The first thing to consider after a personal injury is what to say and not say. Whatever you do, don’t say that you are not hurt because you are not a doctor and it sometimes takes weeks for a serious injury to manifest itself. Be careful of what you say immediately after an accident because statements that you make right after an accident are admissible in court and the court gives them more weight than any other type of statement. In law this is called a Res Gestae statement, which in Latin means “Things done.” Technically it is a statement that is considered trustworthy as evidence when repeated by a witness because the statement was made spontaneously and concurrently with an event, such as the accident.

Try to keep your emotions in check after an accident. It is not helpful for you to get angry and say things to the other driver that you may later regret. Things said can come back to hurt your settlement. When speaking to anyone investigating your accident, remain calm, try to remember exactly what occurred, do not excuse the actions of the other driver in any way, do not admit to any fault because you may not understand the laws, statutes, rules, case decisions and other legal doctrines that determine who is at fault and where each part has some degree of fault. If you have pain, explain the pain in detail to the officer and do not make your injury seem less serious because you are embarrassed, don’t want to make a big deal out of it, are optimistic about your recovery or even if you are unsure about whether to make a claim later. Later, you may wish you didn’t harm your chances if your injury turns out to be more serious than you thought. In many cases injury symptoms do not appear for up to several weeks. It is better to tell the police officer that you “don’t know” than to say, “no, I am not injured.”

In an auto accident if the police do not investigate the accident be sure to get the other driver’s license information (all of it) and their insurance information (ditto). Write down a physical description of the driver for later use. Note whether he was talking on the cell phone, eating or any other risky conduct. Also, not whether the other driver was drinking and what you notice about him. Write down anything the other driver may have said and note where the damage is on his car. Walk around the car and not any damage, especially old damage or any damage you did not cause. Ask the other driver if they are hurt and write down what he says.

If you have a camera in your car (good idea) or if you can get your hands on one, take photos of the accident scene and the occupants of the other car. Get a photo of the intersection and close ups of the damage to your car and his car.

After the Accident

If you have any pain go to the emergency room. If you are in enough pain have someone call and ambulance, if they haven’t already done so. The main reason to go to a hospital ER is to determine the seriousness of your injury. Many times injuries become needlessly more serious because someone doesn’t go to the doctor immediately. Going to the ER or to your doctor can lessen the extent of your injury and prevent future medical trouble and possibly future pain. If local law requires you to send in a written accident report in addition to the police officer’s report, be very careful in the wording because you can seriously damage the value of your claim. Do not underestimate the seriousness of your injury or your vehicle’s damage and generally follow the advice given above on giving information at the scene of the accident.

The one thing that is the most important thing in handling your own claim is your first conversation with a claims adjuster, agent or other person who is acting on behalf of the person who caused the accident. Claims adjusters are taught and required to avoid paying claimants (you) and, failing that, to pay as little as possible to settle a claim. You will see this in the type of questions the adjuster will ask. The adjuster will ask you for a recorded or signed statement. Never agree to give one, there is no obligation and it will be used against you. I’ve have seen adjusters, in person and on the phone, ask immediately, “how are you today.” The typical answer is “fine thank you.” The adjuster will use this against you in the future if you are injured. They will say, “The claimant told me that they were feeling fine.”

The adjuster will ask you to describe the accident and then ask you if you are “100% positive that you are correct.” Most people would say, “I don’t think I am 100% sure.’ They will use this against you by saying that you were uncertain as to the facts, therefore, a jury cannot conclude that you were sure about your testimony.

If you are injured the adjuster will ask you for a medical history back to when you were born or further than is relevant to your case. The adjuster will also ask you to sign a Medical Release. The problem is that their releases go far beyond the bounds of legality and you should not give them an “open hunting season” on your medical history. They are only entitled to medical that is directly related to the accident in question. This may be hard for you to ascertain and it may be a good idea to get some guidance from a lawyer, whether or not you hire a lawyer.

Do not sign anything with an adjuster or your doctor’s office that is a full medical release to the claims adjuster.

It is likely that the insurance company or an outside adjuster will take video of you at home, in your yard, doing yard work, carrying a child, carrying in the groceries or dry cleaning, doing yard work, automobile maintenance and anything else that might give them a way out of paying your claim or paying you less than you deserve under the law.

Choice of Doctor

Be careful which doctor you see for an automobile accident injury. Some doctors do not like the extra paperwork or the possibility of depositions and court testimony. Most business people, including doctors, would like to avoid doing work for which they do not get paid. Being an expert medical witness in a personal injury claim or lawsuit doesn’t put money in their pocket. There are some doctors who are prejudiced against people who make personal injury claims against the very insurance companies that pay them so much money. Doctors that take HMO payments are graded by insurance companies on how many x-rays, CT scans, MRI’s and other tests they perform. If they do too many, the insurance company will take them off their approved doctor’s list.

