What areas of law do you practice?
Answer: We specialize in personal injury law. That’s all we do. We represent people who have been injured in a wide variety of accidents, such as collisions involving cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and other vehicles. We also represent those who have suffered injuries in construction accidents, slip and falls, assault and battery, dog bites, and other incidents. We are more than happy to discuss any personal injury that you have sustained, so please feel free to call us to discuss your unique situation.
How do your attorney fees and costs work?
Answer: We handle all of our personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis. That means that we only recover attorney fees if we win your case by settlement, trial, arbitration, or otherwise. Our contingency fee for personal injury cases is 33% of the total settlement or judgment. We believe this contingency fee structure offers an excellent balance between the attorney’s compensation and keeping the client’s monetary recovery as high as possible. We will also advance all of the costs necessary to pursue the case, so the client does not need to pay the expenses involved in the litigation while the case is pending. These costs can include court filing fees, investigation expenses, record retrieval fees, deposition transcript costs, expert witness fees, and other fees that increase as the case progresses. When the case is resolved, we are reimbursed for the costs that we advanced during the case. The attorney fees and cost reimbursement will not occur until the case is resolved by settlement, trial, arbitration, or otherwise
How long will it take to resolve my personal injury case?
Answer: Every case is unique, so it is not always easy to predict how long it will take to resolve a case. Some cases settle quickly, while other cases are more challenging and take a longer period to resolve. Cases that can be resolved fairly quickly generally take about 6 months to 1 year to complete. Cases that are relatively straightforward in terms of liability, causation, damages, and other issues, will generally resolve in a shorter period of time. Cases that are heavily disputed by the defense, on the other hand, can take 1 to 2 years to resolve, sometimes longer. These cases can require extensive litigation, including depositions, discovery, mediation, trial, and other extensive work, which necessitates the longer time frame. Our goal is to maximize the monetary recovery for our clients while also resolving the case as quickly as possible, based on the case circumstances. However, if we need to fight with the defense in order to recover for our clients, we are in it for the long haul in order to get the best results possible for our clients.
How much money is my case worth if it settles?
Answer: The settlement value of your case depends on many factors. We love representing anyone injured in an accident regardless of whether the case has a low or high settlement value. We handle cases along the entire spectrum of settlement value, including cases involving minor injuries and damages, up to cases involving severe, debilitating injuries that change our clients lives forever. There are numerous factors that go into determining settlement value of a case and your case will be evaluated on its own merits. The settlement value of the case will depend on the strength of our liability arguments, the severity of the injuries, extent of medical treatment, extent of medical expense, damages, wage loss, and other damages. The settlement value can also be impacted significantly by the insurance policy limits of the defendant. When we are first presented with a personal injury case, we usually have a ballpark idea where a case might settle, but it is usually too early to provide an accurate estimate of settlement value. We take the case one step at a time, perform our investigation, retrieve and review all the necessary records, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the case. By building the case with as much ammunition that we have against the defense, we will be in the best position to begin settlement negotiations and pursue the highest recovery possible.
How will we be able to communicate with our attorney during the case?
Answer: We are focused on providing the highest level of client service, which means that we spend as much time as necessary communicating with our clients. We spend a substantial amount of time listening to our clients to make sure we understand everything that they are experiencing with their injuries, medical treatment, and other issues they are facing. We are available by phone, text, email, and in-person meetings at our office. We are always there for you, as you will have open access to an attorney to discuss the case whenever you need. We promptly return phone calls and other inquiries, so you will never be left stranded and in the dark about what is going on with your case. This is a common problem with many personal injury firms. We love to meet with our clients in person at our office, however, we also have the technology to complete a case from start to finish remotely, where we communicate by phone, text, email, and other methods. We like to accommodate our clients by communicating by whatever method is preferable and most convenient for them. If the client’s injuries are very severe, we are happy to drive to the client’s location to meet with them, whether that’s in their home, hospital, nursing facility, or other location. We work with our clients as a team, so we maintain open communication lines with them during the entire case.
Will I have to obtain the records in the case, such as the police report, medical records, and other records?
Answer: No. Our firm will take care of the entire process of collecting all of the necessary records for your case. These records can include the traffic collision report, medical records, billing records, wage loss records, and any other necessary information and documents. Our goal is to make our client’s involvement in the case as simple, easy, and painless as possible. The attorney should be doing the hard work in the case, not the client. Collecting all the necessary records in a case can be a time-consuming and painstaking process, so our firm will handle all of that.
How will I know whether to accept or reject a settlement offer from the defense?
Answer: The client always has the right to accept or reject a settlement offer in their case. This is one of the fundamental rights that a client has in a personal injury case. The decision whether to settle your case can be challenging. However, you will not be alone in making this significant decision. We will help guide you through the process with an experienced attorney on your side. We will thoroughly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in your case and provide you with our opinion regarding the merits and settlement potential of your case. There will usually be multiple settlement offers received from the defense as the case progresses before we are in a position to settle. When the defense presents a settlement offer in the case, we will provide our opinion and evaluation of the offer, letting you know if we think it is a good or bad offer. We will work together as a team to determine how to respond to each offer and whether to settle the case.