Those who study surgery but get faint at the sight of blood may do little because of their patients. Similarly, lawyers who’re inept at converting injury and damage into money do an injustice for their clients. A lawyer’s skill with this conversion begins with selecting proper cases head injuries in car accidents. This is particularly so in traumatic brain injury (TBI) case selection. Liability, injury and coverage (LIC) must be determined. Getting to know a consumer is crucial. Those and other considerations are discussed here.
Initial Considerations
Compassion, caring and feeling sorry for another person’s poor condition are valid reasons to want to help. Lawyers have the power to provide those items to their clients and they should. A lawyer must transport a client’s condition from poor to better. Money could be the carrier. Lawyers must have a convenience level creating money, to create someone’s life better, or they find yourself such as for instance a surgeon who’s afraid of the sight of blood.
The three legged stool
LIC – Liability, Injury and Coverage – is just a three legged stool. All three must exist for the stool to stand. Questions of liability, damage and coverage could make any case undesirable: a lot more for TBI cases. Brain injury damages can be enormous and coverage can limit the best liability case and often does. Look at the numerous instances of minimum auto policy limits ($15,000 in the state of Nevada) and severe injury. Even large auto limits are confining. Consider the expenses of litigating a questioned liability or damage case with $100,000 limits. Astute insurers will break the financial institution, as we say, hiring experts to refute a case, rendering it impractical to respond and forcing a smaller settlement. 2
Weigh the fee
Investing your time and money in a TBI case is humbling. Initial investigation can easily cost several hundred, even thousands, of dollars. From there expenditures increase steadily and by the time you’re ready to start trial, costing an estimated $35,000, you’ve already spent $50,000. In the event that you lose, you’re writing off $85,000 and hours, days and weeks of your time.
Invest wisely
Analyze the liability. If you have a chance of no liability or 50/51% apportionment, consider the situation very carefully. Do not be seduced by a significant injury and lots of coverage when liability is fairly disputed. Do not let an awful injury or big corporate insurance cause one to overlook liability. The expenses will still be there and, ultimately, you and your client may have more to lose.
Getting to know the client
Once you establish a convenience level along with your initial investigation of liability, injury and coverage (LIC), you can begin developing one of the very most significant relationships your client will ever have; the partnership making use of their lawyer. Your client may not appreciate the importance of the partnership at first. A client with TBI, often, doesn’t appreciate the consequence of the injury initially. A lawyer can help bridge the gap. Many TBI clients have questions about their condition. Often times a lawyer is the very first one to identify and discuss cognitive impairments with the client. A lawyer can help, initially, by listening and explaining. Later, and through the entire case, the lawyer should meet regularly with the client
First Interview
When first you shake hands with the person who has come to help you in your working environment, you’re both strangers. A few things should really be immediately apparent. First, you’re analyzing the client and second, the client is analyzing you. The 3
lawyer must earn the client’s confidence and trust, and the client must present honestly. To accomplish these two goals, the lawyer can permit the client to describe why she has come and what she perceives the problem is. Right now the circumstances of Liability, Injury and Coverage (LIC) are known and concentrating on the client’s presentation is desired. After a brief time, the lawyer could make more formal introductions accompanied by a reason of the merits of the case. Then the discourse should take place addressing what the client can expect in terms of representation and future care. An initial interview should be a coordinated effort taking at least one hour, maybe more. The full time spent can help enhance many issues that mightn’t otherwise be learned. Explain why prior education, employment, tax and medical records must be collected. Is a problem? Why? Obtain the names of prior doctors, information about prior injuries and car accidents and health insurance. Obtain the names of individuals who interact with the client to help you check together regarding changes in your client. Get all family names and addresses since the defense will obviously want to know this basic information. Is a problem? Finally make sure you agree with a manner in which the client will obtain the information next few days. If this really is important in their mind, it won’t be an issue. Convey to your client that you require their assistance inside their case by helping to have information and locate witnesses. Client cooperation can reveal a whole lot in regards to a client’s motive.
