Stuart Personal Injury Attorneys

If you have been injured in an accident in Stuart, Iowa, whether at work, in a car crash, or in another type of personal injury incident, the days and weeks that follow can feel overwhelming. Between medical appointments, missed work, and phone calls from insurance adjusters, it is easy to feel like you are navigating this alone. Stuart personal injury attorneys who focus their practice on Iowa injury law can help you understand what your case is worth, protect you from common mistakes, and deal with the insurance company so you do not have to.

Depending upon the nature and severity of your injuries, you may or may not need an attorney in your case. However, it is always a good idea to at the very least consult with an experienced Iowa injury attorney and request information, like a free book, that can help you through the process and avoid common costly mistakes. If an attorney you are considering will not provide you with helpful information at no cost, that may be a sign to keep looking. It is also worth checking an attorney's reviews on Avvo and Google, because simply claiming to handle personal injury or workers' compensation cases does not mean an attorney does it well. Look for reviews from real clients who talk about their experience and the outcome of their case, so you can be confident you are choosing the right attorney for your situation.

What Can a Stuart Personal Injury Attorney Do for Your Case?

Not every attorney accepts every client who calls, and that is true at Walker, Billingsley & Bair as well. We receive many more calls from potential clients than the number of cases we accept, because we want to focus on and provide the best possible representation for the clients we do take on. Should we decide to work together on your Stuart injury case, here is some of what we do for our clients. Every case is different, but these tasks are handled at no risk to you, since we only get paid if we are successful in your case. If you were hurt at work, we do not take anything from what you are voluntarily being paid by the workers' compensation insurance company. We are only paid a percentage if the case settles, goes to trial, or is appealed.

This is far from a complete list. Every case in Stuart is different, and the specific work your attorney does will depend on the facts of your accident, your injuries, and how the insurance company responds. To learn more about how an attorney can help with your specific situation, visit our article on what an attorney can do for your case.

Can You Trust the Insurance Company in Your Stuart Injury Case?

In Iowa alone, there are more than 100 insurance companies that sell insurance policies, ranging from personal injury coverage to workers' compensation. Although people generally buy insurance to protect themselves against future loss, paying a premium does not mean the insurance company is going to look out for you after a Stuart accident. Some people assume that if they are injured, their own insurance company will pursue the other driver on their behalf, but that is simply not true. While your insurance company may try to recover what it paid for property damage, it is highly unlikely to pursue a claim for your personal injuries.

If you are dealing with another insurance company, such as the company for a driver who injured you or the workers' compensation carrier for your Stuart employer, there are a few things you should know:

• The insurance company is not representing you or your best interests
• They are not required to tell you the truth
• The insurance company is in the business of making the most profit possible, which means paying you as little as possible
• The insurance adjuster may be pleasant, but they are not looking out for you
• Insurance companies are in the business of selling insurance and do not like paying claims

We will let you make your own determination about whether you can trust the insurance company handling your Stuart injury claim, but it helps to keep in mind whose side that company is really on. For a deeper look at how insurance companies operate in Iowa injury cases, read our full article on whether you can trust the insurance company.

Tips for Dealing With Insurance Companies After a Stuart Accident

What If Your Injuries From a Stuart Accident Do Not Appear Right Away?

If you have been hurt at work, in a car accident, or in another type of personal injury incident in Stuart, sometimes you will not feel pain until later the same day or even the next day. Regardless of when your pain begins, you should seek medical care and treatment as soon as it starts. In the case of a Stuart work injury, you also need to report the injury, preferably in writing, to your employer and keep a copy of the First Report of Injury.

Under Iowa work injury laws, your employer or their insurance company typically gets to choose your medical provider, unless it is an emergency or another exception applies.

Why Might Symptoms Not Show Up Immediately?

After an accident, your adrenaline may spike, and hormones like cortisol can be released, which can temporarily mask pain. Anyone who has lifted heavy weights or worked out too hard knows that muscle soreness sometimes does not appear until the next day. What matters most is that once the pain starts, you promptly seek medical care to document it and begin your healing process.

If You Waited More Than a Week to Seek Care, Is It Too Late?

Not necessarily, but waiting will raise a red flag with the insurance adjuster assigned to your case. Be sure to tell your doctor when the pain started and why you did not seek care immediately. Going to the emergency room, urgent care, or your regular doctor may be inconvenient, but failing to go at all can cost you your claim and your case.

What If a Stuart Work Injury Gets Worse Over Time?

It is common for workers to experience cumulative trauma, a work injury that develops gradually over time rather than from a single event. Maybe you lift heavy boxes for an hour each day, and your back hurts some after lifting but the pain goes away until the next shift. While it can be easier to prove a traumatic injury than a cumulative one, it is important to be able to explain exactly which part of your job caused your injury.

Under laws enacted by the 2017 Iowa legislature, you only have 90 days from the date of your work injury to report it to your employer. You should never wait anywhere close to that long. For example, if your employer asks when your back pain from lifting started and you say five months ago, they may deny your claim for lack of notice, even if you genuinely did not realize you were injured because the pain used to come and go.

What If New Pain Shows Up After an Earlier Injury Is Treated?

It is common for people and their doctors to focus only on the most obvious medical issue at hand. For example, someone with extreme neck pain radiating into their arm following an accident may need neck surgery. After that surgery, the arm pain improves, but shoulder problems begin to show up. You should report any and all additional pain as soon as possible, because it is common for other problems to surface once the initial, more severe condition has been treated and was previously masking a second injury.

What If You Are Diagnosed With a Condition Months Later?

This can happen for many reasons. If you injure your right arm and need surgery, you may start relying more on your left arm, which can lead to overuse and new damage. Similarly, some people with serious leg injuries do not experience back pain until they are up walking again, often with a limp that causes new low back and hip pain. These new problems should still be reported, along with an explanation of how they developed from overuse or returning to activity.

Ultimately, your attorney should have a conference with your doctors to establish which conditions are related to your original injury, known as a causation opinion. Some attorneys prefer to send a letter instead of meeting with your doctors in person, but in our experience, meeting in person produces far better opinions. Simply hearing a doctor say a condition is "possible" related to the injury is not enough under Iowa law. The injured person carries the burden of proving it is more likely than not that the injury caused the condition. To learn more, read our full article on what to do if your accident injuries do not appear right away.