This video helps clients understand how to get started with their personal injury case. Here is a complete transcript of the video:
Hello, everyone this is Robert Mansour and this brief video is designed to introduce you to how to get started with your personal injury case. So obviously if you've come to this website, you've probably been involved in a car accident and you might be looking for an attorney's guidance regarding whether or not you have a case worth pursuing, whether you're better doing nothing, whether you should handle it on your own, or whether perhaps you should get a lawyer involved. So you've come to the right place and this the starting point. So the first thing you've got to do is call my office. The reason you want to call the office is to setup your initial personal injury consultation and the consultation should occur as soon after the accident as possible, because one of the reasons personal injury cases fail is because clients take too long before they become proactive about their case and sometimes these delays can come back to haunt you. So during the initial call my office staff will probably ask you some basic questions about the accident just to make sure that it's something that we can help you with and then we'll pick a date that's convenience for you and for our office to meet. So the next thing you need to do is fill out the personal injury questionnaire or the secure, online accident questionnaire. So, near the middle of the page you're going to find a secure, online accident questionnaire, and go ahead and click on that and it's going to open up a questionnaire in a new window that will walk you through all of the relevant information that I'm going to need during our initial conversation. And don't be overwhelmed by all the information, if you don't have it all, but gather as much as you can. Now, if you don't want to fill out the online form, right below that, you can click on the checklist and that will open up a checklist that you can print. Basically, the checklist will ask you for all of the relevant information including any and all photographs depicting damage to all of the vehicles involved in the accident, any and all photographs of your injuries, bruising, cuts, scrapes, those are the kinds of things that you want to be documented. It will be asking you for all of your auto insurance information, especially something called your declarations page, which shows a review of all of the insurance coverage that you have available to you on your vehicle. Also, we're going to ask you for insurance information for the other vehicle, the responsible party. If you have any property damage estimates to your vehicle, we're going to need those and if you don't have a property damage estimate, you might want to go get one sooner than later. If you've already been to some doctors or a hospital or you've received emergency treatment, or you went to urgent care, we're going to need all of the doctors and facility information for those places that you visited. In fact, if you can, call those facilities and ask them for a copy of all of your records and all of your bills from your visit post-accident. It makes life a lot easier. Also, if you've been a Medicare or Medi-Cal recipient, we're going to need your information. We also need your health insurance information. If there is a police report of any sort, we will need a copy of that and if you don't have a copy, that's all right, we can order one for you, but let us know whether or not there was a police report. Also, if there were any witnesses, we're going to want their names, addresses and phone numbers as well. Then it's time for our initial consultation where I will sit with you, review everything that you've provided to me and again, the more information you provide to me, the better I can advise you. So during this meeting I'll let you whether or not it's worth having a lawyer on your side, what your options are, what different paths you might want to take and how the case might unfold. And during that consultation you can ask any questions that you have and I'll do my very best to answer them. And then of course, the relationship may begin, if you choose to go forward. There will be absolutely no pressure for you to do one thing or another. It is a purely informational meeting and in most cases, there is no charge. Thank you very much for visiting my website. Thank you for your interest and go ahead and proceed with the steps and we'll get started in assisting you with your personal injury consultation. Thank you very much, again this Robert Monsieur and I appreciate your time in watching this video. One of my clients got involved in a minor car accident. He called me and asked me if it was okay for him to accept the $750 check sent to him by the responsible party's insurance company.
I asked when the accident occurred, and he told me that it has occurred about three months ago. I asked him what kind of injuries he had. He told me that he had some minor back pain on the date of the accident but otherwise didn't have pain since the date of the act. He also told me his vehicle only had about $600 worth of property damage. He also told me that he only had about two days rental. He had already been paid for his vehicle and the rental. I asked how much his medical bills were, and he told me they were relatively small - only about $150. He said he was feeling much better and hadn't had any pain that he related to the accident recently. I told him that in that case, he could go ahead and accept the $750 settlement from the other insurance company. Basically, their offer certainly seemed reasonable in light of the minor nature of the accident and injuries. Even if he were to get a bit more with an attorney's assistance, he might get less in the long run since the attorney usually takes 33.3% of the settlement as a fee. In many cases, an attorney can bring value to a case. However, when it comes to very minor accidents, it makes sense to try to settle the case on your own. If it makes sense, go ahead an accept the offer made by the insurance company. However, it doesn't hurt to run things by an experienced personal injury lawyer. If you are involved in a serious car accident and want guidance, call attorney Robert Mansour to discuss your matter. Robert serves all of Los Angeles County with special emphasis on the Santa Clarita Valley (Valencia, Castaic, Saugus, Newhall, Stevenson Ranch, and Canyon Country). Call (661) 414-7100 for more information. In a recent post on my "Library" page, I ranted about insurance adjusters who view cases myopically. They refuse to see things from any other paradigm except their own.
Well, today I wrapped up a case with State Farm, and I must say, the adjuster (Chris) was a joy to deal with. He was always responsive and occasionally viewed the case from different points of view but stuck to his guns on other issues. However, when he stuck to his guns, he always explained his reasoning in a polite and reasoned manner. I could tell Chris had reviewed the case carefully, looked at all the medical records, learned more about my client, and sought explanations when needed. I had to respect his decision because I could tell he was actually evaluating the case after digesting all the information - not based on a short-sighted or knee-jerk analysis - or blind allegiance to an insurance company. He worked very hard to try and resolve this case. I appreciated his dedication and hard work. As you may know, I'm a former attorney for State Farm Insurance. I was a defense lawyer, defending the company and their insureds against personal injury cases. Chris and others like him restore my faith in insurance adjusters who understand their job is to evaluate cases fairly, without predisposition. I admit this is a bit of a rant. I recently took on a case where the impact was relatively minor at first glance. It's not my favorite kind of case to handle because the damage is not very visible and in most cases, it's hard to convince an insurance adjuster of injury in low-impact cases. However, in some cases I might take such a case if the client is compelling, believable, and truly injured.
