Michael Grossman, Texas Personal Injury & Wrongful Death Lawyer, Explains Why it is Unwise to Handle Your Own Case
Filing a lawsuit is not an easy process for those without extensive legal experience. Texas personal injury laws are complex and constantly changing. Despite this, many people feel that they can adequately represent themselves in a personal injury case. Most of these people then find out the hard way that this is much more difficult than it appears. Personal injury attorney Michael Grossman is here to answer common questions about victims representing themselves and to illustrate why handling your own personal injury case is virtually always a mistake.
Can’t Anyone Read & Interpret Laws in Order to Build a Strong Personal Injury Case?
This is possibly the biggest misconception surrounding personal injury cases. The fact is that understanding the law is hardly worth anything at all when it comes to building a strong case. While it is true that an attorney who does not know Texas personal injury statutes cannot effectively represent his or her clients, building a strong case comes down to experience and technique.
Knowing the laws is not the same as knowing how to apply them to a particular case. Attorneys only gain this sort of knowledge through experience. This is why lawyers just out of law school have a hard time getting jobs. Knowing the law just does not count for much when it comes time to build a case. Do you know what a demand packet is and how to respond to it? Do you know what it needs to contain? Do you know how to prove up damages or respond to lists of admissions? If not, you likely are not prepared to represent yourself in court. These tasks are simply a tiny glimpse of the tasks that go into resolving a personal injury lawsuit.
Dealing with Insurance Adjusters and Defense Attorneys
You must also consider that, in any personal injury case, you will be going up against experienced insurance adjusters and defense lawyers. The insurance adjusters employed by most insurance carriers spend all day denying claims just like yours. These adjusters typically have thousands of denied claims under their belts. They may appear friendly, but they are merely fishing for information or poorly worded statements that they can use to deny your claim. People without case experience have almost no change against such professionals.
Furthermore, you will be facing a team of defense lawyers, even if you have not declared your intention to file a lawsuit. If there is even the possibility of a personal injury suit, the insurance company will likely bring in their aggressive team of defense lawyers to start building a case against you. These attorneys will have experience going up against other attorneys, and they will have a thorough knowledge of personal injury law. Once again, without extensive experience without actual cases, you have virtually no chance of success against these lawyers.
But Won’t Legal Fees Eat Into my Winnings?
It is true that, like virtually all firms, we charge legal fees. But we operate on contingency, which means that if we do not secure a settlement for you, you do not pay us a thing. Even still, some of our clients are concerned that even if they win, after legal fees they will secure less than they could have received if they represented themselves. This is simply not true in virtually every case our firm takes on.
Ultimately, if we were in the practice of making people less money than they could secure for themselves, we would not still be in business. As it stands, we are highly regarded by our clients because we are almost always able to recover a significant settlement for our clients. We have a long track record of successful cases, and yet we still only charge attorney fees.
Grossman Law Offices has been resolving cases for twenty years. In all those years, we have never seen or heard of a non-attorney successfully representing him or herself in court – not a single one. On the other hand, we have heard of thousands of people who have tried to represent themselves, only to realize that they were in over their heads and walk away with nothing. They may attempt to hire an attorney once they realize what they are up against, but in many cases they have already irreparably damaged their case by something such as an inadvertent recorded statement. Many firms will not take a case after a certain point because of the likelihood that the case is damaged beyond any hope of repair.
An Example of Someone who Tried to Represent Himself
Recently, our firm was approached by a car accident victim. The man had been in an accident and sustained approximately $70,000 in damages. He had been representing himself for a few months, negotiating with insurance adjusters, and ultimately he received an offer of $3,000 from the insurance adjuster. At this point, he approached our firm and said he was considering hiring a lawyer, but he was still concerning about legal fees reducing the value of his settlement. After consider his options, he decided to continue to represent himself. He was sure that, if he threatened to file a lawsuit, the insurance company would be scared into offering him a fair settlement.
A few months later, he called us back to tell us how the case went. He filed his lawsuit, but here was the problem: the insurance company was not scared at all. Insurance companies are not afraid of lawsuits filed by non-attorneys. The man had a fairly strong case in terms of the specifics of his accident, but he did not know how to build a lawsuit. Regardless of how your accident happened, your case is only worth what you can receive from a jury or what you can scare an insurance company into paying you.
When the lawsuit began, the insurance company’s defense counsel sent the man a list of admissions. The man did not know how to respond to this list, so the defense lawyers requested a motion for a summary judgment. The judge dismissed the man’s case since he did not respond to the list of admissions. The man walked away with nothing. He called us to see if we could help, but by this point, his case was irreparably damaged. There was nothing we or any other attorney could have done.
The Bottom Line: Get Help From a Legal Professional
In all honestly, there are lawyers out there who do not treat their clients fairly, and these bad apples are largely responsible for the misgivings people have about hiring an attorney to represent them in court. But ultimately, most personal injury lawyers in Texas do play by the rules and they are out to help their clients receive the money they deserve. The ones that try to cheat their clients soon find themselves disbarred.
Ultimately, most people have almost no idea how to represent themselves in court. But our firm can help. We have been practicing for twenty years, and we have an in-depth knowledge of personal injury law. We have successfully resolved hundreds of high-profile cases, and we are dedicated to making sure that our clients receive the compensation they deserve. So if you or someone you love has been injured in an accident, contact Texas personal injury lawyer Michael Grossman from Grossman Law Offices today.