Author: jeffreyhoward

If you want to know what a personal injury attorney does for you after an accident, the short answer is A LOT.

The surprising tidbit that most people don’t get is that litigating your claim is almost the LAST thing a personal injury attorney is likely to do for you.

But between the quick “A LOT” answer and the surprisingly answer that litigation isn’t the main thing, there’s a ton of things we can talk about.

This is going to be a series of posts, so don’t expect me to cover it all here. In fact, don’t expect me to cover it all in the entire series. The reality is that we do so much for clients that it’s hard to lay it all out for people to see. But let’s start at the beginning…

The first thing we personal injury attorneys do for you is to help you understand what you have. We evaluate your liability situation (is the bad guy really responsible or not?) and help you to understand why or why not that’s the case. I can’t tell you how many times people have called all indignant about their accident, only to have me explain to them that they were actually the ones that were at fault. It happens. And in North Carolina, which is a contributory negligence state, sometimes the potential client merely has some fault in the accident, but not all, and it’s still a bar to the claim. Sucks, but it’s what we have to work with. Then there’s the majority of calls where my client is not at fault. What do we do then?

The next thing is helping you to do what you should and not do what you shouldn’t. The simplest advice I give to people is that it’s like Miranda warnings; everything you say can and will be used against you, so watch it! Other than talking there are tons of other do’s and don’t’s: Keeping a pain journal, but not blabbing on social media. Getting treatment, but not running up a bill. Making sure you’re listening to all of your body’s complaints, but not becoming a hypochondriac.

In the immortal words of TV pitchmen, But wait! There’s more! That’s going to have to be for another post. Stay tuned.

If you’ve gotten a speeding ticket in Orange County, North Carolina (Chapel Hill or Hillsborough court location) give me a call at 919-929-2992. I’ve been handling these things right here since 2001 so I know what’s up. Why waste your time trying to figure out how to handle this when I already know how?

Nobody but insurance agents likes talking about insurance but in this modern world it’s a necessity. Here’s a scary fact: The majority of drivers in North Carolina carry the North Carolina minimum liability limits of $30,000. If a person with that coverage runs you over and ruins your life, the chances of you getting anything more than $30,000 from them are pretty darn slim. So how can you avoid this nightmare? I can’t believe I’m writing this but BUY MORE INSURANCE!

What you really want is as much “Underinsured Motorist” (or UIM as we call it) coverage as you can get. What that coverage does is it helps to cover you against losses that are over and above the policy limits of another driver. So in the example above, if the bad guy only has a $30k policy, that might be all you can get from him/his carrier, but if you have let’s say $100k UIM coverage, then you have access to an extra $70k (the difference between the two coverages).

This becomes more an more important the more catastrophic your injuries from an accident are. In the above example, will $100k in total coverage do if you lost a leg? I think my leg is worth more than $100k, for sure, and I bet you think yours is, too.

Talk to your insurance agent about this and get as much UIM as you can manage. You may never use it, but you’ll sleep better knowing you have it, and you’ll darn sure be happy you have it in case you do need it.

Auto accident injury claims are complicated enough when we’re dealing with just one set of rules. But when you get other state’s laws and policies involved, it can get super nutty super quick.

As a personal injury attorney in a college town, I see this scenario more often than I’d like: You are from out of state and have health insurance from that state and are covered by an auto policy in that state. Then you’re in an auto accident in North Carolina. How will those other out of state plans be involved?

As often, the answer is this: It depends.

We are a “liability” state, which means that if someone causes an accident then their liability insurance should cover our damages. Some states have Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage that is sort of the opposite; with PIP, your plan covers you regardless of who caused the accident. In those states, the PIP coverage jumps in line ahead of your health plan (often, but not always) and becomes primarily responsible for paying for your treatment. So if you are in an accident in NC but are insured out of state, you’ll want to talk to both of your other coverages (auto and health) to determine how they see their obligations.

With your health plan you’ll need to know

• Will they pay for treatment out of state?
• Will they pay for that treatment if it’s related to an auto accident?
• If they pay for treatment, does your particular plan have a right of reimbursement, allowing them to seek repayment for what they paid out? If so, from whom?

With your auto coverage you’ll need to know

• Do you have PIP coverage?
• Will that PIP coverage pay for treatment out of state?
• Will that PIP coverage pay for treatment related to an accident that occurred out of state?
• What right of repayment, if any, do they claim over your injury claim proceeds from other parties?

This is all so wacky and not fun that you might want to ignore it, but you do so at your peril. Don’t get caught holding the bag in this situation. Talk to an attorney who can guide you through this. Call me at 919-929-2992.

