If You’ve Suffered Personal Injury or Property Damage,  Contact Our Roanoke Rapids Office Today And Speak With An Experienced Injury Lawyer.

At Kellum Law Firm our motto is simple: “We’re With You All The Way”.

We honor this commitment to every client, regardless of the type of case you have or the extent of your injuries or the level of monetary loss you’ve suffered through property damage. We will work diligently to ensure we recover everything possible under the law and that we minimize the stress and hardship placed upon you as we fight your corner.

The first step of the process is to sit down with one of our experienced personal injury attorneys to review the details of your case. We make this process simple for you – make an appointment to visit one of our 10 local offices located conveniently around North Carolina, including our office here in Roanoke Rapids, and we’ll go over the details of your case without any cost to you or any commitment to retain our services.

In some rare instances, we may find that there’s nothing we can do to help you with your case. If so we’ll do our best to suggest an alternate course of action that you can take in pursuing your claim.

Here is a general list of reasons why a personal injury case might be declined by a law firm. (Please talk with us first before assuming that your case may be problematic due to any of the reasons listed below) –

Reasons why a personal injury lawyer might not take your case:

There are times when a person has been injured and they wish to file a claim for compensation, but the attorney has to regrettably decline to take on their case, for example:

The NC Statute of Limitations Has Expired
The Statute of Limitations is a set of laws designed to protect all parties in a civil and criminal case. The court limits the amount of time that can elapse between the event occurring and the time a case is filed. This protects all parties from an unfair trial. Over time, people lose evidence, forget facts, move away or even die. All of these events can easily affect the integrity of the case.
In most cases the Statute of Limitations in North Carolina is two years, or three years in death cases. It may simply be that your case is outside of the permissible period for filing, and an attorney may have to respectfully decline to represent you.

A Conflict of Interests
Attorneys are held to very strict ethical standards when they practice law. To violate any of these standards places them at risk of losing their license to practice or even being exposed to criminal charges. If the person that you are involved in the accident with is a former client, is personally known to, or is related to the attorney or Law Firm he or she represents, then generally the attorney/firm would have to decline the case to avoid a potential conflict of interests.

Lack of Evidence or Shared Guilt
North Carolina is a contributory negligence state. This means if the injury victim was at fault in any way for the accident, the state prohibits a claim for compensation. If the attorney feels that there is not enough evidence showing that the other party is 100 percent at fault, they may decline to take on your case. In some instances where there is some gray area as to the potential for you being partially responsible for your injuries or losses, the personal injury attorney may offer to work the case on a financial arrangement whereby you would take on some of the financial risk if the case cannot be settled in your favor. This will be explained to you in detail at your case review should it become a concern, and you then have the option to walk away and discuss the case with another Law Firm should you wish.

Limited Resources of the Defendant
If the defendant in the case is not insured and has limited resources to meet the payment of any compensation awarded by a court, then an attorney may decline to represent the plaintif in the case. Suing a person who cannot afford to pay only leads to expensive legal actions to try to force a collection. In most cases these attempts to collect fail.

Uncharted Territory
An attorney may not be familiar with your type of accident, injuries or other issues surrounding the case and may recommend to you that it will be in your best interests to work with a different attorney who is more experienced in the specifics of your case and more able to get you the best possible settlement.

Contact our Roanoke Rapids, NC office today to arrange your free case review.