Asheville Personal Injury Lawyer

Accidents happen to even the most cautious individuals. When you are injured in an accident injured in an accident that is not your fault, you are faced with many questions about what to do next. Whether you are hurt in a car accident, in a slip and fall, on your bike, or as a pedestrian crossing the street, you me be asking yourself the following questions: Who pays for my medical bills? How do I prove it was not my fault? Should I file with my health insurance? Should I talk to the insurance adjuster?

As a personal injury attorney, my goal is to remove the confusion and answer all of your questions, so that you can focus on getting medical treatment and recovering from your injuries. I take over the communication with the insurance companies, and advise you on how your bills should be handled to ensure they will be paid by the at fault person. When my clients have suffered a serious injury, I’ve found that their recovery is most effective when they have someone helping them with, and advocating for the legal matters at hand. Having an accident attorney who is taking care of your case to make sure you are treated fairly and respectfully by insurance companies can make all the difference in your recovery.

Lakota Denton

Lakota Denton is an Asheville, NC trial lawyer who focuses on recovering for injured people. Lakota has been practicing law in Asheville, N.C. since 2011. Lakota attended Keene State College in New Hampshire and graduated with a degree in psychology in 2000. Lakota played professional soccer after graduating from college.

In 2011 Lakota graduated Cum Laude from Western New England college where he was awarded the Edward Cooley Award for Excellence in Labor Law, The CALI excellence for the future award for Labor Law, The CALI excellence for the future award for Jurisprudence Survey, The CALI excellence for the future award for Trial Methods, and was a member of the American Association for Justice Moot Court Team.

Lakota has been practicing in his own firm since 2013, focusing solely on personal injury. He is a member of the American Association of Justice, the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, the North Carolina Bar association, the American Bar Association, the National Trial Lawyers, and was awarded Top 100 Trial Lawyers by the National Trial Lawyers, the 2014 Top 40 Lawyers under 40, and the Avvo clients choice award.

He has spoken at the Asheville Paralegals Association Luncheon and he served on the North Carolina Advocates for Justice Auto Torts leadership team in 2017. Lakota has won numerous jury trials with verdicts for his clients.

For more information, contact our office.

We Help Injured Persons Get the Compensation and the Justice They Deserve

The results of your legal representation, your hard work & effort on my behalf was unbelievable. I received all my lost wages and the back surgery and other medical attention that had previously been declined**.”
– George C.
“I felt appreciated and valued by everyone I spoke with and would strongly recommend their services to anyone I meet. In a time of great confusion and concern their helpful words and guidance was extremely appreciated**.”
– Julianne H.
“You put our minds at ease and took a huge weight off our shoulders. You made it completely painless for us. You taught us that there are caring and honest law firms out there**”
– Phil B.
“If attorneys are going to be this compassionate and nice I am going to have to stop telling attorney jokes**.
– Hillary S.

Car Accident Law Firm in Asheville, NC

Who pays my bills?

I work to make sure that your bills are paid by the at fault party and their insurance company. Most insurance companies will work very hard to avoid paying your medical bills. For example, I’ve seen insurance companies refuse to pay medical bills for a knee surgery caused by a car crash because my client had minor knee complaints four and a half years before the car crash, claiming that she had a pre-existing knee injury. I take the time to analyze your medical bills and medical records and communicate with the insurance company to force them to pay for your related medical bills.

Who pays my lost wages from work?

The at fault party is required to pay for any time that a doctor writes you out of work and that you actually miss as a result of your injuries. North Carolina law allows recovery for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, among other damages. I will obtain the required documents to make sure you receive a fair recovery from the at fault person for all of these damages.

How do I prove who is at fault?

I investigate your accident thoroughly to make sure that there is no question as to who is at fault. This may include the following, if appropriate:

Obtaining the accident report
Obtaining eyewitness statements
Speaking to the investigating officer
Hiring an accident reconstructionist or engineer as an expert
Physically investigating the scene of the accident

Keep in mind that you do not need to “prove” who was at fault. North Carolina law only requires that you prove it was “more likely than not” the other person’s fault. I can successfully establish fault and obtain settlements and verdicts for injured persons based on my thorough investigation of the accident.

Should I talk to the insurance adjuster?

No. Insurance adjusters work for a company that is interested only in saving money. They are looking for ways to avoid paying you for your injuries and your medical bills. Speaking to an insurance adjuster before consulting with a personal injury lawyer can harm your case and make it very difficult to recover reasonable compensation for your injuries. Your comments can be, and often are used against you when it comes time to settle your claim or file a lawsuit.

Should I file my medical bills with my health insurance?

Unfortunately, there is not a simple answer. Whether you file your accident-related medical bills with your health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid depends on a long list of factors. I will look closely at your health insurance plan and the nature of your case to determine what is best for you. Sometimes, requiring the treating doctor to file with your health insurance is the best thing for your case. Other times, it’s better to simply receive a bill for the treatment that can be paid out of any recovery on your case.

Do I even need a lawyer for my personal injury case?

