But why is that important?
In this article, we will talk about something that's been coming up a lot as I sign up new cases and the questions that people have like,
“Why do you need my date of birth?”
“Why do you need to know about my health background?”
“Why do you need to know my social security number?”
“Why do you need all of this detailed information about how the crash happened?”
“If ever I had a lawsuit before or if I ever had a case before?”
Well, here's why I wanted to talk about why Personal Injury lawyers need your basic information, because I receive a lot of questions like these. So, I wanted to make an article to explain it to you. So, I would say maybe 25 of people have those questions they don't really feel comfortable about giving their social, giving their date of birth, they don't want to give me their Medicare number or their Medicaid number, their health insurance, they don't want to tell me who that is even in car crash cases, and many times they don't want to tell me if they got injured in a car accident. They don't really want to tell me who their insurance is, so one of the reasons why we ask it is because there's a couple of reasons.
To Investigate A Case And Open A Claim
The first one is when we are first investigating a case and we open your claim, we have to know and investigate and discover everyone who might be legally responsible for your injuries.
That means we need to know who, when, where, what, and the why of the accident so we need to know all of that. Once we identify who we think might be responsible, the second and just as in most just as important step is figuring out insurance. Because think about it, let's say you have a run-of-the-mill case and you have like a fifty thousand dollar case, how many lay people normal people walking down the street have fifty thousand dollars to pay out of their pocket? Not too many people, so that's why we are always looking for insurance, whether it's a fall down injury or you get injured at a business or you get injured in a car crash, we have to identify every source of insurance and that's to protect you and make sure that you can get the health care you need. And make sure that all your bills get paid, so that's why we do it now.
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A Claim Against Your Case
The second reason is a little bit complicated and a little bit detailed, but I want to talk to you about leans in cases. What's a lien? A lien is any claim against your case, so what kind of liens are there? Well, there are two special ones and those are Medicare and Medicaid. Those are referred to as super liens and that means if you have social security disability or Medicare through the federal government, if you have accident or injury claim they automatically are supposed to be reimbursed for any of the medical bills they pay.
For example, if you had anything paid through the federal government or the state government, they have a super lien. That means they don't need to ask us for money, we have a legal duty to reach out to them and ask them if they paid anything and how much. We can't do that without your date of birth, your social security number, sometimes your Medicare or Medicaid number, a picture of your Medicare or Medicaid card, like literally we're required to open up a claim.
In the state of Illinois, it takes them six months to check on and respond about what they paid and how much they paid in a particular injury case. So, unless you want your injury case held up an extra six months after your lawyer already settles it, you should be okay with giving your lawyer your Medicare or Medicaid info, your date of birth, and your social security number so that you know it's important. There's no other way for us to get that information for you.
Be Honest With Your Information
And the third thing I wanted to talk to you about is the importance of being complete and honest when we're talking about if you have an accident or an injury or medical care after the accident. That is super important because we don’t know at the beginning of a claim which one the insurance companies are going to settle and which one they are going to fight, so we don't know at the beginning of a claim which ones the insurance companies are going to settle and which ones they're going to fight. Helping us to know your information and by being honest, we will be able to make the process easier for your case. For example, if I discover it and the client didn’t tell me about it and we’re ready in the lawsuit, that can really harm your case.
My point the information that the clients give me, it's protected by attorney-client privilege. I don't share it with anyone unless I’m required by the court or unless we have to according to custom and practice in settling injury cases, so it's protected. Maximum dollars are always my goal for my clients, I don't like my clients to be inconvenienced and I don't like my clients that they have to wait for their money and I like them to get as much as we possibly can and as much money in their pocket.
When working with clients, I mean in my cases honestly, and it really helps the case, so I hope that answers your questions. I'm happy to talk to you, you can reach out to me if you have any question, give me a call 312 500 4500.
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