Personal Injury Practice
Our Personal Injury Process
1
We will meet with you in person.
First and foremost, we will meet with you in person at any time and at any place. We can do this at our office, your home or place of business, or any other location you choose. Our first meeting is extremely important. At this meeting, we will discuss with you a number of things, including how we will handle your case, the procedure that we will take to seek full compensation for you, the general time frame for completing our procedures, how we are compensated, our investigation of your case, your medical treatment, and all sustained injuries and damages. If you were involved in a car wreck, we will also discuss how to get a car rental, how to get your car repaired and if it is totaled, how to get a replacement.
2
We will represent you based on a contingency fee agreement.
We will represent you based on a contingency fee agreement. That means that you do not have to pay us any attorneys’ fees, costs or expenses, unless and until we get a money recovery for you. Our fees are a percentage of the total recovery on the case, the amount of which is determined by whether the case settles before filing a lawsuit, after a lawsuit or if the case proceeds to trial. In any event, you will not owe ANY attorneys’ fees, costs or expenses if no money is recovered for you.
3
Your medical and billing records will be important documents.
Your medical and billing records will likely be the most important documents we will need in order to get full compensation for your injuries. Therefore, at our initial meeting, we will have you sign a medical authorization, providing us with permission to obtain your medical records from any and all hospitals, emergency rooms, clinics or doctor’s offices where you received treatment for your injuries.
4
If you have not seen a physician for your injuries, we will refer one.
If you have not yet seen a physician for your injuries, or if you would like to see a specialist or a different physician, we will refer you to a physician who specializes in the treatment of the injuries that you sustained. Moreover, you will not need to pay those physicians up front. They will accept payment after we receive a money recovery on your case.
5
We will notify the insurance company.
After receiving your authorizations for representation and securing your medical treatment, we will immediately notify the insurance company insuring the person or company that injured you. Part of this notice includes an instruction that they not talk to you or attempt to talk to you and that all communication will be directed to us. Insurance adjusters can be tricky and this insures that they won’t take advantage of you.
6
We will fully investigate your case.
Our next job is to fully investigate your case. This may involve photographs of multiple things, including your injuries, the scene of the accident, automobiles, products or other objects, and/or the person who caused your injuries. The investigation may also include interviewing witnesses, obtaining weather records, observing traffic light patterns, and the social media postings of the person who injured you. If necessary, we will hire investigators, accident reconstructionists, and medical experts as necessary to prove i) the negligence of the person who injured you, ii) the full extent of your injuries, and iii) your past and future medical treatment and bills.
7
We will gather all of your injury and damage information for evidence.
After you have completed your medical treatment, or at least the amount of medical treatment to be physically stable, we will gather all of the evidence of your injuries and damages for submission to the insurance adjuster. This will include your medical records and bills, photographs, expenses, any future medical expenses, and any other information we have obtained through our investigation to demonstrate the negligence of the person who injured you and the full extent of your damages. The damages, for which we will seek compensation, will likely include past and future medical expenses, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, pain and suffering, mental anguish and physical impairment. Once we have all of this information and documentation, we will submit them to the insurance adjuster in the form of a “Demand Package.” As the term suggests, we will demand that they pay a certain amount of money to fully compensate you.
8
The insurance company will likely extend an offer of settlement.
After the insurance adjuster has had sufficient time to review all of the damage information, they will likely extend an offer of settlement. At this point, we will try to negotiate a settlement of your claims. If a settlement can be reached, the insurance carrier will send us a settlement check made payable to you and to our firm. The check is then deposited into the firm’s trust account, from where the funds will be distributed. After the payment of fees, expenses and medical bills, everything else is paid directly to you.
9
If a settlement cannot be reached, we will file a lawsuit.
If a settlement cannot be reached, we will file a lawsuit and proceed with litigation. The litigation process involves "civil discovery," which is the procedure to learn all of the facts of the case and to obtain evidence for presentation at trial. Discovery typically involves written questions, requests for documents and testimony under oath, called a deposition. After "civil discovery" has been completed the case will go to mediation, which is a process to try to settle the case prior to trial. However, if the case does not settle at mediation, we will proceed to a full jury trial.
Personal Injury Practice
Our Personal Injury Practice Details
How We Approach Personal Injury Cases