These are effective because all they have to do is go passive and do nothing, nada, zilch.

The Three “D”s of Delay, Deny and Don’t Pay. Learn why it pays to hire an injury lawyer to help you when you are up against the insurance adjuster.When you are hurt in a car wreck, you will be facing an experienced and well-armed adversary in  the form of an adjuster who is backed by a large company.

An insurance adjuster whose sole goal is to find ways to deny your claim, delay your claim, and don’t pay your claim.

How does an insurance adjuster  make the most of the Three “D”s of  DENY, DELAY AND DON’T PAY?

Well, the easiest way is for an insurance adjuster to attack you under the guise of wanting to help you and be reasonable.

It may sound good, but beware.  It’s not true.   Do you really think the adjuster paid by the insurance company of the driver who just hit you, hurt you, and wreaked havoc on you, now wants to help you?

First, the adjuster owes a duty to help their insured, not to help  you.

Second, the adjuster wants to keep his job and paying too much to  you would  hurt him or her and worse yet for you,  paying too little scores points for him with his boss and saves money for the company and its shareholders.

Third, open claim files cost the insurance money so they want to settle it fast.  They know with time, things can change and they can lose control.  Heck, you might even gain a better understanding of your injury as time passes and you receive the medical treatment you need.

Fourth, the “mushroom” method works just fine for the insurance industy.  The longer you are kept in the dark and fed manure, then the less likely you will seek the help of a lawyer to represent you, know your legal rights, and get your medical bills paid.

The insurance company knows from their own studies over the years that knowledge is power, and their employees are well-trained in insurance law, medical issues, and the not so fine art of negotiation.  You are one person against a large company; a very, very, very large company with resources that you cannot even imagine at their disposal.

Did you know that the insurance companies share claims and medical information regarding those claims with each other through a commercially available service.   The fact that you were hurt before, may or may not be a factor in the value of your claim.  But if you are alone when you learn this, it can be quite a shock, and is intended to scare you.

You can balance the scales in YOUR FAVOR.

How?  By simply hiring an experienced personal injury attorney.  An attorney who knows the law, the courts, the medicine, and you.   A good injury lawyer can be  your “slingshot” against Goliath insurance company.

Now, for a tidbit of information that is crucial in deciding to hire a lawyer or try and save some money by going it alone.

Insurance companies do not want you to hire a lawyer.  Some adjusters even tell  you that you do not need a lawyer, telling you that paying a lawyer costs  you money so  you get less.

This is simply not true.

Worse yet, the insurance company knows it is not true.  Their own studies tell them it is not true.  Their own manuals years ago were written to keep you away from a lawyer.

There have been several studies as far back as 1999 which document the fact that insurance companies pay higher settlements to injured people who use an attorney than those who do not use  an attorney.

The insurance industry performed this study to find out if people who had accident claims received more money in settlement by using an attorney than those people who settled on their own.  According to this study conducted by the Insurance Research Council, a non-profit organization that is supported by leading property and casualty insurance companies across the United States, it was found that people who used an attorney received on average 3.5 times more money in settlement than those individuals who settled on their own.

If an insurance adjuster tells n accident victim they don’t need to hire a lawyer because they will receive less money in settlement, that would not be correct.  That would be a lie.  That would be a warning sign that the person on the other side is trying to take advantage of you and is not to be trusted

So.  Remember this truth.  Kentucky injury lawyers…… When you hurt.  We help!

The mission of the IRC is to advance the insurance industry’s view on matters crucial to insurance companies. The IRC found that people who used an attorney received on average 3.5 times more money in settlement than those individuals who settled on their own. Often times accident victims are told by the insurance adjustor that they shouldn’t hire a lawyer because they will received less money in settlement. This study shows that this simply is not true.

When I was a defense lawyer, one of the most troubling cases I had involved a brain injury.  The plaintiff was a highly educated and trained medical professional, and by most standards for the public, she still looked competent, with it, and by all appearances to them “fine”.   However, I can tell you she was not fine.  Fortunately for me, I succeeded in locating a commercial liability policy to put in front of my insurance company client which protected the insurance company and helped the plaintiff by actually making available to her more insurance coverage to compensate her for her damages.  For the legal wonks out there, I am referred to what started as an uninsured motorist claim with me representing her own insurance company on a first-party claim, changed dramatically for her when I followed the vehicle title transactions and uncovered liability insurance through a small car dealer which changed the claim to a liability claim against the driver of the other car, with a claim for underinsured motorist benefits against her own carrier.  Good news for the claimant, and good news for the insurance company.

