The Houston Auto Accidents Attorneys at DeSimone Law Office are discussing insurance company tactics implemented by automobile insurance companies whose drivers have been at fault in accidents.  The first two things potential auto accident clients want to know are who is going to pay for my medical bills and my car is not drivable and how am I going to get around.  An initial call to an insurance company by an unrepresented client is likely to be met by the response that the insurance company is investigating the insurance claim and after they have finished their investigation they will then be able to get to the matter of compensating the traffic accident victim.  After several days if things go smoothly the insurance company may actually admit that their insured driver is at fault for the car accident.  The unrepresented claimant is excited and asks about a rental car and payment of his hospital bills and future medical expenses as he or she has been without transportation for several days, has collection notices coming in the mail and is in much pain and unable to pay for any medical treatment out of pocket.  The insurance company response will be as to the rental car go ahead and rent one and we will reimburse you 25 dollars a day.  The injured claimant thinks to himself he does not have the funds to rent a car and on top of that what kind of car can be had for 25 dollars per day.  The insurance company says with regards to the pending medical bills that those will be paid when the case is settled. In other words give up your right to future medical treatment in exchange for us paying the bills we owe today.  With regards to future medical bills they state they will reimburse the injured party when the case settles. In other words pay for thousands of dollars of medical bills out of pocket and we will see about paying them in the future.  The injured claimant thinks I did not cause this accident and now it looks like the insurance company can get away without paying for my property damage, my past medical bills or my future medical bills. How in the world am I, and injured claimant living from paycheck to paycheck going topay these expenses and wait for reimbursement at some undefined time in the future? They think this is not fair and they are right. These tactics by the insurance company are meant to discourage collection of claims.  What should a claimant in that situation do?

Call the lawyers at DeSimone Law Office.  If you have been in an accident, need transportation, need your pending medical bills handled and treatment for your current injuries, they will make sure that you are provided these costs an no up front costs to you. You will get the medical treatment you need and not have to pay out of pocket.

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The Houston Auto Accident Attorneys at DeSimone Law Office often hear from injured parties who have hired other attorneys to handle their car accident cases.  A majority of these calls are from injured parties with personal injury claims who state they cannot get their lawyer to talk to them about their case. They state every time they call they are told the attorney is out and the secretary with whom they talk cannot explain to them what is going on with their traffic accident case.  Another common complaint is that the attorney has told the client we are handling your injury claim but we will not do anything to help you with getting paid on your car damage or for any rental charges you may incur.  Another complaint is that the they have not even ever met the attorney or talked to him or her.  Also some of these clients state that the attorney has not even got them to a doctor for medical treatment.  After laying out the complaint they then ask if they can fire the attorney and hire our law firm.  We tell them that under Texas law they are at the mercy of the attorney that they hired. Once you sign a contract with an attorney he can enforce that contract to its’ fullest extent. If you hire another attorney, you could be on the hook for payng two lawyers.  The only way to get out of a contract with an attorney on an injury claim is if he let’s you out of it voluntarily.

If you have been in an accident recently, call the lawyers at DeSimone Law Office. You will talk directly with an attorney and will  have your medical and transportation problems addressed immediately.  After you are well we will obtain the money to which you are entitled for your injuries.

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The Houston Auto Accident Attorneys at DeSimone Law Office have represented many clients that have suffered head injuries as a result of a truck or car accident.  The most severe head injuries result in the injured client being in the hospital for an extended period of time and being in a coma or unconscious state for a period of time over 30 minutes. CATSCAN testing will show bleeding of the brain which if not relieved can result in the death or serious brain damage of the injured client.  The DeSimone Law Office will have someone go to the hospital to videotape the client.  This evidence combined with the obvious test results leave the insurance company with no choice but to admit that a head injury has occured. Some clients suffer a less severe personal injury called mild traumatic brain injury.  Mild Traumatic Brain Injury happens when a person loses consciousness for less than thirty minutes and can happen without any loss of consciuosness at all. Amnesia of less than a day is also common. Proving up this type of head injury can be difficult for a number of reasons. First a MRI or CATSCAN of the head is not going to be able to detect anything that would show a head injury because of a lack of sensitivity on the part of the tests.  Furthermore the injured client may not even recognize that they have suffered a permanent head injury as the symptoms are symptoms they may have already been experiencing prior to the accident and are exacerbated by the head injury.  Lack of sleep, a feeling of being under increased stress, memory loss, disorientation at times, and an inability to do daily functions as well as the person did in the past are common symptoms.  The injured client needs to be sent to a neuropsychologist who will do extensive testing to determine what deficits the head injury has caused in the client. Also the neuropsychologist can give advice to the injured party on how to cope with the deficits.

