A lot of our clients are surprised to learn that after being injured, whether it’s a motorcycle wreck,
medical malpractise, sexual harassment, a shooting on a premises, violation of civil rights, the person who is evaluating the claim
and the person who may be offering money to settle the claim is not the defendant.
It’s not the doctor or the premises owner. It’s an insurance company. The parties that are typically responsible
for an injury have insurance coverage. They hand over the claim to the insurance carrier. And it’s a carrier, an insurance adjuster
who is evaluating the claim. These carriers evaluate hundreds of thousands of claims, way more than any individual lawyer
or firm evaluates.So they collect data. They collect data on every type of injury you can imagine in every single situation.
And they also have data on what individuals and lawyers might accept in order to resolve these claims. When you are injured, the first thing
you should do is not call a lawyer. The first thing you should do is get the proper medical help, get your affairs in order.
If you have insurance, you call your own insurance company and you report the injury. You’re not required to speak to
the insurance company from the other side. And here is why. Insurance from the other side is going to take an individual and offer
a very low amount for your injury very, very quickly.The importance of bringing a lawyer on at that point, particularly when somebody else is at fault,
is because a lawyer knows the process. And from day one, a lawyer will start building the pieces of evidence. Preserve evidence, preserve witnesses,
speak to witnesses, and put the building blocks in place to build an appropriate case. And that’s the only way to get full compensation for the injury.
