Excellent question with no real answer. We strive to resolve your case as quickly as possible. We have had large claims resolve in a month or two. However, for many reasons that does not, or cannot, happen.

For example, with personal injury cases you may not be done with your medical treatments yet. We are very good at evaluating ranges of potential monetary damages you might receive. Unfortunately, until your health care professionals either release you from their care for your injuries, or can tell us what your future treatment will be, we are not in a position to evaluate your monetary loss. Once we are in a position to evaluate your damages, we then have to present all of the evidence supporting those damages to the other side’s insurance company and/or attorneys. They then have to investigate and verify our claims, all of which takes time. Sometimes, depending on the case, we file a lawsuit for you immediately to bypass the oftentimes lengthy claims process.

If the at-fault party or their insurance company does not want to pay your damages, or not pay for all of your provable damages, we then have to pursue the claim through a lawsuit. That takes more time, often more than a year.

Please don’t be discouraged. Cases often settle at all stages of claims and during the pendency of lawsuits, before any trial or arbitration. We know how to push the right buttons to get you the recovery you deserve as quickly as possible.

If we believe we can help you, we will arrange a time to meet in a safe and clean environment. We adhere to all COVID-19 safety guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If a Zoom meeting is more appropriate we can do that too.

In advance of our meeting we may ask you to fax or email us certain documents (if you have them). Typically we like to look at such things as Traffic Collision Reports, medical records, medical bills, driver’s license, copies of insurance cards, etc… If you don’t have those things handy, don’t worry.

At our meeting we will go over your case in detail. If we both agree that we will represent you for your claim we will have you sign certain documents. Those documents include: a retainer agreement to formally hire us as your attorneys; a medical release authorization; and an authorization to obtain police reports, paramedic reports, investigation reports, etc…

At that point, in a personal injury case, you need to do two things. First, follow your doctor’s advice and get better. Second, be available to us to answer questions as they arise. We are partners with you in your case and the lines of communication need to be open at all times. In a wrongful death case we will be extremely sensitive to your grief, but we still need to have open and honest discussions with you as your case progresses.

Should your case proceed to arbitration or trial we will be with you every step of the way and explain your role and participation during that process.

For most types of personal injury and wrongful death cases we work based on what is known as a “contingency fee.” That means we do not charge you any money up front. We get paid a percentage of your recovery only if your case is won and money damages are recovered. If we cannot obtain any money for you, we don’t get paid our attorney fees, no matter how many hours we put into working on your case. Therefore, we have every incentive to win, and win big!

Some contingency fees are set by law such as when the client is a minor (under the age of 18), or when the damages result from medical malpractice. Other contingency fees that are not set by law may change from one amount to another amount in the same case. For example, if your case resolves at the stage where we are dealing with the at-fault person’s insurance company, the contingency fee will be lower than if the case goes to trial.

Since each case is different, we will negotiate a contingency fee with you that is fair for both of us. What we do promise is that we will never make more money off of your case than you do. We adhere to the utmost in ethics and legal professionalism at every stage of your claim.

Many of our cases come to us through lawyers who do not specialize in personal injury and wrongful death cases. They may have a client who has such a case or a family member or neighbor in need of assistance.

We welcome such referrals and reward the referring licensed active lawyer with a portion of our contingency fee subject to strict compliance with the California laws and California Bar standards on fee sharing, including client consent and disclosure. What does this mean to the client? Nothing really, since payment of referral fees comes from our contingency fee and the amount of that fee is not increased to pay the referring attorney.

If you’re an attorney with questions regarding a potential personal injury or wrongful death case, please give a call. We will be happy to speak with you.