The Advocate Source
Welcome to The Advocate Source, where we simplify the law for life’s toughest moments. From personal injury to family disputes and business conflicts, we’re here to help you understand your rights and take action.
The Advocate Source
EP #6: Legal Lifeline: When to Hire a Personal Injury Attorney
Have you been injured and wondered if hiring a lawyer is worth it? This episode tackles the crucial decision point most accident victims face but rarely have clear guidance on.
Whether you're currently dealing with an injury claim or simply want to be prepared should the unexpected happen, this episode provides invaluable guidance on maximizing your recovery while minimizing stress during difficult times. For legal support in Southern California, visit Assanti Law at 949-540-0439 or visit AssantiLaw.com
Visit assantilaw.com to learn more.
Visit assantilaw.com to learn more.
you're always looking at what am I going to do for the client in the end? I don't want to create an exercise where we go forward with something and in the end he would have received more had he settled or had he not even hired me. I didn't do that person any favors, so you always got to look at some people how can I help this person? And the help may just be advice so they can take it alone.
Intro/Close:Welcome to the Advocate Source, where we simplify the law for life's toughest moments, From personal injury to family disputes and business conflicts. We're here to help you understand your rights and take action.
Charlie McDermott:Well, welcome back to the Advocate's Source. I'm Charlie McDermott, producer of the show, here once again with Alessandra Asante. Alessandra, how are you doing?
Alessandro Assanti :Good. Thank you, Charlie. I hope all is well. Thank you.
Charlie McDermott:Yeah, things are great. We're getting into summer. Yeah, you ready.
Alessandro Assanti :It's here. Yeah, I'm ready. You know I love summer. I used to love the holidays, but there's never enough time now with the kids growing, so the summer seemed to be a little more decompressed.
Charlie McDermott:So yeah, yeah.
Alessandro Assanti :Yeah.
Charlie McDermott:Great, I'm with you. Great time of year. I love summer so much. I moved to a place that has summer 12 months out of the year, so you know there you go.
Alessandro Assanti :We're kind of fortunate out here as well, we get a lot of it, but I'll tell you our weather here has been more wintry or, you know, more cold than not. You know so. But I think it's finally starting to warm up, but it's been a late, a late thaw, as they say. Yeah, a late bloom.
Charlie McDermott:Yeah Well, once again we're covering an important topic, I think a topic that crosses people's minds. It's never too late, but maybe you know, in the middle of chaos and so great timely episode, the question is why should you hire a personal attorney? And probably the last time or the worst time to ask yourself, that is when, as I said, you know something has happened, right.
Alessandro Assanti :Right.
Charlie McDermott:Yeah.
Alessandro Assanti :Yeah, it's a. It's a tough process for people because they they associate lawyers with nothing good, you know, and as I always say, we get people at good, people at their worst, and we're solving problems. So it's a tough. It's a tough thing, you know. Yeah.
Charlie McDermott:So I'm going to walk you through, as always, a series of questions and, you know, just leave it to you, as always, to share your expertise. So let's start with. Leave it to you, as always, to share your expertise. So let's start with. Do I really need a personal injury attorney? Very clear. The liability is also very clear.
Alessandro Assanti :And the injury is not so substantial or complicated that you know it doesn't make sense for them to hire me, to pay me a fee when they could simply place a phone call, discuss what happened and present their medical bills if they have any and resolve it. They save themselves quite a bit because you're always looking at what am I going to do for the client in the end. I don't want to create an exercise where we go forward with something and in the end he would have received more had he settled or had he not even hired me. I didn't do that person any favors, so you always got to look at some people how can I help this person? And the help may just be advice so they can take it alone and complete the case. And sometimes they will call, and there are times they call and they ask me what know? And sometimes they will call and you know there are times they call and they ask me what should I discuss? I tell them and then, when the case is over, how they resolve their medical bills, if there's even a medical bill.
