CAR/ROAD ACCIDENT in Spain: Spanish lawyers/solicitors and doctors specialising in Personal Injury.

I recently suffered a car accident in Spain where the other driver went out of his lane and struck my car. My wounds are not very serious but I have not been able to return to work.

I contacted my insurance company and they referred me to a lawyer whom I hardly understand as he doesn’t speak good English and my Spanish is very poor. He has told me that I will need to hire the services of a private doctor to assist us with the claim.
Can I change lawyers? Should I hire the services of the private doctor?

Dear reader,

Thank you for your consultation in relation with the personal injuries in Spain.

In relation to free choice of Spanish lawyer / solicitor:

You have absolute freedom to hire the lawyer you deem appropriate either because you have more confidence, understand him better, or for any other reason.

You should also know that it is quite common for this type of car insurance policy to include the payment of fees for lawyers and the procurator (clerk of the court) making the claim, so usually your insurance company should cover these expenses. You should however check if you policy covers the total expenses or is subject to any limitations, or financial limits.

You should always be careful when taking out a car insurance policy and make sure to read the proposed text or small print; as some policies will only cover the fees for the lawyers and procurators appointed by them. It is fair to say that this may be detrimental for the insured, as the insurance company is effectively causing a disadvantage by not giving the insured the freedom to choose the lawyers he deems most suited to defend his interest.

Some insured persons are reluctant to use the services of the lawyers appointed by the insurance companies, given the fact that the insurance companies have agreements between them, since they are constantly claiming against each other and the insured fears that there could be a common interest between them.

In relation to contracting the services of a doctor who specialises in PERSONAL INJURY ASSESSMENT

In principle, hiring the services of a Personal Injury doctor could be advisable. However this will greatly depend on the severity and type of damages you have suffered, as well as on the kind of procedure to be used for the claim.

If the procedure to be used for your claim is a minor offence trial (juicio de faltas), which is very common, the doctor assigned by the Court will be responsible for quantifying your sick leave period and the damages and secondary consequences suffered by you, thus the compensation that you will receive will be based on his reports.

Occasionally it could happen that the reports of the Court’s Doctor are incomplete, not fully comprehensive, or do not include all the damages. This is mainly due to the fact that the injured person does not explain the exact damages suffered, or does not, or cannot, provide him with all the full medical records / reports.

Depending upon on your exact case, it will need to be decided if it is appropriate or not to contract the services of such an expert.

Should any reader find himself or herself in this situation or similar please do not hesitate to contact us and the appropriate advice will be provided.

The information provided in this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.

We kindly invite you to visit and comment about this article in our blog at https://www.white-baos.com/blog/ and facebook (White-Baos-Abogados-Solicitors) your comments in this respect will be greatly appreciated.

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