Case Is Settled For Less Than The Medical Bills
I want to tell you about a phone call I had. I guess the topic today is: How could my case possibly settle for less than my medical bills? That sounds crazy. Well I'm going to explain to you why sometimes cases will settle for less than the total amount of your medical bills.
So a guy called me, really mad at his attorney and he wanted to switch attorneys. I do what I always do in that situation. I try and defuse the situation, because a lot of times it's the right decision to switch attorneys and other times it's the wrong time to do it and you shouldn't do it. So it's a case-by-case situation. What happened here was that, fella got an offer, his medical bills were around twenty thousand dollars, his offer to settle the case was about fifteen thousand.
And according to him, his lawyers told him "you know your case has some real challenges, this is the best you're ever going to get, take it or leave it, if you don't want the money, find a different lawyer". Well that's not a very nice way for a lawyer to explain a rough situation to a client, so I don't blame the gentleman for being upset about it. Your lawyer shouldn't talk to you that way, that's not very nice. That's sort of what was happening under those circumstances as unfortunate as it was.
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Two Witnesses Against One
At first I'm like, "well that doesn't sound right". I mean most cases ideally are going to settle for more than just medical bills. Ideally that's what you want to happen. You want them to settle for more than just the medical bills. And then I asked them some questions. Here's what happened, he was in a car accident where it was a question of lights. Somebody ran the red light either the client did or the defendant did.
The problem is my client was alone in his car and the defendant had a passenger. So according to the insurance company, the passenger and the driver in the other car said our guy ran the red light, our guy says that the other car ran the red light. So the problem is, we got two witnesses against one. Now a lot of times, in those situations the insurance company won't make any offer at all. Because they know that if you go to trial and the other side has two witnesses and you have one, who's the jury going to believe? That's problem number one.
Problem number two is, after the car crash, the client went to the emergency room. Got checked out, got x-rays, no broken bones, didn't even prescribe pain medicine, told him to return to the ER if he was feeling any pain. Then about a month went by before he finally went to his family doctor and said "ever since the car accident, my neck has been hurting".
A Treatment Gap
Well that's what we call a treatment gap. Insurance companies love it because it's a good defense. The reason they love it is, in front of a jury, how injured is the jury going to think you are if you wait a month to follow up with a doctor? The pain must not be very bad if you wait a month. It's a practical matter you and I both know that there are people who hate going to the doctor, who are tight on money, don't have health insurance or have a health insurance plan where there's a ton of out-of-pocket before you even benefit from the health insurance. And just some people hate going to the doctor. I'm one of them, I hate to say, it I'll walk around in pain for two months before I go to the doctor. But in front of a jury, it really hurts your chances at trial.
Now there were two other problems with the case. It involves personal information from the client and even though I'm not identifying the client by name, I don't feel comfortable talking about the other problems with the case. My point is, we have four problems with the case and it's definitely a case that if we took it to trial, we could lose, out-and-out lose. We could out-and-out lose just based on two witnesses versus one.
Just Settle The Case
Just by talking to the client for a few minutes I had to recommend to him that he just settle the case. Is it all gloom and doom? Do the doctors get all the money? No, that's not how it works. Usually the cases breakdown where the settlement amount is about a third of it goes to the lawyer, about a third of it goes to the client, about a third of it goes to the doctors. Those are general guidelines. Sometimes I'm able to cut great deals with doctors who have liens in a case and put way more money in my client's pocket. Obviously that's my job, it's not my job to overpay doctors.
There Better Be A Good Reason For It
And a lot of times in rough cases, I'll cut my attorney's fee to put more money in the client's pocket. My friends yell at me and say "don't do it, you're an excellent lawyer, you shouldn't be cutting your fee for anybody". Well, thank you it's a nice compliment, but I don't feel comfortable taking more money than my injured client gets in some of these cases, so that's why I'm willing to do it. And if it's what is required to seal the deal in a tough situation, then I'm willing to do it.
So is it possible that you might get an offer and you should settle for less than medical bills? Well the answer is yes. But there better be a good reason for it and you better have an attorney willing to do the leg work to put as much of that money in your pocket as possible.
