Ep 148: Inside a Personal Injury Case: From First Call to Final Check

Clark: I’m Clark Speaks, the catastrophic injury lawyer. Welcome to the verdict.

Carson Grace Toomer: Now, I know previously we talked all procedure, and now we’ve kind of, you know, gotten to know you and your career a little bit better now. Can you walk me through the process of. Okay, I’m gonna call your firm. I’ve been, you know, injured in an accident. Walk me through how that goes.

Clark: So when I was first starting, it would be, uh, you know, you would call me, and I would do. I would be the person who answered the phone, and I would be the person who, uh, took down your information. I would be the person who gathered your medical bills and medical records. And now we have a team. And each team member has a different. Or maybe several team members have different responsibilities in this process, which makes each person able to focus on just that piece of the puzzle and do it more effectively and do a better job of it and do a more complete job of it. So we have a reception person, and so a person calls or contacts us through email or whatever or a form on a webpage or. And then that person is going to identify whether it’s a personal injury case or if it’s a divorce. If it’s a divorce, they’ll refer it out. If it’s a criminal matter, we’ll defer it out. We’ll refer it out to somebody who I believe we’ve vetted and I believe can do a good job. Um, and we’ll do a good job. And then if it’s a injury case, it’ll come into our intake people. And our intake people are very well trained, and they are usually former law enforcement officers who know what they’re looking for, or at least it’ll be, uh, overseen by investigators. And, uh, these people will take down this information and determine if it’s something we can help you with and if it’s something we can help you with. Make sure you have your questions answered and you understand what your responsibilities are. What our responsibilities are. Uh, and then they’ll transfer the case over to a case manager. The case manager has a team of people they work with, um, legal assistants and, uh, medical bill, uh, people, uh, who will go out and request medical bills and medical records and assemble information. These people will keep you connected with the case managers will keep you connected with our firm. Make sure you get in the treatment that you need. If you need a referral for a neurological exam or if an orthopedist. A lot of times those people won’t see people without insurance or without some kind of prior authorization or without some kind of a prior relationship or whatever. And, and so we’ll take care of that process. We have relationships with some of the best physicians in the state that can help um, people, uh, get in to see people they otherwise wouldn’t be able to see. Because our mission again is to help people recover physically, financially and emotionally. So physically means we have developed relationships over a long period of time which will help us help you get in to see a neurologist if you need to, an orthopedist if you need to, uh, some other medical professional that you might not otherwise have to. So you can get the best possible treatment that you can get. And so in part, part of that is going to be going over in your mind head to toe to see where you hurt, considering the fact that you may be on pain medication. You know, so we gotta, we want people to sit in a dark room and think, you know, what hurts. That’s your body telling you you have an injury and what’s the plan? And maybe the plan is rest, no problem. But maybe the plan requires some therapy or uh, some other kind of treatment or some, a uh, surgery or whatever. You know, we wouldn’t have a. We want to have a treatment plan for each injury that you have. If it’s your knee and your hip and your ankle and your elbow and your neck or whatever it is, whatever you have. So then, so then it goes from there. It’ll. Once you’re finished treating in the. And we’re finished uh, gathering the information, it’ll go to a, um, demand writer and that person will write a uh, custom demand for your case, establishing liability, why they owe you money and damages, how much money they owe you. And then we’ll submit that. It’ll be reviewed by pre, uh, litigation lawyer who will submit it to a insurance adjuster along with the bills and records and other evidence that we have. Pictures, videos, medical, uh, reports, um, uh, whatever else we might have. Um, and then that preload attorney will attempt to negotiate a settlement. If they do negotiate a settlement, which they do in 90% of the cases, then they’ll call you and talk to you about where the offers are and negotiate until they can get it resolved. And then if they do get it resolved, they’ll send you paperwork, tell you how much, um, money’s coming in, how much goes out for cost and expenses and those kinds of things, how much money is coming back to you, uh, and then executed as the lease. And you get your check in a couple of weeks and they usually. And then, uh, we’ll send the release and the other paperwork back to the insurance company, and that closes the case. If we can’t agree on a number, then it’ll go to litigation. And a litigation is a whole different department, um, has different lawyers within our office. These people specialize in these different things. Or specialize has a very specific meaning within the North Carolina State Bar. So they focus on this. There is no specialization in personal injury litigation. But that’s their only job, is to personal injury litigation. And so they will do the things that need to be done in the personal injury litigation. They’ll file a complaint, they’ll look for an answer. They may file a response, uh, to their answer. They may, uh, file, uh, written discovery and respond to written discovery, and then they’ll do depositions and mediation. Many times it’s resolved there. If not, they’ll set it on a trial calendar and they’ll try the case and, uh, appeal if necessary. And it can resolve through settlement at any point before then. And so 90% of our cases probably resolve before, uh, litigation. And then most of those cases, Most of that 10% resolved during the process of, uh, litigation. Um, usually something has to be wrong for there to be a jury trial. The way if we’ve done all the things that we’re supposed to do to prep a case, to prepare a case, to build a case, to present a case, most of the time that case will settle before we actually get to the jury, which is what you think of in litigation. But, but, but really, uh, the litigation process is, is, begins much earlier.

Carson Grace Toomer: Well, um, thank you, Mr. Speaks.

Clark: Sure. You’re welcome. Thanks for joining us. Don’t forget to subscribe and follow us to stay up to date with our weekly episodes. We’ll see you.

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