Not at all. First of all, people often don’t know what damages they are entitled to recover for. The dog owner’s insurance is not going to help you identify your damages. There are many more damages than just medical bills and economic damages. If you fail to identify all damages, the value of your claim could decrease dramatically. The insurance company will only offer you a little more than the total of your medical bills, and you will miss out on a much larger sum of money you are entitled to. If you hire an attorney, you can recover enough to multiply your recovery many times, and have a much larger settlement in your pocket even after paying your attorney fees.
Insurance companies will often discourage you from getting a lawyer because they know you are much more likely to accept an unfair and low settlement without one. They know that attorneys will identify all sources of damages, while you most likely will not.
Another good reason to contact a lawyer early-on is to determine whether their presence can make a significant impact in your case. I am in the business of representing people, so I am not going to turn down a case. But what I will sometimes do is say, “I don’t make a heck of a lot of difference for you in this case.” I’ll say, “You know what, your case is probably worth this range, which is a low range and it’s going to be in this range whether you hire me or not”. With this information, people can decide if they want to pursue their case on their own, and they will have a clear expectation of what their case could settle for. However, let’s say your case has a likely range of $1,000 to $1,500. A lawyer will be able to get you the $1,500 versus the $1,000. However, they’re going to get a 1/3 fee, so they’ll get $500 and you get $1,000 either way. I advise people with such low-range cases on how to obtain the maximum settlement on their own. It is always a good idea to run the case by a lawyer because they will point out things you have not thought of. I will only take a fee on what I get you beyond what the insurance offer is prior to you retaining me, and every single time, I have gotten clients more money than they were offered before being represented.