Meanwhile, back to the story.   The brain injury did not show on any of the usual diagnostic testing (eg., MRI, PET Scan, etc.), but it was clear as day on the neuropsychological testing of the results of  brain functioning.   Not everything can be seen on a diagnostic test, but something is changed.  With neuropsychological testing, the doctor scopes out with detailed testing the injured person’s resultant functioning skills and compares that with her behavior and skills prior to the accident and injury.  Doctors like to call this the patient’s “pre-morbid” questioning.

The logic is simple and straightforward.  The behavior, judgement, intelligence, and reasoning skills which would have been evident prior to the trauma when found to be absent or adversely affected AFTER the trauma provides a strong basis for concluding there was a change and getting whacked up by the head was probably the cause.

In this case, the plaintiff’s lawyer had video of her giving classes, co-workers, and other professionals describe her before she was hurt.  This before and after comparison is and can be powerful stuff.  I remember one neurologist comparing the banging around of the brain to a soft mass of jello slamming up to the front of the skull like a car hitting a wall at a high rate of speed, then with the recoil, the brain bangs against the back of the skull.  Note that this can go in either direction depending if hit from behind or from the front.

Now, let’s get back to Kim’s post (BTW, I added the image):

You’ve just been in a rear end accident and you feel a little shaken up.  You’re not sure if you remembered what happened.  You’re thinking to yourself, where am I?  Did I black out?  What happened?  The emergency medical tech comes to you and checks you out and perhaps takes you to the emergency room.  You are evaluated and eventually released.  You may have been given a diagnosis of concussion or contusion and given instructions to follow up with your primary care doctor.  But what does this all really mean?

There has been a great deal of discussion in the media on concussions and the effect on players in the NFL.  It can be horrible.  Many suffer in silence on a day to day basis.  That is not to say there are people who do have concussions whose injuries do resolve rather quickly without any lasting effects.  However, there are others who are not so lucky.

What is a brain injury?  One of the most important things to remember is that a brain injury effects everyone differently.  It affects who we are, how we process information, how we see things, how we feel.  So in a matter of seconds you’re life can change.  So remember, a person with any type of brain injury is a person, treat them with respect and kindness.  They are going through a very difficult time. No two brain injuries are the same.  The effects of a brain injury vary greatly from person to person and can be very complex.  Lastly, the effects of a brain injury can depend on the cause, location and severity of the injury.

Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI.  A traumatic brain injury is defined as damage caused by an external physical force that causes an impairment in cognitive or physical functioning and/or a other disturbances to emotional or behavioral functioning.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Injury Prevention the leading causes for traumatic brain injuries are as follows:

• Falls 35.2%
• Motor Vehicle Accidents 17.3%
• Struck by/against something 16.5%
• Assaults 10%

 

(I think the two highlighted areas could be combined into one cause…car crashes).

There are several types of traumatic brain injuries as well.

• Diffuse Axonal Injury
• Concussion
• Contusion
• Coup-Contre Coup Injury
• Second Impact Syndrome
• Open and Closed Head Injuries
• Penetrating Injury
• Shaken Baby Syndrome
• Locked in Syndrome
• Anoxic Brain Injury
• Hypoxic Brain Injury

I will briefly give a description of the above.  Diffuse Axonal Injury can be a result of a strong rotational force, such as in a motor vehicle accident..  This type of injury causes extensive tearing of the nerve tissues throughout the brain, disrupting the brain’s normal function, causing shearing or “death” to certain axons or nerves.  It prevents normal communication within the neurons and the brain cannot function properly.  This can be a temporary or permanent injury.

Concussion.  We have all heard of this type of injury.  It is caused by a blow to the head, or it can also result from the force of a whiplash type injury. Both close and open head injuries can be classified as concussions.  A person may or may not experience a brief loss of consciousness but may feel “dazed”.

Contusion. This type of injury is a result of a direct impact to the head and is a bruise or bleeding on the brain.  This type of injury may require surgery if it is very serious.

All of the injuries mentioned are serious.  I would suggest using resources such as the Kentucky Brain Injury Association (www.biak.us) and the Brain Injury Association of America (www.biausa.fyrian.com), if you have further questions.  Also contact your family doctor.  Locally we have a wonderful resource at Frazier Rehabilitation Center.  The Brain Rehab Program is wonderful and has helped many people return to their normal lives.  They have an in patient program and an out patient program.  Lexington has a wonderful program too at Cardinal Hill. We are very lucky to have two outstanding programs here in Kentucky.

