Appearing in Court

Will My Case Go To Trial?

            People who call us to see about hiring a lawyer for an injury case are often concerned about going to court.  The prospect of having to appear in a court of law is daunting, and many people are understandably reluctant to start a process which will end them up in court.

            The fact is that of the hundreds of personal injury claims made in Maine each year, only a handful ever make it to a trial.  The vast majority of cases are settled before there is a need to even file to begin a lawsuit, and even when a suit is started, most cases settle before a trial becomes necessary.

            So the answer to the question, “Will my case go to trial?” is that the chances of ending up in court are very remote.

            If you have questions about injury cases, you should read our book, Guide for the Prospective Injury Client, which we will send you for free if you ask for it by calling us at 1-800-999-LEGAL(5343) or by filling out the order form on our web site, http://www.lowrylaw.com/reports/the-big-secrets-about-maine-injury-claims-what-no-one-is-telling-you.cfm.

 

Almost Killed?

 No Recovery for Bad Conduct

            This may surprise you, but if you have been injured in an accident, the actions of the person who caused the accident, no matter how gross or reckless, will have no bearing on the amount which you will be able to recover.

            The amount of the damages, which is what your case is worth, depends entirely on how serious your injuries are and is not affected by what the other person did, and not by the degree of danger to which you were subjected. 

            The other person may have been drunk or have had a total disregard for your safety, or you may have come close to a more serious injury, or even death, but these facts have no bearing on what you will get for your case.  If you were lucky enough to get only a scratch, then you won’t have a case.  We often hear people say, “I was almost killed!” with the expectation that they should get a lot of money, but the law only provides for compensation for injuries actually sustained.

            If you have questions about injury cases, give us a call at 1-800-999-LEGAL(5342), or click on this link:  http://www.lowrylaw.com/faq.cfm for more answers.

 

Do I have to sue my friend?

Suing Your Friend or Spouse

            Many times the person who caused the accident will be a friend or relative of the injured person.  This is most often true when the person who is injured is the passenger in a car or on a motorcycle and the driver is at fault.

            In these situations people who have suffered an injury call us with the question, “Do I have to sue the driver who is my friend?”

            In Maine we have a six-year statute of limitations which means that there is almost always plenty of time to try to get the case settled without the need to bring a lawsuit.  The claim will be pursued against the driver’s insurance company, so during the period of time that efforts are made to get a settlement, we will be dealing with the insurance company on behalf of our client, and the driver who is a friend will not be involved.

            Of course if the insurance company refuses to pay a reasonable amount, then a lawsuit may eventually become necessary, and the driver will be named as the defendant, but even then the insurance company will hire a lawyer to take care of the matter, and the driver who caused the accident will be inconvenienced very little.

            If you have questions about how injury cases are handled, you will want to read our book on the subject which we will send to you for free if you fill out the application at

http://www.lowrylaw.com/reports/the-big-secrets-about-maine-injury-claims-what-no-one-is-telling-you.cfm

or give us a call at 1-800-999-LEGAL(5342).

What About Damage to My Car?

Property Damage Claim

            People who call us often ask, “Does the person who hit me have to pay for the damage to my car [or motorcycle]?”

            If the other person is at fault, then yes, he is responsible for getting your vehicle repaired, or to pay for the value of the vehicle when it is totaled.  This nearly always means his insurance company, not him personally.

            In most cases where the fault is reasonably certain the insurance company will pay for the repairs as the repair bills come due, or simply give you a check for the estimated cost of the repairs.  The problem that comes up here is that the insurance company will often try to low-ball you by making a low estimate of the cost of repairs.  This leaves you in a bind, because you probably need to get your wheels back on the road for transportation, and you don’t really have the time or the resources to argue successfully  with the insurance adjuster.

            At Lowry & Associates we deal with this issue on a daily basis and can make sure that you are treated fairly.  And we don’t make any charge for taking care of this for our clients.  If you have been injured in an accident involving damage to your car or motorcycle, it may be a good idea to give us a call.

