Oxnard, CA asked in Car Accidents and Personal Injury for California

Q: I had one Personal Injury Lawyers & didn't hear from them. I acquired another one. Is it Legal?

I was in an auto accident and filed a claim against the other insurance. They denied my claim based on the police photo they have. I retained a PI lawyer to look into my case. Upon their photo discovery I was told it looked like I was an inch off the line (but hard to tell). I was hit and suffered neck and back pains. My car repair estimated to less than $4000. Having mentioned all that, would my PI lawyer still pursue my case knowingly I have a weak chance of recovery?

2 Lawyer Answers
Dale S. Gribow
Dale S. Gribow
Answered
  • Personal Injury Lawyer
  • Palm Desert, CA
  • Licensed in California

A: here is an article i wrote on the subject for my weekly legal column in our local paper. Unless you are paying a lawyer on an hourly, s/he clearly has a right to drop the case. However he would have to notify you and the insurance company to whom you are making a claim that he is no longer attorney of record.......and he he withdrew he can not have a lien against the settlement.

THE SECRET TO WHY I DIDN’T ACCEPT YOUR ACCIDENT CASE

I focus a large amount of my practice on collecting compensation for accident victims. Today it is more difficult to deal with the deny & delay claims strategies of insurance companies. For this reason, and those expressed herein, many local lawyers are reluctant to accept some soft tissue/whiplash claims.

When I first started practicing Personal Injury, I would send the medical bills to the insurance company and would an offer of 3-4 times the medicals as a settlement. Those days are gone.

Now we see $9,000 in medicals and the insurance company offering a paltry $5,000. That is not enough to pay the doctors and legal fees, and clearly there would be no money for the client. For example, a $9k med bill that would formerly result in a jury verdict or settlement of $27,000 would today only draw an offer or verdict of $5,000-$7,500.

Thus the attorney has to find a way to generate money for the client and this often involves begging the doctor to cut their bills. Most lawyers feel it just is not worth it to have to argue with doctors to cut bills in addition to arguing with insurance companies and or defense lawyers to put money on the case. All the while, the client is unable to understand why their case is not worth more money

Recently a Monterey CC resident presented what would have been a great case, TWO MONTHS EARLIER…when it happened. To her credit she had Blue Cross and went to Eisenhower ONCE, but did not have any follow up medical treatment. She also talked to the adjuster.

If I accepted this 2 month old case and the client now went to doctors, I know it would be a problem. No matter what we argued to the insurance company or jury, I know that it would be a challenge to convince them that treatment 2 months after the accident were really accident related.. They would ask “Mr. Gribow, how do we know that she did not recently slip at the pool/shower or fall playing tennis?

Most potential clients focus on the injury and not on harmful factors like the following that cause me to reject a case: admitting liability at the scene, no immediate medical treatment, who is at fault, low property damage, prior accidents, no insurance, not contacting a lawyer right away, social media that shows you playing sports for months while complaining of your injury and of course the client talking to the adjuster. It is not what the client told the adjuster but what s/he THOUGHT s/he heard.

We will never know the harmful things the client told the adjuster. The worst thing that can happen is learning of admissions to the adjuster in the middle of trial. The adjuster could testify as to what the client said right after the accident and BEFORE the client hired a lawyer. The implication is that the client only filed and sought medical advice because of his/her lawyer.

Recently the Howell Case decreased the value of these whiplash cases. Today if the med bill is $100,000 and the health insurance pays $90,000 and your obligation is $10k, you can only present the $10,000 out of pocket to the jury. The amount of damage to the victim is now what the victim paid out of pocket.

Small cases are now worth a fraction of what they would have garnered 10 years ago. For the reasons expressed herein, most experienced desert lawyers specializing in accident cases, are reluctant to accept whiplash cases.

Steven M. Sweat agrees with this answer

Steven M. Sweat
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Answered
  • Personal Injury Lawyer
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Licensed in California

A: An attorney may still be willing to take the case if he or she feels like you have a reasonable chance of recovery. Many auto accident claims are not "cut and dry" when it comes to liability. Because California is a "comparative fault" state, you can have some fault in the accident and still be eligible to assert a claim against another party who has greater fault for causing the crash. Talk to your lawyer about this.

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