Alessandro Assanti :But yeah, there are times that happens and so it's frequently that that does happen. There's small fender benders or small accidents. You know that happened Just got one a couple of weeks ago and ironically it was a close friend of mine. His son was riding up the street on a road bike he's a competitive road cyclist and somebody opened their door and hit. And he hit the door right. He wasn't hurt too bad, had a few scrapes and bruises that most of the damage was to the bike. Told him to take the bike to the shop, get an estimate, present it to the carrier and, sure enough, they finished the case in probably a week time.
Charlie McDermott:Yeah, Very nice, Very nice. That's awesome. So then there's the other extreme right. You know what would you say are some red flags that indicate someone should absolutely seek legal help okay.
Alessandro Assanti :So there are times when you have the complication of an accident. You know people will come to me and say, oh, I was rear-ended so I shouldn't have any problems resolving this. And I'll say, okay, well, tell me about your. And there may be times when there's multiple parties, so person gets rear-ended in a chain reaction. That person is pushed into another and to another, or it's a complicated set of facts and circumstances where there's several claimants and there's one person at fault. So then you're going to be fighting over what are the competing claims. That leads to complexity. So I think the general thing is is that when things are complex, not very straightforward, such as multiple parties, there's issues of liability, competing claims on who will get a finite sum or a finite insurance policy, and there's multiple claimants, those types of things say absolutely you need an attorney. There's also issues regarding who are the defendants right.
Alessandro Assanti :Sometimes people will say a doctor injured me or I got hurt on a public freeway and we believe that there's an issue with regards to maintenance or design. So you got to know if you're going to go against a public entity. You got six months to file a claim. Those are difficult. They can be very difficult because you don't even know who you're going to name. Right, and a case still ongoing happens all the time.
Alessandro Assanti :A person falls on an area of the roadway and they don't know if it's if it's the state of California here. They don't know if it's the city where the bridge sits, they don't even know if it's the county where the bridge sits within the county. So we often at times have to file claims with everybody and get certificates of annexation or things of that nature or, you know, tolling agreements. So complexity is just the general, the general thing. You know medical practice, as you know, you have to file a 364 notice, which is a requirement, different statutes of limitations. So those are the types of issues when you definitely need an attorney, because people that go it alone generally make mistakes, and those can be, you know, fine, they can end the case quick and really prejudice the parties that have very viable injuries and claims.
Charlie McDermott:Yeah, how about the role of the personal injury attorney? So what does a personal injury attorney actually do for the client?
Alessandro Assanti :We have several roles. One is because we have experience, or attorney should have. Experience is they've seen thousands of accidents in their career and many, many scenarios, and so they're looking for a bit of a roadmap, if you will, to be able to figure out okay, what can I expect and how do I maximize my claims and preserve my claims? And so they're looking for for one. Is guidance right? What do they need to do to preserve evidence? They look for, you know, and preserving evidence is is also has to do with if you have an injury. Preserving evidence is is is actually having it documented. So you go to the doctor. What are they doing? They're taking notes. They're actually verifying that you were injured. You know, because it's one thing to tell the insurance.
Alessandro Assanti :You know that my client was injured, but he doesn't have any medical bills versus he went to the doctor and they documented it. You know, because sometimes we don't see the inside of a courtroom, if we ever get there, for years, months and years, and by that time the person's healed and there may not be any photographs. Juries love photographs, they love visual things, and so my job as an attorney is to be able to tell the client. Here's what you need to do to prosecute this case, and you have a job, too, as a client, and that means taking care of yourself, telling me what types of damages you're going through, and, as attorneys, we find options for them. We find options for medical. We find even options to you know, nowadays is options where they may be able to you know, nowadays is options where they may be able to you know, receive money so they can survive. You know support their family while they're healing and on the mend.
Charlie McDermott:Right, right, yeah, boy, I can't even hard, hard to imagine. I mean, you get hurt, you can't work any longer. Now you, you can't support your family. I mean what a, what a nightmare it is.