Although there are plenty of scientific studies supporting the fact that folks can get injured in lower speed accidents, some insurance adjusters still employ the knee-jerk reaction that little property damage necessarily means little to no injury. There is an adjuster I'm dealing with right now who keeps sending me letters on this particular case. From "Day One," his letters basically read as follows, "We consider this a low impact case and expect your client's injuries to be minor. Please send us your client's medical records when she's finished treating." Then another letter came last week that stated, "This is a minor accident. Both cars did not have much damage. Your client should be done with her treatment by now...." As you can see, this adjuster has already made up his mind and by "implying" it in his letters, he basically wants me to adopt his framework for the case. While I agree that low impact car accidents present some challenges when convincing others of injury, I have been a bit surprised about how presumptive this adjuster has been. He has already concluded my client should have no injury without talking to her, without seeing her records, without knowing anything about her. He took one part of the puzzle (the low property damage), and he extrapolated a complete "analysis" that precludes the notion someone could be injured. Truth is I'm not terribly surprised because insurance adjusters are bombarded with bogus and inflated claims. As a former defense lawyer, I understand it's hard to persuade adjusters with lower speed impact cases. However, what some insurance adjusters fail to realize is that every so often, a claim is legitimate. Some folks injure more easily than others. Some may have a pre-existing problem. Sometimes, age is a factor. What troubles me the most is how myopic and conclusory some adjusters can be. Sometimes I just want to ask them, "Well, if low property damage ALWAYS means little or no injury, then why are you involved at all? Why don't you just resign and stay home? Why don't they just use robots to do your job?" Of course, there are also true insurance professionals out there who take into account all the facts before they jump to conclusions. That's the kind of adjuster I usually hope to get on my cases, but I don't always get so lucky. I truly feel I can make these assertions after working for a major insurance company as a defense lawyer for over 10 years. I've seen both kinds of adjusters, and whether I'm working for plaintiff or defense, I appreciate adjusters who soak in ALL the information before making a decision. Thank you for allowing me to rant today. However, these are not only MY realities but also my client's realities. My job is to educate them that there are adjusters who won't see matters any other way. They will always analyze a case from within their paradigm. If you need help with a personal injury case, please call (661) 414-7100 for a consultation. If an adjuster is giving you a hard time and refuses to see things any other way, take comfort in knowing you are not alone. Here is the transcript from the video:
Hello everyone and thanks for watching. My name is Robert Mansour, and we're going to spend a few minutes talking about California's basic speed law. I'm a lawyer in the northern Los Angeles County area. I can be reached at www.valencialawyer.com or call the office at 661‑414‑7100. I used to work as a defense attorney for a major insurance company for many years, and for the last several years I've been representing victims of serious car accidents, and one issue that always comes up is California's basic speed law. Now, at the top of the slide you'll notice that there is a speed limit sign. Please understand California's basic speed law and the speed limit are two different things. The speed limit is the fastest speed you should be driving in a particular area, but that doesn't necessarily mean doing so is a reasonable speed. Let's take a closer look. California's basic speed law can be found in California Vehicle Code § 22350. Now, what does that mean? All that means is that California has a lot of rules and regulations about everything. There is the Business and Professions Code, there is the Criminal Code, there is the Civil Code, there is the Evidence Code, there's the Probate Code and guess what? We have a Vehicle Code that governs cars and motor vehicles in California just like any other state, and Section 22350 is our basic speed law, and you're going to see this citation or this Vehicle Code section in many police reports because oftentimes somebody was going too fast for, uh, the circumstances and was cited or noted to have been in violation of California Vehicle Code § 22350. So let's take a closer look at what this section actually says. Section 22350 reads as follows: No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on and the surface and width of the highway and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property. That's California's basic speed law as codified in Section 22350 of the California Vehicle Code. Now, you'll notice there is no mention in this section of the speed limit. It doesn't say anything about the speed limit. Basically, the second line is probably the most important. It says you have to drive at a speed that is reasonable or prudent given the circumstances, so in many cases that I handle in personal injury matters, my clients or the other party might try to say, "well hey, I was driving the speed limit." Well, that's not really a defense because the speed limit is the fastest speed you should be going. It's not necessarily reasonable or prudent to have been driving that speed at the time the accident occurred. So keep in mind the California Vehicle Code basic speed law is not necessarily the same thing as the speed limit. They are two separate things. Thank you very much for taking the time to watch this short video. I hope you found it helpful. If I can of service to you, and you've been involved in a serious car accident in the Santa Clarita area or anywhere in Los Angeles County, visit my web site at www.valencialawyer.com or call the office at 661‑414‑7100. Thank you very much. |
Attorney Robert MansourRobert Mansour is an attorney in Santa Clarita, California who has been practicing law since 1993. After working for 13 years for the insurance companies, he now counsels victims of personal injury. Click here to learn more about Robert Mansour. Categories
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