Can I get a free consultation? .............
Yes. We will provide one free consultation for the Areas
of Practice described earlier in this website. However, you will not
receive legal advice until you are a client, with a signed agreement.
At that point, we will of course give you detailed, in-depth advice about
your case. Until you are a client, we can only explain things in general
ways.
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How much will you charge me?
...........
Once we accept a case, we enter into a signed fee agreement with our clients
that explains in detail the fee and how it is calculated. We will discuss
the fee with you ahead of time, because we realize you don’t want
any surprises. Except in limited cases, we operate on a contingent fee
basis. That is, our contract specifies that if we recover money for your
claim, we receive the agreed-upon percentage as our fee. The flip side
is that if we don’t get anything for you, you do not owe us a fee.
That is why we carefully assess cases before we accept them. Our employment
in any case involves substantial time, expense and risk. It is a team
effort between us, with both of us working toward a common goal of getting
you full and fair justice.
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How
long will my case take?
............. This
is one of the most frequently asked questions. The time to complete your
case depends on some factors within our control and many factors outside
our control. For example, how long your doctor takes to send us the injury
report, how seriously both sides negotiate before the lawsuit is filed,
how crowded the Court’s docket is, the availability of witnesses
for trial, etc. Once we have obtained the records for your particular
case, we will be able to estimate for you the time for completion based
on our experience.
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How
often do cases settle rather than go to trial?
.............
The National Center for State
Courts published a study several years ago for cases filed in state courts
all over the country. That study concluded that 98% of all civil cases
settle without going to jury verdict. While that means very few cases
overall are taken to a jury verdict, our philosophy is to assume each
case we accept will go to trial, and we prepare accordingly. Better to
be prepared. If a case does settle, its value is maximized when prepared
to go to trial. That way, if the insurance company does not offer a fair
amount to you, we are ready to ask a jury for justice.
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What is “discovery”? .............
When a lawsuit is filed, a possible end-result is a jury trial.
In order to not be surprised and ambushed, the Court Rules now permit
each side to take certain, specified steps to “discover” the
other side’s evidence. These steps include sending written questions
to the other side, and questioning witnesses in the presence of a court
reporter, who takes down and transcribes everything that is said. Each
side may also request the other side to let them see the documents connected
to the issues in the case. The process is literally an opportunity to
discover the opponent’s evidence.
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Are there too many “frivolous lawsuits”?
.............
That
depends on who you talk to. If you ask an insurance company or anyone
who’s been sued, the answer probably will be “yes”. If
you ask someone whose health was ruined forever or who lost a loved one
because of someone’s negligence, the answer will be “no”.
In fact, the insurance company propaganda specialists can point to very
few truly frivolous cases. If a case is frivolous, the courts have laws
on the books to penalize the people who bring them. So, if you are talking
about all the cases filed in every court in every county in every state
of the United States, yes, there are likely some frivolous lawsuits. In
our view, one frivolous lawsuit is too many. But keep in mind that the
existence of one person’s frivolous lawsuit should not work to deny
you the right to full and fair justice for your legitimate claim. We don’t
put every driver off the road just because a few people drive carelessly.
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What can I expect from the other side?
............. Every case is different, but
in general, you can expect the insurance company’s lawyers to attempt
to put all or part of the blame on you or the driver of your car. You,
as a plaintiff, have the burden of proving your case. You can expect the
insurance company to dig into your medical history, looking for something
else to blame your injuries on. You can expect to be examined by a doctor
of their choice, who will write a report and testify in favor of the insurance
company and against you. The saving grace is that you can also expect
the jury to be fair and do what is right. We have faced these problems
many times before, and have experience in how to handle them.
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