So ... are you guys ambulance chasers
What kind of damages can I recover if I sue?
What if I use alternative medical care like chiropractic or acupuncture?
How can I prove my income loss if I’m self-employed?
Does it matter if I have past or present injuries not related to the case?
How long can I wait to take legal action?
If I win at trial or settle my case, is my recovery taxable?
So ... are you guys ambulance chasers?
No. (You could get hurt doing something like that!) We help people who have been injured use the legal system to obtain redress for the damages they have sustained as a result of someone else’s negligent or intentional misconduct. When you are injured, you have to cope with a great deal of pain and often a significant interruption in your personal, social and/or professional and financial life. The last thing you should have to worry about is whether the person or entity responsible for your injuries is going to stick around and clean up the mess s/he/it caused. We advocate on your behalf to minimize your worry and maximize your chance of recovery (usually money), as well as helping you to develop a sense of empowerment by fighting for what is rightfully yours.
What kind of damages can I recover if I sue?
You can recover the cost of reasonable medical treatment which you obtained as a result of the accident or occurrence, as well as medical expenses which you can prove you are likely to incur in the future as a result of ongoing injuries. You can also recover the value of income which you lost as a result of being unable to work due to the injuries you sustained in the accident or occurrence, as well as additional income which you can prove you are likely to lose in the future as a result of ongoing injuries. You can also recover money to compensate you for pain, suffering, inconvenience and an inability to enjoy your favorite activities (“general damages”).
What if I use alternative medical care like chiropractic or acupuncture?
Unfortunately, the legal and insurance systems continue to take more seriously the opinions and treatments of traditional medical doctors rather than those of alternative health care practitioners. However, this is changing gradually over time, and alternative medical care is becoming increasingly viewed in the legal arena as a legitimate source of rehabilitation and pain management.
If you use alternative medical care to heal from your injuries, you are generally likely to recover less money than if you have diagnoses and treatment at an emergency room and/or by a medical doctor or specialist, such as an orthopedist. But if you are reasonable in the frequency and duration of your treatment, you should be able to recover money damages for the expenses you incur with these providers as well. If your medical doctor or specialist prescribes chiropractic or acupuncture, your chances of recovering the full extent of your medical expenses for these therapies are even better!
How can I prove my income loss if I’m self-employed?
There are many ways to prove income loss other than pay stubs and payroll records. We can use your tax returns, profit and loss statements, or other accounting records to show that you earned less or no income following the accident in which you were injured than you earned prior to the accident or after you had fully recovered. A prescription from your health care provider instructing you to take time off of work to facilitate healing is also an important piece of evidence in proving income loss related to the accident. As long as the type and severity of the injuries you sustained are incompatible with the nature of your work, you should be able to recover money for past and future income loss regardless of whether you are self-employed or someone else’s employee.
Does it matter if I have past or present injuries not related to the case?
Lawsuits are fought, and won or lost, on a case by case basis. The unique facts and circumstances of each case will affect the outcome in a variety of ways, and one such factor will definitely be the existence of past or present injuries not related to the case. But the existence of unrelated injuries does not preclude you from recovering civil damages from an injuring party. In fact, if you had a condition or injury prior to the accident which was aggravated or exacerbated by the accident, you can recover not only for the new injuries which you sustained in the accident, but also for the extent to which the accident worsened your prior condition.
How long can I wait to take legal action?
Legal action should be taken as soon as possible due to the fact that there are strict statutes of limitations which could bar your right to take legal action altogether and forever.
How do I know if I really need a lawyer? If the injuring party says s/he/it’s willing to pay, or if there’s an insurance company covering the claim, can’t I handle it myself?
Handling a personal injury claim yourself may seem like a good idea, but it almost never is. Although it may seem like a simple question of right and wrong, there may be legal concepts at work of which you are not aware. One such example is the statute of limitations, mentioned above; if it expires before you file a civil action, you could be barred forever from taking legal action, period. Another example is when you are injured by someone else on property owned by a third party. Who is responsible, and for how much of what happened, can vary a great deal depending on the particular facts in your case.
For these reasons, it is always a good idea to at least get an attorney’s opinion about the merits of your case. Most personal injury attorneys will not charge a fee for a consultation, so you have nothing to lose. You may find that your case is more complex that it first appeared. Or you may find that dealing with the injuring party’s attorneys or insurance adjusters is frustrating, time-consuming and stressful.
When you are seriously injured, or the injuring party is unwilling to pay, you will undoubtedly benefit from the expertise of an attorney. You can heal from a cut or a bruise without a doctor, but you can’t perform your own surgery. The same logic applies in a personal injury case.
No. Most cases settle through negotiation during the course of the litigation process but prior to trial. This negotiation can take the form of correspondence and telephone communications between your attorney and the injuring party’s attorney, or it can occur in a more formal setting, such as a mediation, arbitration or settlement conference. These are all various forms of “alternative dispute resolution,” which is an increasingly popular way of resolving personal injury matters and which entails a meeting of all the parties and their attorneys before a neutral third party (usually an attorney or judge) to hash out the issues, discuss the pros and cons for both sides of proceeding through trial, and negotiating the value of the case in light of those pros and cons and the high emotional and financial cost to everyone of a full-blown civil trial.
If I win at trial or settle my case, is my recovery taxable?
Unfortunately, the tax laws were changed in the mid-1990's. Presently, only money received as compensation for personal physical injuries or sickness, and for medical care for treatment of emotional distress, is not taxable. That means money awarded for purely emotional or psychological injury is taxable, and that emotional injury with physical symptoms, such as insomnia, headaches and stomach problems.
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