If you have had this type of injury, get lots of rest! Don’t rush back to work or your daily activities.  You want to avoid doing anything that might re-injure yourself.  Take is slow and do what the doctor tells you to do.  You may also want to ask your doctor when it is safe to drive, or ride a bike.  Your brain is healing and may react slower.

“It’s good to be a little frightened. It’s good to respect your opponent. It keeps you sharp. In the fight game, the head rules the heart. But in the end the heart is the boss.”

I had almost forgotten what it is like when you see that one person, that one individual, that one lawyer facing a challenge in a venue he or she had not been before.  You have only one first argument, one first appearance, and one first chance at Kentucky’s highest court – The Supreme Court of Kentucky.

We relish that cause and the exhilaration it brings, but along with the rush is that pit of fear in the bottom of your stomach.  Because you are in new territory that no amount of preparation or assistance can guide you.  Because when you walk up to the table on the other side of the bar with nothing between you and the bench that in a matter of moments will be filled by seven justices of the Supreme Court, you are no longer practicing with the net.  Your family, friends, and fellow attorneys are behind you, but behind you on the other side of the bar.

Here is a repost of my remarks on the Kentucky Court Report back then.  I read them again tonight.  It made me feel good to remember that the practice of law is oftentimes the power of one, and that one can change the life of a client, change the law, and thus change the lives for thousands of people who will never know what he did.  Should attorney Brad Slutskin who is the lawyer in this photo prior to his argument prevail, then he will know.  However, I have done this post as a reminder for him and others that I know.  I know regardless of the outcome, or the result, or the decision.  I know, his wife knows, and now you know.  Brad made the good fight for his client.  Or as my dad would say, he done good.

Last week, Diane and I, went up to the Kentucky Supreme Court to hear the arguments in the two cases addressing the post-McIntosh world of “Open and Obvious” in premises liability.  We were providing some emotional support for both plaintiffs’ counsel making their first appearance – Brad Slutskin and Joseph Pepper.

The cases were Dick’s Sporting Goods v. Webb  and Shelton v. Kentucky Easter Seals Society, Inc.  The issue was the same in both cases -  whether summary judgment for the defendant was granted properly under Kentucky River Medical Center v. McIntosh, 319 S.W.3d 385 (Ky. 2010).

All counsel were well-prepared and ready.

However, I took the above picture of Brad Slutskin in the quiet moments before the seven justices entered and arguments would begin.  An awesome responsibility, and after all the work, all the preparation, all the assistance from others, it is at this moment, this point in time, when it is you and you alone shouldering the hopes and needs of your client.  That folks, is what trial law is all about.  BTW.  Brad done good.  His wife was all smiles at the end too.  We sometimes forget that as lawyers we die just one death in the arena, but our loved ones watching from outside the bar die a thousand deaths with every breath, every word, every question.

And when it was all over, the counsel representing the plaintiffs in the underlying cases and making or assisting in the arguments and briefs had a quiet moment with a smile and a sense of relief.

As soon as I am sure who is who and have their correct and complete names, I will supplement this post.

I did this post as a reminder to myself and others that behind the dry legal principles at stake are the lives of those who have been deeply involved, litigants and lawyers alike, whose lives are affected and changed by these events.

After this was posted, I was reminded that Melissa Ann Wilson who argued on behalf of Cardinal Hill Hospital was making her first appearance before the Supreme Court, as well.  My wife and I spoke with her, and she was friendly, graceful, and more importantly for her client, she was well prepared and articulate, holding her ground and answering the questions.  I had no idea this was her first time.

Woo hoo!

What was that old RCA Commercial.

Wow, I got 3G.

T-Mobile iPhone 3G.

I can talk really fast now.

Wow. T-Mobile iPhone 3g.

Sung to the tune of Wow! I got color TV.  RCA Victor Color TV. I can see color now. Wow. I got color TV.

Worse than that is the fact that the appearance of overbilling is just as bad as actual overbilling since the claim is easily believed and instantly the object of derisive jokes.

And, let us not forget the collateral consequences that the small firms and solo practitioners out there who are managing their work, their business, and their ethics within the bounds of the law may be thrown into the same pot.

And that is totally unfair.

Some lawyers openly profess a leadership style that you can’t teach hungry.  Hunger is a basic need for survival, but without professionalism it can become greed.  And greed can be inculcated, learned, and embraced without the proper doses of professionalism and service.

