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Before you start thinking about what your North Carolina injury case is worth, consider what you’re basing your expectations on.

If you’re basing your expectations on what you WANT your case to be worth, that’s not a good foundation. Neither is what your Uncle Fred settled his case for in 1997. You might also be surprised to find out that the internet pretty much has no idea what it’s talking about. I could go on and on as to what NOT to base your claim value on…

But that begs the question: What SHOULD you base your claim value on? Well, if you hired a seasoned personal injury attorney with over 2 decades in this business (such as myself) then you should probably just trust what he has to say. There are TONS of factors to consider in valuing a case, including but not limited to: Venue, liability, causation concerns, potential legal defenses to liability, pre-existing conditions, objective v. subjective injuries, prior case settlements, prior verdicts, medical expenses, insurance coverage questions, liens, permanency of injury…and that’s just to name the main ones, not all of them!

If you’re not intimately familiar with the meaning and nuances of everything on that list (and then some), please do not be offended when I say that you are not the best source of an opinion as to the value of your case. Nor is your Uncle Fred.

Look. I get it. At the end of the day, resolving injury claims can solely be done via monetary reward, so whether we like it or not, it is about the money. So you’re certainly entitled to be curious as to what your case is worth. You can also have whatever opinion you want as to your own case value. But the point of this particular writing is this: Your expectations can really throw you for a loop in these situations, so the best advice I can give you as a personal injury is to throw your expectations out the window. They have no place here. You’ll never be on the jury hearing your case, so your opinion is not going to be relevant in the case evaluation. If you want to know what your case should be worth, ask an experienced North Carolina personal injury attorney and listen to their advice. And if you form an opinion without that advice, don’t be upset when your expectations are met because they probably simply aren’t realistic.

North Carolina accident victims don’t get a fair shake after accidents for a LOT of reason, most of which can be laid at the feet of GOP legislators, but that’s for another blog post. One of the many rules that accident victims aren’t aware of and that comes back to bite them is the Duty to Mitigate Your Damages.

The duty to mitigate essentially means that if you have a proverbial tourniquet to stop the proverbial bleeding, you have to staunch it and you can’t blame the guy who accidentally cut your finger when you bleed out. Here’s the most common example of how that rule might mess up your day:

Let’s say you’re in an auto accident, not your fault, and it totals your vehicle. The bad guy’s insurance pays the “fair market value” (whether that’s “fair” or not is, yet again, for another blog post…) but you can’t find a car to buy and use for 6 weeks. You need your car to work, so in addition to your injuries, etc., you’re losing income for 6 weeks, all of which can be traced back to the original act of negligence of the bad guy driver. Yet, the Duty to Mitigate would probably preclude you from being able to recover the vast majority of that lost income for the 6 weeks after they paid you for your property damage. The law would say that after they paid you FMV for your vehicle, they were square, as it were, with you with regards to your property damage and by extension your property damage-related lost income.

I hear the rationale for why that’s fair; it’s not really fair to expect the bad guys or their carrier to go and find you a car that you’ll be happy with. I get it. BUT, at the same time, you can’t ride the stupid check to work and back! The money is NOT a car, so it’s not the same thing!

Now, with the right argument you might be able to get a little bit of that lost income because, Duty to Mitigate or not, there is a reasonable argument to be made that even with that check, you can’t turn that into a car in a day or even three, so maybe a short percentage of that 6 week absence might be a reasonable argument, but not a guaranteed one.

Once again, all this stuff is complicated which is why you should get a personal injury lawyer that knows what they’re talking about. Get me! 919-929-2992.

If you’re hurt on the job and think you have a worker’s comp claim, do yourself a favor and file a Form 18 now. What’s that?

It’s this: https://www.ic.nc.gov/forms/form18.pdf

That form, as long as it’s filed within 30 days of your injury, meets all of the notice requirements of the NC Worker’s Comp Act. Your employer/their insurance company will find any reason to deny your benefits, so don’t get them this one. File that Form 18 ASAP after your injury.