If you have had a traffic accident where you have experienced a head injury, call the lawyers at DeSimone Law Office.  We have handled these cases many times and will make sure you get the medical treatment and monies you deserve.

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The Houston Auto Accidents Attorneys at DeSimone Law Office for five weeks have been trying to discourage injured parties from attempting to handle their own injury and property claims.  Just during the past  weeks of writing  we have recieved numerous calls from injured parties whohave attempted to handle their case on their own.  In every instance they are shocked to find out that the insurance company is not trying to help them. Why they think that a party that is an adversary to them would be fair to them is beyond our understanding.  The insurance company will not provide a rental car, pay for any outstanding or future medical, try to put fault on the injured party when it is clear their insured, the negligent party, is one hundred percent at fault, and making offers for less than medical bills on cases where the injured party actually could gather all the medical bills and records necessary are just some of the examples of complaints against the negligent party’s insurance company. Last week we left off with the poor unrepresented client trying to negotiate an injury settlement without an attorney which is akin to the lawyers at DeSmone Law Office trying to repair their  plumbing when they have a water leak. Water would be everywhere and the problem would not be solved which is why we would not attempt such a task. Some unrepresented clients are so intent on saving attorney fees that they file their own lawsuit. Of course they finally realize they are in over their head when the first blizzard of paperwork comes back from the insurance company attorney. 

Hopefully after six weeks of blogs about the issue you will not attempt to handle your own personal injury claim.  If you are in a traffic accident, call the lawyers at DeSimone Law Office.  They will make sure you get everything to which you are entitled

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The Houston Auto Accidents Attorneys at DeSimone Law Office for the past four weeks have laid out the case against an injured party with no legal experience handling their own personal injury claim without the assistance of an attorney. Problems with getting paid on property damages, creditors pursuing pending medical expenses, payment for needed current medical expenses, obtaining the necessary proof for an insurance company to pay a claim and trying to negotiate as a novice with an insurance company who has been settling claims for many decades have been cited as some of the reasons not to handle your own injury claim. If the injured party happens to want to continue handling his own claim under these circumstances, the next hurdle he will have to overcome is that on almost every injury claim medical bills with any medical providers have to be negotiated down if the injured pary hopes to end up with anything out of their settlement.  Any time you go to a hospital from the scene of an accident the hospital has a lien on your injury claim and they are not bashful about billing much more than a reasonable price for their services. How will the injured party know who to negotiate with or what the bill should actually be? Also if Medicaid or Medicare paid any of the medical bills they will have a lien on the settlement. Obtaining these liens is a time consuming and tricky process for someone who does it all the time let alone someone starting from scratch.  If regular health insurance paid then they will have a lien on the settlement as well that normally has to be negotiated down. Outstanding child support is taken fom any settlement. Even if the injured party was lucky enough to get a fair offer on his case, he would still have plenty of hurdles to overcome.

If you have been in an accident, avoid the pitfalls inherent in self representation.  Call the lawyers at DeSimone Law Office to get the compensation to which you are entitled.

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The Houston Auto Accidents Attorneys at DeSimone Law Office have detailed out for the last three weeks the pitfalls inherent in and injured party handling their own personal injury claim without legal counsel.  Getting screwed on rental expenses and payment for car repairs,  mounting medical bills and calls from creditors while the claim is pending, and difficulties in obtaining the medical bills to prove up the injury claim to the at fault party’s insurance company are among other difficulties that  have been mentioned. Now let us suppose that the injured party is able to get all the paperwork to the at fault insurance company’s adjustor for them to evaluate the claim.  When an offer is finally made by the insurance company how will the injured party know if the offer is fair or not?  Why would the insurance company make a fair offer to the injured party? The injured party has no idea what a case is worth because that is not what they do for a living. How will the injured party know what the case is worth for pain and suffering? What yardstick will the injured party use as to the value of a claim? He has no idea what a jury would do with the case as he does not try cases or review jury verdicts.  When the insurance company tells the injured party they had his medical bills audited and are only paying half of them, will he know how to respond to that or even what it means?  These are just some of the things of which the injured party does not know that are necessary knowledge to obtain a fair settlement from the at fault party’s insurance company.