Second Interview
It’s advisable to schedule the 2nd interview during the very first and usually within a couple of weeks. This keeps information flowing and investigation moving. Ask to meet the spouse, kids, parents, or significant other. Get folks who are associated with your client’s life to participate early on. They’ll certainly be deposed by the defense later. Make them to know how TBI affects people closest to the client. Explain the likelihood of the serving as guardian ad litem for the client. Are they willing? Is their support for the client? 4
More Considerations
You will find variable considerations in selecting a TBI case. The next is a set of some them.
Date of Injury
It may be important to think about the date of injury. The very best scenario is selecting cases with recent dates of injury. This follows standard convinced that the further the date of injury the harder it is to prove. For TBI cases this really is especially true. TBI clients are not always diagnosed until months after the injury. Hospital emergency rooms do not typically conduct specific neurological or neuropsychological testing. After weeks and months pass, anyone with TBI begins to suspect something more is wrong and finally consults with a doctor. The procedure may eventually lead to a neurological finding. An instance with an impending statute of limitation should always draw consideration. Why gets the case not been filed or properly handled previously? Has anyone been receiving medical and psychological evaluations? Or has anyone simply been going to chiropractic and acupuncture physicians? What has anyone been doing making use of their life since the injury?
Self Reporting
Is anyone self reporting signs, symptoms and consequences of brain injury? This is crucial that you consider. Valid TBI clients do not self report problems as they typically lack insight to their problems. Spouses and others usually observe changes more compared to client reports them. Has someone told the client they have TBI: A chiropractor or friend? Are they knowledgeable about terms and conditions they have no reason to understand of save how they are suffering from them? These are very important items to consider and explore by investigating a case.
Lawyer Shopping
It is obviously important to understand if the potential client fired their last attorney. There’s usually more to the story then your client’s version. And be 5
especially concerned if you have any discussion about suing former counsel. This can be a sure sign of a litigious client who may eventually turn on you. The reasons for terminating former counsel can be valid but this really is surely a red flag. Make some calls to another lawyer. If your potential client is uncomfortable with this you then might best be uncomfortable with the case.
Work Status
Is anyone working? Many people with mild to moderate brain injury do continue working after the injury. It’s no easy sell for the jury however. If a person is working they really can’t be that bad. Obviously that is not always the case. How about a person’s ability to stay employed? If they’re fired, will they be able to find a fresh job? What’s the person’s job? Is she the owner of her own business? Is she a manager? Is he a blue collar or white collar worker? They’re all very important items to consider in selecting a case involving TBI.
Marital Status
Will there be a disgruntled former spouse? Will there be a supportive spouse? Are their kids from a former marriage? Is the partnership good? Is she an excellent wife? Is he an excellent husband and father? All these specific things are very important areas to review with the client. Gets the injury hurt the marriage or relationship with the youngsters? Will she consider counseling? Why not?
Prior Injury
Has there ever been a concussion or head injury? Defendant’s love prior “car accidents”; whether they were serious or not. Consider every injury and accident the client experienced. Go over all medical procedures they ever had, if related to the case. Will there be any psychological history? Defendants love abusive childhoods or family deaths to create your client’s condition antedate the injury. 6
Conclusion
Traumatic brain injury case selection involves careful planning and attention by the attorney. Anything less can be quite costly. The procedure should continue through the very first few interviews, medical evaluations, and weeks of investigation. A lawyer should keep an open mind about reassessing a case if during litigation information bears it out. That is why getting just as much information as early as you are able to is essential to good case evaluation and selection. Initial considerations should really be establishing LIC, liability, injury and coverage. Getting to know the client in interviews is crucial. Client participation in locating information is important. Other considerations include date of injury, self-reporting, prior representation, work status, marriage status, prior injuries, prior medical care, and prior lawsuits. Beyond these considerations, a lawyer must keep an open mind to re-evaluate a matter if information is revealed during discovery to aid it.