I could write a book on the various and sundry ways you can make your North Carolina personal injury claim worse. There are a lot. But these little nuggets are the most common that you should look out for…

Southern Hospitality/Taking the Blame

One of the things I like about the South is that, in general, we do tend to be pretty polite in public. How many times have you been holding a door for someone and then have a polite argument about how the other person should go first? That’s kinda nice. But this instinct can be killer for your claim. After an auto accident you will likely be interviewed by law enforcement and/or an insurance claims agent. If your Southern instinct to demur and not place the blame on someone else kicks in, that could lead to claims disaster. Always tell the truth, but never even come close to accepting blame, or even acknowledging partial fault, if that’s not definitely the truth! EVERYTHING you say can and will be used against you in this claim, so if it was the other guy’s fault, you say that and stick to it!

Health Insurance/Auto Insurance/What? What!?

Insurance is dumb. I’ll be the first to admit it. But in our current system it’s a necessity. But necessary or not, it can be super confusing. Do you use your health insurance if someone has liability insurance that should be paying for your medical expenses? What is this “Med Pay” stuff in my own auto policy? All of this can be confusing, but here’s the bottom line: North Carolina is NOT a PIP (personal injury protection) state, so you DO use your Health Insurance for auto-accident related injuries! Let me say that again louder for the people in the back. YOU DO USE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE! Here’s the best way to look at it: Your health insurance is on the hook in NC, no matter who else might be on the hook in theory. Yes, your health plan might have a right to get paid back IF you get payment for those bills from someone else, but that’s way down the road. When you incur the health care bills, your health insurance is on the hook for them. Period. How does your auto “Med Pay” play into that? Well, that’s no fault coverage that you can access after any auto accident, but be careful when/how you access it, because lien-holders might have a right to it. That’s another blog post altogether, though, so call me for details on that one.

Tough Guy/Gal Syndrome

“Yeah, I’m a little banged up, but I think I’ll wait a few weeks to see if I really need treatment,” is a great attitude to absolutely shred your injury claim. Here’s the skinny: Insurance companies LOVE to take advantage of good intentions. You might be trying to be tough or trying not to “make a big deal” out of something, but if you’re hurt, you should seek treatment. If you don’t seek treatment, the insurance company is going to argue to your future jury that you must not have been hurt. So that week or two or three or whatever that you’re waiting, albeit for the kindest of purposes, gets used against you as “proof” that you weren’t really hurt in the first place. The bottom line is if you’re hurt after an accident, get checked out and go ahead and start whatever kind of treatment you need or you’ll regret it if you don’t.

Sadly, there are tons of other ways you people will act that will compromise your claim, but I can’t go into all of them. I wish it wasn’t so fraught, but insurance companies have come up with all kinds of tactics to avoid paying reasonable value for claims, so you have to get good advice fast to avoid falling prey to them. So if you’re hurt in an accident, call an attorney asap. Call me. 919-929-2992.

If you have a worker’s compensation or auto accident injury claim in North Carolina, there’s a fairly high chance that you may be involved in a mediation at some point. So what the heck is a mediation anyway?

A mediation is a moderately formal meeting of two or more adverse parties to convene, under the guidance of a mediator, in an attempt to resolve the conflict between the parties. In some instances a mediation is mandatory in North Carolina, but not always. I tend to like them as a dispute resolution alternative and here are a few reasons why:

• Your attorney does all the talking, really. You don’t have to be examined or cross examined or get all worked up about that. For the most part your attorney will do all the talking for you. Don’t get me wrong: You’ll be involved and your decision-making is critical but you won’t be under any pressure to “perform,” which is great.
• The mediator is NOT a judge. The mediator, who is normally agreed to and assigned by the parties, is a non-partial, independent third party who gets paid no matter what so s/he doesn’t have a horse in the race. Generally, they’re just nice old lawyers or judges who like helping people figure stuff out. Often times you can really lean on their experience to help you gain a better understanding of the issues. Whereas a judge often tells you the outcome, a mediator only helps you to come to an outcome that you agree to. That’s way better in my opinion.
• You’re not with the adverse party very long. Generally speaking, there is the opening where the mediator briefly explains the process, the plaintiff’s attorney recounts what the issues are, the defense attorney responds, and then you separate into different rooms. This is called “caucusing” which just means you’re separate and free to talk to your attorney and the mediator about what’s going on. When you’re in a caucus, you can confide in the mediator if you feel it’s necessary/appropriate, and tell them not to share that info, and they won’t. Plus, you get to confer with your attorney while the mediator is away and that allows you plenty of real-time reaction to what you’re learning.
• You get to hear the other side. Everyone knows the strengths of their claims, but depending on your attorney’s style of practice, you may not know a great deal about the weaknesses of your claim, or how another party might perceive them. This is a great opportunity to hear the adverse parties’ viewpoints on your situation AND you get to have that filtered by an experienced, independent, NEUTRAL third party – the mediator – and that is worth its weight in gold. Maybe your case is great, but maybe it ain’t. This is where you often find out.
• You have the power to decide. In a trial, the “finder of fact” gets to decide the outcome of your case. That’s normally a judge or a jury. But that takes the power of your outcome totally out of your hands. In a mediation, you get to agree or not. I have found throughout the years that clients really appreciate having the power to agree to a resolution of a claim to be very, well, empowering, for lack of a better word.