If you have been in a traffic accident and are trying to settle the claim, do not attempt to do it yourself. Call the lawyers at DeSimone Law Office and obtain all of the money to which you are entitled.

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The Houston Auto Accidents Attorneys of  DeSimone Law Office have been discussing the hazards of a typical injured party attempting to handle their own car accident insurance claim.  We started off with delays the insurance company caused with their investgation of the claim. Attempts to secure statements from the injured party that would lower or eliminate the value of the injured party’s personal injury claim were discussed.  The fact that the insurance comapny does not pay any medical expenses until a claim is settled was discussed.  This inaction on the part of the insurance company is an attempt to procure a quick and early settlement with the injured party who does not want their credit ruined while they attempt to recover from their traffic accident.  We have also covered the difficulties in getting a damaged automobile repaired and problems with paying for rental cars and getting reimbursed for those rental charges.  Also covered was the fact that the at fault party’s insurance company will not pay for any medical expenses unless they have already been incurred leaving injured parties without health insurance handling their own claims with no way to obtain medical care. Let’s suppose that the injured party handling his own claim has managed to get through the aforementioned hurdles and has finished his treatment and is ready to settle his case.  The insurance company will require copies of all medical bills and records related to the case.  A trip to the hospital byambulance will create 5 items alone that will have to be obtained. They are as follows: the ambulance bill, an itemized statement of charges from the hospital, the emergency room records, the emergency room physician bill and the radiology bill.  If the injured party is lucky, he may receive either the ambulance bill, emergency room physicican bill or radiology bill in the mail.  Chances are he may receive one of those. The other items will have to be requested and paid for to obtain. Most hospitals use a records service to distribute their bills and records and often there are  different record companies that handle the requests. The injured party,after figuring out to whom to send his requests , will first have to send a request to the record companies for all items needed. Then the injured party, if he is fortunate enough to get a response to his request, will then have to send in the money required to get the records. Then  the injured party will have to hope that after sending their money in that they receive the records for which they paid.  It should be apparent that the time and effort required to just get the charges related to the hospital visit will be a tedious and time consuming project that most people do not have the time or patience to obtain. Remember that the insurance company will not settle the claim without all the bills and records.

If you have been in an accident and want to receive that to which you are entitled, call the lawyers at DeSimone Law Office.  We will handle all aspects of your case and make sure you receive all compensation you are due under the law.

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The Houston Auto Accidents Attorneys at DeSimone Law Office last week started a discussion on the pitfalls for an injured party from a traffic accident involved in trying to handle their insurance claim on their own.  From insurance company delay tactics in investigating the case to trying to get admissions of fault from a naive injured party when taking their recorded statement, the injured party tries to stand on his own against an insurance company with all their unlimited resources and their knowledge,accumulated over a period of many years, of how to limit payments .  It is surprising that anyone would attempt such a feat without legal representation on their personal injury claim.  Let us suppose and injured party has the resources to pay for his own rental and medical bills. Let’s also suppose that the facts of the case are so clearly in the favor of the injured party that even the insurance company is admitting they owe 100 percent of the claim for property damages and medical bills.  The first problem will be collecting for the rental. If a car is totalled, meaning it would cost more to repair than what it is worth, the insurance company owes no rental to an aggrieved party. The injured party rides in their rental for the time it takes to get paid on their car, usually two to four weeks, thinking the insurance company will pay for the rental only to find out when they turn in the bill that they will receive no reimbursement. If the car is repairable, the insurance company is likely to not want to pay all for the rental bill stating things like the shop took too long to do the repairs, the daily rental rate was too high, or the injured party got into the rental too quickly being that their car was drivable.  If the car is totalled, the insurance company will probably hire an independent service to value the car who always manages to value the car at less than the NADA or blue book value.  Deductions on the payment of the car will be made for supposed prior damage on the car for minor things such as dings or a dirty interior. Arguments on repairable cars are normally over items the insurance company does not want to pay that they say are not accident related. Next week we will continue our discussion but you can see that even something as seemingly simple as getting your car taken care of can get complicated quickly.