Alessandro Assanti :It's. It's a. It's a big undertaking, you know, if you don't have an attorney, so the attorney's there to try and pick up the pieces and get your life back together as quick as you can and if it is even possible. And if it's not, then it's the attorney's duty to try and go after. You know, whatever responsible party is to make sure that there's compensation so the person can survive and live and, you know, support his family like he or she had done so before the accident occurred.
Charlie McDermott:So then, how does an attorney help with gathering evidence, negotiating with insurance companies and just building a strong case?
Alessandro Assanti :Okay, yeah, and as I've said on you know prior podcasts that we've had together, charlie is evidence doesn't get better with age. It's not like you put a bottle of wine in a wine cellar and it gets better in years. It doesn't. It gets stale right after it happens. And so we as attorneys, when we get a list of facts or conversations with the family or the victim of the accident, our client, then we are able to be able to plan and what evidence we need to go after, whether that's gathering evidence at the scene. You know if there was an auto accident or if there was an accident at some. You know intersection you need to make sure that that car is preserved or you need to make sure that the evidence is preserved.
Alessandro Assanti :There may be skid marks and you know we can't always rely on police reports because you know the police officers are extremely busy.
Alessandro Assanti :They may think that they may have a different opinion of what happened in the case and because you know you get this police report and it could come sometimes months after, sometimes weeks after, and you know you might have skid marks in the intersection where the accident occurred and you know when we find that out, if we can't get the police report and then and and or, if we look at it and it's debit of any skid marks, we need to anticipate that that's going to happen.
Alessandro Assanti :We get out to the intersection and see whatever physical evidence is there. They may still be skid marks there, there may be a witness that might've seen something, or even surveillance cameras in the businesses that are sitting right outside of where the accident happened. We do that frequently. It's, you know, now, in the age of the internet, everybody has a surveillance camera and we routinely seek evidence from businesses that were nearby and, boy, that can make the difference, all the difference in the world. Because, as you know, those security cameras, they operate on a spool and so that footage, you know, it may be indelible but it could be gone within weeks or months and it would be a shame if you had a good video and you didn't do it. And then the other thing is just preserving evidence by having the client go and seek the appropriate medical care.
Charlie McDermott:Good stuff. So, Alessandro, can you walk us through the legal process of a typical personal injury case?
Alessandro Assanti :Of course, an introduction with a client or a client's family, or the family itself on some occasions is, you know, it's important to get to know them. It's important to get to know what their life was like before and what it's going to be like in the future. So knowing your client is the most important thing, because they'll share things with you. And if you can talk to your client directly, the first thing we want to know is what happened? Right, it's just as simple as that. What happened in the accident? So we can begin to determine what's the theory of liability? Who are the potential parties that are responsible? Is our client even partially responsible? And that could lead to some complexity as well, because then there's a difficulty of how are we going to minimize our client's liability. How are we going to minimize our client's liability if there is apportionment or if there is a fight over liability? Because a lot of times you may have a clear case, but then times happen when there's a contention of who ran the red light or there's a lack of witnesses. So then you have to rely on forensic evidence. That kind of stuff doesn't lie, it doesn't forget, it's just there, and so you may have to go and get a forensic expert whether it's an accident reconstructionist or a human factors expert those types of things which often give us the ability to see things which no one else was able to see or remember, or there may be a difference of opinion from one party to the next. So those are things attorneys can do getting the client set up for the appropriate treatment and then also starting to gather medical records and other evidence and looking into the background of the other parties, what their background is, what were they doing at the time. So it's a multi-dimensional thing.
Alessandro Assanti :As an attorney, when you start to represent the client, we're often rushing quickly when we hire somebody, and that fierce pace lasts about anywhere from two to six weeks to make sure that we've done everything we can, and then it's just a function of presenting the claim, getting the police report, finding out more evidence and then figuring out is this case going to be able to resolve itself at some point or is this going to be a litigation case?