And that’s really not all of the benefits, that’s just all I can explain in a blog post. If you’re in a position to potentially resolve your case in a mediation, it’s a good opportunity to at minimum learn about your case and best case scenario get the best, most reasonable outcome possible.

There’s a very good chance you will need an attorney if you get a speeding ticket. It is the vast minority of ticket situations that allow for you to simply pay them off without long-term adverse consequences, so get some good legal advice.

The best way to get good advice is to know what you’ve got and what you want. Here are some tips to help you help yourself!

• Know what you’re charged with. I can’t really tell you much about what I might be able to do to help or what needs to be done if I don’t know what you’re charged with. If you’re calling without the ticket in front of you, you should carry it with you. It isn’t that heavy.
• Have the person charged available to speak. I know, I know, you want to help little Johnny because you’re a helicopter parent, or you want to help your boyfriend because he’s mostly useless. That’s fine, but have him there near the phone so he can answer questions about the situation if need be.
• Know WHERE you were charged. Same as the first one, all of this information is on the ticket in case you forget where you were when it happened, but your potential attorney HAS to know the jurisdiction to give you an idea of what might be done or if s/he has any knowledge of what might done. Practices vary a lot between jurisdictions, so this is extra important.
• Empty your cup. Don’t call an attorney with the idea that you’re going to tell them what needs to happen. It’s cool to have goals and all, but you’re SEEKING advice, not giving it, so listen up.
• Stay local. I’ll be the first to tell you that local guys tend to do better locally. That’s not to say that I can’t handle a Wake County ticket, but if it’s something out of the ordinary, I will refer that out because my experience is that if you need a little extra because your charge is a little extra, then you are better off calling someone who is in that court house semi-daily.

That should help set you on the road to success. Just don’t try to go too fast on that road. You don’t want another ticket.

When you get a ticket in North Carolina you should take it seriously. Tickets aren’t just about the dollar amount on the paper you were given (if there is one). They can have HUGE impacts on your future insurance rates for years to come and MIGHT even result in the loss of your license. Tickets can be a big deal!

Most of you know this, so you naturally want to use everything you can think of to defend yourself against the consequences. But I’m here to tell you, “But this is my first ticket!” is NOT a valid defense.

Sure, if you’ve got a clean record that can help you in negotiating a better outcome. But PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY get the idea that you get one free ticket out of your head. This is NOT a thing.

If you’ve got a speeding ticket in NC, you should seek legal advice immediately, preferably from an attorney in the same geographic area as where you received the ticket. Call me at 919-929-2992.

I learned a great lesson from a story early in my life and I’ve found that lesson to be relevant almost every day of my life since. It’s particularly relevant when you are going to seek help from someone who is an expert in their field. Here’s the story:

A young man who had begun studying a subject and who had discussed said subject with his friends and family decided it was time to further his studies in the field by seeking an acknowledged master in the field. The teacher he sought had studied the field in a rigorous academic setting for years, had been tested by other recognized experts in the field, AND had decades of practical experience working hands-on within that field.

The young man finally found the teacher and asked her to teach him. She said that first they should have a cup of coffee and discuss things. The teacher began to set out cups and to pour the coffee. As she filled the young man’s cup, it began to overflow, but she continued to pour. The young man exclaimed, “Teacher! My cup is already full!”

The teacher replied, “Exactly. When you come seeking knowledge you must first empty the cup of the knowledge that you are looking to improve upon. If your cup is already full, I cannot fill it.”

