Seegmiller Johnson Attorneys > Resources > If You Have Been Injured

If you have been injured...

By William Seegmiller (CEO)

At the law offices of Seegmiller Johnson we have handled over 25,000 personal injury and wrongful death claims. I can’t imagine anything more rewarding than to help injured people, deserving people, receive fair compensation from big powerful insurance companies. I’ve represented thousands of people and I’ve helped them get a fair recovery and I’ve come to learn from them that they have a lot of questions and there are a lot of uncertainties and you’re probably facing that right now. I am going to use my experience and address some of those questions and provide information over the course of this article.

Let me start with basic information and some vocabulary. First of all you are the one who has a claim and you are going to be referred to by the insurance company as the claimant. That means you have a claim. You have a claim for personal injuries. You may also have a claim for property damage and the insurance company who is responsible for your injuries are going to open a file. It is called a claims file and they will assign one of their employees to manage the claims file. That employee is called an adjuster and I think we are more accustomed to the term insurance agent as apposed to insurance adjuster. The agent is the person from whom we buy our policy. We generally meet with them every year and they are always very friendly. But the adjuster, he works for that same insurance company or for the insurance company for the responsible party and his job is to settle your claim. But let me share something with you about the adjuster that you need to remember and this is probably

"the most important thing I am going to say in this article. Remember, the adjuster has no legal obligation to you. He works for the insurance company and his job is to save the insurance company money."

Now these adjusters are well trained professionals. Basically they are nice people and they are just doing their job, but part of their job is to gain your confidence and one of the things they are going to do it discourage you from getting legal advice or certainly hiring an attorney. They may tell you that the attorney is going to get all the money, or that you don’t need an attorney. There is even an insurance company out there that sends their adjusters out in 24-48 hours unannounced and uninvited trying to get you to sign quick releases. If you do that your case will be over. But the real reason they are telling you this is because the insurance statistics indicate that

"individuals who use attorneys to handle claims generally recover 2 to 3.5 times more money than people who don’t use lawyers."

So that’s really the reason they don’t want you to talk to a lawyer and they certainly don’t want you to read an article like this and get accurate, helpful legal information.

Property Damage

Now, speaking of claims I’m going to talk just briefly about two components to any personal injury claim. The first is property damage. That is the damage to your vehicle. If your car is drivable and repairable the responsible insurance company has to pay for it to be repaired. If it has to stay in the shop to be repaired they are going to be responsible for furnishing a rental vehicle during that time. If your car is not drivable now, they are going to be responsible for paying you everyday that you are without a car. Now a lot of clients want a rental car immediately but, sometimes you are better off to get the money or the value of the rental car each day then to actually get the rental car; particularly if you have another vehicle available from a friend or a family member if your car is totaled, which means it costs more to fix then what its actually worth, usually its more than 75% of the vehicles fair market value then the insurance company has to pay you the reasonable market value of your car. Unfortunately sometimes this isn’t what that car is worth to you. Its probably more valuable to you. Fair market value is what the car would be worth if you sold it immediately prior to the collision.

There’s another aspect to property damage I want to briefly discuss and that is called diminished value. Generally that applies to vehicles 3 years old or newer. Sometimes this can also be referred to as depreciation. This is when more than 25% of the total value of your car is damaged. Which means that you have to disclose that if you sell or trade it. So if there is a perfect body job done on your car and it’s completely repaired and looks just like it did the day before the wreck it still has a diminished value, because when it comes time to sell it or trade it you have to disclose that. Theses are just general principles about property damage and they are not intended to be all inclusive of the issues you might be facing right now.

Your Personal Injury Claim

Now the second type of claim, and that’s the one I really want to talk to you about during the course of this video is your personal injury claim. A personal injury claim is composed of certain elements.

How Much is my Claim Worth?

Now that I have briefly discussed these elements, I want to talk to you about the question that I get asked most often and that is: ‘How much is my claim worth?’ I usually get asked that pretty early on in the course of handling a claim. I hope that you now see that you can’t know what your claim is worth until you total up all of these elements and that usually can’t happen until you’ve completed your treatment because the more expenses you have, the more pain you have. The more permanent your injury is, the more your case is worth. So until you have reached what is called ‘maximum medical improvement’ and or hopefully that you are back to where you were prior to the accident. Since you don’t know all of your medical expenses, your lost wages, and pain and suffering, there’s really no way you can accurately assess the value of your claim now.

When is my case going to settle?

These factors must be answered to answer the second most asked question and that is when am I going to settle my case? And you certainly can’t do it until you know the total of all these elements. Here’s some additional points that might also be helpful. My recommendation is that you always file your medical insurance. You can do nothing but benefit from this. A lot of clients are reluctant to file on their own medical policy because it is the other driver’s fault, but you should always file a health insurance claim on your policy, either your employer has paid for it or you’ve paid for it out of your own pocket. The responsible insurance company certainly should not benefit from the fact that you have that coverage. Sometimes the plan requires that it be paid back once you have obtained recovery from the responsible insurance company. That’s called subrogation, but that’s okay because it gets your bills paid sooner rather than later and often times we are able to negotiate down the subrogation lien.

