Should I Handle My Own Personal Injury Case?
As a personal injury attorney I am often asked “should I hire an attorney or handle the case myself’? Like almost everything else in the law the answer depends.
if your injuries are not too serious and if you have medical bills that are less than $1000 and the issue of who is in the right and who is in the wrong is not significantly in dispute you may very well be better off handling the case yourself. Why? Obviously you can save a legal fee (which will often be approximately one third of the total settlement amount) and you might even resolve your case faster than a lawyer would acting on your behalf. Obviously, with yourself at the helm, and with no other cases to distract you or divide your interest, you can focus on resolving your one and only a matter.
In order to do so you simply need to be organized and present the material to the insurance company in the way that they like to receive it. As I always tell my clients a good portion of my job is spent helping the defendant’s insurance adjuster do his or hers. To some extent we’re not in the “enemy making business” but in the “friend making business”. This means that it is almost always in my client’s interest to provide the defendant’s insurance adjuster with everything he or she needs. Help them to put the check marks in their boxes! Don’t embarrass them! Don’t frustrate them! Don’t tease them or draw out the matter for longer than necessary. Odds are overwhelming that the insurance adjuster is not being paid any more money to handle your individual case. He or she has hundreds of cases.
What do they need?
First if your case involved the police accident report give them the police accident report. Obtaining a police accident report whether from the local police department or from the CHP is not a monumentally difficult task. It involves writing a letter to them requesting the report along with the appropriate administrative fee. A SASE helps.
What happens if the police report is not in your favor? What if there are aspects of the police report that you disagree with? Send it anyway. One truism in the law is that it is almost impossible to hide any document. Despite what you see on TV and despite the millions of paper shredders out there I can guarantee you that 99.9% of the time the other side will have every single document you have. Sometimes before you. Sometimes after you get them. Despite your concurrence or lack thereof with teh contents of the Police report send it to the other side. You can always argue that this or that “fact” is not accurate. For what’s it’s worth many police reports have errors when it comes to distances, times, and names.
The next thing you need to send to the insurance adjuster is a copy of your medical records and bills if you have them. If you don’t have them you’ll need to get them. You can often simply obtain them from your doctor and/or hospital in the same way that you obtain the police report i.e. ask for it in writing and be willing to pay the photocopying charges.
If you’ve missed any time from work or if you have used any vacation or holiday pay you’ll need a simple statement /letter from your employer or the HR department stating that fact, i.e. “Mr. Smith was out of work from September 1 through September 6 and earns x-dollars per hour/day”
if you have any pictures of any physical damage or bodily injury you should include those photos as well. This would involve photos of the damage to your car (assuming this was a car accident, or the crack in the sidewalk, or the water on the floor in the supermarket) and photos of whatever part of your body was injured. If you have none of these because either the physical damage was minimal and/or there were no visible injuries to your body then obviously you will have no photos send to anyone. Send large photos. Blow them up to 81/2 x 11″.
How much should you asked for? This question has both a complex as well as a simple answer. The complex answer begins with the assumption that every case and injury is unique. I will assume for the purposes of this article that your situation is not complex or terribly nuanced (if it is you should call a lawyer) and that your injuries are relatively minor and the consequences of those injuries are not significant. If this is the case I would suggest that you add up the cost of all of your medical bills(assume it is $500) and using multiple of five (thus giving you a sub-total of $2500) and then add- dollar for dollar – any other loss i.e., missed time from work, taxi and other transportation costs, medications, babysitters, rental car and like expenses, on top of the $2500 figure as a starting point in your negotiations. In actuality most very simple personal injury cases finally settle for approximately 2 to three times the cost of the medical bills. This is not a law, it is not written in stone, it does not come from high-up above: it is simply my observations after 30 years of seeing and responding to what insurance companies do.
A few words of extra precaution. Insurance companies are not shy when it comes to negotiation. They are in the money business and I have rarely met an insurance adjuster who blushed. They often play the “low ball” and “waiting game” with you and I have had many experiences where the insurance companies have simply delayed in the hope of wearing me down. Thus, you can expect the same. You are well advised to remain very tough and resolute. Do not hesitate to write them multiple letters i.e. “I have not received a response from you regarding my last correspondence. When may I expect to hear from you?” STAY ON TOP OF THEM.
There is a great deal of practical wisdom in this saying that the “squeaky wheel gets the grease”. Don’t be afraid to squeak.
Remember that the Statute of Limitations requires that you can only negotiate for so long before you have to file a lawsuit. If your case is simple and small there is probably little justification for filing a lawsuit or than the benefit of tolling the Statute. The cost of filing and serving your Summons and Complaint may very well eat up the money you are likely to see. On the other hand, Insurance companies don’t like to waste money either. It’s a no-win situation but sometimes the act of filing a lawsuit is sufficient to motivate the insurance companies to get real. It’s a risk and you’ll be out of pocket money you may never recoup so my recommendation would be to think hard before you file a lawsuit in your own name (lawyers call that in pro per).
Good news. If you find that the situation has gotten out of control you can always call a personal injury lawyer such as the law offices of Ian Zimmerman to step in to assist you at 1-800-8 INJURY or visit us at www.goodcases.com in San Francisco. Hopefully, you won’t need to and you’ll settle your own case.