Archive for the ‘Auto Accidents’ Category

NEW RULE TIPS SCALES AWAY FROM JUSTICE.

Hausmann-McNally, S.C. strongly opposes Indiana’s 30-day rule that prohibits attorneys from contacting accident victims to advertise their services. We see a dangerous trend towards this in other states.

This new provision in Indiana’s rules of professional conduct prohibits attorneys from making in-person, written or electronic solicitations in cases involving personal injury or wrongful death within 30 days of an accident or disaster.

This is totally wrong thinking, in the view of Hausmann-McNally President Charles Hausmann. As most of our clients know, we send informational advertising to victims after they have been in an accident. “The rule takes away victims’ rights and gives a clear advantage to insurance companies. This is detrimental to the victims’ best interests. ”

“This rule prevents people who need attorneys to learn about services available to them. More than that, Hausmann argues that the 30-day rule helps insurance companies, the lawyers’ traditional adversary in personal injury lawsuits.

A 2007 study by the Insurance Research Council showed that people who retained attorneys to represent them received two and a half to three times the amount of money than those who did not have attorneys.

“If insurance companies can keep people from receiving written information about their rights for 30 days, they can do whatever they want and no one can stop them,” says Hausmann. Within that critical 30 days, victims may succumb to less-than-fair insurance company offers or hire an off-the-TV law firm with little substance to its claims.

Hausmann-McNally’s 28-page brochure, for example, sets out information about victims’ rights, how the legal process works, how to select an appropriate lawyer and law firm, pitfalls to avoid when dealing with insurance companies and more. “This new rule prohibits us from giving this information to accident victims for 30 days at the most crucial point in their decision process. This level of useful information could never be presented in a TV commercial, or print ad.

“Insurance companies profit immensely if people do not hire attorneys to represent their side of a case.” A recent Bloomberg online article showed that if Allstate Insurance could prevent 25 percent of accident victims from hiring attorneys, their stock would go up $1.60 a share–for an estimated sum of $847,680,000. Money that should go to accident victims is shifted to the insurance company’s bottom line. It is no secret that insurance companies like this new rule.

“What this new rule means is that the victims do not have access to the information that will help them achieve a better settlement from insurance companies.”

It doesn’t help that some law firms create outrageously misleading TV and radio ads. People need to be able to see print material so they can review and carefully judge what the “offer” is from the attorney.

Although the Indiana law went into force in January 1, 2011, Hausmann says he intends to continue fighting it.

Hausmann is particularly incensed at the rationale for the new rule, an alleged concern about the “sensitized state” of victims who were either injured or grieving. “These same ’sensitized individuals’ are prey to insurance companies who are free to contact, deny, delay and make lowball offers.”

Resourceful Attorney Gets Client 16 Times What Allstate Offers

COLUMBUS, OHIO–A good part of the law business involves dealing with insurance companies. Many times, the insurance company will low-ball a client and make an absurdly low offer which they hope the client will take. Clients without legal representation may fall for the insurance company’s offer to settle quickly, say that the case isn’t worth much, or claim that injuries were pre-existing conditions. Have no doubts, most insurance companies would rather pay you less than more, and would prefer to pay you nothing if they could get away with it. That includes your own insurance company.

A major victory over an unreasonably low offer involved Hausmann-McNally Attorney J. Scott Bowman, who represented a client injured in an automobile accident.  After the accident, she was unable to get the surgery she needed because she did not have health insurance. It didn’t help that Allstate dragged its feet by refusing to make a fair settlement.

The 36-year old woman was injured by an automobile driver who failed to yield at a stop sign. Injuries included tear to her ACL as well as cervical, thoracic and lumbar sprains/strains. Medical bills were projected to top $20,000. Bowman also showed she had lost wages in the amount of $12,000 to $13,000.

Aside from the bad publicity Allstate garners for not adequately paying claims, Bowman had to go before a jury and, during a three-day trial, proved that his client’s injuries and medical bills were worth a whole lot more than Allstate offered her. Allstate’s final offer was $4,181!

After hearing both sides, the jury awarded Bowman’s client $70,124, almost all of what he had asked for. The case was written up in the Winter 2011 issue of the Columbus (Ohio) Lawyers Quarterly.

