A personal injury attorney is just exactly like it sounds. It is an attorney that takes on cases in which someone was personal injured. This means that the person suffered harm or injury that was the fault of someone else, and this is often with car accidents, but it can also mean illness or death from a medication or an industrial accident, or something similar.
It doesn't necessarily have to be you that was injured in whatever accident you are claiming damages for. Often, the family, spouse and children of a person that became ill or was injured or passed away due to the fault of someone else can quality to receive a settlement, depending upon how their life was changed by losing the loved one.
The bottom line is, there are quite a few cases that quality for personal injury status and that this type of attorney will take. However, you should wait until you meet with the attorney and discuss your case to be absolutely sure. If he or she will not take your case, it is very likely that they will be able to refer you to the type of attorney that does take that sort of case, if not to a specific person.
How the consultation process works is allowing you to get a face to face meeting with the attorney or a knowledgeable representative that can give you decision about your case. There may be no charge at all for a consultation, especially if you are coming to that attorney as a result of some type of advertising for a case that he or she was already building.
You will know this type of case. These will usually come in the form of television or radio commercials and will say something like 'Have you been diagnosed with X disease after taking Y Medication?'. This is a common practice for personal injury attorneys, because they can build one case with many plaintiffs.
Normally, an attorney will charge a percentage of the settlement in a personal injury case, but this is not always the case. For instance, sometimes an attorney will charge an hourly fee, plus a percentage if there is a settlement, and many attorneys ask for a retainer fee, which is an initial down payment on their probably total fee.
The next thing that your Seattle personal injury attorney will do is file the proper paperwork and have it served to the defendant in the case. Then, there will be a date set for the court hearing, but the person that you are suing may opt to settle out of court instead, particularly if they think that settling will be cheaper for them in the long run.
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