I just got out of the hospital from being in a car accident last week when I was rear-ended very hard from another driver while sitting at a traffic light. The accident was the other driver's fault.
I need to know what is the best way to find a well-reputable and dependable Tulsa Attorney to represent me. Any help or direction would be definitely appreciated.
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Originally posted by inteller
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Originally posted by Rowdy
I just got out of the hospital from being in a car accident last week when I was rear-ended very hard from another driver while sitting at a traffic light. The accident was the other driver's fault.
I need to know what is the best way to find a well-reputable and dependable Tulsa Attorney to represent me. Any help or direction would be definitely appreciated.
just dont use anyone you see on a billboard, on tv, or in a full page phone book ad and you should be fine.
What, you don't trust William Shatner? :D
Medical bills and days missed from work as well as reasonable Pain and Suffering. If pain and suffering was $10.00 then so be it.
After I got home from the hospital, I found today a bunch of red dots over the middle of my back just surrounding my spine. The splotch is about 4 inches tall and three inches wide. Dunno what that's all about.
All I had in the hospital was xrays, CT Scan and a Heart Catheter.
Its impossible to find a lawyer then. If you don't go off the one page ads which gives a better description, then the ones that are single line only basically state "Jon Smith 100 Broadway Ave."
So its a crapshoot really.
Call David Garrett. He knows what to do.
I have such an attorney if you would like to talk to him. Used him more than once and always had good results.
My email is agroup1@cox.net if you would like his name and phone number.
Here's my .02 worth. It doesn't matter who you use, most all will wind up getting you the same settlement up to policy limits and I doubt more than 10% of a personal injury lawyer's cases ever wind up in court.
The part that sucks is that the system is set up to where it is a virtual requirement for you to pay an attorney 33% of your settlement for nothing more than filing a civil suit, and spending 15 hours or less working on the case making one or two court appearances and having a legal assistant send letters back and forth to the insurance company.
The 33% is probably money well spent. A good PI attorney will know the approximate value of your case and be able to tell you up front and the insurance companies what it is worth. He will also be able to get your medical bills reduced so you actually get more of the money coming in. Odds are, if you find the right attorney, you will wind up ahead of the game than trying to go it alone. That's not to say you should expect a get rich quick scheme, its all a balancing act and given the hassle, headache, expense, and pain in the donkey... you obviously would have been better off without the accident.
As a final note, if you are unsatisfied at the end of the day, tell the attorney so. Many would rather cut their fee to keep a client happy than lose out on referals.
The law says if someone is at fault for your auto accident (and it sounds like they are), they and their employer (if on the job at the time) are responsible for all your damages.
This includes the following:
1. Propery Damage to your auto, plus attorneys fees to collect this damage.
2. Your personal injuries as follows:
Special Damages
A. All reasonable & necessary medical bills flowing from your injury;
B. All lost wages or compensable time lost from work, including lost opportunity for overtime or extra compensation;
C. Any special expenses related to the above, such as transportation costs or other out of pocket expenses, past and future;
D. Future medical, rehab and/or lost income
General Damages
Pain, suffering, emotional distress and lost enjoyment of life, including injury to your relationship with your spouse if you are married & impariment of her relationship with you.
There is no provision for the person at fault to pay your attorneys fees for collecting this type of damage.
Puntive Damages
If the person (or his employer) was grossly negligent, reckless or acted intionally you might recover some damages intented to punish or set an example. For example if the other driver had been drinking or had a really really bad drving record or was driving without a license or had been told not to drive because of seisures, etc.......
Note: You could hurt yourselve for making this type of punitive damage claim--liability insurance usually does not cover this type of damage and if the act was really intentional you could defeat any type of libility insurance claim as it usually only covers non-intentional (negligent) acts. On the other had if the driver has personal wealth you may want to include this claim. This usually pits the defendant aganist his own liability insurance company and sometimes helps to settle the case for more or more quickly.
You also usually have several additional options to increase your recovery. They are as follows:
1. Med Pay Insurance that you have with your own auto policy. This pays without regard to fault, without regard to other insurance, and directly to you (not to the the medical providers). Just submit the bills to your own insurance company. Most folks usually have at least $1,000 med pay amd often up to $5,000. I have as much as my insurance company will sell me, $100K. It is cheap and the best money you can spend in case of a catastrophic injury.
2. Health Insurance--you can turn in your med expenses to your own HI, but expect to have to pay them back if you recover from the person at fault (not from your own med pay). You usually can negotiate this for less than $ for $ at the end of the day.
