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Q: What should I do after my accident?

Here are a few suggestions of things that you should do immediately after your accident.
Write down the contact information (including names, addresses, and telephone numbers) of everyone involved in the accident and any witnesses who saw what happened. After contacting the insurance company, write down the name, address, and telephone number of the insurance adjuster and the claim number assigned to your claim. Take notes of every conversation you have with the insurance adjuster (They are taking notes of every conversation they have with you! ). Be VERY careful when you describe your injuries to your doctors and the adjuster. Be sure to provide both a complete list of all body parts that are in pain. It is common for complaints of pain to increase over time from minor to serious. If you did not tell your doctor of that minor pain that now requires medical attention several months later, you are giving a gift to the insurance adjuster. Follow your doctors’ advice. If you need to take time off from work due to your pain, make sure that your employer documents your leave and return to work as soon as you are able to do so.

Q: What is the penalty for leaving the scene of the accident and not reporting it to the police?

In Texas, all accidents involving damages of $1,000.00 or more, and/or causing death or injury to a person, including himself, must be reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles using a form called a CR-2. This form is available on our website. Also, if you are involved in an accident, you must check with everyone involved to make sure they are not injured. If anyone is injured, then the police must be notified. However, even if nobody is feeling injured at the moment, it is generally a good idea to notify the police, particularly when there is serious property damage to the vehicles or there is any question about who is responsible for causing the auto accident. If you fail to report an injury accident to the police and leave the scene, you may face criminal charges for hit-and-run and may be sentenced to jail or subject to a fine. Let Us Evaluate Your Claim. Call us to schedule a free consultation.

Q: I was just involved in an accident and am hurt. I want to see a doctor but I’m worried about who will pay for my medical care. Does the insurance company pay the bill? If they do, when does it get paid?

Ultimately, the person at fault pays for your medical bills. They are responsible, so they will pay either personally or through their insurance company. The problem is that they won’t pay until the case is settled or after trial when they will pay a single lump sum to you for all your damages. Until then, though, how do your bills get paid. First, if you have health insurance, you should send your bills to your health insurer for payment. Another option is to submit the bills to your car insurance company for payment under your medical payment benefit coverage. If you do not have health insurance or medical payment benefits to pay for your medical care, your doctor may take a lien against the proceeds of your settlement in order to pay his bill. Under this agreement, he’ll wait to get paid until your case settles. Because there are a variety of payment options, and each can have a consequence with respect to your accident injury case, it is important to speak to an experienced personal injury accident attorney for specific advice for your case. The lawyers at our firm are available to consult with you and provide clear advice regarding your serious injury.

Q: What is my accident case worth

While this question may seem very simple, the answer and calculation are actually very complicated. The bottom line is that there is no simple formula or process to predict the amount of money that an injury accident case may be worth. However, in a nutshell, an injury accident victim is entitled to compensation to pay for all medical care (both past treatment and future treatment that is reasonably anticipated) caused by the accident, loss of past earnings, loss of future earning capacity, and general damages (typically referred to as “pain and suffering” damages). The largest factor in determining the value of an injury accident case is the cost, extent, and length of medical treatment. Not only are the medical bills subject to reimbursement through a settlement or judgment, but they are the primary measure used by insurance companies and jurors to award general damages. The best way to get a range of what your injury accident case may be worth is to talk to an experienced, knowledgeable attorney–one who only represents injury accident victims–at our law firm by contacting us via this website or calling us toll-free. Injured in an Accident? Tell us about your case.

Q: Are there any mistakes I could make that would destroy my accident injury claim?

Absolutely. Many clients make one or even several mistakes early on after their accident which could jeopardize their claim and give unneeded ammunition to the insurance adjuster. Unfortunately, most of these mistakes are made before hiring a lawyer–a lawyer who would advise them not to make these mistakes. Here are a few examples of things that you should absolutely NOT do after an injury accident.

Do not agree to an audiotape recording of your conversation with the insurance adjuster (No, you do not have an obligation to agree to the recording). Do not discuss anything but the basic facts of the accident with the adjuster such as the date and time that the accident occurred, where it occurred, and what happened. Adjusters will often try to engage you in informal conversation to find out details about your work history, income, schedule, and social security number. None of this information must be turned over to the insurance adjuster. Do not agree to anything. Do not sign anything, including a medical authorization to get all medical history about you–including things that are not related at all to your accident injuries. Do not answer any questions about your family. This is completely irrelevant. Do not identify any witnesses. You are not under an obligation to do so. Do not give the adjuster the name of your doctor. You are not under an obligation to do so.

Q: Do I need you to represent me after my injury accident?

Not always. Generally, the more complex the injury and the more extensive your medical care is, the more an attorney will be able to add value to your claim. If your injury is minor or resolves within a day or two, and you do not seek medical treatment, you would be better off settling the case yourself. As a general rule, our law firm does not represent every injury accident victim–even if they ask. By being selective about the cases and clients we work with, we can devote more time and energy to our client’s cases. If your claim does not meet our selection standards, you may be better off handling your claim without an attorney.

Q: What about my car? Who should pay to get my car fixed after my car accident?

Generally, the insurance company for the driver who caused the car accident will pay to fix your damaged car. However, this may drag out and the insurance company might not be as helpful as you would like. In that case, you might want to contact your own insurance company and have them work to fix your car. The downside is that you will need to pay your deductible, but your insurance company will help you recover the deductible from the other insurance company.

Q: How much is it going to cost for a consultation?

Nothing, there is no charge for the consultation when the case is one of personal injury. The case will be handled on a contingency basis, with the attorney being paid from the recovery.

Q: What Should I bring with me to my appointment?

Please bring the following:
The police accident report and information regarding the other party and passengers involved.
Medical expenses and evidence of other expenses
Insurance policies (including your own, regardless of whether you were driving or whether it was your own car)

Q: Are there any other costs or expenses involved with this type of case?

Yes. Typically, the primary expenses associated with a personal injury case are litigation costs, fees for medical reports and records, and charges made by experts. The firm pays these expenses upfront and these are repaid with your recovery.

Q: If you take my case, what will I have to do?

If you hire us to be your lawyers, you will be a significant part of your case team. We will ask you to help us gather the information that we will use to support your case. Just as we will keep you informed about your case, you will need to keep us informed about your medical treatment and your physical limitations. After we file the lawsuit, you will have to answer written questions called interrogatories and sit for a question-and-answer period with the opposing lawyer called a “deposition. ” (Of course, we’ll prepare you first, find a time that is convenient for you, and sit next to you during the deposition). You may have to be evaluated by other doctors. If your case does not settle, you will have to be present for the trial.

Q: How long will it take?

Even though many cases settle before trial, this does not usually happen until both sides have prepared the case. Generally, lawsuits take about two years from filing to trial. This can vary significantly in either direction based on the complexity of your case, the congestion of court dockets, and other factors. Our advice to our clients? Be patient. We are always willing to tell you exactly what is happening with your case. In the meantime, you have to trust that we are working hard for you.

Q: What do insurance companies and potential defendants want?

Insurers want your premiums but not your claims. Insurers want valid lawsuits against them to never be pursued and so they fill public opinion with mistruths about our legal system and “too many frivolous lawsuits. ” Insurers hope that you will think that you’re in good hands with their insurance claims adjuster. Insurance companies want all jurors to think the plaintiff (person filing suit) is a sham, dishonest and insincere. Insurers want jury verdicts to award far less damages than what is fair, and just in case a jury awards what is fair, they want caps on damages to minimize how much justice you can get.

Have more questions about your case? Call us toll-free to schedule a free consultation.

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If you find yourself in a situation where you feel you must acquire a lawyer to help settle a personal injury matter, it would be beneficial for you to first become familiar with the process of filing for personal injury claims as well as what kind of fees personal injury lawyers charge. Most people are not familiar enough with the terminology used by lawyers when it comes to their services and fees which often causes misconceptions or misunderstandings in the lawyer/client relationship. This can readily be avoided if both attorney and client have more clear and open communications concerning this matter before an attorney accepts a case.

One aspect of personal injury claims that people have a misunderstanding about is the significance of the lawyer’s contingency fee. In brief, a contingency fee is a payment an attorney expects to receive for his services in representing your personal injury case. This payment may be a percentage of the amount of gross or net funds you receive from your claim, depending on whatever terms were agreed upon when you hired his services. If the terms you agreed to stated he would receive a percentage of the gross funds, this means a percentage of the total funds received for your settlement, before deducting the cost of medical bills and/or other expenses.

What is the proper contingency fee for personal injury cases?
Most lawyers will ask for a percentage of your gross settlement and nothing more with no extra charges and no additional hourly fees. However, these are terms you and your lawyer should settle upon before he is hired so there are no misunderstandings of your specific arrangements. You can check within your state to see if there is a fixed contingency fee by law, but otherwise, most fees are negotiated between client and attorney ahead of time, and these can be anywhere between 25 45% of the gross settlement. On average 33% of the gross settlement seems to be what most personal injury lawyers charge.

A few factors you may want to consider when negotiating a fee is the lawyer’s range of experience and expertise. Choosing a more experienced attorney with a greater track record, even though he may charge higher, maybe in your best interest in the long run as he may be able to procure a greater settlement. In other words, a more capable and astute lawyer who knows his stuff can actually increase your chances of obtaining better success in your case than hiring a mediocre counterpart for a lesser fee. This is something you should take into consideration when making your decision.

You may wonder whether hiring a lawyer by the hour would be more advantageous rather than paying high contingency fees. When you choose to hire a lawyer and pay by the hour, these funds come directly from your own pocket, regardless of whether you win or lose the case. When opting to pay by contingency fee, the lawyer receives a percentage of your winnings if you lose there is no payment. Therefore, the better deal is going with the contingency fee.

