As one of the many Bridgeport Personal Injury Attorneys who work in our amazing city, I’ve handled many cases successfully for my clients. My clients come to my office in Bridgeport CT after being hurt by someone else, usually negligence.
Negligence is basically discussing what people should have done. For instance, in a car accident where someone is rear ended by another person, the defendant or the person who rear-ended you, should have been paying attention. or maybe that person should have hit the brakes sooner or maybe that person was driving too fast for the conditions if it was a rainy day. Sometimes that driver is drunk and it’s more than just mere negligence. In these situations clients hire me to go after the people that hit them and hurt them in the accident. Most of my clients have never been in an accident like this before. Some others are more unlucky and have been in prior accidents before.
Regardless if this is my clients’ first accident or not, the process remains the same. My staff and I gather all the facts we can from the client including but not limited to the police report or incident report number. From this information we are able to determine who was the driver that was negligent, who their insurance provider is and based on the policy number we are able to open up a claim and get the process started. My office then sends out a letter of representation to the insurance company notifying them to no longer speak with our client, further protecting our clients interest because insurance companies are in the business of making money and by saving money they are in essence making money.
Clients hire us to get them the most money possible to pay for their medical bills and the pain and suffering from these injuries that they wouldn’t have had but for the negligence of the defendant driver. As a personal injury lawyer in Bridgeport CT, I’d like to simplify cases for my clients to understand exactly how the process works. There is no magical button to press in order to get all the cash from the insurance company, and it’s about more than that. It’s about getting the client to medical maximum improvement.
Our clients need to see a range of different type of doctors from neurologists to orthopedic surgeons, specialists, chiropractors and physical therapists. Sometimes clients have emotional or psychological trauma from the accident and so the client needs to go see a specialized licensed medical provider that can help the client with these emotional or psychological after effects from the accident. As a personal injury attorney, my staff and I perform the tedious functions of corresponding and updating the insurance company throughout the process of our clients medical treatment. Based on our specialize knowledge of personal injury law and civil litigation and trial law, we are able to maximize the value of each and every case based on our experience and knowledge of the legal system.
We love to fight insurance companies because we see right through their tactics and are always keeping our clients interests above ours and the insurance companies. Clients often ask how is my case going? And my reply to that can be different depending on what stage of the process we are in. If it’s still within two years of the accident, the statute of limitations has not ran out and we still have time to file a lawsuit if we weren’t able to settle the case at a dollar amount that the client is ultimately happy with. Many of our cases never make it to trial or even to court for that matter because if our negotiations were able to save the client time and money we’re fully maximizing their settlement dollar amount without filing a lawsuit. Some cases are more contentious. Some cases have insurance companies that are less likely to settle at a dollar amount that makes our client happy, so we are willing to expand our own money at first to take the case to trial or at least prepare the case for trial and maybe settle it before trial but in court. If our client is still treating with a doctor for his or her injuries, then the case is not ready to settle. If the client is done treating or has had the surgery and is done rehabilitating, then maybe it is time to demand the insurance company to pay up. Sometimes insurance companies give the first offer to settle the case but many times it is our job as your lawyer to package up all of your information including medical bills medical records and to make a demand upon the insurance company based on our strategies and our reading of your detailed medical records.
Every case has a value. A human life is priceless. Being healthy is also priceless. If we had a time machine we would just put you in a Time Machine and send you back to right before the accident happen when you were not injured, but we can’t do that. The best thing we can do is to get your medical bills paid for while further compensating you for your pain and suffering and the total inconvenience to your life that otherwise wouldn’t have happened but for the negligence of the person that hurt you.
My goal, MY number one goal is to put as much money in my clients pocket as possible because that is the nature of civil litigation. We aren’t talking about criminal activity. We aren’t talking about the loss of liberty. In a civil case we are talking about the loss of a physical function of your body or your inability to perform certain activities as good as you could have before the accident or we are talking about things that you just can’t do anymore. These things in our society and legal system have a dollar value to them. The negotiation process once the client is done treating can be long and arduous with many heated discussions in periods of time where there is no communication, so there is an art to the process in addition to the expertise that we’ve gained through negotiation after negotiation.
Each case is different. Each person’s experience is unique to him or herself. Each injury unique. Each insurance policy possibly different than the next or the last one. There are problems that arise. Some problems that arise is the lack of any insurance from the defendant/person that hit you. Sometimes clients have to go through their own insurance companies and legally the insurance company is not supposed to raise your rates when you dip into your uninsured or underinsured motorist claim portion of your policy. This is why I urge my clients and my friends and family to increase their policy limits just in case they are hit by someone in a car accident where that person doesn’t have enough insurance or any insurance at all. Insurance is mandated in case an accident happens. That is a system we live in. Insurance is there to protect you from unwanted and unforeseen situations. Insurance protects you. If you are rare ended or T-bones Who does not have insurance and you broke your shoulder then a $25,000 policy limit will not pay for your entire medical bills and your pain and suffering and the inconvenience to your life.
I would recommend most people to have at least $100,000 under insured or uninsured policy limit at the minimum. This will protect you from drivers who hit you with their car that is under or uninsured. There are many subtle aspects of a personal injury car accident case. The most important thing is making sure the client has the right medical treatment for his or her injury. Me and my staff will do the rest. If you were injured in a car accident case give me a call at 833 GO FINCH!
