VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Hello everyone, this is Robert Mansour. I want to discuss two issues with you today that may affect the value of your personal injury case.

The first issue is that your diagnosed injuries may affect the value of your case, so when you go to the doctor, you have to mention every single thing that is bothering you. Do not just lump them all together. For example, let’s say you’re having pain in your elbow, your shoulder, and your neck, but it’s primarily your shoulder. You go to the doctor’s office and they say, “What hurts, Jimmy,” or whatever your name is, and you say, “Well, it’s my shoulder.” They’re just going to right down shoulder, and in your medical record that’s the only thing that it’s going to say; shoulder. That’s one thing and when the insurance adjuster takes a look at your file, they’re going to be like, “Well, Jimmy wasn’t hurt that bad. It’s just one little thing, big deal.”

But, in fact, you may have had three or four body parts that were hurting, but you lumped them all together. Be very specific when you talk to your doctors about your injuries. Break them down into smaller categories. For example, your back, some people say, “Oh, my back hurts.” Well, is it the upper back, the middle back, or is it the lower back? “My shoulders hurt.” “Well, what about your neck; do you feel any pain in your neck?” “Oh, yes I do.” Well, you’ve got to mention that. Are you having headaches, any blurred vision? Are you having any knee injuries or any kind of orthopedic complaints that you forgot to mention?

Your diagnosed injuries may affect the value of your case, so you don’t want to leave anything out, and it’s not the time to be brave or stoic. You have to make sure that your doctors and your physical therapist, and anybody else who is caring for you, knows every single part of your body that is bothering you.         

I also tell clients that even if it’s bothering you a little bit, make mention of it, because what if it bothers you more later on and it gets worse? Then you mention it for the first time six weeks later; that’s not going to look good for your case. An insurance adjustor might doubt that the injury is related to the accident because you mentioned it several weeks after the accident occurred.

The next thing I want to talk to you about, of the two things that I mentioned, that may affect the value of the case, is you have to mention to your doctors and your healthcare providers, and your physical therapist and chiropractor, mention to them how the accident affected your life. For example, when you go to the doctor, the usually say, “Well, how are you feel, Jimmy?” “How are you feeling Johnny, since the last time we say you?” If all you say is, better or worse, or about the same, they’re just going to right better, worse, about the same.

That doesn’t really give the insurance adjustor a very fair picture of what your life was like because of the accident. You need to be very specific about how the accident is affecting you. For example, if you’re asked how are you feel, well, you be truthful, and you give them all the information. You’ll say things like, well, I couldn’t take a shower. It was very difficult to put my arms up in the shower. It was very painful. I can’t play with my kids. I’m having trouble mowing the lawn. I couldn’t do any woodworking in the garage. I was working a project and I couldn’t do that anymore. I had to quit some classes at school because I was in too much pain. I can’t sit and watch television without being uncomfortable. I can’t sleep on my left side.

Those are illustrations of how the accident affected you, and those things add value to your personal injury case because they help the insurance adjustor understand the affects of the accident, so it doesn’t just say better, worse, about the same.

Once again, number one, make sure that you mention all the injuries, every single one, to the doctors, and number two, make sure that your doctors have a very good understanding of exactly how the accident affected your life. Those two things may help the value of your personal injury case, because they help convey to the insurance adjustor your actual injuries, and how the accident actually affected your life. That information can be very helpful.

Thank you very much for watching this video. If you have any questions, feel free to contact my office. Thank you. ​

This was a rough month.  We got a LOT of crazy calls, so I decided to make a list of clients we simply cannot help.  If you fall into one of these categories, we are not the best law firm for you.

