Legal Insurance System
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People need a GOOD personal injury lawyer to help deal with insurance companies because insurance companies will try to put you in as minor of an injury category as possible (below) to pay out the least amount of money they can. At the beginning you think your insurance company is concerned about your welfare and will always do what’s best for you. In reality, they don’t care about you. They will try to prove your injuries are less severe than you say through putting you through a series of Independent Medical Assessments (IME’s) (See below).
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My first lawyer was not compassionate, was desperate to take on my case and had no intention of setting up for trial. He wanted to settle quickly to make fast cash. If he did that often enough, he could stay in business. If you have a lawyer like that, run. You can change lawyers anytime and your new lawyers should take care of all that is needed to make that happen. Word of mouth is a great way to find a good lawyer.
How to pick a good personal injury lawyer:
You have to start a lawsuit within two years of your injury, or you will never be able to later if you change your mind
Try to go with word of mouth, larger firms that have multiple staff available to work on your case including law clerks and paralegals, a firm willing to prepare for a potential trial. the feeling you get on first visit, how they treat you, how they communicate with you. Mine was Oatley Vigmond and I would highly recommend them: www.oatleyvigmond.com
A (civil) personal injury lawsuit can include the following. Beware of the effects of extended litigation on your health as well:
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Meeting with your lawyer regularly
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Discovery-Where the other lawyer can question you about your injuries
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SABS as described in chart below (Medical/rehab/caregiver benefits, housekeeping & home maintenance/income replacement/death and funeral benefits)
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Tort (pain and suffering, lost future income)
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Independent Medical Assessments (by insurance companies -see below- are mandatory in any personal injury lawsuit and can last for years)
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Mediation
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Pre-trial Conference
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Trial
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Settlement
Pre-trial conferences
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Lawyers on your side and the opposing side must all attend the pre-trial conference. Pre-trial conferences are for your lawyers and the opposing lawyers to meet with a judge and present their case evidence. Then the judge will give an opinion on how they think a jury would respond to the evidence at an actual trial. In my case the judge thought the jury would like me and that the numbers my lawyer was presenting in terms of settlement were reasonable. This information can then be used in your mediation. You may be able to settle your case at the pre-trial conference.
Mediation
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Mediations are a chance for yours and the opposing legal teams to negotiate a settlement. Lawyers will prepare for a mediation as if it is a trial and will present evidence that way. One of my mediations was cancelled because the opposing lawyer did not show up. The second one was scheduled after a pre -trial conference where the opposing lawyer was mandated to show up.
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The opposing lawyer can address you directly at the mediation before settlement discussions begin. My settlement was reached after 5 hours of back and forth. It was grueling emotionally. It is a whole different thing when your life is the evidence. Had they not settled at this mediation, an 8- week trial had been scheduled to start 6 months later.
Surveillance
The insurance company will want to collect evidence that you are better than you are letting on. They want to catch you reaching for that top shelf in the grocery store so they can say…” see she has no problem with balance”, or “see she was on the computer and so doesn’t have the problems with vision she says she does”.
I had someone film me:
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In the park walking my dog,
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As I was pulling out of my garage, and
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From across the street with a telephoto lens into my house.
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On a weekend away for our 20th anniversary.
My first lawyer said, “live with your front blinds shut”. I couldn’t imagine why insurance companies would do this, but I was naïve then. They will pretend they are not filming you. When I noticed one guy filming me leaving my house, he quickly pointed the camera to my neighbours’ roof. Another time when there was a telephoto lens pointed at us from the bottom of our front lawn, my husband ran out, but they are good at running away down pathways in your neighbourhood.
What can you do about this? My lawyer said: “nothing’. Unless any of these people actually come onto your property in which case you can call the police. My lawyer always said ignore it as it would have no consequence to your case. Everyone outside your home becomes a possible suspect/surveyor and that is a very difficult way to live.
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Possible effects of the litigation Process
Research on the effects of dealing with insurance companies
https://www.abiss.ca/brain-injury-auto-insurance-study
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