No. Not yet, anyway. And you shouldn’t, unless you know for sure.

There are lots of reasons you may not want to take the insurance company’s offer. It may not be enough. You may not know how much is enough. And you might be afraid that if you give an adjuster your best number, he might try to take advantage.

(And even if you don’t want much at all, he probably will try to take advantage of you, in the sense that he will offer you less than he has the ability to pay.)

It doesn’t make sense to take an offer you are not sure about unless you literally have no alternative. It won’t cost anything to call me – or any other personal injury lawyer – to ask what I think of the offer, and what I think the case is worth.

And there are lots of options. Whenever an adjuster makes me an offer, I do some combination of the following:
• Tell him I will have to talk about it with the person I am working for. (That’s kind of a no brainer)
• Tell him I need more information from him – like why does he think this is such a great offer
• Tell him I need to get him more information (usually about how bad my client’s injuries are, but maybe whether my client’s hospital will take a discount on their bill, or whether my client’s insurance company will agree to reduce the amount they are asking for)
• Tell him that’s not enough, and my client needs more money.

Sometimes, if I think the offer is too low, I might just sit on it. A couple times, the adjuster has called me and raised the offer without my doing anything. It doesn’t happen very often, but my client feels better when it does.

The only time I accept the offer is when I am sure that I have been through all of the important options with my client, and I know he will accept it.

I have been a lawyer over 30 years. Just because the insurance company is making you an offer, doesn’t mean it’s a good one. If you’ve been in an accident give me, a Cincinnati personal injury lawyer, a call. My phone is 513-621-4775.

Because all situations are different, and because there may be other facts pertaining to your case that I don’t know about, you should not rely on this answer for legal advice. I am not your attorney, and no lawyer client relationship has been formed. All discussions are limited to Ohio law unless otherwise indicated. And past performance cannot be used to predict future results.

I will be honest – I can’t predict. I think that juries – and insurance companies – will be very interested in a number of different factors, including the extent and permanency of your injury (amputation is more than a broken arm), the total of your medical bills, your lost wages, whether you were at fault, the horror of your accident, and – sorry about this, but it’s true – whether the jury will “like” you.

But you can try the same case to different juries, and get different results. Same thing with insurance adjusters, and judges.
But if you want an interesting perspective from someone who is – at least a little bit – outside the traditional system, try reading some of the comments of Kenneth Feinberg.

Kenneth Feinberg – on Morning Joe, a talk show that my wife and I watch every morning – said that for the case he is now working on, it’s the time you spent in the hospital.

Who is Kenneth Feinberg? He is the administrator for the 9/11 victims fund, for the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund, the One fund (compensating victims of the Boston Marathon bombing), the fund to compensate the victims of the Aurora shooting, and other funds set up to compensate victims of massive tragedies.

And his job is different from that of the typical adjuster, or juror, because when he makes an award, he is usually applying some standard other than the personal injury law of the state where the tragedy occurs. It might be a charity, or a compensation fund set up by statute (which is part of what happened with 9/11. He may have more or fewer funds than he thinks the victim would be able to get at trial.

But he usually has a set amount of dollars to award to a number of people. His job is to break it up in amounts that will hold up in court.

And what case is he working on now? It is the One Fund, compensating victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Most of the funds he is planning on distributing are from private donations, but it’s really too early to tell.

And he has different strictures. One is the fact that it is too early to know how much will be available. So he probably has a lot of concerns addressing survivors’ immediate needs – mortgages, special medical care, living expenses, things like that – rather than long term awards for pain and suffering.

What does this tell you about what a jury will award you for a truck accident? Probably not that much – because of all the different factors that go into a jury’s award.

But it might tell you something about what an insurance adjuster will do. The fact that one person spends two weeks in the hospital in intensive care may be more impressive than the $75,000 in medical expenses someone else incurs for a back surgery.

And it gives me an argument if the case does go to a jury: “Mr. Johnson spent two straight weeks in the hospital after this accident, and still came out needing more surgery. I am lucky – but there are a lot of people who don’t have to spend that long in the hospital their whole life.”

If it makes you stop and think, that’s good.

I have been a lawyer over 30 years. One of the most important things about what I do is maintaining a fresh perspective. If you’ve been in an accident with a truck, give me, a Cincinnati personal injury attorney, a call. My phone is 513-621-4775.

Because all situations are different, and because there may be other facts pertaining to your case that I don’t know about, you should not rely on this answer for legal advice. I am not your attorney, and no lawyer client relationship has been formed. All discussions are limited to Ohio law unless otherwise indicated. And past performance cannot be used to predict future results.

Because they don’t have to until you file a lawsuit.

Insurance companies don’t have to tell you what their limits are until you file suit. As a general rule, I have a lot of trouble getting them to do this.

Sometimes, it’s not that important. If my client had one trip to the emergency room, with a total of $1,000 in bills, the case is probably not going to settle for over the policy limits, whatever they are. (Policy limits start at $12,500 in Ohio.)

In other cases, though, you need the information. If you have underinsured motorist coverage, you need to know the other driver’s limits so you can put your own insurance company on notice.

Sometimes, I can get the truck insurance company to tell me their limits by telling them that I have to know whether I need to contact the underinsured motorist insurer. Or by telling them that my client has a lot of medical bills, and needs to know whether there is enough auto insurance to cover the damages.

