Home » When To Hire A Personal Injury Lawyer?

When you hire a personal injury lawyer, a lawyer often determines the scope of options available to you in the wake of an accident caused by another’s negligent, reckless or careless behaviours. Filing notices to preserve claims, identifying witnesses and nailing down their recollections, examining physical evidence and the accident scene, locating insurance coverage: these are all essential steps to a successful claim for injuries and consequential damages.  And only experienced Edmonton personal injury lawyers like those at Chadi & Company can begin to investigate and preserve your claims immediately so that you get what you rightfully deserve either through negotiated settlement or trial.

personal injury lawyer


Table Of Contents

  1. I’ve been injured in an accident, what do I do next?
  2. Why do I need a personal injury lawyer?
  3. How the Personal Injury Lawyers at Chadi & Company Can Help You
  4. What Do 30 Years of Experience Bring to Our Clients?

The sooner you hire a personal injury lawyer, the quicker your claims can be preserved and pursued.
Personal injury victims are entitled to damages paid by the guilty parties or their insurance companies. “Damages” refers to the value of losses incurred due to a breach of duty or a violation of rights.  In Edmonton, damages recovered in personal injury cases include pain and suffering, lost income, future care costs, capacity loss, housekeeping abilities, medical treatment, and property damage.

As a personal injury litigant, you need an experienced personal injury lawyer to evaluate the strength of your case, proceed to investigate and discover the underlying causes of the accident, negotiate with the insurance companies and defendants to try to settle the claim for a just amount, or proceed to trial before a jury to determine liability and award damages.  Each of these steps requires experience and skill, as well as reputation and relationships.  That’s what Chadi & Company offers its Edmonton, Alberta, and Western Canadian clients.

I’ve been injured in an accident, what do I do next?

Hire a personal injury lawyer!  It’s best to hire an experienced, reputable personal injury lawyer as soon after the accident as possible to preserve all of your options. However, there are many other things on your mind in the wake of an accident, but hiring a lawyer should remain a top priority.

  • Call Chadi & Company for a free consultation when your accident benefits are denied. Edmonton’s standard mandatory automobile insurance policies pay for medical and rehabilitation, income replacement benefits, and attendant care regardless of fault. If you are denied benefits, it’s time to call a personal injury lawyer.
  • Call Chadi & Company for a free consultation when your medical bills start piling up in the wake of an accident.  Substantial injuries might mean medical bills that exceed the coverage limits of Edmonton liability insurance policies.  Hiring a skilled personal injury lawyer is a necessary step to preserving your rights to total compensation.
  • Call Chadi & Company for a free consultation when a settlement offer seems too small. Insurance companies like to settle claims with victims before hiring lawyers because those settlement offers are often stingy.  Before accepting any offer, you need to speak with a skilled personal injury lawyer to discern the true value of your claims.
  • Call Chadi & Company for a free consultation when you are unsure whether you are entitled to compensation.  All sorts of collateral consequences can arise from an act of negligence, reckless behaviours, or carelessness, and making sure that you are getting compensation for all of these injuries requires knowledgeable counsel who can locate all culpable parties and be a skilled negotiator.

Why do I need a personal injury lawyer?

A competent and professional personal injury lawyer has a field of expertise, a deep knowledge of personal injury law, and experience with insurance companies and courts to get you the fullest recovery.  While you focus on getting well and returning to your normal life, a personal injury lawyer takes over the paperwork of pursuing your legal claims and can often help find the best medical team to move you towards recovery.

Personal injury lawyers understand the complexity of insurance law. They know the players in the industry to devise a strategy to get you the compensation you deserve for pain and suffering, lost income, future costs of care, loss of capacity, loss of housekeeping abilities, medical treatment, and property damage.

Best news yet: an experienced personal injury lawyer bills clients through a “contingency fee.” That means that the lawyer only gets paid if the client does.  If we are unsuccessful in reaching a settlement or obtaining a judgment in your favour, we do not get paid.  Contingency fees offer personal injury lawyers an incentive to work to represent your interests with rigour and focus.

How the Personal Injury Lawyers at Chadi & Company Can Help You

Over the years, Chadi & Company has successfully recovered over $200 million to compensate its clients for personal injuries and their consequences.  Whether obtained through negotiated settlements or judicial awards, these recoveries permit our clients to recover to the fullest extent and continue living productive lives.  Compensation for injuries incurred requires complete documentation of injuries, production of medical records, calculation of expenses current and future, and sometimes the inclusion of pain and suffering.

Take a look at a sampling of cases and outcomes to understand better what a skilled personal injury firm can do for you.

  • Traumatic brain injury: Chadi & Company obtained an award of $1.6 million to compensate our client for traumatic brain injury as well as other bodily harm.  This was one of the largest jury verdicts in Edmonton history.
  • In another traumatic brain injury case, Chadi & Company succeeded in getting a $586,000 settlement after filing suit, negotiating, mediation, and judicial dispute resolution. In that case, our client had been unconscious for five days with substantial lingering disabilities.
  • A motor vehicle accident left our client unable to return to work. $421,000 settlement provided much-needed lost wages and compensation for medical expenses.
  • Another motor vehicle accident left our client unable to return to his vocation as a plumber. A settlement of $867,000 provided our client with lost income and the ability to explore new employment options while caring for his family.

Unfortunately, serious accidents can also result in death, making a wrongful death action the appropriate claim to file to protect the surviving spouse and children’s interests or other members of the descendant’s family. Wrongful death actions are particularly difficult for the families because the loved one is gone, and the value of that person’s life is being evaluated and negotiated, often with actuarial tables devoid of an understanding about who the descendant was and how that void is affecting loved ones.

Wrongful death actions require a special level of skill and a sensitivity to the hurt and loss of the grieving family. Chadi & Company has the reputation and the relationships needed to negotiate generous settlements—over $1 million and $689,000—without the added distress of a full-blown trial. Only masterful lawyers can balance the factors, including impact on the surviving family, to determine when to take a settlement and when to go to trial.

What Do 30 Years of Experience Bring to Our Clients?

Chadi & Company has thirty years of experience representing Alberta and Western Canadian clients in an array of personal injury actions—car crashes, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, and slip and falls, resulting in traumatic brain injuries and other serious personal injuries, including spinal cord injuries, paralysis, amputation, complex bone fractures, and wrongful death.  We know the law and its nuances, the players at the insurance companies, and the history of judicial awards in Alberta and Western Canadian courts, bringing our expertise and reputation as an established and effective law firm into service for our clients.

If another’s negligent or reckless behaviour has caused you to harm, the skilled legal team at Chadi & Company can help.

Our team of serious injury attorneys will ensure that you fully understand your rights and options and position you to receive the total compensation available.  Don’t go through this difficult time without the help of an experienced lawyer by your side.

Our lawyers have successfully obtained settlements for countless personal injury clients in Edmonton and the surrounding jurisdictions.

It is our goal to settle outside of court, but if a reasonable settlement cannot be reached, we are prepared to take your case to trial.  Contact Chadi & Company today for a free and confidential consultation.

Remember, we only get paid if you get paid. Contact us today at (780) 429-2300.

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