Eaton Injury Law’s very own, Tyler Eaton, interviewed with Haylee Bramlet of The Legal Odyssey Podcast to reveal the different strategies you should keep in mind when dealing with an accident or injury. Mr. Eaton even details the importance of time and evaluation in hiring an attorney after a slip and fall, car accident, or even dog bite incident. Tune in to the full episode here and unlock Mr. Eaton’s valuable insights, or dive into his tips below. Get ready to be inspired and empowered!
Why did you (Tyler Eaton) decide to become an attorney?
The day after I graduated high school, I got set up with a pretty cool internship at a personal injury law firm in Las Vegas. So the day after I drove down there, I started working, and on my first day, I got to go and witness one of the attorneys at our firm in a murder trial. It was fascinating. From that day, I was hooked, and I knew that I wanted to be a lawyer. So I studied hard, and I graduated quickly, and I couldn’t wait to start my career.
Why did you choose to focus on personal injury as your firm’s practice area?
Well, one, I absolutely love personal injury law. I get to advocate on behalf of people who are injured and get the opportunity to help them in a big way. Most of the time, you’re the little guy and you’re fighting against the big insurance. So fighting for the underdog is my passion, and I get that opportunity with personal injury.
What does Eaton Injury Law as a whole stand for?
My firm is all about being an advocate for the small guy who needs someone on their side. That means taking the cases that other firms don’t want or don’t want to litigate. A lot of the personal injury cases that we handle at Eaton Injury Law come from one of the bigger firms referring the case over to us. While a really large law firm might decide they don’t want to litigate your case, that does not mean that there is not an attorney out there who will defend your case. At Eaton Injury Law, we are often fighting for those clients to make sure they still have an ally.
People often hear that ‘time is of the essence’ when hiring an attorney, how much time from the point of an injury do you have to research and talk with different attorneys to ensure you choose the right one?
Each state has different times that you have to file your complaint, and most, if not all of them, are more than a year. Often, they’re a couple of years. You can wait that amount of time, but there are advantages to hiring a lawyer quickly after an injury. Attorneys have tools that help them, for example, give video recordings or ensure that evidence is preserved and that the other side isn’t deleting it or destroying it. If you wait too long, they may delete it on purpose, or it might be destroyed inadvertently. Having an attorney by your side from the very beginning can help ensure that evidence is saved. Good injury attorneys will also help you with medical management, meaning getting you in contact with the right doctors and in the right hands to ensure that you also get better medically.
It is important to remember that an injury attorney can really help with the entire situation of the accident that you may have fallen into or the injury that you may be dealing with in terms of making sure you get the right medical attention or the right medical opinions to move forward.
What is meant by the Statute of Limitations?
The statute of limitations is basically just a time period set by your state legislature that says you only have X amount of time to bring your claim. If you wait too long and this deadline passes and you try to bring your claim, you know, it’ll be barred, or you won’t be able to bring it.
What are some of the most important questions to ask during the initial consultation?
The initial consultation is as important for a client as it is for the lawyers. As lawyers, we view it as a chance to get more details to determine if the client is the right fit and talk about the process moving forward. A prospective client, someone searching for an attorney, should use this opportunity similarly. They should use it as an opportunity to ask questions and get answers. I have a lot of questions listed on my website, but some of the more important ones are:
- Have you ever handled personal injury cases like mine?
- Are you going to be the attorney on this case?
- Is this going to be delegated to a different personal injury attorney or a paralegal or an assistant?
- How does your firm handle communication?
- Are we able to speak clearly moving forward, or are you going to be too busy to take my calls?
- What is your fee structure?
- Generally, what does the process look like moving forward at your firm?
Some personal injury cases, especially medical malpractice cases, can take up to five to seven years to get all the way to the end, so it is important to know who you will be establishing a relationship with.
When searching for an attorney after a slip and fall accident, why is it important to find a personal injury attorney, or a slip and fall attorney, specifically?
Honestly, several injury firms that I know of actually don’t even take slip-and-fall cases because they can be relatively difficult to handle compared to car accident cases or other personal injury cases. A lot of the time it’s ‘he said, she said,’ unless there’s video recording or witnesses. The opposing counsel usually puts up a pretty big fight on the slip and fall injury cases, so hiring a slip and fall attorney who has experience working on slip and fall cases is crucial. You might talk to some law firms that deny the case, but it’s important to talk to several and do your research to see if you can find, like we said, an attorney, like myself, that accepts slip-and-fall cases and specializes in finding the right defenses for those situations.
If you had to give one piece of advice for people to find themselves injured in a slip and fall, what would it be?
I feel like a lot of times slip and falls aren’t taken as seriously as they should be. Slips and falls are very scary and they can result in very serious injuries like brain injuries. They’re a real thing and businesses and homeowners typically have insurance to protect themselves for this exact reason. A lot of people have a problem with suing someone because they’re afraid it’ll ruin their life. Almost 99% of the time you’re actually fighting the insurance and not the individual homeowner or business owner, so getting a lawyer isn’t going to ruin their life if you slip and fall at their business. You’re probably not going to shut the business down, there’s insurance for a reason. After an accident, search for ‘slip and fall lawyers near me’ and start calling people and talking to people sort of like we were discussing earlier.
Having a lawyer on your side can help you navigate this process tremendously. They can help get you the medical care you need and ensure that the insurance companies compensate you financially for your medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and more.
Tyler Eaton’s interview can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube, and more.