3. Your own Uninsured/Underinsured policy. If your damages are above average--ie more than the min liability policy of $20K or the driver at fault did not have any liability insurance, your on UM insurance will take over. Since this is your own insurance company they have a duty to deal in good faith with you to settle your case.
Many attorneys will handle these cases on a variety of fee structures. Contigent fees are not always required and sometimes not the best way to go right out of the bat. For example, if liability is clear and your damages are straight forward (more than just soft tissue--a real broken bone or torn ligagment) you might get an initial offer from the other guys adjuster, and then go to an attorney and see what he/she can get in added value. You could pay hourly for the time or agree to a contigent fee for what he/she got added to your settlement.
On the other hand, if liability is contested or if you actually have to prepare as if you are going to trial and your injuries are signigicant it is usually better to secure an attorney from the begining on a contingent fee basis.
I agree --do not use the TV or Yellow pages for a selection process. Like you are doing--ask friends and relatives.
There should be no reluctance to seek recovery for what you are legally entitled. This is why we have laibility insurance and other insurance like med pay. You or they have paid the premimums. No reputable attorney would suggest you make up pain or expenses that you do not have or need, but don't hold back from receiving treatment for real injuries and real pain. Now is not the time to be stoic. Documented medical records and treatment reports are the only way you can prove your injuries.
Remember, the other guys insurance company is trying to setttle the case for as little as possible and will try and get you to say you really don't have any pain and that all is well now. Be careful what you say if you talk to the other guys adjuster. You should assume you are being recorded and you might want to record them. They will try to get you to make a quick premature low settlement just to get it over or string it out in the hopes you will get tired and take less than your claim is worth.
A very rough way to value your case is take your hard medical and lost wages and multiply by 3 to 5 times. For example if your med exp. are $1,000 and you have no lost wages, but have or had soft tissue pain, but no perminant injury--your case is worth about a total of $3,000-$5,000. There are lots of variables to this and MD/DO/PT medical bills are usually valued more than DC bills.
You have 2 years to file suit from the date of the injury against the other driver. You may have longer time limits under your own UM policy and there is usually a 1 year med pay claim time limit expressed in your policy, but this may not be valid and you might have longer.
In my opinion the need for tort reform is largely a myth fostered by the insurance companies who are making record profits. Oklahoma has no signifigant history of run-away jury awards.
I hope this helps.
Thanks for the input. [B)]
Rowdy, if the other person carries insurance, you may want to reconsider getting an attorney. We had a similar situation several years ago and turned out fine. We were shorted in one end because they only paid for about half the value of the car, but actually came out fine with punitive damages and all the medical bills were eventually paid. There's always the stigma that insurance companies won't treat you fairly, but it's not always the case. It's possible that your insurance company may be able to help you get a fair amount, too.[}:)]
go to the Oklahoma Bar Association website - i don't remember the exact site name, but it was easy to find
Oklahoma Bar Association:
http://www.okbar.org/
Tulsa County Bar Asociation:
http://www.tulsabar.com/
Update: I know you can fire a lawyer, but can they still charge you for services rendered? I hired a lawyer for my accident and for the past 3 weeks, I have had no correspondence except for a "thank you for your business" form letter.
Due to past experience when I was involved in a car accident, I was always sent every letter that went out from the lawyer to the insurance company and every incoming letter concerning my case. You would think in 3 weeks that I would receive something. The only thing I heard from my lawyer is when I called within the first 3-4 days after the accident and he told me, "good news, the insurance company admitted fault."
I am in physical therapy and I understand that there isn't much legally to be done right now until all medical bills have been accrued. It's just in my past experience, I would have had at least several letters or CCs on emails between my lawyer and the other party. I have received nothing. I have the typical contract where I owe nothing unless a settlement is reached. However, there has to be something to protect an attorney if a client decides to up and leave and he/she spent time on the case. Everyone talks about the freedom to fire a lawyer but if I ask for an itemized list of services rendered, I'm concerned they could bill me something I cannot currently afford.
Rowdy,
I'd sit tight for the time being. Call his assistant and politely ask what is going on with the case and mention you are used to more correspondence in the past from other attorneys. Some attorneys are more deft in dealing with their clients than others.
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Originally posted by Conan71
Rowdy,
I'd sit tight for the time being. Call his assistant and politely ask what is going on with the case and mention you are used to more correspondence in the past from other attorneys. Some attorneys are more deft in dealing with their clients than others.
Alright. It just irks me but perhaps it would be more trouble than its worth to mess with it. It's still just a soft tissue case and after lawyer's fees I am sure I will be lucky to get $1200. I am already feeling better and I'm not going to fake feeling bad to get more.