Many people who are injured when they slip and hurt their back or injure their neck in a car accident take a do-it-yourself attitude towards making a claim.\u00a0 They might think it is unseemly or somehow “less than” to use an attorney.\u00a0 The image of an “ambulance chaser” is firmly ingrained in our culture and media.<\/p>\n
To avoid getting involved in something that is viewed so negatively, they assume that they can just contact the insurance company for the premises where they fell or the company insuring the other car, and things will turn out swimmingly.\u00a0 It might go along fine at first, while the injured party sends record after record and provides fact after fact in phone interviews or to investigators in person.<\/p>\n
Sure, while the injured party is cooperative and providing information, the insurance claims adjuster is nothing but polite and professional.\u00a0 However, when the injured man or woman finally asks for some sort of compensation for the ordeal they have gone through, things can go sideways.\u00a0 This does not happen to all claimants, but many can attest that this is exactly what happens.<\/p>\n
At this point, the injured party starts hearing a litany of reasons why the case is not worth very much.\u00a0 Questions are asked such as, “Isn’t it true you were in a hurry and were inattentive?”\u00a0 Or, “You really were not hurt that badly.\u00a0 You had no broken bones.”\u00a0 Or, “Look, you only missed a little bit of time from work.”\u00a0 And, “But you had already hurt your back\/knee\/shoulder many years ago, so, really, our insured did not cause this injury”.<\/p>\n
Suddenly what seemed like a clear case of negligence on the other person’s part (“The Perfect Case”), does not look so perfect after all.\u00a0 There is usually some argument that can be made to diminish the value of the compensation the injured party might be entitled to by law.\u00a0 At this point, the injured party is not just having to go to doctors’ appointments, therapists and pharmacists, all the while dealing with pain and body dysfunction, but they have to start arguing.<\/p>\n
It should be no surprise when one is in pain and trying to recover physically, it is very difficult to be a clear-headed advocate for one’s self.\u00a0 The phrase “Just Get It Over With” might pass through the injured person’s mind.\u00a0 When that level of fatigue sets in, a decision can be made that the injured person might come to regret later.<\/p>\n
If a “settlement” is negotiated, the injured party or claimant will be required to sign a waiver.\u00a0 In many states, including California, a typical waiver will require the injured party to waive any claims they may not even know about.\u00a0 That is a special but typical clause that will appear.\u00a0 If the leg was broken in the fall on hard pavement, the claimant can think they are settling out that injury.\u00a0 But if the injury later becomes complicated from severe infection, can a further claim be made?\u00a0 Probably not.<\/p>\n
This is the kind of detail that can be handled by a competent attorney — to make sure that a scenario like that does not happen.\u00a0 Another skill the competent attorney has is to know when is the better time to attempt settlement of a claim.\u00a0 Yes, some times are better than others!<\/p>\n
Sure.\u00a0 There can be.\u00a0 But, the overwhelming majority of cases are not overwhelming tilted in the injured party’s favor.\u00a0 There is always some fact detail or legal argument that can be made to minimize the value of the claim.\u00a0 Most accidents happen in a backdrop of events set in play by imperfect human beings, whether that involves an already damaged human body, an improperly designed bike path, reckless driving or inattentiveness.<\/p>\n
This is when a skilled attorney can sort through all of these details, both pro and con, and advocate strongly for the client’s interests.\u00a0 The attorney is used to handling similar fact patterns over and over, and has besomed accustomed to these fact details.\u00a0 She understands how these facts fit in with the law, and how to present the information to opposing counsel, mediator, judge, and, if necessary, a jury.<\/p>\n
Attorney Tahnya Ballard provides free consultation on personal injury matters.\u00a0 We welcome your call.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thinking Their Accident Makes The Perfect Case Can Lead to a D-I-Y Approach Many people who are injured when they slip and hurt their back or injure their neck in a car accident take a do-it-yourself attitude towards making a claim.\u00a0 They might think it is unseemly or somehow “less …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44,"parent":2,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballardinjurylaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballardinjurylaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballardinjurylaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballardinjurylaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballardinjurylaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ballardinjurylaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39,"href":"https:\/\/ballardinjurylaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions\/39"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballardinjurylaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballardinjurylaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballardinjurylaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}