Common Types Of Injuries Sustained In An Auto Accident

Interviewer: What injuries have you seen that are common in accidents, and are any of them surprising to people who’ve got into an accident?

Richard Sailer: A lot of times people assume that it’s a whiplash. You know, neck and back is typically what people experience in an auto accident. We do see a lot of knee injuries; we see a lot of ankle injuries, we see a lot of shoulder injuries. People don’t realize – say if you see the accident coming and you forcefully apply the brakes in a panic stop. I’ve seen ankle fractures from people trying to avoid an accident, they’re pushing on the breaks so hard. A lot of times people will brace themselves on the steering wheel and we see shoulder injuries of their arms are locked and they get hit hard enough, we see shoulder injuries. We see passengers with knee injuries where they hit the dashboard. Another one we see very often is chest contusions and abdominal contusions from the seat belts.

 

Psychological Impact of An Auto Accident on an Individual

Interviewer: Does an accident kind of mess their head up; are they not able to do normal tasks and think clearly?

Richard Sailer: Yes it’s very common that we see people after an accident that are experiencing anxiety and apprehension regarding driving. I see a lot of times – say it’s a freeway collision – that they’re then leery to get on the freeway. Often times in the days and weeks following a major accident, they have trouble driving and they experience anxiety, just getting to their doctor’s appointments and things like that.

 

How Can A Personal Injury Attorney Intervene Beneficially For An Auto Accident Victim

Interviewer: What are some of the things that help do for people that are in an accident injury – one is, you can kind of stand by them and make sure they don’t say things that will hurt their case. What about medical bills? Do you help negotiate them down or intervene that way?

Richard Sailer: Yes we can intervene in a couple of ways. If they have health insurance then that’s always the preferred method of getting treatment; but often times people don’t have health insurance in which case we can get them treatment on a lien basis or we can find doctors that are experienced in dealing with personal injury cases and will provide them the medical care that they need on a lien – which basically is an IOU for their treatment. And the doctor will await until the case settles to be paid, and then that way the client doesn’t have to worry about being out of pocket during the pendencyof their claim.

 

A Personal Injury Settlement Is Typically Achieved Using a Two-Pronged Approach

Interviewer: Do you find that in the competition levels – when you fight for them, you find that there’s enough to pay medical bills plus survive competition with the person; or medical bills can eat up the whole settlement?

Richard Sailer: No typically there’s adequate – well I wouldn’t say adequate compensation; the insurance companies never like to pay more than what they feel the claim is worth. So usually what ends up happening is we find a compromised position where we settle the case for probably less than what it’s worth; but for enough that we can get everybody paid, we can resolve the medical bills, we can cover the attorney’s fees, and input some money in the client’s pocket. Usually it’s a compromise and a negotiation on both ends – number one; working with the insurance company to get the maximum dollar value we can from them, and then turning around and seeing what we can do to negotiate down the medical bills and get a fair value for the client.

 

Competent Personal Injury Attorneys Handle All Facets of an Auto-Accident Case

Interviewer: What about somebody getting their car fixed if it’s totaled? Do you intervene there or is it kind of up to them to get it covered?

Richard Sailer: In my firm, we handle everything for the client. We handle their property damage, we arrange the appraisals and inspections on the vehicle, we assist them in obtaining a rental vehicle, while the car’s being processed and – we handle all of it.