Med Pay: Another part of your settlement

I also want to talk to you about your medical payment coverage also known as med pay. This is usually what you have on your own automobile insurance policy, usually there is $1,000, $2,000 up to $5,000 in coverage and it covers medical expenses that you have or anyone in your vehicle has as a result of an accident. Some of our clients are reluctant to file a med pay claims because it was somebody else’s fault. But let me point out to you that you paid for that coverage and it’s a direct benefit to you. If you look at your premium notice you will see that you paid extra to have medical payment coverage and it will not cause your payments to go up if you file on that plan, because it has absolutely nothing to do with your personal injury claim and the claim for medical expenses against the responsible insurance company. If you are in someone else’s car and you have med pay coverage you can recover the medical payment coverage that they have on their car regardless of who’s fault it is. You may also be able to recover from your own med pay because it covers you even in another vehicle. That term is called stacking which allows you to stack the coverage of the car you are in as well as vehicles that you might own. I just mentioned that so you might bring it to your agent’s attention if you’ve been in a wreck that you want to file on your med pay.

Now one other thing about medical payments coverage that I’ve learned: a lot of times when our clients report to their own insurance agent that they’ve been in an accident and they tell them that it was the other driver’s fault, they are often told that there is nothing that they can recover from their own policy. That’s wrong. Let me point out, you are entitled to your med pay coverage and you should insist that the agent file your med pay claim because you are entitled to that. The fact that it is someone else’s fault doesn’t diminish your entitlement to that coverage which you’ve paid for.

Things you should do

Another suggestion is to take plenty of pictures. We have full time investigators and case managers in our firm who go out and take pictures of the wrecked scene and the automobiles, but I would encourage you to take pictures of your injuries particularly soon after an accident. A lot of times how you look immediately after the impact, including bruising will heal. If you fail to document this injury often times the adjuster will have some argument that perhaps you weren’t injured and certainly pictures show the extent of your injuries. So take plenty of pictures of your vehicle, your injuries and of the accident scene. With so much construction these days, accident scenes can change.

Now, in getting medical treatment let me make a few comments. You need to go to the doctor as soon as possible. Any delay you have in going to a doctor and seeking medical treatment could be used by the adjuster later in contending that you might not have been injured or certainly weren’t injured very seriously. You should keep all of your doctors appointments. If there is some reason you can’t, call and let them know you won’t be there. When there are gaps in treatment insurance adjusters like to use that as an argument that you must not have been injured quite so seriously or you wouldn’t have missed those appointments. And when you talk to your doctor be thorough. Be sure that you tell your doctor about all your injuries. A typical case that we see a lot is when a client hits their chest on the steering wheel and they have pretty serious bruising and they also hit their knee on the dash, but as the chest heels and starts to feel better you notice that the knee injury is nagging and is not going away. It is very important for you to mention that knee injury very early in your medical treatment because if you don’t, the adjuster will be able to later say, “Well maybe they didn’t injure their knee in the accident since its not mentioned in the initial medical records.” Be precise and accurate. Don’t leave anything out and when you are telling your doctor about the accident itself be precise about the accident. If someone ran a stop sign, say that. Don’t say it was a stop light because they take these notes and these notes will end up in your claims file and in the hands of the adjuster.

I also encourage you NOT to exaggerate with your doctor. You probably have serious enough symptoms anyway. Sometimes doctors pick up on patients who might be trying to embellish their symptoms and they put these observations in their notes and certainly adjusters will use these later as a way of diminishing the value of your claim.

You should also keep a detailed diary with notes of your medical progress and pain. For example, the first day that you are able to dress yourself. The first day that you are able to go back to work and function normally after the wreck. A detailed diary can be very useful in dealing with the adjusters.

Why should I hire an attorney?

I want to talk to you now about getting legal advice and hiring an attorney. You know in California and Nevada it’s fairly easy to get good legal advice. There are plenty of personal injury law firms, including our office, who would be glad to answer your questions and/or meet with you. One topic that you should really get advice about is the value of your claim. We talked about those elements earlier. How in the world are you going to know what the value of your claim is unless you get some independent advice from someone other than the adjuster, someone who is looking out for your interests? I often tell our client’s: adjusters get paid, promoted and evaluated on how quickly and cheaply they resolve claims. I get paid more, the more I recover for our clients. Common sense, do you want someone working for you or someone working against you.

What criteria should you use in hiring an attorney? When you hire a lawyer, even a trial lawyer it doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily going to go to court. Our clients really don’t want to go to court. They just want to be treated fairly. But when you hire a lawyer you’re sending a message to the insurance company that you mean business. And if you’ve been seriously injured, you need to mean business. If a reasonable settlement can not be reached then you have a lawyer that can take it further if you have to.