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Medical Malpractice

The question of what is a subordination claim as it pertains to medical malpractice lawsuits is complicated. First, a person has to be injured through the action of a medical practitioner or facility or have a loved one who was killed due to the negligence of one of these parties. Second, the injured party has to sue. The people named in the lawsuit may subordinate their claims for an easier, streamlined defense.

Every patient deserves a certain level of competency in their medical treatment. There is a standard level of care that is expected to be provided to each and every person. When this care is not received intentionally or by accident, an injury may occur. Each and every person deserves the right to have their symptoms diagnosed and treated, the treatment to be monitored, the correct medication and dosage amounts given, and adequate care provided by the medical profession. If this was not done and serious injury or death occurred, there are legal ramifications. The injured party or the loved one of an injured or deceased party can contact an attorney to see if they have a legal suit against a person, a facility, or both.

An experienced, professional trial attorney who specializes in medical malpractice lawsuits will save this client much time, wasted effort, and obtain a larger settlement because this person has the knowledge to fully understand the problem and what has to be done to be successful in a court of law. This specialist will collect all the information, obtain the necessary documents and depositions and file a lawsuit against the people involved and the facilities. This may include the hospital, a doctor’s clinic, an extended care facility, the doctor, nurses, anesthesiologists, lab technicians, pharmacy, pharmacists, nurses aides, and anyone else involved. Once the suit is filed, each named person and facility will contact their malpractice insurance carrier. Each individual insurance company will review documents and may meet to develop a plan of defense. At that time some of the insurance companies may subordinate their claim, allowing one company to head up and handle the defense. This would allow a more streamlined process and reduce the possibility of fighting between the defendants. These insurance companies may work out a private agreement between themselves on how to handle the cost of litigation, settlement offers, and trial awards.

An experienced trial lawyer will know how to best work with this system of subordinated claims. Many times in these medical malpractice cases the court or jury will divide the responsibility and blame between the different parties and assign a percentage of the total claim to each. To the person bringing the suit, the end result is they get X number of dollars which will be paid by more than one insurance company and/or person. The question: what is a subordination claim as it pertains to medical malpractice lawsuits should really be: how does a subordination claim on a medical malpractice lawsuit affect the patient? The answer is it does not; it is a strategy used by insurance companies to streamline the defense and eliminate infighting between the defendants. A competent trial attorney can handle this with ease.

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Choosing a lawyer of any type is always a difficult decision and one that you should research thoroughly before you make your choice. This is particularly important when choosing a personal injury lawyer. This type of lawyer is one that has only become largely used over the last few decades, but is now extremely popular, especially in the United States. In large cities, there are a great number of such lawyers as there are a plethora of individuals searching for a personal injury lawyer.

If you have been involved in an accident of any type that is not your fault, then you may well be eligible for some sort of claim. Often the amount you are entitled to can be extremely large. The amount will generally depend on the severity of your injuries. The more severe your injury, the higher the payout will be. Sometimes it can be into the millions of dollars. There are a number of law practices that specialize in this type of lawsuit, and thus have years of experience in attaining the maximum amount of compensation for your injuries. One such is our Law Office.

Below are some of our more prominent case specialties:
Automobile accidents are one of the most common claims that are made. For this reason, this is one of the main areas that this practice covers. The key to a successful claim is the speed at which you and your lawyer take action after the accident has occurred. The faster the action is taken, the better chance you have of receiving the maximum claim. The first step is obviously to assess both yourself and any other drivers to see if either of you has any sort of injury. One of the most common mistakes is to assume with a small accident that there has been no injury to either party. This is not always the case and if trauma is spotted further down the line it can be extremely costly to you and the other parties. If injuries are spotted then call 911 immediately. Once the police and paramedics are on sight you can leave everything to them to follow the law to the letter. This eradicates you from any further repercussions.

Our firm also specializes in other injuries such as dog bites, construction accidents, and job injuries. All of these other types of injuries should be dealt with in a similar fashion. Whenever anyone is injured the police should always be notified so that everything can be officially documented from start to finish. By following this procedure you can ensure that when the case comes to court not only are you fully protected but if you are to make a claim against another individual or a company that you have all the relevant data to make a solid case on your behalf.

Call us today to schedule a free consultation.

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If you or a loved one has been injured due to an accident, you need the services of our qualified personal injury firm. There are many reputable Texas attorneys to choose from, but when it comes to finding the best personal injury firm, you want to follow a simple process of comparison. You need to know how the firm operates in order to make a smart decision about who will represent you.

First, because there are many specialties of the law, make sure the firm does indeed handle personal injury cases. Next, before you sit down with our attorney, confirm that he or she will meet with you for an initial consultation at no charge. Personal injury lawyers earn their money from a percentage of what you receive when the case gets settled. So avoid firms that charge you for the first interview. Remember that it is a mutual decision as to whether a personal injury firm will take up your case. An administrative assistant or paralegal at the firm will check for any conflicts of interest before you meet with any of their attorneys. If they find that someone on the opposing side has been a previous client, they will have to suggest you look elsewhere.

When you get your interview scheduled, prepare your materials. For your appointment, you will want to have with you all the relevant documents. These can include any written police reports, medical bills and records, and correspondence with insurance companies. If you or the person injured has been unable to work or been put on limited hours following the injury, you will want to show the attorney your notes on lost income. Earlier pay stubs can be helpful in this regard.

Now that the lawyer has a better idea of your case, it is time to ask questions about his or her practice. Find out how long they have been in practice. If they handle other areas of the law, ask about the percentage of personal injury cases they take on. How successful have they been? Do they represent mostly plaintiffs, the people like you who are suing for injuries, or mostly defendants? You want a firm with more experience helping the injured. Although good attorneys strive for fairness, those used to protect the interest of insurance companies may hold an unconscious bias toward them and against plaintiffs such as yourself. Ask whether you will be working with the lawyer who has met with you or if the firm will assign others to handle your case. You can ask to meet them as well. You want to feel you can trust the lawyer or lawyers who are working with you, and perhaps to feel a certain personal rapport with them to make the whole legal journey easier on you and your family.

When it comes time to find the best personal injury firm, start your search based on recommendations from friends and professionals in other fields. Then do a brief amount of homework and you are on your way to getting a settlement that will help make up for your losses.

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Slip and Fall Attorneys

Our Law Firm has been successfully representing the people of Texas since 1978 against negligent property owners. Premises liability cases, commonly referred to as slip, trip and fall are very complex and often difficult to prove. Under Texas law, merely owning or occupying land does not make that person liable for injuries sustained on the property. There must be some form of negligence on the
part of the owner or occupier of the property before there can be any liability.

Our Legal Team of experienced attorneys is dedicated to their clients and has committed themselves to getting the best possible results in each and every premises liability case. In every personal injury case, there are significant costs associated with providing the best representation. Our Law Firm has financial resources available and can afford to hire the best experts in the field… at no cost to you. If you have been involved in a slip and fall accident you should consult an attorney immediately. The stress of being involved in an accident is a traumatic experience for all involved. The experienced professionals at our Law Firm will promptly investigate the
accident, determine liability and seek to recover legal damages. If you have suffered injuries while on another person’s property, make sure you document the accident very carefully.

The evidence you gather may be necessary to prove negligence against the property owners or property managers. It is crucial that you take the following actions:

Insist that the owner or manager of a commercial property fills out an accident report documenting the nature of the accident and make sure you are given a signed copy.

Get the names, addresses, and phone numbers of one who may have witnessed the accident.

Gather any evidence such as a broken bottle, wet garbage, etc., that may have contributed to the accident.

Seek medical attention right away and report all your injuries. Even injuries that seem minor at the time can lead to debilitation in the future.

Call an experienced premises liability lawyer immediately.

Our Law Firm will discuss your options at no cost to you.

Never speak to the property owner’s representative about your accident or injuries. Always refer them to your attorney.

If you or someone you know has been injured in a slip and fall accident, contact a qualified Texas Slip & Fall Attorney at our Law Firm right away to learn your legal rights and options. The statute of limitations for Slip & Fall cases can vary depending on the facts of the case, so it’s imperative that you contact one of our personal injury attorneys as quickly as possible. You’ll pay no fees if we don’t obtain a verdict or settlement for you. For a free, confidential, no-obligation consultation, call our office today.

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Even though many insurance companies won’t take your soft tissue damage lawsuit seriously, this is a very serious type of injury. It may not cause you to need a wheelchair or daily medical attention for the rest of your life, as other injuries do, but a soft tissue injury can still cause pain for many years.

If you have been involved in an accident and suffered damage to the soft tissue of your back, it’s important to understand what to expect. Fighting the insurance company on your own could lead to a very small settlement or none at all. They don’t take these types of cases seriously and insurance companies only want to pay the minimum. With the help of an attorney for soft tissue damage cases, you can gain full compensation for the injuries you have suffered. It’s hard to put an exact number on what the average settlement is because these cases vary quite a bit. Some soft tissue injuries are worse than others are and every case is unique. Many variables can affect the value of the case including the nature of the accident, the actual injuries sustained, the extent of medical treatment necessary, the insurance company of the at-fault party, and many other factors. A skilled accident attorney that handles these types of lawsuits can better advise you on what to expect.

Other variables that can change the value of the case, such as alcohol or drug involvement can also make a difference. If you were hit by a drunk driver, the compensation may be larger than if it was truly an accident. In a drinking and driving case, the at-fault driver is not the only person your attorney can go after. They can also go after the establishment that served the driver, the bartender, and potentially other negligent parties. This can lead to a larger settlement or award.

