July

Posted By Ted Spaulding

The most often question I hear from clients at the beginning of their case is who pays my medical expenses while my case is pending. I often then hear that the client told the hospital just to bill the at-fault party directly. Unfortunately, the at-fault party will not, and even more importantly, is not required to pay your medical bills until you are ready to resolve the case once and for all. Therefore, in order to pursue your claim you need to seek and have your treatment paid for by you until your case is resolved.

That being the case, what are you supposed to do? Whatever you do, you need to get the proper treatment immediately and there are several ways you can do it:

1. If you have health insurance, have it pay for your medical costs. You will likely have to reimburse the insurance company for a portion of the benefits it provides on your behalf out of your settlement or verdict but that is much better than going without needed treatment. In this scenario, your health insurance will not pay the full cost of the treatment as it will have a contract with the provider reducing the cost of the treatment. For instance, a procedure that costs $1,000.00 will likely only cost the health insurance company $300.00. It is much better to have to reimburse the health insurance company $300 at the end of your case then pay $1,000.00 directly out of your pocket to the treatment needed. The good news is we have been very successful negotiating reimbursement of medical benefits with clients' health insurance company so little to nothing is needed out of your settlement or verdict to reimburse them.

2.If you do not have health insurance, the next best option is to find a doctor who will treat you on a lien or we can get you in touch with several companies we work with that will cover your expenses on a lien (they will pay the doctor and wait to be paid by you out of the settlement or verdict). Again, the benefit here is you get the treatment you need now without having to pay anything out of pocket but the difference from health insurance is that you will owe the full amount of the treatment out of your settlement or verdict.

3.If you were injured in an auto accident, you likely have some level of medical payment coverage. This covers you for medical expenses up to the maximum policy limit. The problem here is that most folks only have $1,000.00 of med pay coverage. The lucky few have $10,000.00 or even $25,000.00, but even if you are likely enough to have a lot of med pay coverage it often will not cover all of your medical costs, so you are left trying number 1 or 2, above, or seeking other sources to help you with your bills.

Our Atlanta personal injury lawyers will work with you from the beginning of our representation of you to get you set up with the most appropriate medical provider for your injuries and under one or more of the above options so your medical bills are covered while you worry about getting better.

Continue reading "Who Pays My Medical Bills?" »

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Posted By Ted Spaulding

In Georgia personal injury cases, the nature and duration of the medical care determines how long it takes to resolve your case. This article will provide you with an idea of how long your personal injury case (car accident, tractor trailer/truck accident, wrongful death) will take to resolve either through settlement before or after suit is filed or through trial to a jury of your peers. Keep in mind that these are just general timelines as each case involves different injuries, treatment modalities, and factual issues that affect how long it takes to resolve a personal injury case.

While approximately 98-99% of all Georgia personal injury claims settle and approximately 85-90% of cases in litigation settle short of trial, we have seen a trend recently of insurance companies trying cases more and more often. Below is the general timeline that provides you with an outline of the process and what you can expect each step of the way:

Step 1: Medical Care

During this step, you will meet with the attorney in person to go over the facts of the case, your injuries to-date, any treatment already received, medical providers you have already seen, and other particulars discussed below. During this step, we will do the following

Send a letter of representation to the at-fault party, his/her or its insurer, if known, to notify them of your claim, our representation, to request insurance policy coverage information and all photographs/statements obtained by them regarding the incident;
Send a letter of representation to your insurance company if your case is a car/truck accident to get your UM coverage information;
Obtain the accident report or incident report;
Preserve any critical evidence like 911 calls, physical evidence, dash cam images, photographs, statements etc.;
Interview witnesses;
Help you coordinate your medical treatment either by helping you find the right provider to help you with your injuries or just help you coordinate payment of bills through health insurance or lien based treatment;

This step is usually the longest short of the litigation phase because a lot of time is needed for you to get the treatment you need so we know exactly what injuries you suffered, what treatment is necessary, how much that treatment has cost, and what if any long term impairments will you have---all important elements for determining what the jury value of your is.

Step 2: Drafting of Settlement Demand

Once your medical care is over, our at least the full course of treatment is known, then we can request all of your medical records and bills from your medical providers. It usually takes 30-60 days to get records back from a provider after the request is made and you should anticipate it will take around a week for us to complete your settlement demand package.