This is something we should all carry with us. We might think we know something, or even a lot, about a certain subject. We might have talked to Uncle Joe or Cousin Suzy or our friend Aaron and gotten their take on it, but we must consider the source of our so-called “knowledge.” Did we learn what we think we learned from actual experts in this field? Did the people we discussed this with give us hard-won, field-tested practical knowledge they had gained through study and work, OR did they simply confirm our own bias/prejudice and we sucked it up just because it felt good to be validated?

If you really want to learn, empty your cup. If you seek the information/guidance/assistance of an actual expert in a field, then dispose of the dross that you’ve accumulated in your head from non-authorities. Do not insult the practical experience of the expert whose help you’re seeking by contesting it against the anecdotal drivel you’ve allowed yourself to be poisoned by.

If, on the other hand, you just want to keep believing what you already believe, or thinking what you already think, just because that feels comforting then do that. But don’t try to compare your feelings to the expert’s knowledge. They are not the same.

This title is a little misleading in that I can’t tell you EVERYTHING you would need to eliminate the possibility of a nightmare injury claim scenario in NC, obviously, but I can only put so much in a title. Bear with me.

I’ve seen this so many times and its tragic each time: Person is driving along, minding their own beeswax, when out of nowhere BOOM some knucklehead rams into them, resulting in horrific injury. As knuckleheads are wont to do, this particular knucklehead only purchased the bare minimum insurance coverage required by the State of NC to operate a motor vehicle legally. That, by the way, is $30,000 per person/$60,000 per accident. That means if you’re the unfortunate victim here. The MOST their insurance company has to pay you, regardless of the extent of your injuries and the cost of your medical care and the time you missed from work and whatever disability you have now, is $30,000. That’s it.

Of course, you are welcome to sue the bad guy and try to get a judgment in excess of that $30,000. That’s totally within your rights. But how do you turn that into actual money? What you would have to do with your judgment is called “execution,” which means you send the Sheriff out to collect his personal belongings and sell them. What do you think are the odds of a person who has $30,000 in liability coverage also happening to have a significant dollar amount worth of personal property? Pretty low, I’m thinking. If someone were to empty the contents of a rando’s home in NC, there might be, what, $10,000 worth of stuff at an auction? Is that really going to help you?

This all sounds really depressing, right? I know. So you’re probably asking, “But Jeffrey, what can we do to avoid this scenario? We can’t make people get more insurance? Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves?” You’re totally right and I’m glad you asked. The first step is to call your insurance agent. What you need is as much “Underinsured Motorist Coverage” (UIM) as you can possibly afford. Some companies will let you purchase this increase independently of your own limits. Otherwise your UIM coverage will match your own liability coverage. But if you have to increase your liability to get some reasonably high UIM, I think it’s worth it. Obviously, don’t go bankrupt over-insuring yourself, but chances are you won’t. This sort of coverage is relatively inexpensive and if buying that stuff and never using it is the worst financial decision you make in your life, you’re lucky. But if you do end up needing it, you’ll be SOOO glad you did.

Oh, lort. I’ve heard ’em all. Everyone has a reason why they were speeding. But guess what!? The reasons almost never matter. Speeding is speeding. If you’re going over the limit, whether you meant to or not, or had a very compelling reason, you’re still breaking the law. Not my fave either, but it’s how it is.

What are some good old chestnuts? These are classics:

“But I was driving with the flow of traffic!” This is just another way of saying everyone, including myself, was speeding. That’s not a great alibi, buddy.

“I didn’t know the speed limit had changed!” There was probably a sign. Derp.

“I wasn’t speeding until this guy started tailgating me, and then I had to speed to get away from him.” OK, Magnum, good job getting rid of your tail, but you were speeding.

“I was behind this tractor trailer that was going so slow and I just sped up to pass him!” If you speed while speeding you’re speeding.

“Yeah, I was speeding but this is my first ticket.” You don’t get speeding ticket mulligans, my dude. Although, the PJC is kind of that, come to think of it, but don’t rely on your clean record as a defense.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. I have seen tickets get dismissed for some very valid reasons. The most obvious one is where I had a lady produce a birth certificate for the child she bore right after getting the ticket on the way to the hospital. Free pass on that one is totally the right call. But unless you’re popping a kid out, your excuse is probably dumb. Just sayin.