How An Attorney Will Assist In Gathering All Documents And Information Needed To Begin The Claim Process
The first and the simplest thing is that the insurance company would need the medical record and medical report of the injured person. An individual doesn’t know how to ask a doctor for a proper medical report because they have no idea what needs to be in there. If they have a doctor who is willing to write a report for them, they’ll write a much better report if they do that in consultation with an attorney who knows what the issues are and what’s going to be needed.
With serious injuries, the problem is not the injuries that they already have, but how do they value the future effect of these injuries and how that’s going to affect their life permanently. That’s the first part and when you get into the wage loss, it gets even more complicated.
How Do Paid And Unpaid Medical Bills Factor Into A Personal Injury Claim In A Motorcycle Accident Case?
A few years ago, California adopted an absolutely crazy system. Before that, California would just accept whatever the medical bills were and you could send the medical bills to the insurance company or you could present them in the court. That’s it.
The California courts changed that system and ruled that you cannot claim the amounts billed if the insurance company settles your bill for less. That started off a whole new battle where the insurance company would discount the future medical bills to some really low level. They hired so-called experts to say that the amounts charged, which had not yet been paid, were more than they should be.
That means that you need to have someone on your side who is an expert to justify the billing and argue that the amount of the future billings will be higher.
One cannot imagine how someone without an attorney can get through the process and know how to hire an expert, how to present an expert, and how to deal with the argument against the lower number that the insurance company expert invariably comes up with. In case of a serious injury, that difference is a lot of money.
How Does A Referral To Forensic Experts As Opposed To Treating Experts Play In The Claim Process?
Many treating doctors are not interested in being involved in litigation. Most doctors will refuse to write a medical report because they don’t want to testify in the court and express their opinion on the future outcome of the injuries. So it becomes important to have the doctors, who are excellent witnesses and are willing to testify and give their opinion on the future medical care, involved in the case.
If you have an injury that’s going to interfere going forward or that already interferes with your career, your attorney may want to send you for a functional capacity evaluation so that someone who is in that field can measure precisely what the deficits are.
If it’s a head injury case, your attorney may want to send you to a neuropsychologist who can do testing that will quantify exactly what the deficits are. If you don’t have an attorney, you cannot arrange for these things.
Once the attorney has the functional capacity evaluation, they can hire a vocational rehabilitation counselor who can translate the person’s medical information, do some additional testing, and write a report as to how the injuries will affect the person’s ability to work in their current occupation and potentially limit their other occupational opportunities.
The next step after receiving the report is to have a forensic economist look at the job availability in your area and calculate the wages that are available for the job that you were doing and you would have continued to do had it not been for the accident. Then he will compare your last job to the jobs that you qualify for and jobs that are actually available and what these jobs pay. Typically, the difference is huge. Again, without an attorney, going through that process will be next to impossible.
If you need information regarding the Things Required In A Motorcycle Accident Case, call the law office of Attorney Michael Padway for a free initial consultation at (800) 928-1511 and get the information and legal answers you’re seeking.
