Recent Blog Posts in April 2009

There is a look in the eyes of people who have recently experienced a life-changing catastrophic injury.  But that "look" is not in the eyes of the victim of the injury.  He or she usually appears remarkably adjusted to a very recent and extraordinary life-altering event.  The "look" of which I speak is in the eyes of family members of that injured person.  The family member may be a spouse, a long-time girlfriend, or the parents of the injured person.  Their eyes reveal a combination of fear and desperation, but also, a sense of determination and an unwillingness to give up. My first conversation with these family members usually involves them talking about how much worse the accident could have been.  These family members demonstrate an amazing will to survive, and even thrive, in the face of the most desperate and hopeless of circumstances.

When I or any lawyer in my firm talks to these loved ones, we follow three simple rules.  These rules were not taught in law school, and I certainly have never found them in any law book. In fact, these simple rules have nothing to do with expressing pity, or even sympathy.  These simple rules are as follows:

Rule # 1: Answer every single question a family member asks as directly, honestly and succinctly as possible. These people have no time for lofty promises or suggestions of remarkable physical recovery.  They also do not need us to vent angry commentary at the at-fault party who left their loved one in this situation. What they need is answers. Those answers need to be direct and in plain English. 

Rule #2: Take the time to answer every single question. If that takes two hours or four, we consider it part of our job. We will never cut these meetings short because of our schedules.

Rule #3: Never pressure the family to retain us.  A hospital room meeting is definitely not the right time for that discussion.  For reasons I really do not understand, we seem to be the only law firm who sticks to Rule # 3.  Because of that approach, we routinely receive a call on some later date from the family member, or the injured person herself, asking for our help. Our approach makes us stand out, but it is also the only respectful way to treat people.

If you ask these families why they eventually hired ANDERSON, HEMMAT & LEVINE, we expect you will hear "they were the only lawyers that answered our questions directly, took the time with us, and didn't pressure us to sign anything."

The above three rules have their foundation in the moral compass that my partners and I share.  We know that there is a way to be professional and objective, yet still sympathetic, to the catastrophic losses of those we counsel. For us, this is the only way to do business.

Eight to ten times a week I will get a call from a person who was injured in an auto or truck accident. The accident will have just happened, but they tell me that they aren't sure they need a lawyer because the insurance company has already contacted them and offered a settlement. I take no satisfaction in explaining to these poor people that probably more than anyone I speak to all day, they need legal counsel.

If you settle on an injury claim within the first month, you are compromising substantially the full value of your injury claim. In our line of work, we call it leaving money on the table.

The AMA Guides to Medical Impairment instructs medical doctors that in order to fully evaluate whether a patient has permanent physical injury the doctor must follow the patient for SIX months post accident.  Often insurance companies will place calls to injured people within days of the accident in an effort to reach an agreement and have the victim sign his rights away.  Usually, those agreements are for a fraction of what the case is actually worth.  If care is rushed, it is very possible that not only is the prospect of understanding the permanent injury compromised but so is the ability to determine what the future medical needs are. Some injuries require follow up care ranging from of one year up to a lifetime.  

Once a doctor has an understanding of the extent of your injury, she is better able to assess what your future medical needs are in your particular case and what your expected time horizon for that care should be.  Settlement talks should commence only after the full picture of your treatment needs are fully understood.  But the insurance company will try to sell you short and get you to leave money on the table by settling with you early.  Make no mistake, in these tough economic times, the insurance company's number one priority is not you-it is their bottom line.

WHAT IS THE INSURANCE COMPANY'S MOTIVATION?

A. Un-Divulged Coverage Limits:

When you are injured by a negligent driver with liability insurance, the level of coverage needs to be explored. Minimum coverage is $25,000.  However, maximum coverage can be millions of dollars.  Insurance companies love to talk settlement without divulging their limits of coverage.  This move lowers your expectations and therefore the amount of money you willingly take.  No good attorney would ever "talk turkey" with an insurance company without knowing the limits of coverage and neither should you.

B. Quick Settlements mean Less Money:

No insurance company is motivated by anything other than sound business decisions that benefit the company. They know that if they can settle a majority of their injury exposure cases quickly they will save money. They win. You lose!