Personal Injury lawyers usually know the reputations of doctors, which doctors are prejudiced and which have actual contracts with certain insurance companies. It is true that some lawyers have close relationships to a few doctors that they want you to visit. Neither of these situations is tolerable. If a client or prospective client asks our firm for a doctor recommendation, we will recommend only reputable doctors, who are known to be fair and honest to the insurance companies and to lawyers. We only recommend doctors that we would see ourselves and want the best possible results for our clients and their families.

In the event you can’t afford to see a doctor or have necessary tests, a reputable and successful personal injury law firm can help you to pay for medical treatment. The cost of this treatment can be deducted, in many cases, from the final settlement of your case. You can certainly ask doctors if they will make the same agreement with you, however, lawyers sign guarantees of payment to doctors and hospital, backed up by the financial strength of the law firm and it’s credit worthiness. The Ogletree Abbott Law Firm is rated AV by the leading lawyer rating service in the world the “V” is for “Very Good” and the highest credit rating given to lawyers. The “A” means that we are rated as “Pre-imminent” in our field of law and this is the highest rating in terms of performance and ethics.

Record Keeping

Keep copies of everything, including the police report, information on the other driver, photographs of your car and their car, if you can get it at the scene or at some point after the accident and before repairs are made. Also, keep a daily diary or record of how the accident has affected you and your family. Be sure to note how you feel and what you can’t do or can’t do very well since the accident. Explain what it’s like to find a babysitter or to take children with to the doctor. Does your spouse have to take care of you and how is this affecting them? How is this making your children feel? How is it affecting you emotionally? These are things that contribute to a fair settlement. The law says that the insurance company or other driver owes you for matters like this and there is no good reason for you to turn away money that you, your children or someone else may need either now or in the future.

Investigating Your Accident

Chances are you probably will not be able to afford a private investigator to do the necessary investigation for a personal injury case and settlement. These professionals are mostly ex-police officers and know everything that is necessary to investigate an accident. Often, unexpected things come up in an investigation that they must discover and investigate such as background information, criminal record, statements of neighbors, use of alcohol and drugs and anything that a jury may consider relevant to the honesty and truthfulness of the other driver. If you are attempting to do-it-yourself, you should do the following:

1. Take photos of the accident scene including the intersection or entire area around the accident scene. Take photos of debris, tread marks, traffic signs, obstructions to view, determine where the sun may have been at the time of the accident, the other driver’s car, even if it’s in their driveway or at a body shop, the seatbelts and safety restraints in your car to determine if the worked properly (possible claim against car manufacturer).

2. Determine the weather and road conditions at the time of the accident. Note whether there are any potholes, barricades, construction work or anything else that may be a factor in your case.

3. Inquire with the police, constable or sheriff to determine how many other accidents occurred at this same location and determine the cause of these accidents.

4. Inquire with business owners to determine if they witnessed the accident and take a recorded or written/signed statement from them. Go to the accident scene and question others who may be walking by or waiting for a bus, etc., to see if they witnessed the accident.

5. Obtain a copy of the other driver’s license and the history of accidents and tickets.

6. Research court records to determine how many times the other driver has been sued, for any reason. Obtain certified copies of any relevant court records.

7. Determine the policy limits of the other driver’s insurance policy. Do not be discouraged if the other driver has no insurance or little insurance. Chances are that your auto insurance policy has Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UM) for drivers with no insurance and it also acts has additional coverage to driver’s who have insufficient coverage.

8. Talk to the neighbors of the driver at fault to determine his driving habits, his personal habits such as alcoholism or drug use, past accidents, personal trouble, police visits to his home, etc.

9. Obtain the medical history of the other driver if possible.

10. Take advantage of anything unexpected found in your investigation and keep on investigating as other issues and facts develop.

Negotiations With Claims Adjusters

Dealing with a claims adjuster is an art, not a science. Your relationship with the adjuster should be determined by the personality of each individual. Some adjusters seem very nice and some are the exact opposite, however, their assignment is the same, i.e., (1.) Avoid paying anything and (2) Pay as little as possible. It doesn’t make any difference if someone is nice or nasty if they both cheat you. Don’t let the nice ones con you, cause they will.

Don’t sign anything with an adjuster unless it’s a very limited written medical records release that only pertains to the injuries you received in this accident and to the doctors and hospitals that you visited for this particular accident. Don’t cooperate with them beyond these legal duties.

Tell your doctor that you do not want him or his staff to talk to the insurance company representatives. Claims adjusters will go to the doctor’s office and try to persuade the doctor into not performing tests, prescribing medications and to release you from his care. Sometimes these people are called Rehabilitation Nurses. That couldn’t be further from the truth. They have nothing to do with rehabilitation and their job is to talk the doctor into limiting your medical care so that the insurance company can pay you less. You have no obligation to agree to a rehabilitation nurse and if you do, you are making a big mistake.