Alessandro Assanti :And that's when we talk to the insurance carrier for the other party or parties involved, even including our own client. One of the things that comes to mind and not everyone thinks that this is a potential is that oftentimes, when people are in an accident and they say, well, you know, I'm going to pursue a claim against the other party, there may be issues if there's a contention on liability, the type of damages, whether our own client could be potentially responsible for it and potentially have assets and their estate at risk, depending on how severe the accident is. So then there's a whole different type of situation is that we need to be able to take some action as to making sure that our own client's insurance company can either resolve the claim or present the case in such a way that it minimizes the potential risk of an excess judgment, you know, and so those are also things to consider which sometimes, or most times, are overlooked.
Charlie McDermott:Yeah, yeah, wow, all right, let's get into maximizing compensation then. And so how do attorneys help clients get the maximum compensation possible?
Alessandro Assanti :Of course and again that's all evidence gathering. You know, there, like you say, there may be a clear cut case. Let's talk about clear cases of of of liability, okay, so what we need to do about when we maximize compensation is we need to figure out, okay, basically what we know currently of the client's injuries. What is the potential that they are going to exceed the policy limits of the responsible party? And if there's no doubt that they will, then our job at that point is making sure, obviously, that the client, if he has insurance, is making sure that the health insurance will take care of most of those medical bills that the client incurred. When you do get a finite amount of money, the injuries obviously exceed that. You're going to try and increase the net take home or the net compensation that the client receives, because, again, it makes no sense to go and get forensic experts and everything else and in the end you won the case but the client ends up with a dollar. But it's kind of like you're going to battle against a rodent with a tank. You don't need to do that. So we have to balance those things. Now, when we find that there's ample insurance or multiple parties that are potentially at fault, then we need to make sure that the liability is clear, or as best we can get it. And how are we going to maximize the liability? Because then in the end that maximizes what the client's going to receive in compensation. So that means we go after witnesses potentially find out exactly what happened and then we turn our well, we don't turn. It's kind of like we're doing both things. You have offices that handle all the pre-lit and then we handle the lit, and the pre-lit office is responsible for making sure and the attorney as well, they oversee it, they're making sure that the client is adequately treated and adequately diagnosed.
Alessandro Assanti :Sometimes people may have an injury, you know, to their head and most people say, well, I can't see what's going on inside there and I've had headaches, but they're going away, I'm not going to worry about it, and so I'm just going to take care of my broken arm. But you know, in reality this person may have a brain injury, you know, and that happened. You know that happens a lot. I had a client that was in a severe accident. He was a passenger, broke his hand, but he kept having tinnitus, which is a ringing of his ears. Years later Did an MRI and we found that he suffered an aneurysm, you know.
Alessandro Assanti :So those are things we have to do is make sure that you know, when we talk to the client and they have complaints, that we address their complaints and we make sure that they have the diagnostic tests to reveal all that we can so there's no hidden injuries and it actually helps the clients get better too, because the more attention you put to their physical ailments, the better off they're going to be in the end and that's to them. But also you're going to have a documented case to increase their chances of getting maximum compensation. And then it goes to hiring experts. Hiring experts on their loss of wages, their loss of work capacity If they have a disability. At the end of the day, what is their losses of household services? So those are experts that we all find. We find nursing services experts or economists, and liability as well. We have forensics and that goes into accident reconstruction and human factors.
Charlie McDermott:Okay, yeah, boy, a lot to it.
Alessandro Assanti :It is yeah.
Charlie McDermott:There's quite a bit. So insurance companies, I mean. It seems like their goal is to pay the least amount possible. What have you seen, alessandro? You know what are some of the common tactics insurance companies use to minimize payouts and how can an attorney counteract them?
