Questions for injured people, answered by an experienced injury attorney

Do I need an attorney?

I always recommend that people who have been injured by someone else’s fault consult with a personal injury attorney.  Initial consultations are almost always free. After the consultation you can decide after hearing the attorney’s recommendations.

If you attempt to handle your claim yourself, you are invariably dealing with trained, experienced adjusters who do what they do for a living. Injured people rarely have any experience with these matters.  Nevertheless they have no shortage friends and relatives who have definite ideas but little or no experience themselves.

If you want to level the playing field, you need a personal injury attorney. You will invariably do better financially and you won’t have to deal with all the problems that arise in connection with a claim. The sooner you get proper representation, the less likely it will be that you make an error that diminishes your claim, and the sooner you can turns the problems over to someone with real experience handling claims.

Can I afford an attorney?

Almost all personal injury attorneys charge a contingent fee on personal injury cases. The contingent fee is a percentage of the money the attorneys recovers for you. Usually you pay not money at all before your claim in resolved.  Then the payment comes out of the proceeds from the claim.  Usually the fee is 1/3 of the recovery, although it can be more or less depending on the case.

So if you hire a personal injury lawyer you don’t usually have to pay anything until the money is recovered from which to make payment.  But you have to pay something.  It is just that you don’t have to reach into your pocket to make payment.

Should I provide a statement o the other driver’s insurance company?

Before giving a statement, you should consult with an accident lawyer.  Frequently you will have to give a statement if you want to settle the claim.  But if you do it on your own, you are likely to give adjuster information that could be damaging to your claim without knowing that the information is damaging.  When my clients give a statement, we talk about it in advance and I am either there or on the line with my client and the adjuster.

Who is responsible to pay my medical bills?

You are responsible to pay your medical bills. If you have vehicle insurance and you were in a collision, or if you have medical insurance, the insurance will probably be required to pay your bills. 

However, one mistake that injured people make is to assume that the other insurance company, the insurance company for the other driver, is responsible to pay the injured person’s medical bills. That insurance company is only responsible to their insured. They have no responsibility for the injured person.  Their only responsibility is to defend and indemnify their insured against the injured person’s claim.  And if they can defeat that claim and pay nothing, they have done their job to its fullest. Therefore the injured person needs the best representation that they can obtain to keep that from happening.

What is PIP coverage?

PIP stands for Personal Injury Protection.  It is insurance coverage that you carry to pay medical expenses and lost wages if you or one of your passengers are injured in your car.  If you are injured it starts paying immediately.  If you don’t carry it, you have to rely on medical insurance if you have it or a settlement from the other driver’s insurance, which might be a long time coming.  PIP is usually very inexpensive coverage.  So it is foolish not to carry it.  People who do not carry it and are injured in a car or truck sometimes are left without wage replacement and a source of money to pay their medical bills for a long time.  They are sometimes turned over for collection because they don’t have money while waiting for a settlement from the other driver’s insurance.

If you are a pedestrian or riding a bike when you are hit, the PIP of the car that hit you covers you as though you were a passenger in the car that hit you.

When will my case be read to settle?

Your case is ready to settle when you want it settled.  However, as a practical matter that will be when your treatment is concluded and you have recovered from your injuries.  Some people don’t fully recover.  They are ready to settle when they have reached maximum medical improvement.

Will I have to go to Court?

In the process of settling claims, you have a choice. You can either settle for the maximum that the at-fault insurance carrier is willing to pay, or you can have your accident lawyer file a lawsuit in Court. Most cases are merely settled without going to Court.  But you have that choice.  Or sometimes you don’t.  I have handled cases where the insurance carrier refuses to pay anything.  In 1999, I had such a case.  The jury awarded $750,000.  So you may have to go to Court whether you want to or not if the insurance company refuses to pay anything.  You would nevertheless have the choice of abandoning your claim, but most people will go to Court under those circumstances.

What if I am permanently disabled?

If you have become permanently disabled from an injury, you can seek to obtain a settlement or jury verdict that compensates your for the permanent disability. Usually that means an award of money that pay the wages that you can no longer earn, long-term care at home or in a care facility, the cost of future medical expenses and money to compensate you for your pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.  But the money won’t end your disability.  The money just makes the disability perhaps much easier to deal with than if you didn’t have the money.

Feel free to call for an appointment or a phone conference at no charge.