The best way to value your case is to contact an attorney that handles accident injury lawsuits. They will take into consideration the medical expenses for your injuries, lost wages, and any future treatment or lost wages you may suffer. You may also be entitled to compensation for a decrease in quality of life, depending on the case. Personal injury attorneys have settled soft tissue injury cases for a few thousand dollars all the way up to a few million. There are far too many variables to provide an average amount for these types of cases. You should be aware that states have limited (statutes) for filing your suit. If you have been injured in an accident and you seek financial compensation, it’s better to contact an attorney now, rather than wait. Your attorney will be able to better estimate the potential value of your case and give you an idea of whether your soft tissue damage will result in a large settlement or not. Either way, they will fight for every penny they can possibly get you.

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Many things must be considered if you slipped and fell in a parking lot. Before you do anything else, it only makes sense to seek medical treatment for your injuries. Your well-being comes first and you need to call an ambulance, if necessary, or at least go to the hospital. This will help to ensure that any injuries suffered are treated immediately before they become worse. You also need to report the accident to the store manager, property owner, landlord, or whoever is in charge of the property. This should be done as soon as possible and often can be done by a witness or a friend as you wait for an ambulance. If you believe your injuries are quite serious or it’s impossible for you to report the accident, make sure to get medical help first.

If you are capable of collecting any information from potential witnesses, you should. Anybody that saw you fall can help your case later in court and by obtaining the names, addresses, and phone numbers of any witnesses, you will make it much easier for a personal injury attorney to settle your case quickly. The police may arrive on the scene or they may not. Either way, you need to obtain any documented report of the accident. Most property owners (especially businesses) have a report form they must fill out whenever an accident happens. Make sure you get a copy of this report before you leave the scene whenever possible. It can also help your case if you document any conditions that could have caused the accident. If the sidewalk was not in proper order, something was where it shouldn’t have been, ice, snow, or anything else contributed to your accident, you need to make note of this. A great way to do so is with a recorder. Most cell phones have a memo recorder that will allow you to document anything you want by dictating it. If at all possible, obtain a sample of what caused the accident. Make sure to store this properly, for example in a freezer, if necessary. You will also want to place the clothing and shoes you were wearing in a safe place to store. Usually, a large plastic bag works well, and DO NOT wash the clothing. Cell phones also come equipped with cameras, which allow you to take pictures of the scene of the accident. If possible, take pictures of anything and everything you can. Even if you need to return to the scene after receiving medical treatment, pictures will help in the long run.

Once you receive medical treatment, make the phone call or get online to find an attorney for your case. The sooner you contact a personal injury attorney to take your case, the better. Witnesses will struggle to remember the events and conditions of the night if you wait too long and this can hurt your case. Don’t trust that the insurance company will properly compensate you without the help of an attorney. They often try and settle cases for much less than you deserve, but with proper representation, you can receive full compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and any other damages associated with the accident.

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Product Liability

Dangerous Drugs or Defective Medical Devices
Pharmaceutical manufacturers conduct extensive testing before receiving permission from the FDA to release a new drug. Despite the testing, manufacturers oftentimes put consumers at risk to maximize profits. Too often the dangerous health risks and side effects of drugs are minimized or even hidden. The key to a case dealing with dangerous drugs is whether there was improper labeling or insufficient warnings. Our lawyers work with scientific and medical experts to determine exactly what caused a client’s death or injury and whether or not the labeling or warnings were adequate. Armed with that knowledge, a claim can proceed successfully. Medical devices may have manufacturing defects, design defects, or may have been negligently maintained or utilized by a health care provider. While the United States Supreme Court has limited the rights of particular victims of defective medical devices, a failure to meet FDA requirements or negligent maintenance or usage still exposes manufacturers or health care providers to liability for injuries caused by the product.

Defective Machinery
A manufacturer or distributor of a defective machine or an unsafe tool is responsible for any injury or wrongful death resulting from the use of the product. The manufacturers have a responsibility to see that products are designed to be reasonably safe for the intended user, that products are properly manufactured to meet safety standards, and that clear warnings and instructions on how to safely use the product are provided. If you or someone you care about has suffered an injury while using a tool or a machine and you suspect defective equipment, please contact our office to arrange a free consultation. At the same time, obtain the contact information of any witnesses, take photographs of the dangerous product, take photographs of injuries, and save the product, its packaging, and any available instructions. We work closely with scientific experts and accident reconstructionists to determine what caused the injuries and whether it is the result of a defective product.

Motor Vehicle Defects
When investigating a motor vehicle accident, an issue to always consider is what role the motor vehicle played in the accident. Aside from human error, was the accident caused by a defective motor vehicle, or was the motor vehicle able to reasonably absorb the accident, i.e., was the motor vehicle crash-worthy? Accidents that may seem to have been caused by human error or bad weather could have been caused by such things as defective tires/tread separations or instability leading to an SUV rollover accident. Once an accident occurs, the vehicle’s crash-worthiness needs to be examined, particularly for such things as defective seat belts, defective head restraints, or defective deployment of airbags.

Defective Products
There are many defective products that cause damage for which a claim can be brought:
Tools
Cleaning products
Prescription drugs
Toys
Beds
Electric equipment
Fireworks
Car parts
Food
Vehicles
Batteries
Light fixtures
Playground equipment
Changing tables
Wrapping material
Fire causing agents

Contact our Law Firm to discuss your case with us. Call us toll-free or send us an email to schedule a free consultation.

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AUTOMOBILE PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS

TYPES OF MONEY DAMAGE CLAIMS:
A Personal Injury Lawyer brings years of professional experience to calculate the extent of monetary damages. A compensation claim against another, however, is based upon two facets:
The issue of liability and the calculation of damages. Liability-The element of the claim where an insurance carrier assesses who was at
fault.
Damages- generally include medical expenses, property damage, pain and suffering, current and future loss of income, loss of enjoyment, and in certain cases, punitive damages.

PERSONAL INJURY STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS: A Personal Injury Lawyer prevents insurance company delays which in time will bar the cause of
action. Statutes of limitations restrict the time period that a person can file a lawsuit. These statutes not only vary by state, but they also vary by cause of action. If a cause of action is not filed within the statutory period it will be barred. If you or someone you know has suffered due to a personal injury, a personal injury lawyer can help. Dedicated to helping the injured…

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A semi-truck hauling 50,000 gallons of crude oil was involved in a single-vehicle rollover. The truck accident resulted in an oil spill that required the Highway Patrol to stop westbound traffic until a hazardous material cleanup crew arrived. Fortunately, nobody was injured in the trucking accident and the cleanup was completed in a couple of hours. The second large truck accident this morning occurred when the driver of a dump truck lost control and rolled. The news reported that the driver sustained multiple injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Luckily, no other vehicles were involved and there were no other reported injuries. However, traffic was affected during rush hour. Authorities are not sure why these truck drivers lost control of their vehicles and caused significant accidents on the road. Investigators are looking into the possibility that the drivers were driving impaired by driver fatigue or inattentiveness. They have not ruled out whether the trucks mechanically malfunctioned. Most people agree that they would rather have semi-truck operatives travel at night or early morning to avoid driving with the average commuters. However, some people are beginning to question whether the odd driving hours present a safety hazard. They wonder how successful long-haul drivers are with coping with drowsy driving especially when traveling in the dark. Others question whether semi-truck operatives follow the speed limit during their long hauls. National Statistics on Big Rig Accidents authorities report that large truck operators have several unique obstacles when driving across the country these include:

Unfamiliarity with the roadway.
Driving too fast for conditions
Maneuvering truck in a manner not designed for the weight or load (which can off-balance the entire truck and its load)
Inattention
Fatigue Illness
Distraction by passengers
Low visibility of smaller vehicles

Statistics from Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) report that an average of 5,000 large trucks are involved in fatal traffic accidents each year. Tractors pulling one semitrailer are the most common truck involved in a fatal trucking accident. MCMIS also reports that around 136,438 large trucks were involved in non-fatal crashes. From these statistics, it is obvious that motorists must be extra cautious when driving near semi-trucks and other large trucks. Even if a truck does not hit another vehicle, it can still be a lethal instrument. For instance, a trailer could jackknife across a highway, obscure other drivers’ sightlines, or push cars out of lanes. The laws for dealing with the aftermath of truck accidents can get quite complex.

Fortunately, if you’ve been injured in a truck accident, you can rely on the time-tested attorneys at our Law Firm. Call us toll-free to find out more about our unique practice and to explore setting up a free consultation with our team.

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Enhance Your Medical Treatment with Physiatry

Personal injuries resulting from automobile, bicycle, and motorcycle accidents oftentimes affect various parts of the human body, necessitating different forms of medical treatment and specialization. Physiatrists coordinate multiple areas of medicine for an all-inclusive approach to treating a patient who has sustained numerous injuries. Case Study: when my client was involved in a pedestrian versus automobile accident, she sustained spinal cord injuries, a broken leg, and head trauma. Clearly, she had a long road to recovery ahead of her. Her physiatrist coordinated the medical treatment to enhance and build upon each other with the goal of bringing her to her maximum medical recovery stage in the most efficient and thorough manner. Consequently, she was able to treat with an orthopedic surgeon to repair her broken femur and a physical therapist to restore strength and mobility. She was then treated by a chiropractor and massage therapist for her neck and back pain. Finally, the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that she suffered from her minor head injury were addressed by a licensed psychologist.

What is Physiatry?
Physiatry, commonly referred to as Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) is a specific area of medicine that takes on a comprehensive approach to solving neurological and musculoskeletal problems within the human body using less invasive procedures than surgery. Physiatrists are medical doctors who aim to find the source of pain symptoms their patients have and treat the ailment holistically until the patient has reached his/her optimal functional capability. Physiatrists emphasize the importance of addressing all the intricate parts associated with the illness, disability, or injury in order to restore one back to his/her best possible health.

