We’ve discussed this issue before, but it’s always good to discuss whether or not hiring a lawyer makes sense for your personal injury case. If you have medical bills and lost wages that are less than $2000, you probably don’t need an attorney.
If there is no visible damage to your car, it’s going to be difficult to prove that you had any appreciable injury to most juries and insurance adjusters. That doesn’t mean the impact wasn’t severe…it only means that it will be difficult to prove the impact was severe. Over the past several years, juries have grown less patient with cases involving only “soft tissue” damage. For most jurors, being present every day and serving on jury duty is giving them neck and back pain! They don’t want to hear about yours. If the accident was your fault, don’t bother hiring a lawyer (unless you need one to defend you). I will be honest with you. I’ve turned away many cases because I honestly believed the client would be much better off without my involvement. It’s not that I don’t want to help….it’s mainly because the client will probably be better off doing it themselves. Of course, I’m still available to help people evaluate their case. Feel free to call. The insurance company is going to be reasonable with me.
Many people try to handle their own personal injury case. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that. However, the mistake occurs when they believe that if you simply write the insurance company a nice letter and act a reasonable fashion, they will be reasonable with you! Sounds fair, doesn’t it? Well that’s not usually how it works. Insurance companies have seen their fair share of scams and people who exaggerate their claims. They have, in many cases, become hardened to personal injury claimants. They give everyone a hard time. Mother Theresa can make a claim, and they probably will hassle her. I have to give the insurance company a statement. Another mistaken belief some people have is that when the opposing party’s insurance company calls, they have to give a recorded statement. That’s not true. You don’t have any legal obligation to give a statement to the other party unless there is a lawsuit pending, and your deposition is taking place. The insurance company for the guilty party is going to pay my bills. Some people also believe that the insurance company for the other party is obligated to pay your medical bills as they are due. Most of the time, you’re going to have a very difficult time getting them to pay anything at all. If they offer to pay ALL your bills, go get your camera and take a picture. That would truly be a Kodak moment! A personal injury case is not the lottery!
There are some people out there who still believe that a personal injury case is going to make them rich! Like they’ve hit the mother lode – won the lottery. I have bad news – You’re not going to get rich from your personal injury case. This is a huge myth that needs to be dispelled immediately. The law allows adequate compensation – the law doesn’t say you will be able to retire due to a personal injury case. That’s not to say some people don’t collect significant amounts, but that’s because their case is worth a good deal of money – not because they won a lottery of some sort! Don’t hire the lawyer who promises you the highest recovery for your personal injury case.
Some clients will “shop” attorneys to see who guarantees them the biggest result. Lawyers who guarantee you any kind of result are simply trying to get you to become their client. There is no way to predict how a personal injury case is going to unfold. A lawyer can give you an “idea” but don’t just pick a lawyer because he/she says your case is worth more than the last lawyer told you. Get a lawyer who’s going to be honest with you. There are some honest lawyers out there….I promise! If you didn’t get hurt, don’t bother bringing a personal injury claim.
Sometimes some people believe that just because there was an accident, they are entitled to some kind of compensation. Without any damages, you can’t simply collect money. I’m reminded of a fellow who slipped at McDonald’s. I asked him if he was hurt. He said, “No, I’m fine. My pants got a little wet, but otherwise, I’m fine.” I told him that without an actual injury or lost wages, he doesn’t have a case. I have clients who call and say there was a bug in their fast food sandwich, but they weren’t hurt by it. Again, no case there either! Simply because something happened to you doesn’t mean you have a personal injury case to pursue. Life happens every day. Sometimes bad things happen and we simply move on with our lives. There are still clients who don’t understand, so I give them the following example which seems to help: Imagine if I went to your home and slipped on your lawn. I wasn’t hurt, but I knock on your door and demand $10,000 from you! Are you going to pay me if I wasn’t hurt? Probably not. The insurance adjuster for the party at fault will generally be very nice to you at the very beginning of the case. Why would they do that? They want to get your cooperation because they want you to provide as much information about your injury case as possible. They will also ask you for a recorded statement (which I don’t recommend you provide) and will probably ask you to sign all kinds of forms relinquishing your rights and providing them with permission to obtain financial and medical records about you.
They will ask you for your social security number so they can research your entire history. However, there are many things that they will NOT do. They will never put in writing that their client was at fault. They won’t tell you how much insurance money is available to you. They won’t provide you with a copy of your own recorded statement. They certainly won’t let you take the statement of their client. They won’t provide you with any witness statements they’ve obtained. If they “index” you by using your social security number, they likely will not give you a copy of what they uncovered. They won’t give you copies of any information they dig up about you. So they act all friendly at first in order to obtain loads of information from you, but they will NOT provide you with the same information when you request it from them. Does that sound fair? No. During the course of most personal injury cases in litigation, there comes a time when settling the case makes sense. This is usually after all information has been exchanged with the other parties and the plaintiff’s condition has either resolved or at least reached a plateau. Sometimes the parties will participate in a settlement conference of some sort a short while before trial.
