Sunnyvale Personal Injury Attorneys

Sunnyvale Personal Injury FAQs

How can the personal injury attorneys at Van Der Walde & Associates help me?

Personal injury victims don't always realize that their injuries resulted, at least partially, due to the negligent action of another person. After they have been treated for their injuries, many accident victims simply count their blessings and go on with their lives, probably only filing a police report against those who did them harm. However, every detail surrounding the circumstances of an accident resulting in personal injury needs to be carefully examined to help piece together as accurately as possible just what happened to have caused the victim's injury in the first place. A Sunnyvale personal injury attorney will look at the details in an objective manner, will identify negligent behavior, and will hold those individuals responsible for causing or helping cause the personal injury accountable for their actions.

Personal injury victims shouldn't have to be responsible for the costs associated with their accidents, specifically when negligent action of some kind helped cause their injuries. At Van Der Walde & Associates, our Sunnyvale personal injury attorneys will fight to ensure that your rights as a victim are not infringed upon in a court of law, and will seek damages on your behalf. Negligent parties shouldn't be allowed to avoid the consequences for their actions that led to your injury, and our Sunnyvale injury lawyers will see to it that they don't.

Can I settle my Sunnyvale personal injury case now and still receive money later for medical bills and lost wages I incur after I settle?

Generally speaking, settlements are a one time occurrence in Sunnyvale personal injury cases. Insurance companies don't often revisit cases once they've been settled, so it is important that the services of a skilled personal injury attorney are retained right from the start. The injury lawyers at Van Der Walde & Associates have much experience dealing with insurance companies, and fight to ensure that our clients are not shortchanged by insurance companies who ultimately just have the best interests of their own clients in mind. However, it must be remembered that insurance companies are businesses, and as such have their own interests at the forefront of consideration. Even though an injured party may pay into an insurance company to help protect their well-being in the event of an accident, that insurance may place its own interests before those of all else. A Sunnyvale personal injury attorney at Van Der Walde & Associates will prevent this from happening.

Signing forms, accepting settlement payments, and admitting responsibility are all areas where it is best to retain the services of a Sunnyvale injury lawyer. The stipulations and conditions of any document need to be carefully scrutinized before anyone signs, especially since doing so may remove an injured person's ability to pursue a greater settlement in the future. Furthermore, as far as payment is concerned, it must be kept in mind that insurance companies are in the business of being profitable, and as such always seek to pay out the most minimal settlement amount that they can. If an insurance company interviews an accident victim, for instance, and that victim admits to or even implies any sort of responsibility for the accident, then that admission of fault can ultimately be used against the injured party as justification for why a settlement amount is not as great as expected. The Sunnyvale personal injury law firm of Van Der Walde & Associates will fight to ensure that accident victims are not manipulated or forced to admit guilt for something that wasn't their fault, and will seek the highest appropriate payout amount as possible.

How much money does it cost to hire a Personal Injury Lawyer in Sunnyvale?

Legal advice can be expensive, especially for a Sunnyvale personal injury victim who may also be facing steep medical bills and other expenses resulting from the accident. Therefore, the experienced Sunnyvale personal injury attorneys at Van Der Walde & Associates work on a contingency basis, meaning that you won't accrue fees if we can't get you a monetary settlement. Before taking on your case, we will agree upon a pre-arranged percentage of your settlement or verdict that will be paid out to our attorneys once we acquire your settlement claim. We also don't charge clients up-front or hidden fees.

What is a contingency fee?

Contingency fees are much more cost effective than up-front fees. That is, it is important for injured Sunnyvale residents to remember that lawyers typically work on an hourly basis, and as such could charge a client that hourly fee times hundreds of hours spent preparing for and litigating their personal injury case. Contingency fees relieve the stress associated with long, drawn-out personal injury cases. Because the fee is paid out according to a pre-determined percentage of the settlement, as opposed to on an hourly rate, injury victims can rest assured that our Sunnyvale personal injury attorneys will do everything in their power to attain the largest possible settlement amount given the circumstances of the case. After all, the larger the settlement amount we can acquire, the larger our contingency fee is, providing us with even greater incentive to do absolutely everything we can to ensure that our clients receive the fairest possible settlement amount. At Van Der Walde & Associates, our Sunnyvale personal injury attorneys typically decide upon contingency fees that range anywhere from 33% to 40% of the settlement amount won.