Once the demand package is sent out to the insurance company it will take 30 days to receive a response. Once the initial response is received, negotiations will begin in earnest. We keep you notified of progress in the negotiations. If the insurance company makes a reasonable offer, and it is acceptable to you after our advise on it, we will send a confirmation letter. It will take a month or so before your settlement proceeds have been received and are ready to be given to you.

You may be wondering who gets to decide whether the case settles. The answer is YOU. We will provide our advise on what the jury value of your case is and what is or is not a good settlement offer is given the dynamics of your case based on our experience, but it is ultimately your case. If you decide not to or even to take an offer that we advise against, that is your right because it is always your case, your pain and suffering, and your family. Only you and your family can make the ultimate decision whether to settle or not.

Step 3: Litigation

If it is necessary to file suit to unlock the true value of your case and you agree, then it will take around two weeks to prepare the lawsuit. The lawsuit does not begin until the defendant has been personally served. Service is when the sheriff or an appointed server actually hands a copy of the lawsuit to the defendant or an adult they live with. Keep in mind you have to sue the actual defendant not his or her insurance companey.

Once the lawsuit is served, the Defendant has 30 days within which to answer. If they fail to and don’t fix it within another 15 days, they are in default and admit most everything in the lawsuit, which makes your case easier. This is very unlikely to happen and instead within the first 30 days an Answer is filed.

Step 4: Discovery

Once the Answer is filed, the discovery clock starts ticking. Discovery lasts six months in Georgia unless it is extended by consent of all parties and the Court. The point of discovery for the defendant is to learn everything about your case---facts of incident, your injuries, treatment, and damages. For you the point of discovery is to learn what if any defenses the defendant has to your case and collect valuable evidence that will us win your case at trial.

The first step is written discovery is answered. This usually takes the first 2-3 months of discovery. After that you can expect the defendant will want to take your depsotion, which is a sworn statement from you with a court reporter present. Depositions usually last for 3-4 hours, depending on the situation, and almost nothing about you and your case is off limits. For you the next step if for us to take the deposition of the defendant and any other necessary witnesses and prepare medical evidence and exhibits. It is not abnormal to have discovery drag on for 9-10 months.

Step 5: Trial

After discovery is over and the next step in the case is to try the case or settle, often mediation is requested. Often times it is at this point that cases get resolved before trial.

If the case does not settle at mediation, trial is the only option. In Georgia courts the time to get to a jury trial can vary from around 6 months to 2 years, depending on what court the case is in and even what judge within that court has the case.

Typical trials in personal injury cases last around 2-4 days depending on the number of witnesses and evidence that needs to be presented to win your case.

If you are in need of an experienced personal injury lawyer in Atlanta, please feel free to fill out our "Contact Us" form or call us today at (770) 887-3162 to talk today one of our Atlanta car accident lawyers, Atlanta truck accident attorneys, Atlanta wrongful death lawyers, or other Atlanta personal injury lawyer.

Continue reading "Atlanta injury lawyer answers the question--How Long Does It Take For A Case To Settle or Get To Trial?" »

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Posted By Ted Spaulding

Is It Ok To Provide A Recorded Statement To The Insurance Company?

It is a standard question you will hear immediately upon contact from the at-fault parties auto insurance company or corporate home office--"We would like you to give a recorded statement" after a car accident or personal injury such as a premises liability claim. The car accident adjuster will make contact with you in very short order after the crash and explain that it is standard procedure for them to need two very simply things: 1) a recorded statement regarding what happened and 2) a medical release so they can collect your medical records and bills. Seems like very reasonable requests and the insurance company is being helpful to you, right? Wrong.

To be clear, understand that there is no requirement much less a legal duty under Georgia law to provide a recorded statement to the at-fault party's insurance company. The insurance company is only asking in the hopes of helping themselves defend against your personal injury claim later. That is why often times immediately after the car wreck, you will receive and initial letter from the adjuster introducing himself or herself and stating that they will close their file if you do not make contact and provide a statement and fill out the medical release form sent along with the letter. You can ignore this letter all together because all that matters is that you do not wait to pursue your case past Georgia's Statute of Limitations (2 yrs.) and the file can be reopened at any time within that period by the adjuster. You may and should totally ignore these tactics by Georgia car insurance companies, because they are just that, tactics to protect the insurance company, not you!

