I frequently get calls from people who already have a personal injury lawyer that they hired after they suffered their injury and have already started a case. So, why are you calling me if they already have a lawyer?
The responses I get are:
When I call my lawyer’s office, I can never reach my lawyer, and, if I leave a message, my lawyer never calls me back. If I do get to speak to anyone it is most often a paralegal who cannot answer my questions. I have no idea what is going on with my case as I never get to speak to or hear from anyone in my lawyer’s office.
And very often I hear: My lawyer is trying to convince me, to force me, to settle my case for a lot less than I think it is worth.
Why does this happen so often?
This happens because the lawyer and law firm you hired are not prepared to go to trial on your case and just want to settle your case for as much as they can get from the insurance company without doing too much work or spending any money.
Every personal injury case must first have what is called “liability”. Why is the defendant, the person or entity you sued responsible for your injury. For you to be awarded compensation for your injury it is not enough that you have been injured, even if it is serious, but rather what did they do wrong to cause your injury?
It is for your lawyer to not only prove that the defendant did something wrong but also that you did nothing wrong to cause your own injury. If you are partially responsible then your award is reduced by your percentage of liability. To explain: Assume it is a trip and fall on a raised sidewalk case. The property owner is responsible to keep a safe sidewalk. You the pedestrian are responsible to look where you are walking. So, if the jury decides that you were not looking where you were walking, they can find you 60% responsible for your own injury and the property owner only 40% responsible because the sidewalk was raised and not level. Your damages award is then reduced by your percentage of liability.
For example, if you have a lawyer that is actually thinking about and working on your case to prove liability your lawyer will explain the law to you, then gather all the facts and try to understand why you did not see the raised sidewalk, on a trip and fall sidewalk case. There are many possible explanations. Was the sun in your eyes? Were there many people walking in front of you and blocking your view of the upcoming raised sidewalk? Was there a window display that was designed to catch your attention? Was there a dog coming too close to you? This should all be discussed between you and your lawyer when you hire your lawyer and also when you are being prepared by your lawyer before you give any sworn testimony at your examination before trial.
So, ask yourself what has my lawyer done for me to prove the liability in my case.
The next part of any case are your damages. It is up to your lawyer to know and to investigate all of your damages, both for the past and the future. Your lawyer must obtain all of your medical records and most often the X-ray films as well. Then you need to be seen by a doctor who will submit a report that sets out all of the injuries you suffered from your date of accident until today, and then project and give an opinion as what treatment you will need in the future. All of your injuries must be set out in a legal document, called a Bill of Particulars. If the injuries you suffered are not set out in the Bill of Particulars you will not be compensated for them.
Your damages also include your past and future loss of earnings. For this to be properly calculated your employment and tax records need to be obtained and if you are in a union your union contract and benefit information must be also be obtained. Then an economist can do the calculations as what your past and future loss of earnings are.
Ask yourself: what has my lawyer done for me to prove my injuries and damages in my case?
If you now feel that the lawyer you now have has not done enough to prove the liability and damages for your case and you also find that it is impossible to ever speak to your lawyer then you have a good reason to switch lawyers.
You might also ask yourself: Why has my lawyer not done enough to prove the liability and damages for my case and why do I also find that it is impossible to ever speak to my lawyer?
There are many good injury lawyers that will do everything to prove the liability and your damages and who will also communicate with you while the case proceeds through the legal system. However, there are also many lawyers and firms that try to sign up as many personal injury clients as possible and then try to settle the cases for whatever they can get from the insurance company.
As an example, I know of one firm that advertises and has about 700-800 personal injury clients and cases. The problem is that they have only TWO lawyers to handle all those cases, with a whole staff of paralegals to simply move the cases along. How much time do you think an actual lawyer can devote to your case if that lawyer has hundreds of cases to handle? To put that in perspective at my firm our policy is for our lawyers to only handle 25-30 case at a time.
The compensation in almost all personal injury cases is paid by insurance companies. The insurance companies know which law firms are prepared to go to Trial if they are not offered a fair settlement and which firm will not be prepared for Trial and will try desperately to settle every case.
To understand why this happens you must realize that to be properly prepared to prove what is called the liability part of the case an expert may be required, whether an engineer, an architect or in car accident an accident reconstruction expert. These experts cost money to review the facts and testify and the fee can be between $10,000 and $15,000.
Then for an expert doctor to explain and project your future injuries the cost may be between $10,000 and $20,000. If you also need an economist to calculate your loss of earnings, you can add another $5,000 to $10,000 in expert expenses.
All of these litigation costs and expenses are paid for by your lawyer and not by you, the client. If the case is lost the lawyer will lose the costs and expenses of the case.
So, if you have 700- 800 cases with just TWO lawyers you are not going to have the time or money to actually prepare any case for Trial.
To get the settlement you deserve your lawyer must show the insurance company that you are prepared to go to Trial and will accept a jury verdict if the settlement you are offered is not a fair one.
In my own practice I have had much experience when clients switched lawyers, to myself and to my firm, and we then obtained results that far exceeded what their prior attorney had been discussing with them. Changing Lawyers: Our Results
#Changing #Lawyers