Comprehensive Plan of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Physiatrists take on a multidisciplinary approach to treating patients that have a broad range of personal injuries and medical ailments. These conditions include:
Chronic Pain Management
Traumatic Brain Injury
Spinal Cord Injury
Amputation
Sports Injuries Accident Injuries
Stroke Musculoskeletal Pain syndromes
Nerve Pain
Neck and Back Pain
Psychological Issues

According to the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the complete plan of physiatry may include a large range of medical doctors and medical professionals. To give you an idea of how broad these health professionals are, the following are a few that victims of personal injury accidents are commonly treated with:
Physiologists
Physical Therapists
Chiropractor
Massage Therapist
Occupational Therapists Speech Therapist

Your Health is the Priority of the our Law Firm. There are many personal injury attorneys that promise fast settlements and quick cash into your pocket. However, this is not always wise or best for your interests if you have been injured in an accident. Your health is the number one issue to address when you have sustained injuries. The experienced attorneys at our Law Firm are committed to ensuring that your medical treatment is complete, meaning that you are brought back to the best possible health you can be following a personal injury accident. We will ensure your medical treatment is covered by the at-fault party’s insurance and that you receive a full and just settlement for your damages and suffering. For a Free, NO obligation consultation by one of our experienced Utah personal injury attorneys, please call us toll-free.

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The type of insurance coverage that you are probably most familiar with is automobile insurance coverage. An automobile policy may include several different forms of coverage. Within one policy there may be liability coverage, there may be medical expense coverage, there may be collision coverage, and there may be an uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist coverage. Each of those types of coverage is dramatically different and each of them has a different objective. Liability coverage is designed to protect you, the insured, in the event you are involved in a collision in which some other person is injured as a result of your alleged negligence. If a person is injured and they contend that you are negligent, then they may assert a liability claim against you for their medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, resulting disabilities, disfigurement, etc. Your liability insurance policy would cover you in that instance by providing you with an attorney to defend you in that claim and by indemnifying (reimbursing) you for any judgment rendered against you in that case up to your policy limits. If your policy limits are fifty thousand dollars, but the judgment entered against you is for five hundred thousand dollars, then your insurance company is only obliged to pay fifty thousand dollars. The remaining four hundred and fifty thousand dollars may come out of your pocket.

Also within an automobile insurance policy, there may be comprehensive coverage. Comprehensive coverage is a type of first-party coverage wherein you may make a claim against your own policy as a result of damage to your vehicle. If your vehicle was damaged in a collision and you do not wish to or cannot assert a claim against the other party (or if you were at fault), then you may make a claim against your own policy under your collision coverage. Your insurance company will then pay you for the repair cost of your vehicle. In the event your vehicle is totaled, it will pay you the fair market value for that vehicle. If someone other than you was at fault, your insurance company may then have a right of recovery against that other driver. Most forms of collision coverage do carry a deductible. This means that you would only be compensated by your insurance carrier for the amount of money that exceeded your deductible amount.

Auto insurance coverage also offers what is referred to as medical expense coverage or personal injury protection coverage. This is a type of first-party coverage wherein you may make a claim against your own insurance company for medical expenses incurred as a result of a collision. If you are injured in an automobile collision while in your car, you can make a claim against your policy for payment of your medical expenses to the extent that they were reasonable and necessary as a result of this collision. If you are a passenger in someone else’s vehicle, then, assuming there is medical payments coverage for the vehicle you are riding in, you can also make a claim for medical payments under that policy. You may be able to make a claim for medical payments under both your policy and the policy of the vehicle you are riding in.

Another form of coverage under a typical automobile insurance policy is uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist coverage. This is a very important form of coverage because it protects you in the event that you are involved in a collision that is the fault of an uninsured or underinsured motorist. Example: Suppose you are hit from the rear by a vehicle that is uninsured and you are injured. You could sue the driver of that striking vehicle, but he or she may have no assets to pay any judgment that you may obtain against him or her. In that instance, your own uninsured motorist coverage would apply. In such an event your insurance company could essentially step in and defend that uninsured motorist, or at least take a position that is contrary to you, by challenging your claims for uninsured motorist benefits. The same basic principle would apply if that striking vehicle was underinsured. Example: Suppose the vehicle that struck you from behind has twenty-five thousand dollars in coverage but your medical expenses as a result of the collision are fifty thousand dollars. The striking motorist would then be underinsured. If you got a judgment for your medical expenses, he or she may not be able to pay it. His or her insurance policy would pay the first twenty-five thousand dollars, but anything beyond that would be covered by your policy to the extent that you had underinsured motorist coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage is a very broad form of coverage. Even if you are a bicyclist or a pedestrian struck by an uninsured motorist (or by a hit-and-run motorist), you may make a claim for and recover under your own uninsured motorist coverage. If you are struck by a hit-and-run motorist, you may make a claim under your own uninsured motorist coverage.

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As citizens, we all have an obligation to serve as jurors when summoned. Your summons to appear as a juror may come from a state court or from a federal court. Jurors are chosen by different means in different jurisdictions. Some jurisdictions draw from records of the Department of Motor Vehicles, property owner records, and voting records. Other jurisdictions may draw from only one or two of these things. Lawyers and judges have debated the merits of how jurors should be chosen for many years. Most judges probably think that jurors should be drawn from voting lists and also from property ownership roles because that tends to produce a group of potential jurors that are more involved in the community. People that are simply listed with the Department of Motor Vehicles as being licensed drivers but who are not voters or property owners may be less involved in their community.

The merits of the respective positions on that issue lay in the eyes of the beholder. In any event, if you are called as a juror, you must respond unless you are subject to one of the exemptions that apply in your jurisdiction. Over the last several years, the number of exemptions that have applied has been narrowed in most states. It used to be that the exemptions were so broad that the court frequently was left with the only eligible jurors being housewives. That is not in any way to diminish the ability of housewives to decide the merits of the litigation, but the goal of a jury trial is to provide a trial by one’s peers. That is not accomplished if the jury is limited to a narrow segment of the community.

When you are called as a juror, you will have the opportunity to state any particular problems you may have with serving. In most instances, however, unless the reason you cannot serve is extremely compelling and virtually of an emergency nature, then your excuse for not serving will likely be rejected by the court. Your initial selection for service in a courtroom is a matter of a random draw. A certain number of jurors will be sent to a particular courtroom assigned to a judge who has been assigned a particular case. Once you are sent to that courtroom, you may be asked certain preliminary questions that are designed to determine whether there is something that would automatically disqualify you from jury service. Then the lawyers (or, in some cases, the judge) will have the opportunity to conduct what is called voir dire, a questioning process to determine whether you have any particular bias or interest in the outcome of the case. If you do, you may be dismissed from service for that reason. If a case is going to last for several days, alternate jurors may be chosen. Typically, those alternate jurors will not be identified to the jury members themselves, since the knowledge that you were an alternate may affect the level of attention that you would apply to the case. Once all of the evidence is concluded and the closing arguments have been completed, the alternate jurors may be excused.

One thing that frequently comes up during the course of jury service is whether jurors are allowed to take notes or to ask questions during the proceeding. That is a matter of discretion of the individual judge and can vary dramatically from state to state and from courtroom to courtroom. Some judges allow jurors to take notes; others do not. Some judges allow jurors to ask questions, while others do not. Some judges allow jurors to take notes; others do not. The logic behind the jury system is this: since the parties themselves are not able to resolve the particular dispute that has been brought to the courtroom, the best way to resolve the dispute is to have a group of unbiased citizens hear the evidence (in an objective fashion) and then decide that case fairly, based solely upon the evidence presented to them in the courtroom.

Trial lawyers will tell you that the jury system is the great equalizer. The poorest citizen in this country can sue the mightiest corporation, and when those two parties come before a jury, they are equal. The jury is to treat each party with the same respect and attention. The proponents of tort reform maintain that the jury system is a system that has gone awry. They maintain that jurors frequently award outlandish sums for ridiculous cases. Although it is not unheard of that juries do sometimes run away, that is very much the exception. Even if the jury does do something that is contrary to the evidence and the law as given to them, the trial judge always has the authority to correct that by reversing the jury verdict in a criminal case if the defendant was wrongfully convicted or in a civil case by reducing the amount of the verdict if it is too high.

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Why do I need a lawyer?
With the help of an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer, you can greatly increase your chances of receiving compensation for your injuries and losses resulting from your accident. At our Law Office, the legal team has the experience that you are looking for along with an aggressive attitude toward your case. Your lawyer should fight for your rights and advocate your best interests.

What should I do if I was injured in a motorcycle crash?
As soon as you have received the proper medical attention, it is very important that you speak with a lawyer who can help you. If you believe that you were not at fault in the accident and you were severely injured, you could be entitled to compensation. If you have any questions about whether you have a lawsuit, please contact our Law Office. Our attorneys are very familiar with motorcycle accident cases and they will be able to give you the answers you need.

What if my family member was killed in a motorcycle accident that was not his or her fault?
Though nothing could ever compensate you for the death of a family member, filing a wrongful death suit could be an option. Not only could you be monetarily compensated for any expenses resulting from your loved one’s death, but you could also recover damages for non-financial losses such as loss of companionship, suffering, and emotional trauma.

What can I be compensated for if my case is successful?
You could recover compensation for any and all financial hardships brought upon by the injury. Non-financial losses can be recovered as well. For example, you could be entitled to receive monetary compensation for your emotional suffering, loss of consortium, loss of companionship, loss of enjoyment of life, pain and mental suffering. Our associates will work tirelessly with the ultimate goal of getting you the maximum amount of compensation.

What if the person who hit me was driving drunk?
Not only is drunk driving illegal, but it is also extremely dangerous. If you were seriously injured due to a drunk driver, you could recover compensation for your injuries. It is crucial that you speak with a lawyer who is familiar with motorcycle accident law in Texas. You can get the help you need at our Law Office.