I have been a lawyer over 30 years. Generally, lawyers are better at dealing with insurance companies than accident victims are. If you’ve been in an accident with a truck, give me, a Cincinnati injury lawyer, a call. My phone is 513-621-4775.

Because all situations are different, and because there may be other facts pertaining to your case that I don’t know about, you should not rely on this answer for legal advice. I am not your attorney, and no lawyer client relationship has been formed. All discussions are limited to Ohio law unless otherwise indicated. And past performance cannot be used to predict future results.

Ask Your Doctor.  If You Don’t Have A Doctor You Trust, Get One.

Why is your doctor the best person to recommend a specialist for injuries you sustain in a truck accident or dog bite?  Because he knows you, he knows the specialists in your area, and he’s neutral.

What if you don’t trust your doctor to recommend a good specialist?  For instance, some people in small towns may feel their family doctors are just fine, but don’t feel that they have good options for specialized care near them.  Or maybe they just go to their family doctor because they are isolated, and don’t feel like they have much of a choice.

One option is to go to the emergency room of the hospital you feel the best about.  In Cincinnati, University Hospital has an Emergency Room staffed by some of the best doctors in Cincinnati – and so do the other large hospitals. They may not all be five star, but you have a better chance of getting good treatment than you would if you walked into a smaller clinic.

If I represent you, you can ask me to recommend a doctor.  I am usually reluctant to recommend a doctor, because if the case gets as far as a jury, it will look like steering if my client testifies truthfully that he went to see his doctor because I recommended it.

On the other hand, I really want my patient to trust his doctor.  It is almost impossible to resolve his case unless the patient trusts his doctor.

If you live in Northeast Ohio, you may be able to be treated at the Cleveland Clinic. That is an excellent place to find a good doctor.

I have been a lawyer over 30 years. There is nothing more important than trusting your doctor.   If you’ve been hurt by a truck, give me, a Cincinnati truck accident lawyer, a call.  My phone is 513-621-4775.

Because all situations are different, and because there may be other facts pertaining to your case that I don’t know about, you should not rely on this answer for legal advice. I am not your attorney, and no lawyer client relationship has been formed.  All discussions are limited to Ohio law unless otherwise indicated.  And past performance cannot be used to predict future results.

Ask Your Doctor.

The main consideration in settling a lawsuit is making sure that you won’t need more treatment after you settle.  Because once you settle, you can’t go back and get more money if you need more surgery, or more treatment of any kind.

Who can answer this question? Your doctor.

There is one exception, but it’s a bad one. If you know that the insurance limits – plus the assets of the person who caused the accident – are not high enough to pay you an adequate settlement or judgment for your present condition, then there is no sense in waiting.

Because you can’t get blood – or money – out of a turnip.

I have been a lawyer over 30 years. I can still remember the only case where my client wound up needing more surgery after the settlement; I had told her not to settle.   If you’ve been hurt by a truck, give me, a Cincinnati truck accident lawyer lawyer, a call.  My phone is 513-621-4775.

Because all situations are different, and because there may be other facts pertaining to your case that I don’t know about, you should not rely on this answer for legal advice. I am not your attorney, and no lawyer client relationship has been formed.  All discussions are limited to Ohio law unless otherwise indicated.  And past performance cannot be used to predict future results.

http://www.cincinnatipersonalinjury.com/auto-truck-accidents/

Generally, no.  He can ask whatever he wants. It’s part of being a lawyer.

But you are usually better off answering the tough questions anyway.

I can keep you from having to answer some questions, if they are unusually intrusive, invade your privacy, or are irrelevant.

You shouldn’t have to answer questions about old, unrelated injuries. About some embarrassing personal facts. And if I think the other attorney is trying to intimidate you by asking irrelevant and embarrassing questions, I object.

But there is a lot that can be relevant.  A theft conviction in the last 10 years  – by law – has been determined to relate to the question of whether a witness is telling the truth.  Prescription histories can relate to whether you are suffering from pain as a result of the accident in question, or a prior injury.

I have strenuously objected to a wife’s being asked questions about her husband’s financial history, as a witness in his personal injury case.  She didn’t answer many questions in that deposition, because I objected to so many of them, and told her not to answer them.

At the same time, it put me on notice that the trucking company knew some things that were going to come out at trial.

So why would it be better to answer a question than not?  First, the other side will nearly always find out whatever they want about you anyway – through medical records, or job records, or witness interviews, or privately requested background checks.

Second, when you refuse to answer questions you are tipping the other side off as to what you think is important about your case.

And more important, by not answering the question you give the appearance that you are worried about the answer.

In my opinion, you are usually better off just letting the truth come out, and acting like you are comfortable with it.

I have been a lawyer over 30 years. I have fought for years over whether questions have to be answered, and whether records have to be disclosed.   If you’ve been hurt by a truck, give me, a Cincinnati truck accident attorney, a call.  My phone is 513-621-4775.

Because all situations are different, and because there may be other facts pertaining to your case that I don’t know about, you should not rely on this answer for legal advice. I am not your attorney, and no lawyer client relationship has been formed.  All discussions are limited to Ohio law unless otherwise indicated.  And past performance cannot be used to predict future results.