Interesting news of the Allstate company’s strategy on claims can be seen on the Web site: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982072.htm

Their slogan might be “You’re in Good Hands with Allstate,” but this client believes she was in far better hands with Hausmann-McNally, a personal injury law firm that really looks after their clients’ interests.

Bowman is managing attorney for Hausmann-McNally’s Columbus, Ohio office.

Experienced personal injury attorneys are very creative people when it comes to helping accident victims receive compensation for their losses and injuries. The good ones don’t take “no” for an answer. They are bird dogs when it comes to finding sources to help pay for their clients’ injuries and losses.

By pursuing all aspects of a case that was racking up huge medical bills for a five-year-old girl’s family, Indiana Attorney Rod Tucker managed to help them recover financially from a serious automobile accident and, after two years of legal proceedings, come out with a structured settlement that will yield an expected payout of $1.49 million.

Rod Tucker is a seasoned attorney who manages the Indianapolis office for Hausmann-McNally, S.C., a personal injury law firm.

In June 2008, the girl was riding in the back seat and her father was in the front seat as her uncle drove on a rural Indiana road. Their car was going through a four-way intersection where three of the corners were open fields and the fourth was the site of a house with fencing, trees and shrubs. As they went into the intersection, their car was rammed by a car from the right. Both cars flew into a field. The girl’s father was injured, but it was apparent that his daughter was critically injured. Her head and leg injuries were so severe that she was airlifted to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. At the hospital, doctors induced a coma and kept her “asleep” for 55 days while they did what they could to heal her brain and legs. Treatment included risky brain surgery and numerous other therapies. Although he was injured himself, her father never left his daughter’s side in those 55 days.

Tucker said it at first appeared that there was not going to be enough insurance money to cover the expensive treatment which had already cost over a half million dollars. The insurance on the cars involved in the accident amounted to $170,000. In the interest of his clients, Rod Tucker set to work to find and sue the parties that shared responsibility.

Tucker investigated the site and found that the stop sign was located 20 feet back from the corner and that the county had never ordered the property owners to maintain a clear line of sight for motorists at the intersection. Tucker asked, and Clinton County agreed in mediation, to pay $300,000 because of the poor design and maintenance of that rural intersection.

In mediation proceedings in December 2010, Tucker asked for and received $350,000 from the homeowners’ insurance because, by creating their privacy landscape, the home owners were responsible for obstructing the visibility at the intersection.

In order to maximize the benefit to his client, Tucker further convinced the hospital that treated the girl to significantly reduce the family’s medical bills so that the there would be some money left to help with her care into the future.

After being presented a case that seemed to have insufficient insurance, Tucker got five parties to share the expenses for the injuries and loss suffered by that little girl. After a two-years of legal proceedings, she will receive an estimated $1.49 million in payments over the course of the next 45 years.

Tucker, who teaches several law classes at nearby universities, tells his personal injury law students, “the easy cases are when there are lots of injuries and lots of money.” The hard ones, he says, “are those situations where there are severe injuries, a lot of potential for compensation, but insufficient insurance and assets and it appears that nobody wants to pay.” This was one of those cases. Early on, the insufficient insurance seemed to sentence the family to bankruptcy or a life of paying off huge medical bills. The services of a skilled and dedicated attorney helped shift the picture to a rosier one for the girl and her family.

The little girl, now seven, is still receiving physical therapy for her leg injuries.  The brace on her right leg may be part of her life for a long time. Doctors continue to monitor her for delayed symptoms related to the brain injuries. Nonetheless, her family is grateful to have her with them. And grateful that the medical bills have not bankrupted them. The settlement achieved by Hausmann-McNally helps ensure their daughter a brighter future than was originally thought possible.

The attorneys at Hausmann-McNally know that one of the foundations of the firm’s success is that they work relentlessly to ferret out the ways to get compensation for their clients.

Effective management of the legal case and subsequent negotiations with the medical providers mean that, for this client, there will likely be over $1.4 million for her to use for her college education or other things that will assure a secure future.

There is never a totally happy ending to a story that begins with a tragic accident, but in these unfortunate circumstances, it illustrates many facets of the services provided by personal injury attorneys.