Why shouldn't I give a statement? After all, I have nothing to hide? While it is true you have nothing to hide, the answer is that the adjusters are trained in how to get admissions out of you without you even knowing that you are helping them defend against an otherwise defenseless case with trick or open-ended questions. They may try to get you to admit that you did not do anything to avoid the collision, even if there was nothing you could have done or trick you into admitting something that was not true such as how fast you were going at the time, how far away their driver was from you before the collision, or what you did or did not see at the time. Adjusters are trained to conduct these interviews and to secure testimony that makes it less likely that their driver is to blame or simply corners you in to that testimony later in the case when it becomes important.

You may now be thinking, well that makes sense but is not the medical release request at least a fair request? Wrong, again. Remember, insurance companies do not do anything to protect your interests. Insurance companies in Georgia will use an executed medical release to collect every medical record for all past treatment to help begin to build a defense to your injury claim that you suffered from pre-existing conditions that explain why you are injured not the crash itself. To top it all off, the insurance company will not even provide you with copies of what they have collected on you. Never provide a medical release to the insurance company. It can only hurt you. The insurance company has no legal right to require it. You are the only who should be providing the insurance company with your medical records and billing statements for the treatment received since the injury in question, only. For this reason and many others, if you have a serious injury, hire an Atlanta Personal Injury Attorney with experience dealing with insurance companies and corporate home offices before you take do something that hurts your claim.

Continue reading "Is It Ok To Provide A Recorded Statement To The Insurance Company?" »

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Posted By Ted Spaulding

Is It Ok To Provide A Recorded Statement To The Insurance Company?

It is a standard question you will hear immediately upon contact from the at-fault parties auto insurance company or corporate home office--"We would like you to give a recorded statement" after a car accident or personal injury such as a premises liability claim. The car accident adjuster will make contact with you in very short order after the crash and explain that it is standard procedure for them to need two very simply things: 1) a recorded statement regarding what happened and 2) a medical release so they can collect your medical records and bills. Seems like very reasonable requests and the insurance company is being helpful to you, right? Wrong.

To be clear, understand that there is no requirement much less a legal duty under Georgia law to provide a recorded statement to the at-fault party's insurance company. The insurance company is only asking in the hopes of helping themselves defend against your personal injury claim later. That is why often times immediately after the car wreck, you will receive and initial letter from the adjuster introducing himself or herself and stating that they will close their file if you do not make contact and provide a statement and fill out the medical release form sent along with the letter. You can ignore this letter all together because all that matters is that you do not wait to pursue your case past Georgia's Statute of Limitations (2 yrs.) and the file can be reopened at any time within that period by the adjuster. You may and should totally ignore these tactics by Georgia car insurance companies, because they are just that, tactics to protect the insurance company, not you!

Why shouldn't I give a statement? After all, I have nothing to hide? While it is true you have nothing to hide, the answer is that the adjusters are trained in how to get admissions out of you without you even knowing that you are helping them defend against an otherwise defenseless case with trick or open-ended questions. They may try to get you to admit that you did not do anything to avoid the collision, even if there was nothing you could have done or trick you into admitting something that was not true such as how fast you were going at the time, how far away their driver was from you before the collision, or what you did or did not see at the time. Adjusters are trained to conduct these interviews and to secure testimony that makes it less likely that their driver is to blame or simply corners you in to that testimony later in the case when it becomes important.

You may now be thinking, well that makes sense but is not the medical release request at least a fair request? Wrong, again. Remember, insurance companies do not do anything to protect your interests. Insurance companies in Georgia will use an executed medical release to collect every medical record for all past treatment to help begin to build a defense to your injury claim that you suffered from pre-existing conditions that explain why you are injured not the crash itself. To top it all off, the insurance company will not even provide you with copies of what they have collected on you. Never provide a medical release to the insurance company. It can only hurt you. The insurance company has no legal right to require it. You are the only who should be providing the insurance company with your medical records and billing statements for the treatment received since the injury in question, only. For this reason and many others, if you have a serious injury, hire an Atlanta Personal Injury Attorney with experience dealing with insurance companies and corporate home offices before you take do something that hurts your claim.

Continue reading "Is It Ok To Provide A Recorded Statement To The Insurance Company?" »

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Recent Blog Posts in July 2010

Is It Ok To Provide A Recorded Statement To The Insurance Company?

Is It Ok To Provide A Recorded Statement To The Insurance Company?