Why Seegmiller Johnson?

This is my rule about whether I think I should be hired because a lot of people ask me, “Mr. Seegmiller, should I hire you to handle this case for me?” The main criteria that I use is whether I can recover more compensation for you than you could on your own. If I can’t then you probably don’t need to hire me. My goal is to make you money, not take your money. Now I have an exception to that and that applies to people who simply are not able to handle the stress and what you generally have to go through when handling these claims and in dealing with the adjuster. That’s the criteria that I generally use.

Serious Injuries

I want to talk to you now about serious injuries because you need to know this. If you have sustained a serious injury from an automobile accident you definitely need an attorney, and the sooner, the better. Now you may wonder what do I mean by a serious injury. Let me just give a few examples of what I consider to be serious injuries: If you have been hospitalized, at all, even one day or night as a result of these injuries. If you miss an extended period of time from work because of your injuries. If you’ve had to have surgery or if you’ve had metal placed in your body. If you’ve sustained a head injury, loss of consciousness or certainly if you’ve lost a loved one . If you have any of these types of injuries, in my opinion you have a serious injury and I think you need to hire a lawyer as soon as possible.

Now your next question may be “Why do you think I need a lawyer and why so soon?” It’s simple, there’s just too much at stake. There’s too much at stake for you and your family. But there’s also a lot at stake for the insurance company. And they’re going to be aggressively trying to find ways to reduce their responsibility, or eliminate it all together. They’re going to conduct investigations right away, and you need to be doing the same thing. You’re going to need a trained professional so you can investigate the claim… the sooner, the better. Memories are fresh, skid marks are still evident, and the witnesses are still available. We have full time investigators who are on stand by to investigate accidents as quickly as possible.

Another important reason is insurance coverage. My clients continue to be surprised when I tell them that often times their recovery is limited to what insurance is available for the responsible party. In California and Nevada, the minimum required liability coverage is $15,000 per person. Sometimes your bills may exceed these minimum limits. But if you have underinsurance, or if there is any underinsurance that might apply to your claim, that might be additional coverage we can use to add to that minimum amount. Finding additional coverage is often critical. There can be excess coverage, if someone driving someone else’s car has their own coverage. In that instance, there may be insurance available not only from the car that’s being driven, but from the driver if they’re covered under another policy.

If someone is working for a company at the time of the wreck, there may be additional coverage. Sometimes we see a facts situation where an individual may have medical bills that far exceed the liability limits and there’s no underinsurance coverage. Most states have what’s called a comparative negligence scheme, which means that the claimant must be less than 50 percent at fault to recover. While this does reduce the total amount of recovery, the claimant can still pursue an action. Now, what that means is the insurance company will be looking for any evidence they can that the claimant was more to blame for this accident. That’s why it’s so important not to give a recorded statement or sign any documents. If you have a serious injury, you need an attorney looking into those issues as soon as possible.

Another reason to hire a lawyer is that it will maximize your recovery. Remember, even the insurance companies’ own statistics show that a person who uses an attorney will generally recover three and a half times more compensation than someone who doesn’t have an attorney.

Let me offer you some advice in your process of selecting an attorney. I think the most important thing you need to look for is experience. You need to hire an attorney who has a lot of experience in personal injury law.

You have learned over the course of this article that traffic and insurance law are pretty complicated, and you need to have someone who exclusively handles personal injury claims on a daily basis. You need to select someone who is well respected by the insurance industry; someone with a good track record and reputation who’s able to look for all the possible insurance coverages for you, because that might be important. You need to select a firm who’s accessible to you, who will return your phone calls, and who will meet with you when you need to meet. Finally, you need to feel comfortable and confident with your lawyer since you’re going to have to rely on his advice. But you’re also going to have to sit down and be able to have an open and honest discussion. So I would recommend, select someone that you can do that with. It’ll be important in the process of your claim.

Our Commitment to You

I want to take a moment to share with you my commitment to you if you were to select Seegmiller Johnson as your attorney. I recognize that this is probably the most important thing going on in your life right now… that is, being seriously injured. And I will treat it that way. My firm has 18 dedicated legal professionals that will be accessible to you. We will meet with you whenever or wherever it’s necessary. We will always tell you the truth, whether it’s something you want to hear or not. We will always return your phone calls, if not the same day, then the next day. We will always treat you with the courtesy and respect you deserve. And most importantly, we will relentlessly pursue fair compensation for you.

If you’ve been seriously and or permanently injured, there is no amount that will fairly compensate you. But we will do everything in our power to maximize your recovery. At the law offices of Seegmiller Johnson, we are dedicated to obtaining the maximum for your claim. We hope to build a relationship with you by constantly exceeding your expectations. We have the experience, knowledge and skills to let the insurance companies know that we mean business. We do not represent insurance companies; we do not represent big businesses. We only represent people just like you. I want to wish you a full and speedy recovery.

Contact Seetmiller Johnson today.