A lot of folks in Des Moines have never made the distinction between a Des Moines personal lawyer and a Des Moines personal injury attorney, but it becomes obvious if someone gets hurt in an accident. Generally, after an accident, especially when there is injury severe enough to limit one’s day to day activities, the focus is on getting healthy. When the mending takes awhile or when the cost of treatment begins to impact one’s financial capabilities, then the victim may begin to notice the personal injury commercials or friends will advise them that they should get a lawyer.
Jane was driving down a side street where she came to a red light. There were two cars in front of her, a Volvo in front of a Mercedes which was in front of her. Suddenly she heard a loud screech from behind and was hammered by a Toyota Prius. Her car, a Samurai Suzuki, was pushed into the Mercedes and the Mercedes plowed into the Volvo in front of it. Jane hit the steering column and fell back into her seat as the airbag emitted. She immediately pulled herself from the twisted metal and walked around in daze getting information from all the other drivers. A kind policeman called a towing service for her demolished Suzuki and allowed her to sit in his car as her knees and elbows were scraped and bleeding and she had a big purple knot on her collarbone.
Jane thought she was okay and did not go to the nearest hospital. She went home, took a few Tylenols and crawled into bed. The next day she called all the insurance people and explained what had happened. Since she had only the most minimal coverage she was unaware that someone’s insurance could pay for a car rental until she could get her car fixed or buy a new one. She was unable to get to work for several days while she figured out what to do with transportation.
Three days later, Jane woke up with stabbing pain running into her neck and back. She was unable to turn her head or bend. She managed to get to an emergency room, where they did x-rays. The x-rays showed no fractures, so the doctors said she had whiplash, gave her a neck brace, pain-killers and anti-inflammatories and sent her home. Jane couldn’t work. Jane had no vehicle. Physical Therapy and Chiropractic Care was recommended, but she couldn’t afford to pay for either of those as her minimal health coverage required a large deductible. A friend mentioned that she should hire an attorney.
After hearing her story, the attorney agreed to help a friend and decided to take her case, even though it wasn’t the kind of law he normally did. He said that she should get a large settlement as the other cars were barely touched and hers was totaled. He told her to keep keep a record of what she spent for health care. The problem was she couldn’t afford to spend on health care and not being an expert in this kind of law, he didn’t know that they based the amount of injury settlement on how much medical attention, as defined by dollars, had been gotten. Jane was let go from her job as she was unable to continue at the previous pace and her neck would never be the same again.
One year later, a settlement was reached. Bt this time her lawyer had completely lost interest in her case and often reminded her that he was just doing this as a favor to their friend. In the final judgment there were four plaintiffs. The Mercedes had a passenger who was suing as well as the driver of the car and the driver of the Volvo. While their cars had little damage, they had, as advised by their personal injury lawyer, spent a great deal of money on medical bills. This treatment included weekly massages and many other forms of therapy. None of the other plaintiffs lost work time. The judge returned a decision based solely on the amount of treatment received. Though her car was declared totaled and she had obviously suffered the most loss the other plaintiffs received double what Jane received. Jane learned the hard way that while personal injury lawyers sometimes receive a bad rap, when you have an accident and it is not your fault, an expert can make the difference.
Connor R. Sullivan recently reviewed the work of a Des Moines personal injury attorney to review the effectiveness of their work. He hired a Des Moines personal injury lawyer to recover compensation from an automobile accident. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.