Alessandro Assanti :Sure, you know we always have to look at the case as terms of one is what are the underlying issues? You know, because you have liability and you have the injuries, and then you have an insurance company there and they have the purse strings, right, they hold the money, so they're the ones generally in control until you file a lawsuit, right. So you have to do a balancing test as whether or not it's worth going to litigation and that all depends on you know you get an offer at the end of the day. You know when the client's done treating and you know the nexus of his injuries and his losses and you present it to the carrier and they have a very sophisticated way that they calculate it is. They say, ok, well, they're going to offer an amount that is representative of what they believe is fair, what they believe is fair. But they want to estimate that the attorney is going to make a mathematical calculation and saying, well, what is the value of this case worth at settlement versus if I go to trial? And again, you can get a case to settle $100,000 before trial and it's probably have to pay the medicals and things of that nature and then some of the ancillary expenses. But in the end, the client is going to end up with a lump sum that you could put in the bank and, at the end of the day, if he earned interest off that for a year and a half or two years before he got a judgment, he'd end up with more money. So we have to make these balancing judgment calls on what's the value. Is the client going to end up with more at the end of the day, based on the time, based on the legal issues that we have to overcome and the experts that we have to hire? Now, one of the things that we do when we you know, when we get such an offer that the client is unwilling to take it, you know, we give the client the option. Obviously, we tell them the potential risks of going to litigation and if they choose to go to litigation, then we then try to put pressure on the carrier. Is what they call in the state of California and there are states that have this is they call it a statutory demand right. And this is when you do the discovery. You go through the discovery and you say, okay, here's what I really believe, the case is fairly worth. And then you serve a conservative. Let's say you say okay, I believe after our discovery and what we know now, they may have an insured the defendant that isn't a favorable person.
Alessandro Assanti :We always look at the backgrounds of these people. Do they have a criminal record? And if they do, are we able to get any of that evidence in front of a jury Right? Sometimes you can't. Sometimes you can, usually when you have a past criminal record that's fairly recent, with some a crime which which they call is a moral turpitude. That means that it was a fraud or it was some type of robbery or something where the person has a depraved mind. They call it that's the legal term, not like if they got in a DUI accident and they hurt somebody years ago. That wouldn't come into evidence and that certainly doesn't affect their credibility. It could have been a young kid, that was a foolish person. And no, we all, we all are human, we all make mistakes, but then a lot of us redeem ourselves. So. But if you have those types of things, then you know the value of the case goes up, because the insurance company knows it too that the jury is probably not going to like that person or they're going to hear that this person doesn't always tell the truth, and so that gives us a little leverage.
Alessandro Assanti :But the one thing I was telling you this 998 does is usually when you go to trial, and that extra cost of going to trial and proving your case has to do with the experts whether they're doctors testifying as to the medical condition of you know our client. The doctors testifying about you know the future ability to work. You know we have economists that do that, but we have accident reconstruction. Sometimes those costs can reach up as much as $100,000 themselves. So what we do is we serve what they call is a statutory 9-8-8. And what that means is that we're demanding or we're presenting them with an offer to settle, saying listen, we're going to serve you with we'll take $99,000 today or within 30 days, and if you don't take that offer then it's going to expire by operation of law. And if we exceed that $99,000, then we are eligible by law to recoup all of our litigation costs, which include deposition transcripts and court filing fees, expert fees, everything of that nature, and sometimes that can be in the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. And so when that expires of dollars, and so when that expires, that then really puts the pressure on the carrier.
Alessandro Assanti :Now sometimes let's say that we go through discovery and we find that you know they offered this $50,000.
Alessandro Assanti :We believe the case is worth $100,000 and there's a policy that is $100,000, that is $100,000, which is the limit. We send a statutory demand for that limit. If that expires and we get whatever, we get above that at trial, the insurance company is then forced to make a really crucial decision, and one is they better pay it or else, if their client is hit with that excess judgment and they fail to get their client's acknowledgement or consent to settle, the client or their insured may have a bad faith claim and sometimes we get those assigned to us and we go after the insurance for unfair practices and breach of fiduciary duty, all those types of things. So it puts a great deal of pressure on the insurance carrier to most likely pay the amount, because those are huge risks and that's what insurance companies hate. They operate on risk and that all means that if there's a potential for them to pay a lot more money they hate that and most times they don't like that issue of risk they will settle, wow.
Charlie McDermott:Interesting stuff. Yeah, so bottom line does statistics show that people who hire a personal injury attorney receive higher settlements.