What areas can your Law Office help me with?
Our legal team can offer you legal support and information in many areas of motorcycle accident law. Contact our Motorcycle Crash Lawyers if you have been injured in a motorbike collision in Florida. If you have been injured in a motorcycle accident, you are wise to consider hiring a personal injury lawyer after you were involved in the accident. However, first things first, you need to seek medical attention for your injuries. Hopefully, you were taken by ambulance from the scene of the accident to a local hospital’s emergency room. Do not be concerned about any of the medical bills. The at-fault driver’s auto insurance company should pay for all of your medical bills, your emergency room bill, doctors bill, and ambulance bill. You also deserve compensation for any lost wages as well as compensation for pain and suffering resulting from the car accident. Additionally, if you are still in pain, discomfort, or suffering from soreness or stiffness, get subsequent medical treatment through doctors you know. You may need an MRI of a part of your body, such as your neck, back, leg, or arm that will be done at no cost to you either. Take care of yourself first and get on a medical treatment plan while you search for a personal injury lawyer after your accident.

When searching for a personal injury lawyer who is right for you, contact as many local personal injury lawyers as you wish and go with the one with which you are most comfortable. Ask any question that comes to mind. As a personal injury client, after suffering the traumatic event of being injured in an auto accident, you should feel comfortable enough with your personal injury lawyer to ask anything. Look over each personal injury lawyer’s website. Watch informational videos by personal injury lawyers which will help you get to know that personal injury lawyer’s demeanor, character, approach as well as other important traits you may be looking for in the personal injury lawyer you want to hire. Some good traits to look for in a personal injury lawyer are honesty, compassion, caring, feisty, focus, diligence, and invigoration by working on personal injury cases. Obviously, that is not an exhaustive list of positive traits to look for when searching to hire a personal injury lawyer to handle your personal injury case.

Also, important to mention, personal injury lawyers are compensated on a contingency fee, which means you do not pay the personal injury lawyer an hourly rate or retainer fee to work on your case. The personal injury lawyer only receives payment from the opposing insurance company if there is a settlement offer that is acceptable to you or a jury verdict after a trial. Keep in mind during your search for a personal injury lawyer that you are too important to just be considered a number, you are too important to be treated as just another client and your personal injury claim should be so important to you that you diligently pursue the personal injury lawyer you believe is right for you, who will fight to get the compensation you deserve.

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The whiplash injury is a frequently used non-medical term for what is the most common neck injury suffered in an automobile, car, motorcycle, or bicycle accident. Insurance industry lies, as well as false and deceitful advertising and information published by automobile insurance companies, have made this type of personal injury to be one often perceived by the public as exaggerated or even faked. Insurance companies try to prevent people who suffer this pain from putting in a claim by demeaning the injury and the person feeling it. They use false medical studies and information and even use paid-for experts, to diminish and deny payments they owe people.

Insurance companies have well-developed schemes to deceive and cheat car accident victims. Do not be fooled by the apparently kind and trustworthy injury adjuster! They are trained to con the injured accident victim into trusting them and after the insurance company has gained the trust of the injured person, they then reduce or deny payment!

They use many different types of pretexts to deny payment to an injured person. They may claim to have hired a so-called biomechanical engineer who determines they were not hurt. For a few hundred dollars, these fake scientists will send out a false canned report, dismissing the injury as not having occurred. Insurance companies even hire doctors and pay them thousands of dollars to write reports stating a person is not injured. Some of these reports are made by doctors who have never even examined the person! A competent car accident lawyer can and will spot these tricks, and warn his or her client, and take steps to stop the insurance company’s schemes.

Getting proper medical care and regaining your health should be the most important concern if you have been injured in a motor vehicle accident. Do not let insurance company schemes alter or stop you from getting proper medical care.

An injured person should never feel embarrassed or afraid to tell their doctor and to seek immediate treatment for a whiplash injury. These injuries can be very devastating, and if untreated, can become permanent. The insurance industry has spent millions of dollars over the years in spreading false information to convince the public that these types of injuries are not real, not because such injuries are in fact fake, but because they want to pocket the money they owe injured people. The automobile insurance companies reap undeserved windfall profits by not having to pay injured auto accident victims who have suffered these sometimes devastating whiplash injuries. Anyone who has suffered a neck strain or sprain injury, i.e., whiplash, knows that not only are such injuries very real, but they have a tremendously harmful impact on a person’s ability to perform their everyday life activities.

Even a short delay in seeking legal advice can cause a whiplash injured person to fall prey to the sophisticated tactics of the insurance company. Waiting to seek legal advice can mean the insurance company will have already gained the upper hand by the time an attorney recognizes and informs you of the tactics being used against you.

A personal injury lawyer should always be willing to give a free consultation so delay in seeking legal advice makes no sense.

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Have you (or your loved one) suffered a brain injury?

In the field of personal injury law, the proof and recovery of damages for a brain injury many consider being the most difficult case of all. This is due to a variety of reasons, sometimes from the failure of the emergency room doctor to initially recognize the injury, or even for the failure of the subsequent treating physician to fully appreciate the nature and extent of the injury. To compound this problem, insurance companies have become very sophisticated in the tactics that they utilize to minimize the actual impact of a brain injury on a person through the use of paid company doctors who are often experts at confusing not only the onset of the symptoms but the actual nature and extent of the symptoms.

Brain injuries can often be very subtle and even though they may be termed mild, recent medical developments have shown that there really is no such thing as a mild brain injury. Even so-called mild brain injuries, such as concussions, can have prolonged and devastating effects on a person’s life, it can change their personality, their family life, their ability to work, or even perform their jobs.

Oftentimes individuals with brain injuries are not able to remember many of the events of the accident or the onset of symptoms, they frequently even deny the existence of problems, and family members are left to wonder what has happened to their loved one. They may become angry or frustrated, lethargic, clumsy, have headaches (even mild ones), sensitive to light, nauseous (even vomiting), and often times do not have any specific complaint, but only recognize a general feeling of illness, not feeling well, and/or that something is wrong. Some or all of these things are common results of what has previously been called a mild brain injury.

Many times, an emergency room physician or a primary care physician will only do what is called a gross neurological exam. While this exam may be sufficient to disclose and deal with the emergency situation (moderate, severe, or acute bleeding into the cranial cavity), such exams are not designed to diagnose and find more subtle and less obvious neurological injuries or deficits. A more detailed or so-called fine neurological examination needs to be done by a qualified physician in neurology to discover these more subtle neurological problems. While the gross neurological exam will often diagnose the immediate life-threatening neurological problem, the more subtle, life-altering fine neurological deficits will often not be apparent with just a gross neurological examination, and medical science is learning more with its modern studies that these previously undocumented, missed, and/or ignored fine neurological deficits can have tremendously adverse consequences on a person’s quality of life. The more time that passes between the injury-causing accident and the actual assessment of these injuries, the more difficult it is to prove their relationship to the motor vehicle accident, and the easier it is for the responsible insurance company to avoid paying what it owes.

Of course, a so-called moderate or severe brain injury is more obvious. If you or your loved one have been told by a physician that you have a moderate or severe brain injury you need to take immediate action. Such injuries are devastating by their very nature, and delay in treating any brain injury, even a so-called mild brain injury, can result in symptoms that were otherwise treatable becoming permanent. Insurance companies love any delay in an injured victim seeking treatment since it allows them a multitude of nefarious tactics that become available to them to employ. In a situation of a brain injury where it may become less treatable with the passage of time, it would be particularly despicable for an insurance company to cause or encourage delay, but unfortunately the legal advantage they gain by the delay can outweigh the common human decency that should prevail.

The early diagnosis, treatment, and assessment of a brain injury are crucial to the successful prosecution of the case and the recovery of fair compensation, and the damages that are owed to the injured victim. If you have suffered any sort of head injury or trauma in a motor vehicle accident, you, or your loved one, need to be seen by trained neurologists and specialists in the field of traumatic head injuries. Furthermore, you should not delay consulting with an attorney who has substantial experience in handling brain injury cases. While an inexperienced doctor can cause you to have a less successful recovery from head trauma, it is certainly true that an inexperienced lawyer who does not recognize not only the legal issues and tactics employed to defeat your claim but is unfamiliar with the medical aspects of the case can have a very detrimental impact on the successful prosecution of your case. In choosing an attorney to represent you, or your loved one, concerning a brain injury, not only is it important that you retain counsel at the earliest possible moment, but you need to make sure that the lawyer you retain has sufficient expertise and not just personal injury law, but in the actual prosecution of brain injury cases.

Our Law Firm has successfully handled, prosecuted, and recovered millions of dollars for head trauma victims, and upon evaluating your individual case will be able to promptly advise you of the necessary case strategies that need to be under taken.

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Neck injuries are probably the most common type of injury that occurs in a truck, car, automobile, bicycle, or motorcycle accident. Unfortunately, such injuries are often very difficult to treat and can produce very devastating consequences.

Of course, any fracture to the neck has the potential for catastrophic consequences. Depending upon the level of the cervical spine that is broken, any involvement of the spinal cord or nerves at any cervical (neck) level has the potential for death and paralysis. It is crucial that the best medical advice be utilized by any injured accident victim who has suffered such an injury, since there is very little room for error, and any mistake can literally ruin the person’s life. A competent personal injury or accident attorney will be able to assess whether or not an injured person is receiving the best care, and if you, as an injured person, have to ask your attorney for that assessment, you should have immediate concerns about the attorneys own competence, or at the very least, commitment to helping the injured client. A personal injury lawyer should always be involved in determining whether or not his or her injured client is receiving proper and personal attention for the injury from the treating doctors and hospitals.

It is also common for health insurance companies to interfere in the treatment of an injured automobile accident victim, and try to save money for themselves by limiting the care given by hospitals and treating doctors. Health insurance companies often try to stop or discourage doctors from prescribing needed physical therapy, CT, and MRI Scans, and will even deny needed surgery or palliative treatment, leaving the injured car accident victim to suffer, perhaps permanently.

