Injuryattorneycolumbiasc's Blog

Injury Attorney Updates

injuryattorneycolumbiasc — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:08:41 +0000

One of the things I do as an injury attorney is go through my complete file list at least once a month and make sure that none of my cases is languishing or “lost in the shuffle”.

We accident attorneys can end up “giving the squeaky wheel the grease” if we’re not careful, meaning that there’s a tendency to focus on the cases where the client is calling a lot.

But the quiet ones deserve attention too, and going through my files at least once a month and making sure that none has been forgotten about is just one of the ways I make sure my representation is balanced.

Loss of Consortium

injuryattorneycolumbiasc — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:18:01 +0000

Whenever a married person has an injury case, their spouse has what’s called a “loss of consortium” claim. Unless the injury is real serious, such as permanent paralysis, the loss of consortium portion of the claim is usually fairly minor.

However, when we settle the case, the insurance company typically wants the spouse to sign the release and endorse the settlement check, so that a loss of consortium claim cannot pop up down the road, even if it’s a minor one. Most of my clients don’t have a problem with this, and I prepare them for it ahead of time so that there are no surprises.

It’s just part of being a personal injury lawyer and handling these types of cases.

Personal Injury: Minor Injuries

injuryattorneycolumbiasc — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:28:07 +0000

Occasionally I will get a call from a prospective injury client who wants to hire me. When we explore over the phone what has happened, it sometimes turns out that they’ve only been to the doctor or emergency room on one, perhaps two, occasions, and they’re doing fine now.

I usually advise these people that I don’t think an injury lawyer such as myself can really help them, as their claim has only minimal value. I will typically only take a case where the injuries are severe enough to require a fair amount of medical treatment. I let the clients decide of course if they need medical treatment, and I only encourage them to get the appropriate, medically indicated treatment for their injuries.

This in my opinion is what an accident attorney should do.

Personal Injury Case: Lost Wages

injuryattorneycolumbiasc — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:24:52 +0000

In order to recover lost wages in a personal injury claim, such as an auto accident case, the missed work needs to be excused by the treating physician. If the client stays out of work, they really need to have a valid work excuse in order for us to recover their lost wages.

Even if their employer pays them for being out of work, such as sick leave or annual leave, we can claim the full amount of the missed time, as if they haven’t been paid. The rationale for this is that the at-fault party should not benefit from the injured victim’s employer’s benevolence.

Contact a personal injury lawyer such as Best and Flatt, P.A. if you have any further questions about lost wages.

Personal Injury Lawsuit

injuryattorneycolumbiasc — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:37:36 +0000

Despite our best efforts, sometimes we are not able to get a personal injury case settled with the insurance company. This is usually because there are questions about who was at fault in the accident, called liability, or because the insurance company does not agree with our valuation of the claim.

In such cases, we generally will file a lawsuit against the at-fault party. Once suit is filed, it takes on average about 18 months to get to a jury trial. In addition to the extra time, the client’s litigation expenses, which we generally advance, increase, for things such as filing fees, expert testimony, etc.

Therefore, it’s always better for an accident lawyer to get his client’s case settled out of court if at all possible.

Main Street Accident

injuryattorneycolumbiasc — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:41:12 +0000

“Man fatally shot in car on Main Street”

Believe it or not, even a case like this could have personal injury law implications and could end up being covered by automobile insurance.

The challenge for a personal injury lawyer is to show a nexus, or connection, between the vehicle and the shooting. If the car was more than just the location of the shooting, but was somehow inextricably linked to the assault, perhaps by using the car as a shield or as a getaway for example, then car insurance could end up coming into play. This is true for either the liability coverage of the offending party, or the uninsured motorist coverage of the victim’s car.

It’s best to turn these matters over to an injury attorney in Columbia, SC as soon as the event happens.

Proper Medical Treatment

injuryattorneycolumbiasc — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:29:59 +0000

One of the services I perform for my clients is making sure they are getting the appropriate treatment for their injuries.

Some of my clients are not particularly worldly or sophisticated, and many do not have health insurance or have a family doctor. They are totally lost when they are injured and are in need of treatment. Going to the emergency room will only get them so far, and the insurance companies for the most part are certainly not going to help them. In fact, the workers’ compensation carriers will typically try to steer my clients into the office of certain physicians who are notorious for never finding anything wrong with an injured worker.

I can get involved if that happens, and at the very least, try to get them a second opinion, if not outright block the treatment with the bad doctor.

Drunk Driver Causes Injury

injuryattorneycolumbiasc — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:23:05 +0000

I have a case now where a drunk driver caused some very substantial injuries to my client. Unfortunately, the drunk driver was driving a car with minimum liability policy limits of 25,000 per injured party.

What we usually do in these situations is accept the liability limits in exchange for a covenant not to execute in favor of the other party, which basically acts as a personal release of the at fault driver, but is not in fact a full release. This allows us to pursue any underinsured motorist coverage which my client might carry, and will hopefully allow us to obtain a full recovery in his claim.

It’s always nice when the at-fault driver carries a high amount of liability coverage, but that doesn’t happen as much as we’d like.

Personal Injury: Employers

injuryattorneycolumbiasc — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:32:49 +0000

Sometimes I get a call from a prospective personal injury client who says that their employer is not willing for them to come back to work unless they have a full duty note from the doctor. In other words, there is no light duty available. There’s not much we can do to remedy that situation.

Employers are free to provide light duty or not depending on their needs. There is nothing we can do to make an employer provide a light duty job. However, we can include the time out of work as part of the damages in the injury claim and try to get the injured party compensated for that along with medical bills and pain and suffering.

Car Wreck

injuryattorneycolumbiasc — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:07:49 +0000

Sometimes I will get a call from a car wreck victim who has been in an accident several months ago, has been hurting the whole time, but did not seek appropriate medical attention. In fact, sometimes all they’ve done is go to the emergency room the day of the accident. They then get an unsatisfactory offer from the insurance company and now call us and see if we can help them.

Unfortunately, even though they were legitimately hurt and probably needed medical treatment and therapy, the fact that they chose not to get it is going to kill any chance of a reasonable recovery. It’s all about getting the appropriate treatment for your injuries, nothing more, nothing less. It’s always better to talk to an injury attorney sooner rather than later.