C. They Will Even Break The Law:

Under Colorado law, insurance companies are prevented from engaging in settlement talks with injury victims for one month after the at-issue accident. In reality, it should be six months and even that is the minimum time necessary for a good treatment provider to make a determination about what the future holds for his patient.

Despite the very minimum level of protection that our Colorado state laws provides, I am constantly shocked how freely and often the insurance companies tread all over injury victim's rights in complete violation of Colorado law. Not surprisingly, it is these same insurance adjusters who are breaking the law who also tell victims that they don't need a lawyer.

As a general rule, if the insurance company tells you don't need a lawyer-YOU NEED A LAWYER.  Every victim injured as a result of a motor vehicle accident should understand that the insurance company they are dealing with has hired very bright attorneys to work very hard to protect their bottom line.  We believe you deserve the same.

At ANDERSON, HEMMAT & LEVINE we provide a free consultation. We will happily review your situation with you and tell you if we feel the insurance company is treating you fairly or not. 

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There was a genteel time in America when lawyers who were not very smart could make a decent living and not cause too much harm to their clients if they took a personal injury case from time to time.  They would settle for what they could get, give about 60% or less to their unsuspecting client, and no one would know what a buffoon the lawyer really was.  They would handle just about any case-your divorce, your traffic tickets, your will, and if your family was destroyed by a sleepy semi-truck driver, they would handle that case too.  The lawyer would simply check out a "how to" book from the local law library and "wing" it.

When we think about this simpler time in America, you might think about the kind of world that Norman Rockwell depicted in his covers for the 1950's Saturday Evening Post.  I can recall a cover portraying a country lawyer reviewing a law book with a farmer in a cluttered little office with a fishing pole in the corner.  Unfortunately, for those old-style attorneys, the Norman Rockwell days have passed.  In fact, these simpler days have been gone for many years.  Sadly, most of these "old-style" lawyers are not even astute enough to know that they have no business doing anything other than plea-bargaining traffic tickets in municipal courts.  The problem is, there are still a lot of these part-time injury lawyers practicing law today.  Unquestionably, they DO take serious injury cases and they end up doing irreparable harm to their clients.  Until these lawyers realize that Norman Rockwell is dead, it remains the job of lawyers who know how to properly represent injured clients, to warn unsuspecting clients of the dangers of retaining one of these "jack of all trades" lawyers.

Your job as a reasonably prudent client is to first recognize that these lawyers exist.  For the benefit of your case, your family, and their financial future, you must steer clear from these so-called "professionals." If you mistakenly hire one of these attorneys, you should consider firing them and hire a vigilant lawyer who is up-to-date on the intricacies of Colorado injury law. 

In Colorado, there are yearly changes in the laws related to auto accidents, insurance, uninsured motorist coverage, subrogation, med-pay, hospital liens, and workers compensation.  It is extremely dangerous to hire an attorney who is not up-to-date in all of these areas.  In fact, at ANDERSON, HEMMAT & LEVINE, we not only spend thousands of dollars each year making sure our attorneys are properly educated on the law, but we are also regularly hand-selected to teach other lawyers about updates in injury law. 

From our many years of experience in injury law, we know full well the dangers associated with uninformed, old-style attorneys representing clients.  One danger could be that you end up paying for medical treatment that should have been paid for by the at-fault party.  Another danger could be that you end up with substantially less money than what is required to take care of your future medical needs.  After you reach a settlement, it is even conceivable that you could be sued by your health care providers, your health insurance, your auto insurance, or even the insurance company for the at-fault party to the auto collision. 

You could even end up in suit with all of the above at the same time. Can you imagine that?  Your wife gets rear-ended, and at the end of the process, there is an actual money judgment against both of you from the insurance company who insured the party who caused the accident? Well guess what? I have seen it happen! When it happens, it is a classic case of poor legal representation and completely preventable if addressed early.

SO, WHAT CAN BE DONE TO AVOID THESE NORMAN ROCKWELL TYPES?

• Ask questions of your lawyer all the time.