            Call Lowry & Associates at 1-800-999-LEGAL(5342) or check our website at www.lowrylaw.com.

The driver with no insurance

What if the other person has no insurance?

            The uninsured motorist is truly a menace on the highway, but if you are hit by a driver with no insurance, all is not lost.  Every automobile insurance policy in Maine is required to have an uninsured motorist provision which provides that if you are injured by the fault of a person with no insurance, you can collect for your injuries from your own insurance company.

            This also applies if the other person has insurance, but his policy limit is too low to cover your claim.

            The fly in the ointment in all of this, however, is that you only get protection up to the amount of uninsured motorist protection you added when you purchased your auto policy.  Usually the UM policy limit will be the same as your underlying liability coverage, but it is possible to save a few dollars by taking a lower amount which is A BAD IDEA!  You could find yourself with serious injuries and be unable to get enough to even begin to cover you medical bills, not to mention lost wages, pain and suffering, etc.

            The minimum UM coverage in Maine is $50,000, just the same as liability coverage.  IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that much higher limits be purchased.  A minimum of $100,000 for both liability and UM is a must with $300,000 or more being much better.

            If you have questions about uninsured motorist coverage or any other issue about injury claims, call us at 1-800-999-LEGAL(5342) or order our free book at http://www.lowrylaw.com/reports/the-big-secrets-about-maine-injury-claims-what-no-one-is-telling-you.cfm.

Advance payment

Can I get an Advance on My Injury Claim?

            People see ads on TV by companies which want to pay injured victims while the case is still pending and before any settlement of the case is possible or advisable.  Naturally this stirs a lot of interest in someone who is nursing an injury and is facing the prospect of trying to pay bills while out of work.

            Unfortunately it is the rare case where using one of these advance-pay companies will make any sense, for several reasons.

·         Although the loan company will not ask for any repayment until the case settles, it will insist on getting paid in full when the settlement occurs, and the amount to be paid back will usually be very large in comparison to normal interest rates.

·         Another enticement which these loan companies often offer is that you will not have to pay anything back if you don’t get any recovery on your case.  The kicker here is that the loan company will take a very careful look at the case before making any advance payments, and unless the case is solid and very unlikely to wash out, they will not get involved.

·         For the smaller case, say one worth less than six figures, there is little chance that the loan company will have any interest.

            If a client decides to get hooked up with a loan company for an advance on a personal injury claim, we as lawyers, are prohibited by the Bar Rules from being involved in any way, but you can call us at 1-800-999-LEGAL(5342) for the best advice.

Subrogation

What is subrogation?      

            Subrogation is a fancy legal term for getting paid back out of money someone gets for an injury.  What this means is that when an insurance company pays for some of the costs caused by an accident, such as medical bills, that insurance company often has a right to get its money back, or be “subrogated”, to a portion of the amount received in the settlement by the injured party. 

            The way this works is that a person who has been injured in an accident caused by someone else’s fault is entitled to recover “damages” which consist of the several types of losses caused by the accident.  These include lost earnings, compensation for pain and suffering and the medical bills.  When the medical bills have been paid out of health insurance,  whoever pays those bills will usually be entitled to be paid back when the injured person settles the case.  It is as though the health insurance company (or Medicare or MaineCare) owns that part of the claim which is for medical bills they already paid.

            Another common application of the concept of subrogation is where there is “med pay” insurance.  In this case the injured person’s own car insurer has to pay the injured person, up to the amount of the med pay limit, toward medical bills as they are incurred.  The insurance company is subrogated to get its money back when the injury claim is settled.  Actually, in the case of med pay, less than the full amount needs to be paid back, but that is because of special rules for med pay which I will cover in another blog.

            To get answers to your questions about personal injury claims, get my free book at http://www.lowrylaw.com/reports/the-big-secrets-about-maine-injury-claims-what-no-one-is-telling-you.cfm.