If you have been in and accident, don’t handle the case yourself. Hire the lawyers at DeSimone Law Office .  We will make sure you get the monies to which you are entitled.

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The Houston Auto Accidents Attorneys at DeSimone Law Office often receive calls from potential clients who previous to calling us have been handling their injury claim on their own. Most of the callers were under the impression that their claim was an open and shut case and the at fault party’s insurance company would treat them fairly.  This illusion is almost shattered immediately when the injured party asks the insurance company to pay their hospital bills or put them in a rental car since their car was rendered not drivable by the car accident.  The insurance company tells the injured party that they have to conduct their investigation before agreeing to pay for any medical expenses or property damages. They will say they need to talk to their driver, who invariably they never can get in touch with, and also need to see the police report which the police officer has two weeks to turn in.  The injured party asks what am I supposed to do in the meantime about getting to work without a car, paying for future medical treatment, and keeping the creditors from ruining my credit over the unpaid hospital bill?  The insurance company states you will have to pay those items yourself, and maybe sometime in the future we will reimburse you if we decide that we owe your insurance claim . By the way the insurance company states we would like to take your statement about what happened in the traffic accident. The unsuspecting injured party not realizing this is merely an attempt by the insurance company to get the injured party to make some sort of admission of fault or partial fault for the accident does the statement in the desperate attempt to go along with the insurance company in the hopes that they will then treat the injured client fairly. Normally after the statement of course the insurance company says we will get back with you but never do in a timely manner. Thus the call at this point to DeSimone Law Office to clean this mess up and get the client the medical treatment and transportation they need.  Next week we will continue this discussion regarding the disastrous results of self representation.

If you have been in an accident, call the lawyers at DeSimone Law Office right away. Don’t give the insurance company the upper hand by trying to represent yourself.

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The Houston Auto Accidents Attorneys at DeSimone Law Office have handled thousands of traffic accident cases over the past 23 years, and one of the most crucial elements of a significant number of personal injury claims is witness testimony.  It all starts at the accident scene.  In most car accidents both drivers are going to have different stories about what happened without either driver admitting fault.  This scenario is especially prevalent in truck accidents where a truck driver’s job is at stake if he is found at fault in a traffic accident.  Most big trucks will not even stop, and if they do stop after an accident, they never admit fault. If an injured party is involved in an accident with any other vehicle, it is imperative that the injured party as soon as he can locate any witnesses to the accident. If two parties to an accident have two different stories and there are no credible witnessees on behalf of either party, then any injured party to the accident will not be able to collect for any of his property or personal injury damages from the other party.  If the injured party locates a witness, it is very important to get as much contact  information on the witness as is possible. Obtaining just a name and phone number can be calamitous if the number ends up being disconnected shortly after the accident, and there is no other identifying information on the witness making it impossible to find the witness. The injured party should try to get a name, address, all phone numbers and if possible the witnesses driver’s license information. 

Once this information is obtained it is important to give it to the police officer at the scene if the witness does not stick around to talk to the police.  This way the witness information appears on the police report. Failure to get the witness information on the report will invariably lead to the at fault party’s insurance company stating they will not consider the witness in their investigation of the injured party’s personal injury claim.  We know that the fact that the witness is not on the police report does not mean that the witness did not see the accident.  However the insurance company is looking for any way to deny a claim, and this excuse is one fo their favorites. We will file a lawsuit under theses circumstances and get the witness’s statement but this does not get the case resolved as quickly as possible which is the goal without sacrificing any value in the case.  The best case scenario is to convince the witness to stay at the scene of the accident to give their take on the accident directly to the officer.

If you have been in an accident with crucial witness testimony needed, call the attorneys at DeSimone Law Office.  They will make sure the witness information is secured and you collect the money you are entitled to on the case.

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