Sep 7
Do not expect too much in the way of compensation for “pain and suffering”
Many stories appear in the media and elsewhere of huge awards being handed down for people who have suffered in accidents not their own fault. The personal injury attorneys have been given the epithet “ambulance chasers” as they are often depicted in movies and on TV as thrusting a card into the hand or pocket of the victim of a car crash and promising to get them a fortune if only they would immediately put on this surgical neck brace.
On occasion this might be true and there might indeed be some “ambulance chasers” out there but by and large the industry is peopled by professionals whose job it is to represent their client’s interests and make certain that they do not lose out financially.
And lose out they might well do if they choose not to appoint any Los Angeles car accident attorneys to look after their interests. For a start any Insurance company will start of by turning down any claim made against it. That is their default position and it comes as no surprise given the number of fraudulent or over inflated claims that are made against them. However if the claimant is persistent then the claim will be entertained and, especially if it is a large claim, investigated. The objective here is to moderate the claim and find out as many reasons as they can to invalidate or reduce the amount of their liability.
An individual who comes up against this kind of bureaucratic stonewalling will need a lot of patience and persistence to get their claim seen to in the short term, and the greatest need for the funds will usually be in the short term.
A personal injury attorney in Los Angeles is well experienced with this form of prevarication on the part of insurance companies and knows exactly how to cut through the red tape. This does not mean that the results will be instantaneous, but one is far more likely to get a satisfactory settlement, even taking into account their fees, than one would without this representation.
The attorney will take as many factors into account and list them all down and attach a industry norm value to them. One this is certain. All medical bills and any hospitalization is easily tallied, as are the current loss of earnings and repair costs to the car. What is less tangible and a lot harder to tabulate are any future medical expenses and care bills.
He also has to attach a financial claim for mutilation, amputation or permanent disability. Some of the figure seen and heard of run into millions. You had better hope that you are not one of these. The really big awards tend to be granted when the future lifestyle is permanently adversely and seriously affected. Brain damage, spinal injury, paralysis fall into this category.
The recipients of these awards will generally state that they would far rather have been in the state they were before the accident than have this money. Generally the pain and suffering awards are far more modest.