1) Clients who call my office and won't speak to my staff.  I am often unable to come to the phone because I'm busy talking to insurance adjusters, other clients, etc.  Also, I often have to shut my door and get busy doing the work my clients hired me to do.  When I call my doctor, I don't expect him to drop everything he's doing and hop onto the phone to talk to me.  When a prospective client calls my office, they will often be greeted by my paralegal who is instructed to obtain information about the potential case to see if we can assist the client.  My staff is very experienced and they can often tell you if we can or cannot help.  However, every so often, I get a call from someone who doesn't want to speak with my assistants. Getting information from them is like getting blood from a stone.  They will ask, "Why do you want to know that? Why do you need my mailing address? I want to speak with the attorney right now!" Basically, they are demanding people. Here is what I've learned after over 20 years of practice - If a client is going to be difficult on the first day, they will be difficult on the second day, the third day, etc. I can't help clients who won't even talk with my staff.  

2) Clients who have pre-existing medical problems who try to blame all their injuries on their car accident.  This is known as boot-strapping.  Pre-existing injuries and medical conditions should be disclosed to your lawyer so he/she can handle those issues appropriately. If a pre-existing injury was re-injured due to an accident, you still can't blame the entire injury on the car accident.  If you've been involved in an accident, you can only claim injury to the areas of your body that were actually injured...not every medical condition you feel like relating to the accident.

3) Clients who don't want to disclose previous injuries and/or accidents. In some cases, the clients provide us with some select information and deliberately hide the rest.  If you're not going to be completely honest with us, please don't call. On one of our cases, we recently found out the client had been involved in an accident TWO MONTHS prior to the accident we are handling.  They told me they didn't see how the prior accident was relevant so they didn't tell us about it!  I can't help clients who hide facts from me.

4) Clients who are more worried about their property damage than their physical injury. Every so often we have potential clients who what I describe as an unhealthy attachment to their vehicle.  You'd think a loved one was killed when they talk about their car.  While they claim they were injured, the only thing they are really concerned about is fixing their car.  While we understand you might really like your car, if that is your main focus, we are not the best law firm for you.  Also, if you expect the insurance company to buy you a new car due to the accident, we are not the best law firm for you.  I have had some clients who are so focused on their car damage, that they totally ruin their injury case by missing doctors appointments, not following instructions, etc.  If the insurance company is short a few hundred dollars on your property damage claim (and they almost always are), then you might make it up on your injury claim unless you sabotage your claim.  In short, if your primary concern is your car damage and not your injuries, we are not going to be the best law firm for you.

5) Clients who have unreasonable expectations.  If you've been involved in a car accident, you have NOT won the lottery.  I don't care if your Aunt Bertha or friend Bob got $25,000 for a minor whiplash injury years ago.  Those days are over.  If your injuries are limited to soft tissue injuries (sprain/strain), you are not going to get tens of thousands of dollars.  Also, keep in mind your settlement is used to pay your medical and legal bills.  You will get the balance of the settlement.  Some clients forget their settlement is the TOTAL amount, but that amount is used to pay bills.  Some clients only focus on the net.  "I only got $4000?"  I explain, "No, you got $12,000, but we had to pay your medical and legal bills."  If you expect too much from your personal injury case, you will most likely be disappointed every time.

6) Clients who try to direct everything we do.  Every so often we get clients who try to run the entire show.  They tell us, "First, I want you to do this, then I want you to do that, then I want you to say this..."  If you want to tell us how to do everything, don't bother hiring a lawyer. 

7) Clients who think the value of their case is tied the responsible party's behavior.  Sometimes I get clients who think their case is worth more because the responsible party was texting while driving, or the responsible party was rude to them at the scene of the accident, or used foul language, etc.  The truth is, if the responsible party admits fault, their behavior is of little consequence. It doesn't matter if the responsible party was on their way to rob a bank.  In short, just because the other party is a jerk or a moron doesn't make your case more valuable.

8) Clients who ignore our advice or never get back to us.  If you want to bring a personal injury claim, please cooperate with your lawyer and get back to him/her when they reach out to you.  It takes "two to tango" as they say!  I'm a lawyer....not a magician.

There....I feel much better.  Thank you for allowing me to vent.