill injury lawyer’s help.
Is it clear who was at fault; which party was less careful?
Maybe you feel sure that the other driver was totally at fault. Still, there might be a chance that someone in one of the other involved vehicles was injured. The insurance company might claim that you could have done more to keep the collision from causing such damage. An attorney would know how to fight such an allegation. Would you?
Do you have a full understanding of the nature and extent of the reported injury? Do you recognize what consequences the victim might have to face?
Has the treating physician made any reference to likelihood for further medical problems, those that would relate to the existing injury? Has he/she referred at all to the chance that the victim might struggle to earn a living, as a result of the injury? Again, if the answer to either of those questions is “yes,” then you should hire an attorney to help you.
Do not use the driver’s condition as a clue to the possible existence of an injury in any of the vehicle’s occupants.
That is a warning to any parent that has seen or heard that the insured driver did not sustain any injuries, and it looked like any occupants, including children, had gone uninjured. The level of protection in the front seat is greater than the one in a rear seat.
Also, if an inflatable safety device had expanded in the way it was supposed to, all occupants would have been exposed to the released particles. Maybe one of the occupants was asthmatic. Those are the sorts of issues and concerns that a lawyer would know how to address.