You are driving on the freeway, minding your own business and paying attention to traffic conditions. When the cars in front of you begin to slow, so do you. Unfortunately, the man in the car behind you, who has been following too closely and is talking on a cell phone, isn’t paying attention and hits you from behind.
The law says that the guy who hit you is responsible for injuries he causes – to you and to your car. And, while you may not have any trouble getting the insurance company to pay to repair the damage to your car, it has become increasingly difficult for those injured in such accidents to get fair and reasonable compensation for their personal injuries.
Insurance companies make money by not paying claims. Over the past decade, those companies have made a lot of money by not paying legitimate personal injury claims. As a result, some lawyers are reluctant to take these cases, knowing that if they have to take an auto accident case to trial, juries are no longer as sympathetic as they may have been in the past to claims of “pain and suffering.” Or, the lawyer takes the case and settles it for whatever the insurance company is willing to pay – without regard to the impact the injury may have had.
When we take a car crash case, we know that it may be necessary to take the case to trial – not just to get reasonable compensation for our client, but to discourage the bad faith practices in which insurance companies are engaged to reduce the number and value of claims. If the cost of defending these cases increases dramatically because experienced trial lawyers like us are prepared to take them to trial, insurance companies may reconsider how they handle such claims.
When you select a lawyer to represent you in any personal injury case, make sure he or she has the experience, the will, and the resources to take your case to trial if a fair and reasonable settlement is not offered to you.