Slip and fall season

Now is the time of year that everyone is falling. We must get at least one to two calls a week. Everyone has the same question...."I fell and hurt my back....how much money can I get?" This is almost impossible to answer and assumes that you were not at fault.

Let's start with the actual reason for the fall. The law requires that everyone be aware of their surroundings. We all have a duty to ourselves to be aware of where we are walking. If you slip and fall there is a legal presumption that you were not paying complete attention to where you were walking and therefore you are negligent to some degree. If a court finds that you were 10% negligent! they will reduce any award you get by 10% to account for this negligence. Just because you fall doesn't mean that someone else is at fault. If the ground looks icy and you step on it anyway you can't complain that someone should have cleared the ground of ice after you fall. Will you always have some degree of negligence? No. If you were distracted or otherwise prevented from paying attention to your surroundings you can not be at fault for not paying attention.

Now that liability is established we can get down to dollars and cents. How much is an injury worth? That is a function of the type of injury, the severity of an injury, your medical bills and your pain and suffering. We must also look at the jurisdiction where the slip and fall occurred. Juries in urban areas tend to award more money than in rural areas where the mood is more conservative   In the end, you need to look at the facts carefully to determine negligence and value. Anyone who can predict from a few facts, the value of an injury is doing nothing more than telling you a number just to get your business.

The best advice....keep a good look out where you walk!

The Advantages of Chiropratic Care

Almost all of my personal injury clients come to me while they are still in pain. The treatment always seems the same. first they went to the hospital where limited x-rays were taken. Assuming there are no broken bones they are given a few pain pills and told to see their family doctor for follow-up. Then they go to their family doctor who almost always prescribes physical therapy. confussion, frustration and depression set in when they don't feel better following physical therapy. But why?

The problem is that physical therapy is good for muscle atropy and soreness as well as to expand a joint's range of motion. but that is often as far as it goes. The skeletal muscles are like the frame of a house. If the frame shifts, the house will eventually sag under the weight and stress and eventually collapse. When you are in an accident the force and speed of the collision can shift the spine and other bones out of place. Sometimes just working on the joints and overlying muscles is not enough. You have to start with the frame of your house; the skeletal bones. A good chiropractor can get the bones re-aligned which will give you the good foundation needed to start working on the muscles. I myself was in a bad car accident a few years ago and separated my shoulder. Physical therapy helped but without my chiropractor I would have been in a sling for weeks.

first, you should always follow your doctor's advice. but while your at the Doctor's Office being checked out, ask if Chiropractic care would be right for you. Sometimes it can be counter to the physical therapy because the muscles have to become strong enough to hold the adjustment. Sometimes it should come after the physical therapy (that's what I had to do); sometimes before; sometimes during. But at least ask. It is often an overlooked area because it is so misunderstood by the general public. What I do know is that many of our clients come back and say they finally feel better. That's what matters most.

How to Choose An Attorney After You Have Been Injured?

You have been injured. What do you do now? One of the first and most important things you can do is to find the "right" attorney. But how do you determine who that is? Recently I found a post authored by Lenore Shefman which will greatly aid you in making this determination. According to the article, the questions you should ask when interviewing potetnial lawyers to represent you or a loved one are:

1. How many cases similar to mine have you had prior to mine?
2. How many cases similar to mine have you tried before a jury to verdict?
3. How many cases have you tried to verdict and won?
4. How many cases have you settled at the first offer without putting up a fight?
5. Who will be handling my case?
6. Can I reach you when I have a question?
7. How long will it take for you to respond to my phone calls?
8. Will I be able to contact you by phone, email and text?
9. can I speak with other clients you have represented in the past on cases like mine?
10. Will you fight for me?

Personally I think that you should also ask about their experience in working with accident reconstruction.
An attorney must be able to put an accident scene back together to determine causation, mechanical error, and driver error.

Many attorneys think that they can handle a personal injury case. They can't. Find the best attorney with these questions. If they don't have the experieince don't let them learn by handling your case.

When torts and crimes meet

When a person injures you the law calls it a "tort." When a person breaks a law created by the legislature it is called a crime. Most people who are harmed or injured when a crime is committed don't realize that a tort has also been committed. Because of this you have the ability to sue the defendant even though they were also prosecuted for the crime. Thus when you are injured due to a drunk driver hitting your car you can sue for your personal injury.

