Most personal injury lawyers offer a free consultation to any potential client. Still, the consulted Injury Lawyer in St John’s is under no obligation, in terms of accepting the potential client’s case. What factors sway a lawyer to accept a given case?
Most common reasons for an attorney’s refusal to handle a case
The plaintiff had failed to submit a claim until after the deadline had passed. The deadline would be given in the statute of limitations. The consulted lawyer has a specialty that differs from the type of dispute that has pushed the potential client to meet with a member of the legal community. For instance, the lawyer consulted by the victim of an auto accident might specialize in medical malpractice suits, product liability suits, cases where the plaintiff has suffered a traumatic brain injury, or accidents linked to a wrongful death.
Other problems that could reduce a case’s chances for being accepted by one or more lawyers
The existing evidence suggests that the fault should be shared between the defendant and the plaintiff.
The plaintiff’s delayed action, after the accident took place. The delay might consist of waiting too long to get seen by a doctor, a medical professional in a hospital’s emergency department, or a professional at a medical clinic.
The plaintiff has waited too long to provide all the significant details, regarding the accident. For example, it could be that the injured party has a history of head problems, but the same party did not mention previously his or her temporary loss of consciousness at the scene of the accident.
The consulted attorney doubts the credibility of the potential client. It could be that the same possible client kept making changes to his or her story. On the other hand, it could be that an inspection of the alleged victim’s vehicle indicated that the potential client hit the other driver, and was not a victim.
Some lawyers are very busy; due to their busy schedule, those same lawyers cannot always handle a larger caseload.The consulted attorney might have a conflict of interest, with respect to some aspect of the potential case. For example, it could be that the attorney’s list of existing clients included someone that was doing business with the potential defendant.
Clients’ expectations do not always match with those that are experienced by a member of the legal community. For instance, some clients want to seek revenge on the defendant. Lawyers look with disfavor on any effort by a plaintiff to obtain revenge.
Did the lawyer’s assessment of the situation encourage a belief that he or she would be unlikely to win much money for the injured victim? If that were true, then that same victim would not have much luck convincing the consulted lawyer to take on the challenges that appeared linked to the potential case.
Furthermore, some clients remain blind to their case’s challenges.