Alessandro Assanti :As you know, most times yes, in fact almost all times yes, I've seen insurance companies offer pitiful amounts. You know before it gets to me. You know before it gets to me, and it may be the demeanor of the client. You know he's obviously or she is frustrated with the process and the insurance carrier or the adjuster typically doesn't like them because they have to deal with them. I don't know, but I've seen it happen more times than not that the insurance carrier does take advantage of people that don't have attorneys.
Alessandro Assanti :Now, with that said, there are times when, as my friend's son, that there are such small claims that they would usually pay those and the client would end up with more money in his pocket at the end of the day than hiring an attorney. So I think it generally has to do with complexity of liability. And if the liability isn't complex and it's very simple and the injuries are small and it doesn't give the client any economic incentive to hire an attorney, those are the issues when they can go it alone and get more money. But generally insurance companies don't offer people without attorneys what they deserve or less than they deserve when they have an attorney.
Charlie McDermott:All right, good to know. So let's get into common misconceptions about hiring a personal injury attorney. So one is hiring an attorney expensive, and how do contingency fees work? Sure?
Alessandro Assanti :Hiring an attorney in a personal injury case is not expensive because it's generally on a contingent basis and what that means is that you know it's not going to cost the client any out-of-pocket money for the attorney's work. The attorney is essentially taking a risk that they're going to recover and if they don't, the attorney walks away, and that can happen at any stage of the case. Way, and that can happen at any stage of the case. That can happen if the case doesn't work out and liability is found to be adverse and there's no potential of recovering, or if you go to a jury trial and you get defensed or the defense prevails. The client doesn't owe the attorney any money, so there's no expense. Now sometimes it gets expensive when there's experts to hire, and so you know this is usually worked out at the stage of a contingency agreement.
Alessandro Assanti :Now here in the state of California, one thing I know is more and more attorneys are asking their clients to at least contribute to medical malpractice cases, because those are highly intensive and because of the statutes they, you know, have limited the amount that people can recover and they also have limited the amount that the attorneys can earn. So those types of cases, sometimes, if the client really believes about it will. You know? And it all has to do with liability and damages too, because generally if the case is a very clear cut case, you'll have an attorney is willing to spend the money on it or he'll have a lender. You know, because now the big financing companies have gotten in the game with litigation and it's helped the consumer because oftentimes the costs of litigation have gone up so much that sometimes attorneys they have lights to keep on and employees to pay and multiple cases that they're handling keep on and employees to pay and multiple cases that they're handling. So big banks and financial institutions have gotten in and they've actually come in and taken the risk with non-recourse loans.
Alessandro Assanti :So the client is if something should not work out with the case. You know they earn a hefty amount of interest but they're investors in these cases, you know, and sometimes it even happens at the appeal stage. You know you win a huge verdict and you have an appeal because the defense doesn't like it, because they got hit with an enormous number. You know you have to go out and get a really good appellate counsel because sometimes and a lot of times we specialize and we don't do appeals or the attorneys don't, you know, want to take that risk. So we go out and we hire one of the best appellate attorneys to make sure that we preserve the judgment that we receive, and big banks and institutions will actually invest in that and pay those fees, on the proviso that they earn a substantial interest when the case prevails, regardless of what it is. So the client really isn't, you know, having to go out of pocket with anything like a personal injury case. Today, you know it doesn't happen much wow, that's wild.
Alessandro Assanti :I had no idea yeah, yeah, this big business is is here and it's been a plus, you know, because there are times. You know, like you said, I had a case against a public entity last year and I bet you there was a quarter million dollars we had wrapped up just in just in litigation and experts and doctors and forensics, you know. So, yeah, it was, it was is enormous, and so we had a funding company that funded all that and in the end they got paid back and they're our business partners now. Wow.
Charlie McDermott:So would you say, all personal injury cases go to trial or most settled out of court?