The neck strain/sprain, commonly referred to as a whiplash injury, is the most common neck injury suffered in an automobile, bicycle accident, or bicycle accident. Propaganda and outright false and deceitful advertising and information publicized by the automobile insurance industry has stigmatized and made this type of personal injury to be one often perceived as unreal, exaggerated, or faked by someone suffering from it. This is the injury that the insurance companies most commonly fight and reduce payments owed to injured auto accident victims because insurance companies have well-developed schemes to deceive and cheat car accident victims. Do not be fooled by the apparently kind and trustworthy injury adjuster! They are trained to con the injured accident victim into trusting them and after the insurance company has tricked or deceived the injured person, they reduce or deny payment! A competent lawyer can and will spot these tricks, and warn his or her client, and take steps to stop the insurance company’s schemes.

An injured person should never feel embarrassed or afraid to tell their doctor and to seek immediate treatment for a whiplash neck injury. These injuries can be very devastating in themselves, and if untreated, can become chronic and lifelong. The insurance industry has spent millions of dollars over the years in spreading false information to convince the public that these types of injuries are not real, not because such injuries are in fact unreal or faked, but because of the difficulty in diagnosing them, especially with a delay in treatment. The automobile and truck insurance companies then pocket undeserved windfall profits by not having to pay injured car and truck accident victims who have suffered these neck injuries. Anyone who has suffered a neck strain or sprain injury, i.e., whiplash, knows that not only are such injuries very real, but they have a tremendously harmful impact on a person’s ability to perform their everyday life activities.

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Insurance companies employ a variety of tricks and schemes to avoid or reduce payments owed to an injured person. It is impossible to list or fully explain each and every one of their tactics. The intention of the following list, however, is to provide you with some warning when you see the following schemes being implemented in your case.

1. A TELEPHONE CALL WITH THE INSURANCE COMPANY IN WHICH THEY INFORM YOU THAT THE CALL IS BEING MONITORED FOR SO-CALLED TRAINING OR QUALITY CONTROL PURPOSES. This is nothing more than a clever way to violate your privacy rights and they are in fact recording your phone call. The law requires that you consent to the recording of the call, however, they get around this requirement by informing you of the monitoring and if you do not object, they will claim that you impliedly consented to the recording. Why are they recording your phone call? They alleged reason is to train or maintain quality control, but the actual reason is that in these phone calls they will often ask you what appear to be innocent questions, but in fact are designed to trap you into making a mistake which they can exploit in defending your claim. When they ask you to describe the accident, it is not to educate them concerning the facts of the case. They have contact with their insured, and if there has been a police report, they have the report to review. What information are you going to add to make them pay a claim that they would other wise deny? If their insured has admitted fault to them, the only reason that they would want a statement from you is to see if you say something inadvertently that can allow them to evade payment. If their insured has not admitted responsibility, it is rather naive to expect that your different version is going to encourage the insurance company to pay a claim which their insured has conveniently given them an excuse to deny. In summary, there is no advantage to you whatsoever to give any recorded statements to any insurance company, unless you are represented by counsel at the time of the recording. It should also be pointed out that having recorded your statement, they will almost always refuse to provide you with a copy of the statement. They will certainly refuse to provide you with a copy of their insureds statement. Since you do not have access to the statement, you should also consider the possibility that your statement, since it is completely within the control of the company that owes you payment, can be altered and/or edited, or perhaps conveniently lost, in the event that it is to their advantage. Never give a recorded statement when you do not have simultaneous access to the recording to guarantee that it is not altered or edited to your disadvantage.

2. THE INSURANCE COMPANY SPECIFICALLY ASKS YOU TO DESCRIBE THE ACCIDENT AND GIVE THEM A TAPE-RECORDED STATEMENT. Item number one is where they are surreptitiously recording you and most people do not recognize that such is taking place. This is a different situation, i.e., the insurance company is specifically informing you that they need to take a recorded statement. They like to use the word need or sometimes tell you that a statement is required. This is absolutely untrue. You are under no obligation nor legally required to provide a recorded statement to an insurance company. Most significantly, though, the fact that they are formally requesting a statement from you is the clearest possible indication to you that they are looking for a way to get out of paying your claim. There is really nothing you can say that’s going to make an insurance company change its mind and go against its insureds or its belief that it can get out of paying your claim. The request for the statement is actually part of the implementation of a plan or decision to not pay your claim. It is a clear warning sign that you are looking at future problems to obtain the fair payment of your claim from the insurance company. Giving the statement can hurt your case and the chances of it providing any help are almost non-existent.

3. THE POLICE REFUSED TO RESPOND TO THE ACCIDENT AND WOULD NOT MAKE A POLICE REPORT. If you have been in an accident and the police refuse to come out and prepare a report, you are at substantial risk of having the insurance company for the party that caused the accident to delay the processing of your claim and eventually deny payment. Without a properly prepared police report, insurance companies will often work with their insureds to create a situation of it being your word against the word of their insured. Even if the other party apologized and admitted fault for the accident, with no police report an insurance company will often work with their insured to later deny such statements, and then contend that you, or someone other than their insured, is responsible for the accident, thereby evading the payment to you which is due. This is sadly a very common occurrence, and in this office alone we will review in a year’s time literally dozens of cases in which this takes place. IF THE POLICE DID NOT MAKE A REPORT FOR YOUR ACCIDENT IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU SEEK LEGAL COUNSEL IMMEDIATELY AND DO NOT DELAY OR WAIT FOR THE OTHER INSURANCE CARRIER TO ACT!

4. THE INSURANCE COMPANY ASKED YOU TO DISCLOSE YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE NOT A MEDICARE BENEFICIARY. Many insurance companies are openly lying to people and telling them that because of a recent change in the Medicare law they are required to obtain Social Security Numbers from all accident victims. This is absolutely untrue! The recent change to the Medicare law only requires you to disclose your Social Security Number in the event that you are, or have been, a Medicare beneficiary. There is a specific form for this disclosure published by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services which specifically states that you are not required to provide your Social Security Number if you are not now, or have never been a Medicare beneficiary. Incredibly, many insurance companies are altering this form to delete this information, and are instead fraudulently obtaining Social Security Numbers to which they are not entitled. You should only disclose your Social Security Number to an insurance company after you have consulted with counsel and made an informed decision concerning such. In this age of identity theft, it can be very risky to disclose your Social Security Number, especially to a company that has made no guarantees regarding the safeguarding of that information, nor specified what use they will make of that information.

5. YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THE INSURANCE COMPANY IS INVESTIGATING YOUR CLAIM. This is not really a warning sign, rather, it is a direct statement that they are actively seeking to find ways to not pay you the compensation you are due. If you are verbally told or receive a letter stating that they are still investigating your claim, you should immediately seek the advice of counsel.

6. AS PART OF THE PROCESSING OF YOUR PROPERTY DAMAGE CLAIM THE INSURANCE COMPANY IS WORKING WITH THE BODY SHOP TO USE REPLACEMENT PARTS THAT ARE NOT MANUFACTURED BY YOUR SPECIFIC CAR MANUFACTURER, AND INSTEAD, THEY ARE USING SO-CALLED AFTER-MARKET PARTS. The use of such parts on your automobile will not be warrantied by the automobile manufacturer and they often do not meet manufacturer specifications. Accordingly, the part can fail at some time in the future, and you will have little or no practical recourse against the insurance company or the body shop, and frequently the after-market manufacturer’s warranty is of such a short duration that it is practically meaningless. If you are dealing with an insurance company that cuts corners by using such parts, it is an obvious warning that they will do everything they can to minimize your bodily injury claim, as well.

7. IF YOUR CAR WAS A TOTAL LOSS AND INSTEAD OF USING THE KELLY BLUE BOOK TO DETERMINE VALUE, THE INSURANCE COMPANY USED A SO-CALLED INDEPENDENT APPRAISAL COMPANY TO DETERMINE THE VALUE OF YOUR CAR. THIS IS A CLEAR INDICATION THAT YOU ARE DEALING WITH AN INSURANCE COMPANY THAT IS WILLING TO ENGAGE IN QUESTIONABLE PRACTICES. These so-called independent appraisal companies are not as independent as they may appear. First of all, these independent appraisal companies only provide services to insurance companies. The services that they provide involve telling the insurance company how much money they owe you for your car. Their motivation is obviously to provide their client, the insurance company, the lowest possible valuation on your vehicle so as to give the insurance company the excuse to underpay you for your vehicle. If the appraisal on your car was done or is going to be done, by one of these so-called independent appraisal companies, you should regard this as a clear indication that they will use similar tricks to deny or minimize the payment they owe you for your injuries. An experienced lawyer can often look at these appraisals and show you some of the shortcuts and tricks that were used to undervalue your vehicle, and most personal injury lawyers will perform this service for you free of charge when you are consulting them on your injury case.

8. IS THE INSURANCE COMPANY GOING TO USE A COMPUTER TO CALCULATE THE AMOUNT THEY OWE YOU FOR YOUR INJURIES? If the answer to this question is yes, it is a very clear indication that the insurance company is looking to minimize the payment of your claim. If you ask the insurance company if a computer is being used to value your claim, they may well lie and tell you no, or they may provide an evasive answer. In order to pin down the insurance company, you need to get a clear, unequivocal statement from them, in writing, that a computer is not being used in any fashion to calculate any portion of what is owed, even in an advisory capacity. Some insurance companies, in order to avoid potential legal problems, will state that they only use a computer as part of an advisory process, or as some sort of a tool, as part of an overall evaluation. This is a complete evasion of the truth, and you should not deal with any insurance company once you have any suspicion that instead of a complete evaluation of your individual situation, they will be submitting it in any fashion to a computer. The obvious problem with having a computer being used in the valuation of your claim is that the insurance company then has complete control over the payment. They can program their computer to produce any valuation or advice that the corporate hierarchy wants, thereby controlling the payment that is offered on your claim, even though the individuals controlling such payment have never specifically reviewed or considered your information. This is a despicable practice, yet it is very common, and any use of the computer in your claims process by the insurance company other than to store information is a clear warning sign that you have an insurance company that is willing to engage in a very nefarious practice and should not be trusted.

