Should I get a Lawyer for this Auto Accident or work with the insurance company to get compensated?

You need to see an experienced personal injury lawyer right away. Unless you were buying your friend the drinks that led to him getting ticketed for D.U.I., you probably have a good case under the Dram Shop Act. If you have a wife and/or children and you work, they probably have a claim to make for loss of means of support or for loss of your society. Your wife may have a claim against the driver for loss of consortium (loss of your services as a husband). And, above all, you may have a hum-dinger of a claim against your friend for his failure to exercise ordinary care for your safety in driving drunk.

There are lots of open questions. What were you doing in a car with a drunk driver? Did you procure your friend's intoxication? What exactly did happen in that first E/R? Who knows? There may even be a claim for a failure to follow the standard of care for hospitals that led to compounding your injuries, although that one is most unlikely.

You are almost certainly not going to get answers to any of these questions on your own. You need the help of someone who has the background and sophistication to guide you to answers and solutions. Probably all of the lawyers who have answered your question could do the job. You need to find one you can trust who has the experience and background to get it done properly.

My advice is to go to the website of each lawyer you are considering to look at his or her background. Check to see how many cases he has tried to a verdict, how many he has won and what kinds of cases they were. But don't wait around long. You need help soon. The insurance companies are out investigating the claim already. They are trying to get witnesses to lie any way they can. The sooner you have a lawyer fighting for you, the sooner you can counter their dirty pool.

Ultimately, you need to get your case into a lawsuit as soon as you can. Remember that Dram Shop insurance companies settle nothing without litigation, and you are certainly facing that kind of situation. The sooner suit is begun, the sooner the claim is going to be done. In addition, the statute of limitations under the Dram Shop Act is only one year, and you need to join the property owner in addition to the Dram Shop owner as a party defendant. Oftentimes it takes time to identify the right entity. Sometimes the property owner is the beneficial owner of a land trust, and you are unable to identify the correct entity without smoking it out in the course of court orders.

Again, you need an experienced pro - someone who knows all the ins and outs of this specialized area of personal injury practice. You are never going to be able to get results here on your own.

Donald Nathan
www.donaldnathanlaw.com