Archives for August 2015

How to Discuss your Personal Injury Claim with your lawyer.

I had a phone call earlier today from a young man who had been hurt in an automobile accident in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He already had a personal injury lawyer so I was limited in what information I could tell him. However, I knew this personal injury lawyer from when I went to law school in Lexington and I knew he had a good reputation among the attorneys in Warren County. Moreover, from the information he was telling me, I could tell that this injury attorney was properly handling the personal injury claim. Nevertheless, the young man’s phone call was justified as he was not receiving an adequate explanation as to the steps involved in the handling of a personal injury claim.

I get it. Lawyers are busy people who are constantly being pulled in five different directions. Also, even though my injured clients can contact me on my phone through texts and calls, none of us are perfect in keeping our clients informed all the time. However, you as a consumer and as the injured victim of a car wreck, have legal rights.

When you hire a personal injury lawyer, you effectively turn the handling of those legal rights over to his/her care. My point is that every person injured in a car wreck has the right to know the status of their personal injury claim stand and the game plan is for the ultimate resolution of that injury claim. I don’t care if the car wreck happens in Bowling Green, Louisville or New Albany, Indiana. All car wrecks share some common elements:

1) Who was at fault for the car wreck and what evidence do we have to prove fault?

2) By whom and how are my medical bills and lost wages going to be paid?

3) How long do I have to present my personal injury claim?

4) Can my personal injury claim be settled without a lawsuit or will I have to prove the other driver was negligent and responsible for my damages?

If you have been involved in a car wreck and whether you are representing yourself or have hired a personal injury lawyer, you need to know the answers to these questions. You are paying a personal injury lawyer the same contingency fee, usually 33.33% of the total amount recovered on your personal injury claim, whether you meet with him 1 time or 100 times. Why not make sure he has told you what you need to know so you can feel confident as to the handling of the legal claim and concentrate on getting the medical treatment you need.

Top 10 Mistakes You Can Make in Handling Your Own Automobile Injury Claim

Top 10 Mistakes You Can Make in Handling Your Own Automobile Injury Claim

10) Don’t go to the doctor. The injury claim lives and dies on the contents of your medical records. If you don’t go to the doctor, it appears you must not have been in pain.

9) Not having the right kind of insurance before the claim occurs. It is: uninsured motorist; underinsured motorist coverage and; health insurance to make sure you can get your medical expenses paid for. There is no guarantee that the at-fault driver has enough insurance coverage to satisfy your personal injury claim and this let’s us plan for worst-case scenarios.

8) Missing the Statute of Limitations. Every case has a Statute of Limitations that varies by state and the type of case. The essence is that if your claim is not filed with the proper court in the prescribed time, the claim is barred like it never existed.

7) Immediately bringing up settlement to the insurance company. It makes you look like your primary concern is money. Instead, concentrate on your injuries and do what you need to get better.

6) Don’t settle your personal injury claim too early. When an insurance company makes an offer to you immediately after the claim, they are trying to buy the risk that you may need more treatment. Don’t think that they are doing you any favors.

5) Signing documents without reading them. If you do sign a release of your personal injury claim, your claim can be done before it gets started. I always tell my clients when they are signing a release, it does not matter how severe of an injury is discovered at a later date, you cannot recover anything further on their injury claim.

4) Guessing on distances and facts. Many insurance companies want to do recorded statements with you immediately after the car wreck. Sometimes, when facts are in dispute, that can be a good way investigate the claim further. However, if you guess, those estimates may be used to determine liability for the wreck.

3) Posting facts regarding the car wreck or your injuries to Facebook. Very simply, for cases involving litigation, most defense attorneys will make you produce all your Facebook, or other social media, since the wreck. To borrow a line from the Miranda warning, whatever you say can be used against you in a court of law.

2) Not understanding that all of your previous medical history is relevant to the injury claim. Insurance companies may want several years of your medical history. The idea being that if they did not cause the injury but rather aggravated a pre-existing injury, your claim is worth less.

1) Becoming stubborn about the perceived value of your claim. Very simply, we all want to believe our own hype. A bird in the hand is always worth two in the bush and every jury verdict is a gamble. Accurately predicting what twelve people will think is difficult for the best attorneys or judges.

Analysis of the steps necessary for handling a personal injury claim stemming from a car wreck.