Don’t give a recorded or signed statement to the adjuster. Law does not require it and it can only hurt you, not help. Adjusters never look for anything that could cause them to pay you more, only less.

Your settlement will be mostly based on your medical bills and medical records. You should obtain these as quickly as possible and send them to the claims adjuster handling your case. Insurance companies are required by law to keep “Legal Reserves” of their money to pay for pending claims, such as yours. They will usually set their reserves small and increase it if the medical records determine that it should be increased. The adjuster’s base their settlement offers on the amount of their legal reserve for your particular case. Therefore, send in your medical bills and records as quickly as possible and as often as you can obtain them. Do not wait until the conclusion of your medical treatment to send your medical records to the adjuster because it’s easier to get the adjuster to raise his reserves over a period of time instead all a once at the end of the case. The adjuster will look at your case reserve every time he does anything with your claim and it is difficult to get him to change the amount of the reserve upwards if he’s been thinking that amount for months. Get him used to seeing your reserve increase and time to get used to paying you a fair settlement.

During settlement negotiations the adjuster will try to mislead you as to the laws, statues, rules, codes and case law to gain a negotiation advantage. The amount of your settlement will relay a great deal on whether or not you understand the law. Also, do not believe a thing the adjuster tells you about the law or how much they can pay. Settlement negotiations are a lot like horse-trading. You see a horse you want, tell the seller that there are many things wrong with the horse and it’s worthless, buy the horse for a small amount and spend the rest of your life bragging about how cheap you got this great horse, right?

Don’t be the guy that got cheated out of his horse. You deserve a fair legal settlement. Knowing how much your settlement should be and how to get it separates the best lawyers from ordinary lawyers. The Ogletree Abbott Law Firm is recognized by the world’s foremost lawyer rating service as “pre-imminent in our field of law.” We are a national law firm devoted to people who have been injured in an accident. However, in the do-it-yourself situation always remember to ask for more than you will take to settle your case. Never take the adjuster’s first settlement offer. Our law firm will be happy to give you free advice on how much to first demand and what the minimum value of your case should be.

Use our Settlement Calculator to give you a starting idea of how much your claim is worth.

Be very careful when considering signing a Final Settlement Agreement because it will permanently end you right to get payment from the insurance company or the person at fault. A common mistake that unrepresented people make is their failure to obtain an amount of money for future damages such as future: (1) Medical expenses, (2) Disability, (3) Pain and suffering, (4) Lost Wages or Employability, (5) Any other damages that might reoccur in the future.

Should You Represent Yourself?

The first thing they tell law students in law school is not to ever represent yourself, even if you are a lawyer. There is a very old saying that “A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.” The reason you keep hearing this again and again is that there is some truth to it. When you try to represent yourself you are emotionally invested and your emotions may get in the way of logic and practical considerations. For example, what if the claims adjuster or the insurance attorney says something to make you angry but otherwise makes a reasonable offer? You probably will be thinking about punching his lights out instead of how to continue negotiating.

You’ve got to keep your eye on the ball at all times and the “ball” is getting the best settlement possible. It’s somewhat easier for an attorney, who is not as emotionally involved in your case to do the negotiating. There are other reasons why you shouldn’t handle your own case but we are still going to tell you how to handle your own case. We will give you some general advice relating to most personal injury claims and then special advice for particular types of injury cases such as auto accidents, products cases, medical malpractice and so forth. If you run into a special situation and don’t know what to do, we invite you to call us and we will try to help you, even if you are attempting to handle your own case. We figure that at some point you may “see the light” and let us represent you.

Conclusion

You probably know what I am going to say and you’re right! There are many ways to mess up your settlement. You can lose everything or just a lot. The amount of the attorney’s fee may be significant but so will be your settlement. So many people hire a lawyer to handle their personal injury claim that it seems obvious that everyone should have a lawyer to help them negotiate a settlement and do all of the preliminary work that is necessary for a fair legal settlement.

People who are disappointed in their settlements are usually represented by a lawyer who is not well educated, inexperienced or lazy. People who hire large reputable national law firms are seldom disappointed. The Ogletree Abbott Law Firm is a reputable national law firm rated as “Pre-imminent in our field” by the world’s foremost lawyer ranking publication, The Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory.

You can hire the Ogletree Abbott Law Firm for the same amount as some lawyer right out of law school, a lawyer who advertises a lot or a lawyer who doesn’t limit his practice to personal injury law. Our firm charges one-third if the case can be settled without litigation. Don’t pay anymore than this standard percentage.

Call us at 713-223-1234 in Houston or use our toll-free number, 1-800-779-4950. We invite you to use our Live Chat feature on our website, OgletreeAbbott.com or email us. It would be our pleasure to visit with you about your accident and injury. We will answer your questions, give you a settlement value or just give you good information over the phone. Everything we discuss will be kept in strict confidence and privacy whether you hire us or not. Give us a call today and get to know the law and our lawyers.