Personal Injury Q and A

Answers to Your Questions

Q: I have a Personal Injury case that has been rushed to Settlement and I'm still hurting. (Lower Back). My concerns have been expressed. and I'm lost in my Legal Rights and Understanding. I don't want to sign the Release of Liability because after a year my injury is still affecting my job,home life and I'm left feeling depressed. Any suggestions?

A: Our philosophy is to wait as long as possible before resolving a personal injury case where the injured person has not completely recovered, reached maximum recovery or their condition's future is clearly known. To do otherwise will expose our client to unknown future damages that they will not be compensated for.

An attorney cannot settle their client's claim without their client's expressed authority.

Some attorneys market that they are quick to obtain recoveries for their clients. Our concern and experience is that quick recoveries are dangerous to the client's long term wellbeing. Often times injuries do not fully manifest themselves for months and sometimes years after a traumatic event.

There are exceptions. In the case of a serious injury caused by a person with little assets and a very low insurance coverage, settling early for the full amount of all applicable insurance coverage can make sense, since waiting will not increase the amount of money available to pay the claim not matter how much worse the injury becomes. There are other exceptions as well.

My suggestion is to insist on a face to face meeting with your attorney. Go into the meeting with a list of questions and concerns (actually written out) and go over each and everyone one of them with your attorney until you are satisfied. Being the client, you are in full control of how your attorney handles your case. If your attorney does not agree with how you want to proceed, after a thorough discussion, your attorney will be free to withdraw from your case and/or you are free to discharge your attorney.

Keep in mind that if your attorney withdraws from your representation, your attorney will not be entitled to a fee for the services previously rendered (assuming a contingent fee agreement). Your attorney will only be entitled to reimbursement for the costs reasonably expended on your case. The reimbursement is usually due when your case is ultimately concluded.

If you discharge your attorney (assuming a contingent fee agreement), your attorney will be entitled to compensation for the reasonable value of the services performed on your case. In such a case, your attorney will normally put a lien on your case so that he can be assured of getting paid his "reasonable fee" at the conclusion of your case. This posses a challenging to you obtaining a second attorney. Most of the best personal injury attorneys do not want to take on a case, especially a smaller case, that has a previous attorney lien on the case. The second attorney is probably going to do more work to redo work the first attorney did and go forward in his own way, than if he started the case fresh from the start. So the second attorney is in a position of doing more work (than if he started the case fresh from scratch) and then being paid a lower fee.