It’s not what you take from the law that is important, but rather what you give back.

You can’t teach hunger, but you can control it, put it in a cloak of professionalism, and slap on some public service, and darn it, you get a lawyer!

Here is the response from the firm on our earlier story which begs the question of “who was watching the store?” or “where were the supervising attorneys?”.

Did the remarks go unheard, the billing overlooked, unseen, unnoticed?

Now where are all those chamber of commerce and tort-reform advocates who should be criticizing this practice which is a more likely reason for the high costs to business and insurance rather than attorneys representing those hurt and harmed by the negligence of others.

DLA Piper issues memo about legal fee controversy  3/27/2013

The memo said that a series of emails written by former DLA Piper lawyers about the law firm’s billing practices had been “an unfortunate attempt at humor by three former lawyers of the firm.”

And for our earlier stories:

• Legal Overbilling Redux – “Attorneys dispute Citigroup counsel fees”

• Legal Overbilling in Corporate America revealed in New York Times story by Peter Lattman.

Here is a story from Law.Com’s “Corporate Counsel” in which Citigroup, Inc. is claiming that the lawyers they hired for a securities litigation case are billing five to nine the rates they are paying for temporary attorneys for the case.

This practice is not new in the world of business.  How many businesses have you heard that let go of their older employees and replace them with younger and cheaper hires?  Cutting costs are fine in the business world, but does it really sound fair in the context of professional legal practice where you pay the hires $50 and bill the cost as $275 to your client?

It sounds bad.

It sounded bad when I heard an insurance defense firm do the same thing with law students and would pay them a low law student rate but bill the insurer a much higher paralegal rate that was three or four times their cost and pocketing the difference.

Sounds like the corporate world is not going to stand for it and is scrutinizing the bills they receive.

Another ouch.

Attorneys dispute Citigroup counsel fees.
Corporate Counsel (4/1, Reisinger, 43K) reports, “The plaintiff’s lawyers in the Citigroup Inc. securities litigation case are tying to inflate the price of temporary attorneys nearly five to nine times the actual cost, according to William Ruane, a former associate general counsel for litigation at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. ‘The market value for the services provided by temporary attorneys . . . is, at most, in the $50-$75 range,’ Ruane said in a declaration earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. But plaintiff law firm Kirby McInerney is seeking $275 to $550 per hour for such services, according to court documents, justifying the upcharge in part because the law firm trained and supervised the temps. In total, the law firm is seeking 16.5 percent of the $590 million settlement in legal fees for the class action case.”

It would be easy to paint all insurance and corporate law firms with this story.  However, most lawyers take their reputations, good name, and legal professionalism seriously.  Not just to stay out of jail, but that is the way a professional operates.  Unfortunately, the greed that drives this story casts a shadow upon us all.  Sad.

 Suit Offers a Peek at the Practice of Inflating a Legal Bill

They were lawyers at the world’s largest law firm, trading casual e-mails about a client’s case. One made a sarcastic joke about how the bill was running way over budget. Another described a colleague’s approach to the assignment as “churn that bill, baby!”

The e-mails, which emerged in a court filing late last week, provide a window into the thorny issue of law firm billing. The documents are likely to reinforce a perception held by many corporate clients — and the public — that law firms inflate bills by performing superfluous tasks and overstaffing assignments.

The internal correspondence of the law firm, DLA Piper, was disclosed in a fee dispute between the law firm and Adam H. Victor, an energy industry executive. After DLA Piper sued Mr. Victor for $675,000 in unpaid legal bills, Mr. Victor filed a counterclaim, accusing the law firm of a “sweeping practice of overbilling.”

Mr. Victor’s feud with DLA Piper began after he retained the firm in April 2010 to prepare a bankruptcy filing for one of his companies. A month after the filing, a lawyer at the firm warned colleagues that the businessman’s bill was mounting.

“I hear we are already 200k over our estimate — that’s Team DLA Piper!” wrote Erich P. Eisenegger, a lawyer at the firm.

FRANKFORT, Ky., March 26, 2013 – The Judicial Branch has cleared a major hurdle in its plans to develop a sophisticated court case management system and bring eFiling to Kentucky with the signing of House Bill 238. The bill authorizes the Judicial Branch to issue $28.1 million in bonds to replace Kentucky’s aging court case management system. The General Assembly passed HB 238 on March 12 and Gov. Steve Beshear signed it into law on March 22.