Today, I met with a new client who had just been in a car wreck. It was a significant wreck as the airbags of both vehicles deployed and my client was taken by EMS to the trauma unit of the University of Louisville Hospital. It was a rather interesting discussion because his sister had been in a wreck previously so she was rather savvy to the legal process involving a car wreck. However, there were some key points that an attorney, who does not handle car wrecks regularly, would have missed.

First, one of the pictures taken at the accident scene showed the at-fault driver’s license plate. As a result, I can start tracking down that person’s insurance information before the police report is even ready. Second, the car wreck happened just outside Louisville. Since Kentucky is a no-fault state, my client immediately has $10,000 of no-fault coverage, for his medical bills and lost wages, through his own insurance carrier. However, my concern is that the University of Louisville hospital bill may already be over $10,000 considering that several CT scans were performed. As a result and as allowed by the Kentucky Motor Vehicle Reparations Act, KRS 304.39 et seq., I may reserve his no-fault coverage for his lost wages until I know for sure how much his medical expenses will be.

Third, my client was in a vehicle that had just been purchased from a car dealership on a Friday evening and the accident happened on a Saturday morning. As a result, the car my client was driving had not yet been put on his friend’s insurance policy. Nevertheless, I believe that the insurance company of my client’s friend will still have to supply coverage for this wreck. While the better practice is to call your insurance company and inform them of your purchase before you take your new car off the dealer’s lot, most insurance policies have a provision wherein a newly acquired vehicle is automatically covered for an interim period. That interim period, and any other conditions that might also need to be fulfilled, can differ according to the insurance policy. However, in most circumstances, as long as you notify them of your purchase within a reasonable time period, most likely 7 to 14 days, your insurance carrier will still cover the new automobile even though they did not know about your purchase prior to the car wreck.

Lastly, if for some reason this newly acquired vehicle proves to be uninsured, I will look back to the insurance company for the automobile dealership to see if they did everything they needed to in order to transfer the risk of loss to the purchaser before the car left the lot. If the car dealership did what they were supposed to and are off the hook, I would then look for uninsured motorist coverage through my client’s own car insurance and possibly the Kentucky Assigned Claims Plan to cover his no-fault benefits.

The final point for you as a consumer is two-fold: 1) Don’t make assumptions about insurance coverage when it comes to car wrecks and; 2) Have uninsured motorist coverage on your own car insurance policy of at least $100,000 per incident.

Mr. Trump’s argument on the 14th Amendment misconstrues the U.S. Constitution.

I have been practicing personal injury law for over 20 years and in that time; I have found that I like to keep to my niche, i.e.. car wrecks as much as possible. I have tried to direct my blog to you, the consumer, and what information you may need in regard to the handling of a personal injury claim. However, after debating whether to comment for several days, I feel compelled to comment on Donald Trump’s argument about the 14^th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Mr. Trump is referring to the Citizenship Clause which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified and made part of the U.S. Constitution.

What bothers me is that a political candidate is suggesting modifying part of the U.S. Constitution that has existed for 147 years by seeking to declare it unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution can be amended if two-thirds of the U.S. Congress approve the Amendment by a joint resolution and three-fourths of the states ratify this Amendment. As I understand, thousands of amendments have been proposed but only 33 have actually been enacted. However, instead of reaching across political lines and obtain a majority support from both parties, he is stating that he and his lawyers believe the U.S. Supreme Court would find the Citizenship Clause unconstitutional.

Am I conservative? Yes! Conservative in the sense that I believe in the U.S. Constitution establishes our freedoms and that any changes to that Constitution should be strictly construed. I believe that one little document was established 228 years ago in such a manner that all citizens of the United States of America are guaranteed the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and that any changes to that document, should be strictly scrutinized.

Very simply, the men and women of our military lay down their lives every day for the principles contained in the U.S. Constitution; the primary principle being that we, as citizens of the United States, have the right to live our own lives with minimal interference by governmental authorities. The Bill of Rights, our legal system, our judicial system and both our State and Federal government are controlled by these very same principles. I am skeptical of anyone who wishes to alter the U.S. Constitution for political gain because I hold that document sacred as it why I live in the U.S. rather than some other nation.

Month: August 2015

Archives for August 2015

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