On 6/21/19 summer arrived and that means many lawyers and doctors are on vacation and it may be more difficult to find either. Thus victims injured over July 4th may have a difficult time finding a doctor/lawyer that will/can see them. This year July 4th falls on a Thursday and many professionals will be out Thursdays to Tuesday.
Many professionals don’t respond to their calls until the next week, thus leaving victims at a lost to find medical treatment. Unfortunately, waiting two weeks to see a doctor hurts your case…a lot. The insurance company later argues, “if the victim was really injured they would have treated at the ER, or Urgent Care and not waited days or weeks to see a doctor.”
Victims get frustrated when they cannot find a doctor or lawyer and often think they will be ok in a day or two. Even worse many mistakenly talk to the insurance adjuster. By doing so they are damaging their accident case to the point that many lawyers will not accept their case later. I explained this in a previous article “Mr. Gribow, Why Won’t You Accept My Accident Case?” (if you would like a copy please contact me)
Accident victims are often afraid of costs and thus don’t take an ambulance or see a doctor right after the accident. They don’t realize the defendant’s insurance company will pay for these costs as will most drivers have medical payments coverage or Health Insurance.
Many clients don’t know their policy limits. It is important to know this information because the other driver may not have insurance or not enough insurance. When that happens, we present an Uninsured Motorist (UM) claim against our clients own policy…if s/he had UM coverage.
A similar scenario is when the defendant driver has a minimum policy but the injuries are more serious. Then we look to our clients Underinsured Auto Provision. Thus we might collect $15,000 from the at fault driver’s policy and then go after the underinsured portion of our drivers $100,000 policy for instance.
Naturally, all Medical providers are concerned about payment. If the injured party cannot find their policies before they meet with us, they often pay using a credit card. Whereas, we try to get treatment on a lien.
Insurance companies love holiday claims because victims don’t see a doctor and or they do the wrong things that ultimately reduce the value of their claim. Victims shouldn’t call the insurance company because adjusters write down what they thought they heard the victim say.
A victim should use their cell to take pictures of their injuries and property damage, and take video recordings of witnesses’ statements. In addition they should take pictures of the other driver’s insurance policy and license.
A victim should also see a medical provider they have not seen before. This is because their current medical providers have records that document prior injuries, alcohol or drugs issues, psych referrals, SDT’s, abortions etc. Though these records may have nothing to do with the accident, many jurors will incorrectly think less of the victim on account of one of these issues.
I instruct my clients to not post anything on social media following the accident because we don’t want the insurance company to find client’s posts of their playing tennis, golf, running in a marathon etc. Clients complain they can’t do anything because of the amount of pain they are encountering, yet they post pix of them playing sports.
Because of the difficulty in getting medical treatment and the mistakes and challenges listed herein, it is harder to maximize the value of an accident case during the holidays. Unfortunately these cases often result in smaller settlements. Thus many lawyers are reluctant to accept these cases.
DALE GRIBOW
A FIRM KNOWN FOR REPRESENTING THE INJURED AND CRIMINALLY ACCUSED
“TOP LAWYER” – California’s Prestige Magazine, Palm Springs Life (PI/DUI) 2011-20
“TOP LAWYER” – Inland Empire Magazine 2016- 2019
PERFECT 10.0 AVVO Peer Rating
“DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE OR TEXT AND GET A DUI OR ACCIDENT. CALL A TAXI, LYFT OR UBER. THEY ARE A LOT CHEAPER THAN CALLING ME”. SO DRIVE SOBER OR GET PULLED OVER.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE ARTICLE? CONTACT DALE GRIBOW 760-837-7500/ dale@dalegribowlaw.com.
