The question in this video is, what do you do if you’re unsure about hiring a personal injury lawyer? We get this issue presented to us day in and day out. And primarily it’s by our older clients who have been involved in an accident or even a slip and fall and they know the other person or the other party was, didn’t intend to hurt them. And so they come to us and they say, Shawn or Jonathan, uh, I’m not the type of person who sues. And so what do I do about that? So in those circumstances, what I try to relate to my clients is that when we file a claim, uh, first off, not all of the claims and in a lawsuit, and I think that’s really a misconception by a lot of, uh, a lot of clients that when they hire a personal injury attorney, you’re going to sue the other party, the other party the next day. And that just simply doesn’t happen. The process, the way it works is that we at, we set up a claim with the insurance for the at-fault party.
So if it’s a business, we set up a claim with that businesses insurance company. If it’s a person, we go off of the accident report or the drivers exchange report and we notify their insurance company. We don’t have any direct contact with the other party at all. And so what we do is we work up the claim against the insurance company so we are not taking dollars out of the other party’s pocket. And that’s really like I said, a misconception by a lot of people because again, they know, okay, it’s an accident. It could have really been me. I have rear-ended, this person, I could have um, left x, Y and Z out. The caused a trip and fall. So, um, knowing that we are going after insurance companies should provide a little bit of reassurance to those clients in those circumstances. So then the next step is about filing a lawsuit.
Lawsuits are rare. Uh, it’s only in a circumstance where the insurance company either gives us a low ball offer or delays or has questions about liability. Do we ever file a lawsuit? And I think that people would be surprised at the lack of hostility in these types of lawsuits. So even though you file a lawsuit against someone else, it is not really a confrontational or contentious situation, at least I’ve found because I believe the other party, the defendant knows that they do have an insurance company there and that the other lawyer is really only seeking compensation against that insurance company. So it really takes a lot of the personal animosity out of the case. In fact, I had a mediation a couple of months ago where the defendant in the case, uh, was so polite and we were so cordial. He gave me his business card after the, uh, after the mediation and asked me about doing business with them in the future.
So, uh, it’s just the lawsuits in personal injury cases are unlike a lot of other lawsuits that I’ve seen. It’s not nasty like family law. It’s not nasty like a business dispute where shareholders are fighting over. Um, you know, what had happened with the failure of the business. It’s much more cordial. I find that the lawyers are more polite and even the parties involved. Um, our, um, again, polite and cordial with each other. So if you’re on the fence about speaking to a personal injury lawyer about an accident, my thought process is always erring on the side of speaking to someone, at least find out the viability of your claim. It doesn’t cost you anything to meet with a lawyer and it really doesn’t cost anything to set up a claim. Again, these are contingency type cases, so you’re not paying a lawyer any money until there’s a settlement. So always err on the side of speaking to someone. And I, I believe that once you speak to a lawyer, a lot of these issues will be clarified. I think you’ll feel more comfortable about the process and more comfortable about setting up a claim. So hopefully that answers the question about what to do if you’re unsure about hiring a personal injury lawyer.
*The above has been transcribed by a third party service and has not been checked for accuracy.
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If you or a loved one have been injured in an accident, then you should take the proper measures to ensure you receive the compensation you deserve. Contact St. Petersburg Personal Injury Attorneys McQuaid & Douglas today and speak with an attorney. For over 60 years our firm has been successfully helping people who have been injured due to someone else’s carelessness. We have been nationally ranked for decades by US News and World Reports as a Tier 1 law firm, which is the highest ranking that can be received. Sean McQuaid and Jonathon Douglas have dedicated their careers to continuing the firms legacy of superior legal representation.
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St. Petersburg Personal Injury Attorneys McQuaid & Douglas
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