People occasionally call our office telling us they were in a bad accident where there was no issue about the other driver being at fault. Some ask why they need a personal injury lawyer if fault is clear? We tell them it is because the at- fault driver's insurance company will never pay them the full value of the case and that the case is not JUST about who was at fault. You have to prove your injuries were related to the accident, and not some pre-existing condition. As we get older we all have wear and tear. A fall here, a fender bender there, a little bit of arthritis, but how do you prove your current injuries are not simply the result of living life as opposed to being directly related to the accident? It can be VERY difficult. Many clients think the insurance company will listen to their subjective complaints and non-medically substantiated oath that the injuries are related to the accident. They won't. Or they will listen and laugh. You need medical treatment, medical records supporting the relationship between the accident and the injuries and medical bills with specific coding designating the treatment given and the diagnosis. The bottom like is, when the insurance company sees a client trying to represent himself in an accident case, they slap high fives, celebrating that the client is going to make a LOT of mistakes and possibly not end up receiving any recovery at all. Even if, by chance, an unrepresented client should receive a monetary offer of settlement from the insurance company, what about outstanding and unpaid medical bills? Who will pay those at the end of the case? Some bills won't even arrive in the mail until after a settlement offer is made. Then you are stuck paying them out of pocket if your own medical coverage on your auto policy has been exhausted or used up and you happen to have a high deductible health insurance policy. Bottom line: these cases are too complicated for a layperson to handle. Plus when you are not represented by counsel the insurance company shaves off 30-40% representing the legal fee because you had no lawyer. So what did you gain by representing yourself? Maybe nothing except a lot of headache and stress, plus possibly a big pile of unpaid medical bills that are in collection wrecking your credit.
Call Sandra Worthington at 215-576-5150 for a free, no-strings attached consultation regarding your case.