I routinely meet with injured people and advise them that they don’t need a lawyer. If you have a small, simple case that has been accepted by the insurance company I usually advise people on how to handle the personal injury claim without a lawyer. I even write out a list of things that need to happen in order to settle the case without a lawyer. I never charge a fee for these consultations.

My consultations are always free:

I am only paid if I can recover money on your case. You don’t pay me anything to meet with me and see if you have a case that needs a lawyer. Please contact me if you have any questions about your case.

Experience

We only handle personal injury cases. Because our focus is strictly on injury cases, we know how to maximize the value of your case and require insurance companies to pay fair reasonable amounts for our clients. We don’t handle traffic tickets or divorces. We don’t handle DWI or criminal defense. When you retain us to help with your case, you are hiring an attorney who spends all of his time on personal injury cases like yours, and you receive the full benefit of our experience and up to date research.

Learning from the best personal injury lawyers in Asheville, NC

A good personal injury attorney is constantly seeking to learn the best ways to represent injured people. Attorney Denton consults with other lawyers on complicated cases, and has associated some of his cases with many of Asheville’s best personal injury lawyers, to make sure that his clients get the benefit of cutting edge trial tactics and strategies. He also travels throughout the country attending seminars on trial strategy and practice where he learns from the best personal injury lawyers in the country. Because he continually learns from the best, he is able to provide his clients with the best possible representation.

How a Good Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help

The lawyer’s reputation as a trial attorney. For personal injury lawyers who routinely take their cases in front of juries, their involvement alone will cause the insurance company to increase the offer in the case. This is because they know that a good lawyer who is willing to try a case will not only cost them more money to defend the case, but will likely be more effective in front of a jury if negotiations break down. Insurance companies know the lawyers who always settle their cases, and they make lower offers to those lawyers.

Communication with your doctors. Your personal injury lawyer will talk to your doctors to learn specific information about your injury, how you were injured, what your future looks like, and whether your injury is permanent. This can be a very effective way for you to articulate to an insurance company the exact injury and how it is effecting your life. Your lawyer should be able to send a letter or meet with your doctor asking him or her what caused your injury and whether you will need any treatment in the future. Providing this information to an insurance company, or the jury, will increase the value of your case because it provides specific details about how this injury has affected your life.

Investigation of the at-fault person. The reality is that juries and insurance companies will value your case higher when the at fault person has acted particularly poorly in causing your injury. For example, a drunk driver crashing into you is a different case than just a person who took his eyes off the road. A thorough investigation of the at fault party is essential to increasing the value of your case. Was the defendant on the phone at the time of the car crash? Did the corporation hire someone who they shouldn’t have? Did the other driver have a suspended license but drive anyway? All of these examples would increase the value of your claim, and your personal injury lawyer should thoroughly investigate all the possible ways to show the defendant acted egregiously when he or she caused your injury.

Articulating the impact of this injury on your life. Its important to have someone else speak for how your injury has affected you. When you have to speak for yourself, its harder to convey things because you are obviously biased. A good personal injury lawyer will find people in your life who will testify about how this has affected you and your lifestyle. This is something that insurance companies don’t understand, but its one of the few things you can do that a jury really truly understands. When other people in your life talk about what they have seen from you and your injuries, it has a real impact on a jury. It’s your lawyer’s job to find these people and prepare them to testify.

Trying your case before a jury. When insurance companies refuse to be reasonable, which is often, the case will have to be ready to go to a jury. Personal injury lawyers must try cases before juries or they will be held hostage by insurance companies that don’t take them seriously. A good personal injury lawyer will always be thinking about how to try your case, even at your first meeting. Everything the lawyer does should be to prepare for a jury trial, even if it seems unlikely. Never hire a personal injury lawyer who does not consistently try cases before juries.

Lakota R. Denton, P.A.

5.0

caroline truesdale

20:13 07 Jun 18

I was referred to Lakota after being involved in a multiple vehicle car accident. Lakota and Jenny were both great to work with, they both were very caring and offered the best advice for my situation. Before speaking with them I was confused about the whole process and what was supposed to happen, Lakota went over each step of the process with me and made sure all of my questions were answered and I understood before I left. I left their office much more confident than I was when I walked in. They are wonderful to work with and I will not hesitate to call them in the future if needed.

Jocilyn Baker

20:08 04 Jun 18

Lakota and Jenny are a great pair to work with. Lakota is direct, realistic and honest about the processes needed to take place and I felt secure and confident while working with him. Him and Jenny both have a caring and gentle spirit which was greatly appreciated during a stressful lawsuit. Thank you both so much for everything.

Ian DeLoach

23:58 22 Jan 18

Lakota and Jenny were amazing, going above and beyond in handling my case. They were always very responsive and supportive with any questions I had and made the entire process a breeze, I couldn't be happier with the outcome! Highly recommended!!

LS Pettitt

23:30 21 Dec 17

Lakota and his paralegal Jenny were wonderful throughout this process. I feel confident that they did their best which resulted in a very satisfactory outcome. I would highly recommend!