Many personal injury attorneys rush in an file suit against the defendant while the criminal prosecution is ongoing. This is a mistake. By doing this the attorney has weakend the criminal case and in turn weakend the civil case. By filing a civil case an opening is created for the defendant who can now attack the credibility of plaintiff. When the Plaintiff testifies in the criminal case the defense attorney will portray the plaintiff as being interested only in money. They will tell the jury that the plaintiff shaped their testimony to make the civil case better. If the criminal case falls apart then the civil case is weakend. In Pennsylvania, a criminal conviction for DUI is negligence per se in the civil case.

Its best to hire a personal injury attorney who is familiar with criminal law. Your attorney should work closely with the prosecutor and let them know that they will not file a civil case until the conclusion of the criminal case. If the attorneys work closely they can often share information which will strengthen both cases. Many times the civil attorney can even get a statement from the defendant as part of a plea bargin in the criminal case. The attorney should attend all criminal proceedings where they can interview other witnesses, gather information and maybe even listen as the defendant testifies. By working together both cases are strengthened.

Dear Diary

There is no doubt that an injury hurts. The questions become, how much does it hurt, what did it keep you from doing, and how do I prove it hurt?

Juries are suspicious now a days. If you can show that you had a broken bone or required surgery following a collision a jury will believe that you felt pain. Everyone knows that a broken bone hurts. Everyone knows that if a surgeon cuts into you, you will feel pain following the surgery. Pictures and x-rays will confirm the damage and a jury will likly award you damages. But soft tissue injuries (strains and sprains) are very hard to show. A jury often has to just take your word that you felt pain. The problem is that so many people have abused the system and claimed pain when in fact they were fine, that now a truly injured person is no longer beleived. What do you do to turn the odds in your favor? The answer: keep a diary.

Use a diary to document how you felt each day; was the pain worse than the day before, did you wake up with a splitting headache, was the pain so bad that it kept you from a picnic or an evening at the movies with your kids? Document in the diary when you went to the doctor, how long the doctors appointment took, did you feel worse after a physical therapy session, were you depressed because of your injury? Having this information will make your case come alive when it is time for a deposition or trial. Having this information makes the difference between believability and skepticism. So take the time to record your thoughts each day while they are still fresh in your mind. You will be glad you did come time for trial.

Documenting the damage

Ok, the collision is over, now what? If you are like most people you will want to get the car repaired as soon as possible. All you can think of is to get a tow truck and get the car to a repair shop. Unfortunely by doing only this you will have denied an investigator the best chance of determining how the collision happened, how fast the cars were going, fault, direction of travel and liability. Police don't always document the scene well. Rarely do they take pictures. That falls on you. As soon as possible take pictures of the cars while still on the road. Take picture of the road way, where gouge marks were, the length of skid marks, the specific damage to the cars, the insides of the cars, condition of the occupants, and where the cars came to rest. Film in this digital age is cheap so take as many pictures from as many differnt angles as possible. You never know when one of the pictures will reveal something important to an investigator or accident reconstructionist. Its too late after the car has been handled by the tow truck operator or repaired at the shop. Investigators are not brought in until days or week later and by then the evidence will be gone.

Should I call the police following a collision?

YES! Witnesses often leave the scene of a collision once they find out that no one was hurt. As such it will often come down to your word against the other driver as to the cause of the collision. Each driver blames the other in which case the Court won't know who to believe if a law suit is necessary. Calling the police insures that an independant, credibile witness comes to the scene, takes down statments, collects evidence, and maps the scene. This information will become invaluable should a suit be necessary. Most people don't know that skid marks can disappear in hours along with evidence such as critical pieces of the car. Getting an accurate diagram prevents this loss. Recently I had a case in which a collision occured after the plaintiff pulled out onto a highway and was rearended. The defendant told the police that she was unable to slow down in time. Only months later did the defendant change her story to "the other car pulled out suddenly and I was unable to stop." After the plaintiff sued for damages to his car, the defendant sued for damages to her car. Were it not for the presence of the police, her story might have prevailed and she would have recovered money for an accident she caused.

Bottom line...call the police to report any collision. It will pay dividends down the road and protect you from a suit.