9. YOU HAVE BEEN ASKED TO SIGN FORMS AUTHORIZING THE INSURANCE COMPANY TO OBTAIN YOUR PRIVATE MEDICAL RECORDS, EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION, OR OTHER PRIVATE RECORDS. Insurance companies often offer to obtain this information, or they claim to have a need for it. Such a request should be viewed by you at all times with suspicion. First of all, you should in detail read exactly what you are authorizing them to obtain from your personal, private records. Often the so-called simple authorization and information requests by the insurance company are in fact carefully crafted, lengthy documents designed by the insurance company’s corporate lawyers to delve into areas of your life in which they have no business, but which they might later hope to utilize against you. Even if they tell you verbally what they are going to use the documents for, it is the documents themselves that control their usage, and there is no guarantee that they will not use the documents in any fashion that they think may help their cause. It is very important to know what time period you are authorizing them to utilize these documents, and are they able to use the documents to obtain information from your past to which they are not entitled, and/or how far into the future are they allowed to use the documents. In summary, if the insurance company sends you documents authorizing them to obtain the information, you should be very careful and suspicious, and understand that signing those documents and returning them to the insurance company may be a serious mistake. Insurance companies are not entitled to invade your privacy unless you give them permission. These documents are designed by the insurance company’s lawyers to let them invade your privacy, all under the guise that you have given them permission to do so. It is very dangerous to sign these pre-printed authorizations from the insurance company without being certain that you understand what they mean, what their effect is, and what is the scope and duration of their usage. Any reputable personal injury attorney will examine these documents and give you advice concerning their usage as part of an initial consultation with you concerning your claim. There should be no charge for this consultation.

10. HAS THE INSURANCE COMPANY REFUSED TO ISSUE AN ADVANCE PAYMENT FOR YOUR MEDICAL BILLS AND/OR LOST WAGES? If the insurance company refuses to issue an immediate check to pay for a medical bill that you have already incurred or lost wages that you have already suffered, this is a very clear sign that they intend to look for ways to avoid paying your claim. If you offer to give them the medical billing, but they refuse to send you a check to pay for that billing, what this can suggest is that they are in the process of preparing to fight the payment of that bill, and potentially other bills. Additionally, if you have lost time from work and they will not give you prompt payment for those lost wages, you should certainly interpret this to mean that you are going to have your wage loss questioned in the future. If there is going to be a problem concerning payment for your bills, it is important that you seek legal counsel immediately because there are certain tricks that insurance companies use to avoid paying medical bills and lost wages and an experienced attorney can often stop these tactics before the insurance company has a chance to implement them. It is important to note that some insurance companies will tell you that they are not allowed to pay for medical bills or lost wages in advance. They may provide you with some suggestions that the law does not permit it. Others may tell you that it is against policy (meaning the insurance company’s own internal policy), or that they need or require something before payment can be issued. The idea that they need or require something other than the medical billing or wage loss verification before issuing payment, to the extent that it suggests that there is such a legal requirement is absolutely false. There is no law that prohibits an insurance company from immediately paying your medical bill and/or compensating you for your lost wages. If the insurance company has a policy where it will not issue such payment, or you get the run around that they need or require some additional information or documentation, this is nothing more than an excuse to delay, and perhaps eventually deny payment to you. They do not need or require anything once you have shown them your medical bill or paystub or similar document showing your lost wages. What they really mean by need or require is that they want something else, and this want is part of an ongoing strategy of delaying payment so that they may retain the money as long as possible, drawing interest and income off of it at your expense. If the insurance company refuses to issue an advance payment to you, it is an immediate warning sign that you need to consult with an attorney, and depending upon what is determined in your consultation with that attorney, you may need to immediately retain a lawyer.

11. HAS THE INSURANCE COMPANY REFUSED TO IMMEDIATELY APPROVE MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR YOU, AND CONTACT YOUR TREATING DOCTOR TO SET UP A DIRECT BILLING AND PAYMENT SYSTEM TO THE DOCTOR? If the insurance company will not contact your doctor and set up an agreement whereby the doctor may bill them directly and have your doctor receive immediate payment upon such billing during the course of your treatment, this is yet another warning sign that the insurance company is looking for a way to delay, deny, or minimize the compensation due you. There is no law that prevents an insurance company from setting up direct billing and payment with an injured victim’s hospital and/or doctors. If they tell you that they cannot do that, or it is against the rules to do that, or it is against their policy to do that, they are not accurately stating to you any law. The law prevents no such thing. They are really just telling you what their company rule is, which should inform you that such a company is in the business of avoiding payment of claims to injured victims to whom it knows it owes payment. This is another warning sign that you should at least consult with an attorney concerning your particular situation, and then you can decide whether or not to retain a lawyer at that time.

12. BE VERY CAREFUL IF YOU CHOOSE TO GET A RENTAL CAR! There are a number of ways and schemes that insurance companies use to avoid paying all or part of your rental car charges. Furthermore, many insurance companies enter into agreements with rental car companies which are designed to allow the insurance company to avoid payment of everything that is owed to you, yet the rental car company will still look to you and obtain payment from you for the rental car. There are also issues concerning what insurance coverage you may need to have if you rent a vehicle. All of these problems still exist, even if the insurance company is supposedly on direct billing from the rental car company! Even in cases where the rental car company is directly billing the insurance company, there are situations in which you may be forced into paying the rental car bill. Every case has to be individually analyzed and it is impossible in this forum to provide the individualized advice that you need to know concerning renting a car following a motor vehicle accident. Our law firm, and most law firms, will provide a free legal analysis of your rental car situation at the time of your free consultation concerning your bodily injury claim. Oftentimes, even if you are already in the midst of driving a rental car the situation can be fixed by the attorney, and the insurance company’s schemes stopped if it is handled promptly and before fully implemented. The rental car companies get a lot of business referred to them by insurance companies so they are very willing to work with the insurance companies to the disadvantage of you, their one-time customer. The watchword is to be very careful in dealing with both the insurance company and the rental car company.

ADDITIONAL WARNING SIGNS. The foregoing list of warning signs that an insurance company is potentially in the midst of a scheme to deny payment to you for what you are owed is not a complete list. It is impossible to list all of the many tactics and schemes that insurance companies have learned and implemented over the years in the training of their adjusters. You may well be subjected to a scheme that is not described in the foregoing list. If you have already been cheated we would appreciate knowing your story, and if it is a scheme that we have not seen over the years you can help other consumers by telling us about it, and letting it be added to the list. If the insurance company is in the midst of a scheme with you presently, it is possible that simply consulting with an attorney will raise an alert to the attorney about the problem, and sometimes the attorney can fix the problem or stop the scheme. Again, any reputable attorney will provide you with a free consultation for your bodily injury claim and as part of that consultation should be more than willing to discuss with you any other issues that are part of your injury claim.

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Choosing the right personal injury attorney may be the most important decision an injured person makes in the presentation of a bodily injury claim following an automobile accident, or any other personal or bodily injury claims, such as motorcycle, pedestrian, truck, or bike accidents.

Unfortunately, there are very few legal rules in place to guarantee that a lawyer holding themselves out as an expert in personal injury litigation is in fact qualified in the field. Thousands of attorneys in Texas are fully licensed in all areas of law, but only about 1.3% are officially “certified” specialists in personal injury trial law.

This is true even if they have never handled, or only occasionally have handled, an accident injury case previously.

Incredibly, it is also true even if the attorney has had a historic lack of success in settling or winning at trial liability injury lawsuits! The success of the lawyer in handling prior cases is not monitored at all, and even an attorney who has poorly handled or unsuccessfully handled prior personal injury cases is still able to hold themselves out as qualified or an expert in the personal injury field. There are huge differences in the knowledge needed to handle different types of accidents. An accident involving two or more automobiles, compared to an accident involving a truck, bicycle, or a pedestrian involve very different types of investigation and legal analysis! Proving liability or responsibility for accidents involving big rig trucks is quite different than proving liability in a more common car or motor vehicle accident. A pedestrian case creates different and significant issues.

There are several questions that you should ask of the attorney you are considering hiring to handle your personal injury case. Some of these questions are as follows:

1. How many personal injury cases has the attorney actually handled?

2. How many personal injury cases has the lawyer actually taken to trial? How many of these cases did the attorney actually win?

3. How does the attorney evaluate the case for the purposes of arriving at a dollar value?

4. Is the attorney familiar with what the insurance company on the other side does in terms of handling a bodily injury claim? Insurance companies have some very unique characteristics in how they handle claims, and an experienced injury lawyer will be able to predict some of the tactics and schemes that the insurance company will use against the injured client. This knowledge on the part of the attorney should always be true for the major insurance companies and almost always true for even the smaller, substandard insurance companies if the attorney is really experienced and an expert in the field. The level of knowledge the attorney has in this area is a very good indication of how much experience the attorney actually has, since a lawyer with experience in a large number of cases will have developed knowledge about each insurance companys habits and ways to get out of paying what it owes.

Perhaps the most important admonition for an injured person to be concerned with is the attorney who inflates the value of the case in the first interview, and who assures the client that there is little to be concerned about with the case. This is an all too common practice on the part of attorneys because they think that inflating the value of the case will make the client want to hire them, and then later when there are problems, it is often perceived too late for the client to make a different choice. Insurance companies have a wide range of sophisticated tactics and schemes to minimize or defeat the most valid of cases, and unfortunately, because the judges and courts, as well as the politicians, have been heavily influenced by insurance companies, the laws have changed in the last couple of decades to take away the rights of the injured victim, and give insurance companies many legal advantages, all to the detriment of the injured victim.

