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Show Family Weekly lA f fi"vi f A-lAlJ.C- AA nrj 4" L fQ CO? May 10, mo or property-damag-e matters, ft mQy foe Quicker and financially advantageous to act as your own lawyer n s'mP'e personal-injur- y By SAMUEL G. KLING Author of Th CempM Guide To will first deduct all expenses from the amount of settlement and charge a 85 percent fee of the net amount. Done this way, your "special damof ages" or 3473 will be deducted from the $1,500, leaving a net of $1,027 to be divided. On a arrangement, your attorney gets 1359.45 and you receive 3667.55, with all your bills paid, including reimbursement for lost wages or earnings. Obviously you've fared better with the second arrangement In the simple, uncomplicated perso- case, it may be advanto tageous try for a settlement yourself. For one thing, you save an attorney's fee, which, 'as we've seen, is likely to be substantial And in dealing with an insurance company, you're likely to obtain a quicker settlement. Sent lawyers, in their anxiety to build up a case and therefore get as much money as possible, tend to exaggerate the nature and extent of the injuries. They suggest that the client stay home from work unnecessarily and run up excessive medical and other bills. More valid reasons why some attorneys postpone settlements are that their offices are too busy properly and promptly to process their client's claims, and they require a lapse of time to determine whether there's going to be any residual permanent nal-injury 0 r - j Serious personal injury cases such as tkigvHrtddbettbtkandUdbyalawyer. Evrydy law" disability. To settle a case prematurely, without knowing how much permanent damage there will be and how it will affect a client's capacity as well as the pain and suffering he may have to endure for an indefinite period! may be disastrous to the individual, though it will be highly profitable to the insurance carrier. , whr the injuries are serious and involve a question of permanent disability, the client should allow an experienced personal-injur- y attorney to handle the case from the beginning. In the long run, he will be better off even if he does have to pay a fee. But what about the relatively simple cases where there is little question of liability and little chance of any permanent disability? Take the three cases at the beginning of this article. All three have two things in common: negligence on the part of the defendant and injuries. In the first case, negligence the absence of "due care" involved running into the rear end of a motionless vehicle. In the second, the manager of the supermarket was careless in allowing the box to protrude into the aisle. In the third instance, the owner of the indoor arena failed to maintain the grandstand in a reasonably safe condition for the use of his patrons. In short, to recover damages hi any negligence case you must prove both negligence and injuries. One without the other is insufficient Here, then, are some guidelines to follow if you're hurt in an accident: 1. Before you file a claim, be reasonably certain that the defendant (the party against whom you assert a claim) has been negligent or careless and that you yourself have been relatively free from fault Obtain the names and addresses of witnesses to the accident. If at all possible, get your witnesses to give you a simple statement of what they saw, preferably in their own handwriting. The number of witnesses is relatively unimportant What counts is their quality, their reputation, character, and freedom from bias. If you're trying to settle the case yourself and the injuries prevent you from obtaining witnesses, call in a wage-earni- ng ....... vi,..-- &ff He-ncc- Auto crash: 0 if damage is not serious, you might professional investigator, listed under "investigators" in the "Yellow Pages" of your telephone directory, and have him make the investigation for you, including the taking of necessary photographs. Obtaining such evidence f is exceedingly helpful If, for example, you're struck by an automobile while crossing at an intersection and claim you had the green light which the motorist hotly disputes, your case is weakened unless you can back up your statement with eyewitnesses. 3. If you're handling the case yourself, write to the defendant or insurance carrier or have someone in your family write on your behalf stating in simple language that you've been hurt on a certain date at a certain place. If by the end of two weeks no one has gotten in touch with you, write again. Insurance caras eager to riers are normally reach a settlement as you are. If, for some reason, you don't hear from anyone after a month, get in touch with your attorney. 4. Make sure your injuries receive prompt and proper medical attention. For minor injuries, your own physician should normally be adequate. Where the injuries are serious, you or your physician should consult a specialist If, for example, you've suffered a badly twisted ankle or a broken arm, youll probably require the specialised services of an orthopedic surgeon. 5. Don't make a settlement until you're reasonably certain that there will be no residual or permanent injuries. If there's the slightest doubt jut be able to handle ease yourself. get an expert opinion from a special- ist first 6. Keep an accurate, itemised account of all your expenses that resulted from the accident These should include loss of wages, earnings, or other income, medical drug, and hospital bills, nurses, transportation, damage. 7. In attempting to settle the orcase yourself dinary, where there are no permanent injuriesadd your "special damages" or expenses up to and including the time you will have fully recovered, and multiply the figure by three. This will give you a rough idea of what your case is worth in terms of settlement If your loss of wages, medical and other expenses runs to 31,000, a reasonable settlement in normal practice would be in the neighborhood of 33,000. In the case of a housewife who has no lost wages, but there is extensive pain and suffering in addition to a physical injury, the settlement figure might be somewhat less, depending on her appearance, social status, character, and reputation. Each case must be judged on its individual merits. Finally, in cases where the injury is truly serious or the damage likely to be permanent such as a head or back injury or a face that has been burned or scarred and requires plastic surgery to mention only a few possibilities a laymen should never try to settle his own case. To do so, invites almost certain financial loss and legal complications beyond the scope of the average person. and-proper-ty run-of-mi- ll Family Weekly, May 10, 1970 |