Massachusetts Personal Injury and Workers' Compensation Law Blog
I offer you this eloquent and poignant post provided by Colorado Personal Injury Attorney Mac Hester over at the Colorado Trial Practice Blog:
You are injured. You are in pain. Your neck hurts and you have headaches. You are emotionally upset. You are depressed. You have lost time from work. You have lost wages. You have to miss more work to go to the doctor. You do not have health insurance. You are having trouble persuading doctors to provide medical treatment on a lien basis. You have unpaid medical bills. You are having trouble paying bills.
The collection agency is hounding you. You are having a difficult time physically doing your job. Your job difficulties are causing you stress. Your pain, stress and depression are causing problems with your spouse and children. You cannot do your usual household and family activities. You cannot lift your young children or play with them. You cannot participate in your usual hobbies and outdoor activities. Your social life is almost non-existent. You are having trouble sleeping. You are tired all the time. Your employer is outsourcing your department’s jobs to a foreign country next month. You will be out of work. You worry about finding a new job. You will not be able to find a new job that pays as well as your current job or that has good fringe benefits. You may not be able to find a job at all.
Life as you knew it before the car crash is gone. Your life is pain and medicine and doctors and bills and worry. The careless driver who rear-ended you is not in pain and does not worry. He did not apologize. He did not pay for your medical bills and lost wages. He has minimum insurance coverage. He has low income and no assets. You don’t have underinsured motorist coverage. The careless driver’s insurance company refuses to pay your medical bills and lost wages. The careless driver’s insurance company says that you are at fault for making a quick stop. You did not make a quick stop. You were at a complete stop. There are no witnesses. There is "only" $500 damage to your car. Almost no visible damage to your rear bumper.
Two attorneys have already rejected your case. The careless driver’s insurance company says that your neck problems are due to a pre-existing degenerative condition. You have never had any neck symptoms, pain or problems prior to the crash. You are hanging on by sheer force of will. How long can you hang on?
What are you going to do? You are going to find an attorney who cares about you. An attorney who cares enough to fight for every penny of damages available. One who cares enough to fight to keep your money in your hands rather than lining the pockets of third parties who don’t have a valid lien or claim on it. You are going to find an attorney who will give you a realistic assessment of the benefits and costs of negotiation, litigation, and trial, so that, at the end of the process, it probably will have been worth while to you and your family.