• If your case involves two or more areas of the law, such as auto accident, insurance, and workers' compensation laws, be sure your attorney is well-regarded in the legal community in EACH area of the law.

• Check with your friends and family for referrals to lawyers who did good work for them. Once you hire counsel, insist on periodic letters from your lawyer making sure that in each stage of your case, she is keeping you informed as to the legal status.

• Expect telephone calls initiated from your attorney. No attorney is too busy to get on the telephone with their client.

• DO NOT accept your case being delegated to a secretary for handling. Attorneys represent clients;  secretaries type. These are not the same jobs, and the line should never be blurred.

• Make sure that the lawyer who settles your case agrees to handle, for free, post-settlement issues such as negotiating with hospitals regarding liens, undertaking Jorgenson Hearings (hopefully he/she knows what one is) to resolve workers' compensation liens, resolving other claimed rights of interest from your health insurance, doctors' claims, etc.

Remember, if you ever lose confidence in your lawyer, you have an absolute right to sit down with her in a face-to-face meeting.  After that meeting, if you still are not comfortable with how your case is being handled, consider sitting down with another attorney for a free initial consultation. The transfer of your case can actually be quite painless and there is no substitution for the peace of mind you will feel when you know you are well-represented.

At ANDERSON, HEMMAT & LEVINE, we provide free consultations to all injury victims, and we promise to always be straightforward and candid with you.

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August 5^th has been a significant date in history. 

It was the day that Jim Palmer was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.  It was the day President Reagan fired more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers in 1981.  And, in 1967, it was also the day when the first AFL team beat the first NFL team in a professional football game.  That AFL team was the Denver Broncos prevailing over Detroit 13-7.

However, for Colorado injury victims, there are few days more important than August 5, 2008.  That is the date of the most powerful legislation was passed in favor of injury victims dealing with the whims of insurance companies. The law is codified in C.R.S. 10-3-1115 and 1116.  If your injury lawyer does not know about this law, he should not only be disbarred but also horse-whipped. Obviously, that is a joke. But there is nothing funny about how powerful this statute is if used properly by attorneys representing people embroiled in battles with their own insurance company.

This law is the first Colorado legislation that says insurance companies can be sued when they take premiums from their customers, and then in the insured's time of need, either unreasonably delay or unreasonably deny coverage benefits.  Not only does this law provide a forum to let a jury hear about this conduct, but it also mandates that if the customer wins against his insurance company, he wins double the coverage benefits, attorney fees and costs.  These recovery amounts are not even discretionary.  Simply stated, say, for example, that an insurance company receives ample information to establish that their insured was injured by an uninsured motorist. But instead of paying their insured, they ignore or delay paying on the claim for months.  Sound familiar? Yes, before August 5, 2008 it happened all the time.  But now, if an insurance company acts in this way, they can be sued.  Assume that the insurance policy should have paid $50,000 under the uninsured motorist portion of the policy.  If a jury agrees that the insurance company unreasonably delayed or denied benefits, the insurance company will be liable to pay two times the policy-in this case, $100,000.  But the insurance company will also have to pay the insured's attorneys' fees and costs.  That little delay by the insurance company could cost the company a couple hundred thousand dollars.

So are the days of insurance companies dragging their feet and low-balling claims over? Unfortunately-probably not.  But there is an expression that "knowledge is power."  Incredibly, even though these laws have been on the books for nearly a year, I am surprised how many attorneys I have to educate on this subject.

I am aware that many attorneys frequently stay on top of the laws by tuning in to my blog.  So let me talk to you lawyers. First of all, welcome. Please remember that these insurance companies will play these sorts of games until we as attorneys commit to using the laws on the books to prevent it.  If your style of representing clients is to not ruffle feathers and not mix it up with the insurance company, now is the time to shift your practice to real estate law and send your injury clients to lawyers who are prepared to fight for their clients.

If all attorneys representing injury victims start educating themselves on this new law, they will ensure that August 5, 2008 was a revolutionary day for injury victims  It was the day the insurance companies lost one of their major two weapons that they frequently use-delay and denial.

We provide a free consultation if you would like to know about CRS 10-3-1115 or anything else about injury compensation.

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