Here’s the hard truth: No one can tell you what your claim is worth. But people with experience in the industry have opinions that are WAY more informed than yours, I assure you.

Our system is built around the idea that if two adverse parties can’t agree to settle a case then it gets tried in front of a jury and the jury gets to tell you what it’s worth, if anything. There are a lot of things you should know about this and what you might be considering when you are trying to figure out what your settlement should be.

The first thing you should know about this process is that neither you nor any of your friends are going to be on that jury. In fact, it’s going to consist of 12 people who are probably put out with you for making them sit there and lose time from work or whatever. Think about what the person who dislikes you the most in this world might give you for your case and that’s a way more realistic valuation of your claim than what YOU think it’s worth.

The second thing you should know about that process is it’s very uncertain. You might have the best claim in the world, but one evidentiary ruling, one stumbly bumbly expert witness, one slip of the lip in examination and you might find out your case isn’t worth ANYTHING. There are tons of moving parts in a trial and nothing, at all, is certain.

The third thing you should know is that if you have a personal injury attorney, especially one with over two decades of experience in NC auto accident injury claims (*THIS GUY RIGHT HERE*) his opinion as to the value of your case is, to be blunt, far better informed than what you would like your case to be worth. We would all like to get a bazillion dollars, but that doesn’t mean we should get a bazillion dollars. When an experienced attorney is valuing a case they are taking into consideration perhaps hundreds of cases they’ve handled in the past, verdicts they’ve seen or read about, not to mention the facts of your case relative to the law. You might have really good damages (so a high value?) but really bad liability (so a much lower, perhaps zero value?). There is a TON to consider in valuing cases so don’t take the opinion of your attorney lightly.

The last thing you should know is that settlement values are about compromise. Maybe you could get more at trial. Maybe. But what is it going to cost you to get there. Even if you get a slightly higher number, did your fees increase? What were your litigation costs? You might have a better overall number but walk away with LESS than if you’d just settled. So remember, compromise is about give and take. You give SO that you can be certain about what you can take.

When you’re injured in an automobile accident in North Carolina forces begin working immediately on the part of the liability insurance company to minimize what they’re going to have to pay you. The longer you wait to put your own forces in place the more likely it is to blow up in your face.

I get it. You don’t want to “make a big deal” out of it. You want to be the tough person who doesn’t need help. But what does that get you? It gets you taken advantage of. The liability insurance company is going to start gathering evidence – including things they’ll trick you into saying – against you and your case to help minimize their liability. Do you know how to combat that? If you do, awesome! Hop to it! But chances are you don’t because it’s not your job. If you have a leak, call a plumber. If you have a personal injury case, call a personal injury attorney. We can help make sure you’re taken care of in accordance with the law. You might not feel good about getting hurt, but we’ll do our best to make you feel like you were treated fairly.

Call me at 919-929-2992.

After an automobile accident there’s a LOT going on. You’re worried about your car, your health, your family, money. There’s a lot on your mind. One of the big questions is how are you going to pay for your health care.

Most auto accident victims experience aches and pains in their neck and back areas. The most common treatment sought for those sorts of things are physical therapy and chiropractic. That’s not me telling you what you should do for treatment; it’s just me telling you what I see most people choose to do. That decision can involve many factors, but the existence of health insurance is probably the biggest one. Those that have health insurance often choose PT, while those that don’t often choose chiropractic. That’s not always the case, but it is often the case.

The helpful thing about most chiropractors is they will often treat accident victims on a lien basis. That means that they won’t make you pay as you go; they’ll just keep the bill running and ask to be paid back from the injury settlement proceeds. This is pretty nice in that it keeps your money in your pocket while allowing you to get the treatment you need to get better faster. If you were using health insurance for this, you would be obligated to pay a co-pay EVERY session and that would add up quickly as you’ll likely be going at least twice a week for 2 or 3 months. For that reason, a lot of chiropractors don’t even accept health insurance anymore. It’s just not worth the hassle.

I’m in no position to tout the efficacy or benefits of chiropractic, but a lot of my clients seek care through chiropractors and it seems to help them. And if money is tight – and it very well might be if you’ve been injured – then chiropractic is perhaps the most economically efficient way to get treatment after an auto accident in NC.

Having said that, generally speaking, using your health insurance for all of your other accident-related care normally makes the most sense. But that’s for another post!

This stuff gets complicated fast. Seek experienced legal advice and call me at 919-929-2992.