Today I attended something called a “Voluntary Settlement Conference.” The court ordered us to take part in this conference because the judge felt we might be able to settle prior to the trial date. Actually, it isn’t really a “voluntary” conference because the judge ordered us to participate, but that’s what it’s called. During the conference, a volunteer settlement officer tries to get both parties to the law suit to settle. Usually this person is a lawyer volunteering his/her time. The defense lawyer offered $4000 on a case that was probably worth about $85,000. We started very high…at around $250,000. I knew that was probably too high given some of the difficulties of the case. However, I was prepared to “dance” with the other party. I remembered something I learned in one of the mediation courses I took several years ago. The leader of our course at the time explained that in most other countries of the world, haggling is a way of life and is expected. To some extent, in some parts of the world, it is rude not to haggle. However, in the USA, we usually don’t haggle. Usually one party says, “That’s my final offer” far too soon. You need to be prepared to haggle for a long time, in small increments, sending “signals” to the other party about your good faith settlement approach. We came down to $175,000, which was a strong signal to the other party that we were willing to talk. They came up to $12,500. We went back and forth about 10 times until we agreed on $75,000. This would not have been possible if one side decided to dig in their heels or give a “final” position too early. When both parties engage in the “dance,” cases have a better chance of settling. Of course, we also had a great settlement office who kept both sides talking and engaged in some of the best shuttle diplomacy I’ve seen in a long time. My client thought it was silly to some extent to go back and forth too many times. However, when you’re dancing with the enemy, you need to play by the rules and avoid stepping on any toes. When you first go to the doctor after being involved in a serious accident, you need to make sure that you mention everything that bothers you from the accident. This is not a time to be tough and withhold information from the doctor. I’ve handled many cases were my clients tried to be brave and did not mention certain injuries to the doctor - because they didn’t want to be a bother. Once again if you don’t mention the injury to the doctor and it doesn’t make it into your medical records, the insurance company will treat it like it never even happened.
For example, let’s say a client has a neck injury from the accident but he doesn’t think it’s that bad. He may choose not to tell his doctor during the first initial visit. He’s probably thinking the injury will resolve over time. The simple absence of that information in the medical records means that you never hurt your neck - at least in an insurance company’s world. The insurance adjuster will doubt that the person had a neck injury because he did not mention it to the doctor during the first visit. The client may have been trying to be polite, brave, or simply wasn’t paying that much attention to his neck at the time. However, the absence of the information leads to some insurance adjusters to doubt the injury. Therefore it is very important to be very inclusive of every single injury that you had after the accident, no matter how minor. If the client chooses not to mention something and then it bothers them later on, it may be too late to assert that injury. When you go to the doctor, basically start at the top of your head and visually make your way down your body, noting everything that bothers you. It is better to be over inclusive rather than under inclusive during your first visit. You can always withdraw an injury claim, but it’s much harder to add one! The most important thing to take away from this entry is that you must mention every single thing that bothers you on your first visit to the doctor, no matter how minor the injury might be. One of the questions I often get is whether or not a client can settle their property damage claim before they settle a personal injury claim. The truth of the matter is the attorney is rarely involved to a large extent with the property damage portion of the claim. In most cases, my clients resolve the property damage issue on their own, with occasional guidance from my office. Either the insurance company will offer you something fair or they won’t.
Generally speaking, when it comes to fixing your car, you are better off having your vehicle fixed by your own insurance company because they owe you a duty the opposing party’s insurance company doesn’t owe you. Therefore it is sometimes better to incur the deductible by going through your own insurance carrier. If they don’t fix your car properly, you can complain because you actually have a contract with them. They need to do an adequate job. You generally don’t have that leverage when dealing with the other party’s insurance company. If you use the other party’s insurance company to fix your car, you don’t have to pay the deductible, but you also don’t have the leverage that you might have with your own insurance company. Settling your property damage claim should not affect your personal injury claim. As a matter of fact, it is most often that property damage claims are settled before personal injury claims. Some people think they are the same thing. Property damage is NOT a personal injury which involves an injury to the body in most cases. When settling your property damage claim, you must make sure that you’re not signing a general release. You need to make sure that whatever documents you are signing pertain only to the property damage portion of your claim. Some unscrupulous insurance adjusters will have you sign a general release and argue that you are cut off from bringing any further claim for personal injury. You need to make sure that you understand your rights and your attorney can guide you through that minefield. If you’ve been involved in a significant car accident, don’t delay in seeking attorney’s advice. Many people are reluctant to involve a lawyer because they believe the lawyer will take a portion of their settlement. However, studies have shown that people who hire lawyers generally fare better than those who don’t hire a lawyer. Some studies indicate that recovery can be three times as much when a client engages an attorney’s assistance versus doing it on their own. The studies were funded by the insurance companies themselves.
Another reason people delay is they figure they will get better over time. However they find that they aren’t getting any better and they’re feeling worse. In the meantime they have not engaged a doctor or other healthcare professional. Insurance companies routinely use gaps in treatment as well as delays in the commencement of treatment as reasons to deny your claim or minimize payment to you after an auto accident. Therefore, since most personal injury attorneys allow for a free consultation, it is in your best interest to seek the advice of an experienced personal injury lawyer so that you know what your options are. Remember, don’t delay. Get a lawyer’s advice right away. |
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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