The successful outcome of your injury case a year from now, has a lot to do with what you do NOW. We will have enough to do fighting with the insurance company, the adjuster, perhaps defense attorneys, medical providers and reluctant witnesses, to keep us busy trying to make sure that you get treated fairly for what happened to you. You can help the process by being mindful of a number of things that the other side will use against you, so that you don’t give them ammunition to use to kill your case.
This is the second part of an article that was broken into two parts due to its length and has been abbreviated, but you may download a complete copy of the Booklet,� “8 Sure Fire Ways To Kill Your Case” from the website located at www.sandlerlaw.net.
5. � Lie To Your Lawyer. I know that clients don’t actually try to lie to me. What they are doing, however is thinking that if they don’t mention something, no one will find out. You couldn’t be more wrong. If I know what the other side will know, I can deal with it in a way beneficial to you.
DON’T LIE TO YOUR LAWYER about whether you have had a similar injury in the past.
DON’T LIE TO YOUR LAWYER about whether you have been in a collision before.
DON’T LIE TO YOUR LAWYER about how badly you have been hurt.
DON’T LIE TO YOUR LAWYER about whether you have made prior claims before this crash.
Believe me, the insurance industry has a database with every claim you have ever made. They will know, and they will use it against you. Trust your lawyer to know what is best in your case, for you.
6. � Lie to Your Doctor. Again, most patients don’t try to lie to their doctors about their condition, the severity of their complaints and pain, or about the details of what caused it. But sometimes clients don’t realize how important a complete and honest history is to the doctor, and worse, they think that if they hide something in their past, it will help their case. In your case, your doctor will have to give an opinion to the Court or jury, that the crash or fall or other incident WAS THE CAUSE OF YOUR COMPLAINT. If the doctor doesn’t have the full facts and an honest patient, he will either not be able to give that medical opinion, or worse, he will change his opinion AFTER learning of the patient’s past history. This will devastate your case. Don’t let it happen.
7. � Don’t Listen To Your Doctor. Much of your case’s success depends upon the members of the jury BELIEVING you, when you tell them about your injury and the effects of the injury on your quality of life. The doctor must give an opinion that the treatment that you received was necessary for your healing. If you disregard the doctor’s instructions, fail to keep appointments, miss therapy sessions, decline necessary testing, don’t take medication, fail to follow restrictions on activity, then you are handing the defense an argument that you caused your own problems and prolonged your recovery.
8. � Don’t Use Your Health Insurance. We live in a time of exorbitant costs for medical care, and an environment where many patients simply will choose not to get proper medical care if there is no health insurance to cover it. It is a sad reality. If you are fortunate however to have some type of health coverage, whether private, medicare, medicaid, military, federal, etc. IT IS CRITICAL that you take advantage of that coverage to provide you with prompt payment of your medical expenses. Although in some circumstances these health insurers may have to be repaid the benefits they provided you from your settlement, it will almost always be less than if the bill had to be paid without insurance. More importantly, the use of your health insurance will allow you to get the care that is medically necessary and that you need to conclude your case.
Our client relationship philosophy is simple. It is our responsibility to give our clients sufficient information and expertise to allow them to make an intelligent decision about their case. It is a relationship where we both contribute to the successful outcome and I hope that this article, together with the first in the series, gives you the information to help me, help you.