I hear about this scenario at least once a month: Person has an automobile accident in North Carolina and is injured due to no fault of their own. They either hope it’s all going to work out for the best or they have some delusion that Uncle Bilbo or some family friend is going to handle it for them. The next thing they know their statute of limitations is about to run and they’ve done #@$ all to get their claim moving. The sad news is they might have dealt a deathblow to their injury claim.

North Carolina has a 3 year statute of limitations on negligence claims. That means you have to either have resolved your claim OR file suit within 3 years. That sounds like a long time, but it really isn’t. Three years will slip away like the snap of a finger (ask any person older than 45). Moreover, even letting 2 years go by is dangerous. You might think that you’re totally OK if you wait 2 years and 360 days and THEN hire an attorney. But you’re probably not! Most attorneys don’t like to drop everything they’re doing just to jump on your case to get it filed. It reminds me of that old poster that said, “Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” Even worse, this creates what’s called a malpractice trap in our business. Even if an attorney is bored/brave enough to file a last minute law suit, there is a danger that there wasn’t enough time to add all of the proper defendant entities or a particular cause of action, or maybe in the rush there was a mistake in the drafting of the complaint. Now you’ve gone from having a compromised negligence claim to a potential malpractice claim against the attorney who was kind enough to take a risk to help you. Nice work!

The moral of the story is this: If you have an injury claim, get competent, reliable representation ASAP. Don’t wait. Don’t assume it’s going to work out. Don’t rely on (insert rando family friend here). You’ll be glad you did, or you’ll be mad you didn’t. Call me at 919-929-2992.

No one (at least none of my clients!) plans on being in an auto accident. They’re always a surprise. So if you don’t already have a plan for what to do in case of that eventuality, you might not know what to do. Here are some tips!

• Call the police. Call 911! Not having proper investigation and documentation of your accident can really come back to bite you, not to mention having someone there to keep you safe. Call the cops asap.
• Don’t Panic. I stole this from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but it’s always good advice. If you’re able, get out of traffic and find a safer place than the road to wait for help to arrive. Hazard lights are probably a good idea. Make sure everyone around is OK and offer help as appropriate.
• Never admit fault. Southerners are often bad about accepting blame when it’s not due. It’s just polite, right? Yes, but it can hurt you badly, so don’t do it here! It’s best not to discuss the car accident with anyone other than the police and your attorney. You don’t have to be rude, but you can say that you’re not worried about fault right now, just everyone’s safety.
• Gather information and witnesses. Try to get driver’s license information, auto insurance info, license plate numbers, as well as the names and contact information of the driver and potential witnesses.
• Take photos. Almost everyone has a phone in their pocket right now, so take photos of the crash scene, the people and vehicles involved, and the license plate(s) of all cars involved. If there are any particular aspects of the scene that are important for the narrative, snap shots of those, too.
• Seek medical treatment if there’s ANY belief it’s possibly needed. I don’t mean scream and wail your way into an ambulance. But I do mean that you should take your health seriously. A lot of times after an accident your adrenaline is hiding your injuries, so pay close attention to your body and seek the right care as soon as possible.

I certainly hope you don’t need this info, but it’s better to have it if you end up needing it.

If you’re in an accident in NC, call me at 919-929-2992.

Oftentimes we’re not riding in a car alone, so it’s not surprising that many auto accidents in North Carolina involve multiple victims. Liability insurance has limits, so what happens when there are several claims and not enough money?

Let’s talk about automobile insurance in North Carolina first. We are required by law to have liability coverage that is there to cover the damages caused by our negligence towards other folks. The NC minimum is $30,000 per person/$60,000 per accident. That means that if you and your spouse are struck by another driver who has minimum limits, neither of you can collect more than $30,000 and the most you can collectively get is $60,000. IF you happen to carry Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM) then you might have some other options, but read that post for more info on what that is.

But what if there’s no UIM and the liability coverage is all there is? And what if there are enough claimants with big enough claims that the 30/60 policy isn’t enough?

What the liability carrier will try to get you to do is have EVERYONE agree to a pro-rata settlement. That would involve having each claimant settle for a percentage of the coverage, depending on the value of their relative claim to the other claims/coverage. Depending on how that looks to everyone, maybe that’s an acceptable outcome. But maybe it’s not.

If you can’t settle for the coverage available, then the only other option (other than just giving up) is to file suit and seek what’s called an “excess judgment,” which means a judgment in excess of the policy limits. But this isn’t certain, because you’re starting from scratch; you have to prove negligence, causation of your damages, and the amount of your damages. And there’s another rub: What about the other claimants?

This stuff gets complicated. If you have an automobile accident in North Carolina you should call me at 919-929-2992.