Massachusetts Personal Injury and Workers' Compensation Law BlogHere are some things to do (and things to avoid) following an auto accident in Massachusetts:
1) Call the police;
2) Tell the police officer(s) exactly how the accident occurred;
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10 Things To Do And Not To Do After A Car Accident
Articles Posted in Massachusetts Personal Injury Trials
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‘Will My Case Settle or Will I Have To Go To Trial?’
I get asked this question quite a bit from client.
The short answer: it depends. Most cases involving personal injury (auto accidents, slips and falls, dog bites, etc.) are resolved before trial. The reason most cases settle before trial is that jury, as well as bench trials are so uncertain. Once the case is tried, the parties essentially lose control over the case and agree that final resolution of the case will be decided by a third-party.
At times, the decision to go to trial is a difficult one because the offer on the case is a reasonable, but not reasonable enough amount. Other times, the offer is so low, or non-existent, that trying the case is inevitable.
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Accidents Involving Tourists in Boston
According to USA Today roughly 19 million visitors pass through Boston each year. It is no surprise given all that Boston has to offer. With such a huge number of visitors, it is no wonder that many are injured. Many visitors are injured in car accidents, slip and falls, and other types of accident cases. Visitors are sometimes more prone to accidents given their lack of familiarity with Boston. However, the fact that you do not live in Massachusetts does not mean you cannot hire a Massachusetts lawyer to represent you.
My office has represented out-of-state clients injured in car accidents, hotels, stores, trains, on escalators, etc. If you or someone you know has been injured while a visitor in Boston, feel free to call my office. We would be happy to provide a no-obligation phone consultation.
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The Contingency Fee and Personal Injury Cases
Those who have been injured by the negligence of someone else often lose time from work, rack up medical bills, and suffer a host of other problems. Getting a damaged car fixed, going to medical appointments, dealing with insurance companies, all take time and aggravation. That is the bad news. The good news is that nearly every personal injury lawyer in America works on contingency.
First, contingency agreements allows everyone, no matter where they stand financially, access to a personal injury lawyer. This means you get to have equal footing with an insurance company, without having to pay an hourly legal rate. In fact, you pay nothing unless your personal injury attorney is successful in securing compensation for you.
Secondly, the contingency agreement also deters the filing of frivolous lawsuits. It would make little sense for an attorney to take on a bad case that has no shot of settling or winning at trial. Frivolous lawsuits and the contingency agreement are like oil and water. Lawyers, like everyone else, don't like to work for free. Taking on a frivolous case is the same thing as working for free. It makes no sense.
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Tips for Those Going Through the Personal Injury Claims Process with an Attorney
The aftermath of an auto accident, slip and fall, injury at work, or any other injury causing event can cause great stress to not only the injury victim, but also to his or her family. In order to make the aftermath just a little easier for you, here are my tips to those who have an attorney and are going through the typically frustrating and lengthy personal injury claim process:
1) Trust your attorney (if you can't trust your attorney, find a new one immediately);
2) Be patient. Rome was not built in a day, and neither is a strong personal injury claim. Give your attorney the time he or she needs to work the case up to where it needs to be for an optimum settlement/jury verdict;
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Some Advice About Cross-Examination in a Personal Injury Case
If your case does not settle, you may be headed to a jury trial, which means the defense attorney representing the insurance company will be cross-examining you in court. Here are 10 tips to make this oftentimes stressful experience a little bit easier:
1) Always tell the truth;
2) Never guess;
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Why Personal Injury Claims Can Take Forever to Resolve
Some cases settle relatively quickly, while some take years to settle. Oftentimes, there is no settlement at all after years of litigation and the case must be decided in court by either a judge or jury. The bottom line: there is no way to predict how long your case will take to resolve, assuming it even does resolve.
Here is a great article on why, and how, there are so many delays with personal injury cases, from the National Association of Personal Injury Lawyers wesbite:
"In this article, I will attempt to pin down the inherent causes of the anxiety and impatience some people feel when their personal injury case seems to drag on forever, with no clear resolution in site. Personal injury litigation can sometimes take years, with little hope in sight, at times, of seeing any substantial reward. But that's no reason to lose hope, as with a little perseverence and the law (and a good personal injury lawyer) on your side, justice isn' so far-fetched an idea after all.
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What is a Soft Tissue Injury?
Many of my clients have experienced soft tissue injuries following their accident. But what is a soft tissue injury? Briefly stated – for I am most definitely not a doctor – soft tissue injuries include injuries to the soft tissue areas of the body that include the epithelial, muscular, nervous, and connective tissues.
Soft tissue injuries include sprains, strains, subluxation (misalignment of spinal vertebrae), repetitive stress injury, carpel tunnel syndrome, etc. These injuries can cause the body great pain and disability. In my personal injury practice, many of my clients who have been involved in motor vehicle accidents, as well as other accidents, usually experience the pain and discomfort of soft tissue injuries.
Insurance adjusters try to downplay the impact and resulting pain of soft tissue injuries. That is rubbish. They know – assuming of course they have had a soft tissue injury – that it can be very debilitating.
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What to Expect at Your Massachusetts Personal Injury Deposition
Ideally, your attorney will have prepared you for the deposition beforehand.
Here are some things you can expect:
- Your attorney will be with you;
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Think Your Massachusetts Injury Claim is Not Worth Pursuing? You May Be Wrong
Many of my clients, at the end of their case, often tell me that they were not going to pursue their case initially. They tell me that once they realized the insurance company did not care about them, as their medical bills soared, and their injuries just got worse, is when they decided to contact my office.
Here are a few success stories from my firm, in representing people who initially thought their case was not worth pursuing:
-Woman goes to restaurant where she sustains very bad knee injuries, requiring surgery. Case settles for $150,000.00;