Alessandro Assanti :Most settled out of court. You know the last statistics I read it's between 5, five and 10 percent of the cases that are filed go to trial and out of the entire, so I would say probably 50 percent or less actually get a filing. So few cases go to litigation, you know. But when they do, most of them settle before trial.
Charlie McDermott:Okay.
Alessandro Assanti :And if the lawyer is sharp enough to set it up that way, you definitely want to be able to settle the case. Because you know, I always tell the clients you never know what you're going to get in a case like this. You know, and if we have a very good case and a very good witness and a very good set of facts, then you know we're more apt to say you know we will take the risk. But if we get that number and it's close, I would say we should always resolve it because you never know what a jury is going to do. And you know, I had a case it's been two years now and I had this feeling that the foreman was our only sense of he. He just was connecting with us. You could tell the way he was looking at us and the way he would shake his head.
Alessandro Assanti :And the others were not involved in the case per se. They were, they were very just and that's fine. Jurors can do that, but they were hard to read. But I knew this guy was active and he was very. You know. You'd see him out in the hallway and he was always talking to the other jurors. You know, because we're not allowed to, we noticed these things and so during that case it was a long case and we lost we lost two, three jurors, and to the fact that we had to stipulate to have a verdict with less than the prescribed amount, because you know you always have. You know you have 12 jurors but you always have a couple alternates, but we had 10. That decided that case right, and when they started deliberating it went into day one, and usually when it goes into days then it's positive for us.
Alessandro Assanti :But I knew they were struggling over the issue of apportionment because our client had an injury years past and so they were trying to figure out. Well, the injuries were serious, but he had a serious injury to the same part of his body years ago. So did he recover? They're done, and he didn't or didn't say he needed much surgery or said he could, you know, go on. And so then you had this difference of opinion with the experts and many experts Right, a lot on the line, and when I found out who the foreman was I was I was OK, you know this is this is good for us. I think you know you're always you can be wrong.
Alessandro Assanti :But so on the last day, you know, we lost another juror and you know we had to stipulate the jurors were coming in and the foreman called into the court because he was down in a small claims court right, because he had a small claims case in the same city, different courthouse. And he says well, do you want to just continue without him? I know we have a stipulation, we can stipulate the nine. And the other counsel says sure, I'll stip. And I'm like I just felt if we lost this jury for a person, it could be bad for us, because I could see the way he was reacting to everything we said and he would even make eye contact with us and our client and say hello, the others wouldn't. And I thought to myself well, you may, maybe we should wait for him. I says, because by the time they go and select another foreman he'll probably be back to us. You know he'll be be done.
Alessandro Assanti :And the judge then came up with an idea, brilliant idea. He says you know what? I'm going to call down to small claims and see if we can get him priority so he can get his case done and get back here soon. Don't you know when we got that jury verdict? The the foreman told us specifically says you know, and we got.
Alessandro Assanti :We didn't get what we wanted, but we got more than what the you know what the other side wanted, right, so it landed on our side, you know, somewhat in the middle, but more on our side and more in our face.
Alessandro Assanti :Yeah, he came to us and he says man, he says I am so sorry. He says I was fighting for you, all I could be, says, but no one believed me. So I held up what I could and we were able to force some people to make the decision. He says, but if it hadn't have been for me arguing with these people, I don't know what they would have done, but it wouldn't have been good for you and you just, you just can't make this stuff up, you know, but I just felt that and so, thank god, we could have lost that guy and probably got, and you know, my client wouldn't have had much left over from all these years of of of litigation and fighting for, you know, for his injuries, and it was a substantial injury. But you know, we made out, we did okay and, like I say, it's hairlined yeah you know, you just the razor's edge.
Alessandro Assanti :Oh, I always tell people you know, try to get this settled before you go to a jury, because you just never know what's going to happen in court.
Charlie McDermott:You know at a trial so I mean that's an awesome story. I I when, when I hear that, I also think about you know, the, the peace of mind, you know, going, settling and quality of life versus going through the trial and leading up to the trial and boy, I, I don't think I would sleep very well yeah, yeah, I can tell you it's, it's, it's stressful to me.
