Personal Injury

Whether you’ve been injured in an auto-collision, slip & fall, or hurt at work, the process of recovering your losses can be complicated, and more so than often, seem unfair.

Either through your own personal experience, or through someone you know, most of us have been stung by the frustration of just trying to become whole again.  Through no fault of your own, your life can be turned upside down because of someone else’s negligence.

Let’ say you’ve been hurt in a rear-end collision.  You were passing through an intersection on a green light and someone makes an unsafe left turn in front of you, causing a collision that damages your car and send you to the hospital.  A reasonable person would expect to be compensated for lost wages, medical expenses, property damage, and pain and suffering by the insurance company of the at-fault party.

Unfortunately, 9 out of 10 times, injured victims always get the “short end of the stick”.   The average person’s lack of understanding of the claims process makes them vulnerable and puts them at a huge disadvantage against insurance companies.  It is an unfair fight.  It’s you against the INSURANCE COMPANY.  David vs Goliath.  David might have slain Goliath in the story, but in the real world, Goliath eats David’s lunch and a sling shot is not going to do any good.

True Story:  We had three clients who were pedestrians, crossing the street, when a drunk driver struck them.  They were fortunate to not have been killed.  The drunk driver fled the scene but was apprehended when he tried to report his car stolen to avoid liability.  We presented a bodily claim on behalf of the clients.  The insurance company only offered $4,000 per person (which did not even cover the medical bills).  When we challenged them on the low amount the adjuster actually said, “it was your client’s fault for being in the street.”   WOW!  We could not believe the adjuster said that but this was a classic tactic of the insurance companies to avoid paying claims by assigning liability to the innocent “fault free” injured party.

We promptly filed suit and the lawyer for the insurance company paid the policy limit without an argument.  This goes to show that a lawyer who represents clients in personal injury MUST be willing to file suit and litigate cases just to teach the insurance companies that they cannot get away with unfair settlement practices.

Simply put, insurance companies are in the business of making a profit by investing the money that you pay in premiums.  The less they pay out in claims, the more they have to invest.

Time and time again injured victims are cheated out of a fair settlement.  Insurance companies make low ball offers that do not take into account the diminished value of your damaged property.  They often fail to make a fair offer by only considering to pay for a fraction of your medical bills.  They do not put a value on the disruption to your life as result of their insured’s negligence.

Sometimes persons involved in an automobile accident try to handle the claim themselves but then later find out that the “nice person” on the phone at the insurance company is actually taking notes, based on your statements, in order to find a way to NOT pay you!  When they finally determine that they need a lawyer the damage is done.  PLEASE do not talk to the insurance company until you talk to a lawyer.