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Many people were speeding, were not paying attention to road conditions, failed to signal and/or had inoperable lights on the car, or perhaps failed to take proper evasive actions. Our Law Firm has personally handled cases involving rear-end automobile accidents in which the insurance company claimed an injured victim who was stopped at a red light was negligent for failing to get out of the way of a 55-mile-an-hour vehicle speeding up and hitting her from behind. They will sometimes hire disreputable physicists or scientists to engage in false physics calculations to give them a reason to deny full payment. Sometimes an injured victim, in an honest mistake, will give wrong estimates concerning times, distances, and speeds involved, which the insurance companies will then jump on to dispute the claim. An injured victim NEVER gives a recorded statement to an insurance company without first consulting with counsel since the insurance industry is an expert at enticing innocent victims into giving statements that the insurance company can twist or distort into use against the injured victim.

DENYING FULL PAYMENT FOR THE INJURED VICTIMS MEDICAL BILLS: Many injured people are misled after having received a letter from the insurance company informing them that the insurance company has accepted responsibility for payment of the medical bills incurred by the injured person as a result of the motor vehicle accident. What the insurance company does not tell you, however, is that this is not a guarantee that any and all bills that you incur will be paid by them. They will review every bill to see if they can get out of paying it through a variety of tactics. The most common tactic is to claim that the bill is not reasonable. Put another way, the insurance company will contend that the doctor charged too much, and the insurance company will only pay what they deem reasonable, and you will be left having to pay the doctor or hospital the balance. Frequently, the insurance company will hire a so-called independent medical review company that issues a report stating that the doctor’s charges were not reasonable and the insurance company is not responsible for payment. Though the insurance companies claim these medical reviews are independent of them, this is far from an accurate or fair statement. Medical review companies are in the business of issuing reports to insurance companies concerning whether or not the insurance company owes payment for a medical bill, and if so, how much they should pay for the bill. These companies have an inherent motive to issue a report telling the insurance company that the bills are inflated and that the company is only responsible for a much smaller payment. These companies know that they will not get repeat business from the insurance companies if they issue any frequency reports that tell the insurance company that they owe full payment of the billing. They know that such reports can cause the insurance company to stop using their services, or to transfer to another medical billing review service. In fact, it is this competitiveness between the medical review companies that are even more damaging to the consumer, since each one has a motive to outbid the others in terms of pricing at the lowest possible rate for bills to be paid by the insurance company. This unfair and dishonest tactic results in millions of dollars of profit for the insurance industry.

DENYING PAYMENT OF YOUR BILL BECAUSE IT WAS NOT MEDICALLY NECESSARY: Another common tactic that insurance companies use to pay bills that an injured victim has incurred is to claim that the treatment rendered by the doctor was not medically necessary, or not related to the treatment for the motor vehicle accident. Insurance companies, again, will often obtain reports stating that the injured person did not really need this treatment, and therefore payment of the entire billing will be denied by the insurance company. Simply relying on your doctor’s advice in recommending the treatment will not protect the injured victim, since the insurance companies simply claim that the doctor was giving wrong advice, and they will often back this up with reports from their medical reviewers. Like denying payment under an allegation that billing is unreasonable, denying payment due to a claim that service and billing were not medically necessary, is a practice that benefits the insurance industry in terms of profits of millions of dollars on an annual basis.

REDUCING YOUR INJURY CLAIM PAYMENT: It is impossible in this forum to detail all of the nefarious tactics that insurance companies use to deny injured people full and fair compensation for injuries they have received in an auto accident. One glaring example, and perhaps the most despicable, is their use of computer software systems to place a value on a claim. For example, one such software system is called Colossus. What the Colossus, and similar software systems do is place a value on your claim by virtue of data that is input into the computer by the adjuster. The evil aspect of such a system is that it is subject to terrible abuse. The insurance company is able to program the system so that it will produce any value that the insurance company wishes to produce. If the insurance company programs the computer to say that having your leg chopped off is worth $5.00, then the computer will only authorize the adjuster to pay $5.00 on such a claim. While this is obviously extreme and absurd, it nevertheless illustrates the problems and abuses inherent in such a system. Unfortunately, the system can be abused on both ends. An adjuster can deliberately, or even negligently, put in wrong information, thereby producing a lower claim payment. Failing or refusing to input all relevant injury data can seriously lower the claim payment. Insurance companies often claim that they only use these computer programs as a tool or a piece of information prior to assigning a claim payment. If it were true that these computer programs play a minor part in the evaluation of your claim, why do the insurance companies use them, and more importantly, why do they pay so much for them? The foregoing discussion is but a brief analysis of the complexities of handling an auto insurance claim. Recognizing the abusive tactics of an insurance company early in a case can sometimes stop it, or at least minimize its impact upon you. Attorneys who practice in the field of personal injury almost always do so on a contingency basis. This means they will not charge you unless and until there is a recovery. Most importantly, they will not charge you for an initial consultation to discuss your case. In fact, you should never consult with a personal injury attorney who charges you for simply meeting with you to discuss the merits of your case. Since an initial consultation with an attorney does not cost anything, the sooner you speak with an experienced attorney following your motor vehicle accident, the greater your ability to protect yourself from the insurance company’s tactics.

THERE ARE MANY HIDDEN PITFALLS IN HANDLING THE AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT CASE: Every automobile accident case is unique. Is the injured victim without health insurance? If the injured victim does have health insurance, is it Medicare, MediCal, private insurance, or an employer-sponsored health plan? Was there a police report? If the police did not respond, what is the state of the evidence and the ability to prove the case? Are there witnesses to the accident? What was the nature and the extent of the property damage to all of the vehicles involved in the accident? Will a physicist, accident reconstructionist, or biomechanical engineer be needed? Who is the insurance company for the responsible party? What are the tactics that they usually employ to avoid paying claims? All of these things, and many more, need to be analyzed, and at the earliest possible moment. Sometimes, delay can make it impossible to properly fight off an insurance company’s denial tactics. Do not let the insurance company discount your injury! Let our Personal Injury Law Firm worry about dealing with the insurance company! We have over 30 years of experience in successfully resolving car accident claims. Call us today to schedule your FREE consultation, why wait?

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A common error made by individuals, and even attorneys, is to evaluate a motor vehicle versus bike accident as if it involved a pedestrian. A bicyclist who is riding their bicycle is not a pedestrian; for most purposes, the bicyclist is under the same traffic rules and regulations as is the automobile. The importance of this fact is that the operating behavior of the automobile and bicyclist needs to be considered on basically an equal footing as if the accident involved two automobiles. While in some cases this will work against the bicyclist (such as if the bicyclist is riding against traffic), it more often than not works to protect the bicyclist because the bicyclist has the right of away to the road in most cases just as if the situation were if the bicyclist were operating a motor vehicle. A bicyclist hit from behind by a motor vehicle is tantamount to a rear-end type motor vehicle accident. An automobile passing a bicyclist must obey the law just as if it were passing another car. Similar rules and applications apply in terms of stop signs, yield signs, signal lights, lane right of way, and other roadway controls and conditions. Automobile drivers have a tendency to usurp the right of way owned by bicyclists and this is the cause of many accidents, including very serious ones involving injuries to the bicyclist because the bicyclist is clearly unprotected, the collision with the motor vehicle often results in devastating injuries.

While insurance companies like to blame bicyclists for collisions, thereby evading the payment that the insurance company owes to the injured bicyclist, they often do so without a reasonable or factual basis and ignore very clear traffic laws. A unique aspect to handling a bicycle case is the difference in speed, both actually and in capability between an automobile and the bicyclist. It is all too easy for an insurance company to use false calculations of speed and distance to try to blame a bicyclist for an accident really caused by their insured automobile driver. There are also significant issues to be assessed concerning visibility and it is not a proper defense by an insurance company to deny a claim payable to an injured bicyclist because of a contention that the driver did not or could not see the bicyclist because the automobile driver was looking for cars and not bicyclists. It is the duty of every car driver to keep a proper lookout, and that proper lookout, i.e., paying proper attention to the roadway and conditions, means that the driver should operate the vehicle at such a speed and pay such attention so as to be able to observe not only other automobiles but bicyclists and pedestrians. Riding a bicycle is not an invitation to a car driver to hit you because you may be harder to observe, rather, the legal operation of a bicycle imposes a duty on a car driver to carefully and properly operate their vehicle in an undistracted, attentive manner, and at a proper speed, while yielding all right of ways to which the bicyclist is entitled.

Though many motorists consider bicyclists as intruders onto the roadway, this attitude is completely wrong under the law and is the unfortunate cause of many accidents involving cars and bicyclists, with often very serious injuries as the result. If you have operated a bicycle and been injured as a result of a collision with a motor vehicle, you should not be apologetic in any fashion for choosing to operate your bicycle. The car that was operated negligently is the one who should be apologizing, not you. The insurance company that suggests to you otherwise, belittles you, or someone suggests or implies that you have fewer rights to the roadway by virtue of riding your bicycle, is really engaged in a campaign of deceit, and the obvious purpose is to evade payment to the injured bicyclist which is owed by the insurance company.

Insurance companies often go to great lengths to try to obtain tape-recorded statements from bicyclists in order to give them some excuse to deny payment of the claim. It is very easy for a bicyclist to make an innocent mistake in a statement because of the differences in speed and distance capabilities between the vehicle and bicycle, and under no circumstances should you consent to any recorded statement. In fact, you should not even discuss the facts of the accident with the other side’s insurance company without first having obtained a free consultation from an experienced personal injury attorney who handles bicycle accident cases.

Our law firm has over 30 years of experience in successfully resolving bicycle accident injury claims. Call us today to schedule your FREE consultation! Why wait? The initial consultation costs you nothing! Delay can cost you everything!!

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