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3 Legal Misconceptions
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Transcript
As a personal injury attorney, I’ve found that potential clients have 3 initial concerns.
- They say to me “I don’t want to ruin someone’s life, take their house, etc…” They’re hesitant.
- They ask me, “ Do I have a case”
- They ask me, “What is my case worth”
I’d like to respond to those concerns:
First, you aren’t ruining someone’s life. You’re likely suing a greedy insurance company NOT the person that injured you. The insurance company has a duty to stand in the shoes of the at fault driver and defend that driver. That insurance company, btw, would deny you the benefits you deserve to make you whole any way they can.
An example would be when your pipes freeze during the winter and your house is flooded. The insurance company will come off as unsuspecting and ask you if you reduced your heat as many people do to save money or reduce heat at night while they’re in bed; a reduction in heat that has NOTHING to do with the frozen pipes in your crawl space. If you answer yes, then your insurance policy is likely invalidated and you’ll have to remodel the house at your own expense because you answered the unsuspecting question wrong.
Finally, the insurance company will be the one writing the check when the case settles and not the at fault driver.
I intend to provide a video series laying out the myriad pockets of money my firm can help you get into so that you are made whole and you won’t be ruining the life of the at fault party; you’ll be getting your money from an insurance policy whether that is the third party policy, your own policy, personal injury protection, a general insurance policy or an umbrella. Insurance coverage gets technical and there are a lot of nuances so to maximize value you’ll want an attorney.
Second, to have a case whether it is a car accident, slip and fall or other accident you must have two things: Liability and Damages. If you have one and not the other than your case is worth nothing.
Liability means someone else was at fault generally speaking. If you got rear-ended in a car accident, liability is clear and you’re probably not at fault. If you got side swiped, liability may not be crystal clear and your case is riskier because liability is a question mark. Damages in a personal injury, slip and fall or other injury generally means you have medical bills for the case to be worth your time.
So, if liability is clear but you do not go to the doctor and need medical treatment congratulations, you will win your case and your case is worth nothing or in the alternative, you are seriously injured but the accident was entirely your fault then generally speaking you do not have a case. There is such a thing a comparative fault in WA state, so if you are only partially at fault you still may have a case if you have injuries.
And third, the value of your case is based on a bunch of variables.
For example, is your attorney a relentless airborne ranger with expertise and grit that graduated from West Point, Albers School of business and economics and Seattle University School of Law like me or is your lawyer some other person?
Generally speaking, one of the biggest variables that determines the value of your case is how much your medical bills total when you are done treating. Generally, if your medical bills are high that usually means your suffered serious injuries and your case value is high.
There are general brackets of settlement value where soft tissue injuries max out at a certain value and injuries involving things such as broken bones or herniated discs have more value than a soft tissue injury from a fender bender.
Many other factors play into the value of your case such as 1) did you miss work – how much? Did you lose your job? 2) will you earn less in the future because of your injuries – for how long? 3) was your spouse negatively affected? How about your kids? 4) was the damage to your vehicle a dent or was it totaled? 5) when you fell, did you break your ribs or were they bruised? And, how much insurance is there to go after. This is where an attorney makes their money.
At my firm, we are highly experienced at finding every insurance policy applicable to maximize the settlement to make you whole.
If you have questions regarding your particular case, please call or text me at 206-915-7177, you can email me at [email protected] and my website is www.kobeslegal.com.
Finally, I am licensed in WA, AZ and FL and I am happy to connect you to a colleague in another state.
An 8 minute video worth its weight in gold on why you should have UIM (Uninsured Motorist Coverage)
A 7 minute video on the extreme importance of PIP for car accident victims