“A new case management system will transform the way Kentucky courts do business,” Chief Justice of Kentucky John D. Minton Jr. said. “With our courtrooms handling nearly 1 million cases each year, almost every citizen is affected by the work of the Judicial Branch. I can’t think of any other capital technology project that will have such a positive impact on so many people statewide.

“I commend the General Assembly for rallying around the Judicial Branch to pass this legislation and the governor for signing it. The House graciously held several hearings before passing the bill unanimously and the Senate saved the bill at the last minute before we ran out of time. Thanks to their diligence and support, the legislation passed both chambers unanimously.”

The Judicial Branch’s current case management system is running on 25-year-old technology and 10-year-old programming and is at risk for failure. The current system maintains separate databases for the trial courts in 120 counties and both appellate courts.

“The system is functionally and technically obsolete,” Chief Justice Minton said. “The tools used to maintain it became unsupported in 2008, leaving the entire state court database in a precarious situation. Replacing the system becomes even more urgent when you consider that our current technology cannot accommodate electronic filing and electronic records. That leaves Kentucky falling further and further behind the mainstream of court technology.”

The new system will consolidate databases and give them the ability to interact with each other. This will reduce errors, eliminate manual and redundant processes, and provide the ability to track a person through the court system. The Judicial Branch will be better able to secure current and historical court data and provide information that the Executive and Legislative branches, state agencies and justice partners rely on to carry out their daily business. The new system will also make it possible for Kentucky to institute eFiling.

“Kentucky is ready to join other state courts and the federal courts in adopting eFiling,” Chief Justice Minton said. “We’ve been laying the groundwork for this project for months and are ready to move quickly now that bonding has been approved. Our goal is to begin testing eFiling in several parts of the state before the end of the year.”

The Judicial Branch will use $3.23 million annually in agency funds to pay the 10-year debt service on the new case management system.

“Under the HB 238 plan, payment on the debt service will not require any new tax dollars or a direct appropriation,” Chief Justice Minton said. “Issuing bonds will let the Judicial Branch replace its case management system in a way that will have the least negative impact on the state budget.”

The Kentucky Bar Association was an important supporter of HB 238, he said.

“We want to give attorneys and justice partners better access to court case information,” Chief Justice Minton said. “The Administrative Office of the Courts recently began offering a new application called CourtNet 2.0 to KBA members. It provides online access to Kentucky civil and criminal cases and is a huge improvement from what we provided before. CourtNet 2.0 is a technological milestone for the practice of law in Kentucky and one of the first of many advances we’ll be making in court technology.”

Trucks go fast.

Big and fast means serious accidents when the truck driver has an accident.

They can hurt themselves.

Worse than that.  They can injure others.

Here is more on the report we have been reviewing for your information. Click here for the entire report.

More than 9 million trucks travel U.S. roads each year, and many of them are in serious violation of federal safety standards. These violations include such practices as overloading tr ucks, allowing unqualified or untrained drivers behind the wheel, failing to maintain tires and brakes, and salary systems that encourage truck drivers to exceed speed limits and maximum driving hours. While the issue of truck safety largely goes unnotic d, the effects of these violations are deadly. Though trucks make up less than 4% of all p assenger vehicles on U.S. roads they are involved in 12% of all motor vehicles fatalities. M ore than 4,000 people die every year in collisions with trucks and over 80,000 more are seri ously injured. More people die in collisions with trucks than in collisions with plane s, trains, ships and interstate buses combined. 1 Truck accidents occur for a variety of reasons, but many are preventable, and often are a direct result of trucking companies viol ating safety standards to cut corners and maximize profits

Although the Commonwealth was not in the top five, it did tie with Connecticut and ranked number ten for trucking companies in violation of federal safety requirements.

The top ten of the worst violating states are:

1. West Virginia
2. North Dakota
3. Nebraska
4. Vermont
5. Iowa
6. Montana
7. Delaware
8. Idaho
9. Arkansas
10. Kentucky & Connecticut

According to the study, ” West Virginia, North Dakota, Nebraska, Vermont, and Iowa had the highest rate of companies in violation of federal safety requirements.  The effects of these violations are deadly. While truck accidents occur for a variety of reasons, many are preventable, and often a direct result of trucking companies violating safety standards to cut corners and maximize profits.”  Click here for the AJA report entitled, “Warning Safety Violations Ahead: Motor Carrier Companies Keep Unsafe Trucks on U.S. Roads“.