Alessandro Assanti :I get involved in it and I get to, I get to take a vacation from all the other distractions and I love the process, right, but my clients, they absolutely just stress about it and yeah, so if you can settle, settle.
Charlie McDermott:Yeah, yeah, how about? What would you say to people who think hiring an attorney will make the process more complicated? You?
Alessandro Assanti :say to people who think hiring an attorney will make the process more complicated oh, that's definitely not true. You know, and, as you say, you know when you interview an attorney, you want to access the experience that the attorney has, and most times when you're involved in this business for as long as we have, you've seen it time and time again, and attorneys generally most always make the process much simpler and much more understandable. And that's the big process is making it understandable to a client that doesn't have the experience, because it is stressful. Have the experience because it is stressful, it is unknown, and the more information you give them and your ability to tell them this all this madness has an end and it has a place and this is what we're doing they will be a much happier client and, at the end of the day, we'll get things done much quicker, because sometimes people just can't do it. You know they may have this great case and I know I can go out and settle it, and then they settle it and then what? They get this money and then guess who comes calling the insurance carriers, the health insurance carriers, right.
Alessandro Assanti :The insurance carriers, the health insurance carriers, right.
Alessandro Assanti :And all the people ambulances, doctors, all these people that you treated with that say I deserve a piece of that recovery right and by contract law, you know, by contract, when you have your insurance, your health insurance, there's a contract, there's a binding contract, and some of them some of them like Medi-Cal and those types of insurance agencies it is a law, it is. I mean, if you don't pay them you can be in trouble because it's they're a public, you know, funded insurance company, funded by the taxpayer. So that is a difficult process in and of itself to negotiate with the medical providers and oftentimes we save people tons of money because you can have this $100,000 bill and in the end, because of what they paid the carrier and also the negotiations that we do, you could negotiate it down to sometimes 90%. So you're paying 10% of what you would normally do, if it's a Medi-Cal funded program, compared to what was paid versus what was billed. So there's complications everywhere. So, yes, attorneys that that are handling these things, they simplify the a lot, a lot.
Charlie McDermott:So, Alessandro, what would be that one key takeaway for your listeners who are considering hiring a personal injury attorney?
Alessandro Assanti :I would say that when they get in the accident, you know they need to be of their right mind to choose somebody, or, if they can't, a family member should. But they need to act fairly quickly because of the issues of evidence decaying right, it decays quick. People forget, people move away. So do your research, you know, find out, you know from friends who've had an experience with these types of things and talk to them and see what they appreciated in the attorney. And then when you talk to the attorney, you know, when you find or land on one, you know, talk to a few and see how they would handle the case, see what they think of your case, see what you know efforts they would do Like.
Alessandro Assanti :What you asked me is what would they do to maximize the recovery? Can you provide me medical services or any type of financial stipend while I am not working if that's the case? So the attorneys that have the wherewithal, the resources to make people as comfortable as they can, to go after the evidence and to do a good job and have had experience, those are the people you want to end up with. But generally I'd always start with talking to somebody, a friend or someone that knows, somebody that has had a case like this, so you can get a little bit of education on what it really means to have an attorney that knows what he's doing. Take your case, you know.
Charlie McDermott:Great, great tips. Love those questions to ask For your listeners who live in the Southern California area. What's the best way for them to get in touch if they need help? Absolutely.
Alessandro Assanti :Thank you, Charlie. Yeah, they can always call the toll free number here. It's 877-245-3911. We have staff available nine to five, five days a week, or they can log on to the website. They can make an inquiry and we handle those 24-7.
Charlie McDermott:Terrific. Well, it's time that we depart. You can get back to your summer and helping your clients, and we will see you in the next episode.
Alessandro Assanti :Charlie, I always appreciate you. Thank you very much.
Charlie McDermott:Thank you.
Intro/Close:Visit AssantiLaw. com or call us at 877-245-3911 to get the legal support you need. We are here to help.