Conduct Of Insurance Companies During Auto-Accident Litigation
Interviewer: Do the different insurance companies act differently; are some tougher than others to get money out of?
Richard Sailer: Yes I think some insurance companies are more difficult to work with, and I think it has more to do with their internal policies than anything. Some insurance companies have better staffing than others, they have adjusters that have a bigger case load than others. So I don’t know that there’s really anything they do intentionally; I think all insurance companies act the same way it’s just a matter of how they process the claim.
Self-Representation in an Auto Accident Case in California
Interviewer: Do you find people trying to handle these kind of cases on their own? I mean is that crazy? Or what will happen if they try to do that?
Richard Sailer: Well yeah I get calls – a lot of times ‘ll get a call where somebody has tried to handle their case, and they’ll call me up. I’ve even had people who – this happens more often than I’d like to have to deal with, but I’ll get calls from people where the statute limitations is expiring in three days, and they’re in a panic and think they can run out and get an attorney at that point in time. Which doesn’t even give me time to gather the medical records or be able to prepare the case, or to even know anything about it, in order to be able to file a lawsuit for them? So that’s one thing that happens. The other thing that happens is, people will try to handle the case themselves.
An Attorney Can Negotiate Medical Bills As Well As Insurance Settlements
They’ll get to the point where the insurance company has extended an offer and it’s not a very good offer at all, but it’s right in a zone where sometimes you’ll have to tell the client, ‘hey you’re better off just to take that offer because I don’t know that I can improve it enough to justify filing a lawsuit and incurring the attorney’s fees’. The insurance companies know if you handling the case yourself; they automatically reduce the value of the settlement 30 or 40 percent, because they know you’re saving on the attorney’s fees and they know that if you do get an attorney later on, it’s not going to be worth anybody’s while to jump into a case. It’s unfortunate. You know a lot of times too, what people don’t realize is that by getting an attorney involved, we can negotiate the medical bills for them too and sometimes what I save them on their medical, more than covers my fee.
An Experienced and Competent Personal Injury Attorney Can Accurately Assess a Case Upon Initial Examination
Interviewer: How do you find people’s expectations of what will happen match up with what you tell them may happen?
Richard Sailer: I think if you are honest with your client and you let them know exactly what’s going to happen with their case, I think you’re okay with that. I think you can control the client’s expectations by having the experience to know what’s going to happen. I typically know what’s going to happen; I typically know what the case is going to settle for; I typically know what’s going to happen with a file as soon as I meet the client, as soon as I get a feel for what’s going on. So then it just becomes a matter of controlling your client’s expectations, being honest with them, and letting them know what the potential outcomes are, so that way the final result kind of matches up with what their expectations are.
