What to Expect in a Personal Injury Case

Each year, hundreds of thousands of workplace injuries occur in the US. These injuries come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from construction job hazards to repetitive injuries from desk work.

When these workplace injuries occur, workers carry out a personal injury case. As an attorney or business owner, you’ll likely assist with several of these over time.

Personal Injury Vocational Evaluations

When a worker becomes injured, they often lose their income for a period. First, a pre-injury vocational evaluation will be conducted. At this time, the evaluation will determine the  client’s earning capacity prior to their injury. There are several tools and approaches to get accurate vocational evaluations and vocational assessments.

Once the pre-injury evaluation is completed, the post-injury evaluations begin. Post-injury evaluations consider the extent of a client’s injury and gauge how much they can hope to earn in the future.

A vocational assessment also occurs at this time. These assessments focus on the client’s interests, skills, physical abilities, and prior work history. Evaluators will also consider medical records and conduct a clinical interview with the client.

These steps help determine what the client will need financially and what they can earn in the future. This way, everyone can enter the court with a clearly defined statement of how much money the client needs for their injury.

Pretrial Phases of a Personal Injury Case

Next, are the three pretrial phases of the personal injury case. These three phases are the complaint/answer phase, discovery phase, and motions phase.

The complaint refers to the document detailing the client’s allegations on how they became injured and the extent of their damages. Once this complaint is filed, the defendant answers it by admitting or denying guilt.

Next, is the discovery phase. At this time, the team will gather testimony, evidence, documentation, and other information about the case from other parties.

Finally, there’s the motions phase. This stage allows the defendant to file a motion for the court to act on their behalf. The defendant usually asks the court to dismiss one or more claims made against them by your client.

Trial and Post Trial

Finally, the client’s party and the defending party must appear in court. Here, both sides make their case to the judge. The goal is to convince the judge that the defendant is responsible for the client’s injury and to grant sufficient damage fees.

Usually, this goes well for the claimant. But, sometimes, a defendant may appeal to a higher court to reconsider the ruling. This is why using an experienced vocational law team is vital.

Prepare for a Personal Injury Case

Conducting each phase of a personal injury case may seem beyond your paygrade. If so, don’t worry! You don’t have to do this alone.  Instead, you can work with our vocational experts at Solutions Northwest Inc. to receive the best personal injury vocational evaluation on the market! We analyze your client’s loss of earnings and their future earning capacity.

This way, you can focus on what you do best in the legal proceedings. So, contact us today to receive the evaluation your client needs!

At Solutions Northwest Inc., we can help you find a vocational expert or give you general vocational consulting. Our vocational experts are involved in personal injury, workers’ compensation, and family law.

If you need our guidance, our legal experts are ready to guide you through the process.

Contact us today to make an appointment.

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