Some of The Things We Do For Your Colorado Personal Injury Case

Many of the tasks that need to be performed in an injury case are the same regardless of whether the case is worth ten thousand dollars or one-hundred thousand dollars. It is reasonable to ask why you are agreeing to pay a lawyer a percentage of your recovery. Having some knowledge of what we do will help you to understand how we earn our fee.

• Initial interview. A thorough and complete interview with you to determine the facts of the case is the starting point. Of course like nearly all injury firms, this consultation is free. We will discuss with you what if any claims you have, how we would handle them and, if we feel like we our personalities and case objectives are a mutually good fit, enter into an agreement to represent you.

 

• We put all insurance companies that might provide coverage on notice that we represent you. In addition, if there is any chance that a government entity is involved, we provide notice under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act. Failure to timely give notice of your claim under the Act will forever bar any claims you might have. This is a requirement that is often missed by lawyers who do not exclusively practice personal injury law.

 

• We request and begin to gather documentation of your claim including any accident reports, medical records, and bills.

 

• Some cases require additional investigation by experts. These experts may be necessary to prove the wrongdoer’s fault or to fully calculate your economic or money losses. Typical examples might include accident reconstructionists and economists. If you have substantial injuries resulting in permanent impairment an expert may perform a functional capacity exam to quantitatively determine your loss of function.

 

• Most people resolve their property damage claims on their own. However, we are happy to assist you in any way we can and never charge a fee for this service.

 

• We do our best to make sure that your medical bills get paid promptly by any available insurance source. Some folks are under the mistaken impression that the wrongdoers liability insurance company will pay for medical bills as they occur. With exceedingly rare exception, an insurance company will not make any payments in advance of a final settlement. Occasionally the wrongdoer will have a medpay policy in addition to a liability policy. The medpay policy is usually much smaller, perhaps five or ten thousand dollars, and will pay for medical expenses only. We do not take any fee for payments received from a medpay policy.

 

• We will work with your employer to prepare a report demonstrating your wage loss from your time out of work.

 

• Take photographs of the damage to your car and/or the collision scene.

 

• Interview fact witnesses in the event they are needed to prove your claim.

 

• Analyze the facts and perform any necessary legal research. Some cases require creative legal theories in order to get compensation. Our deep knowledge of injury law and allows us to excel in this area.

 

• Communicate! You may have heard a friend or acquaintance complain that the firm that represented them in their injury case did a poor job of keeping them informed. This is typically true of large settlement mill firms that advertise on TV and have large staffs. Clients get bounced from one staffer to another and are often not sure which attorney is handling their case. As a result, they don’t get their questions answered or their calls returned. Customer service is one of the hallmarks of DJ Banovitz’ practice. You can rest assured that your questions and concerns will be promptly addressed. We will maintain contact with your doctor’s offices to make sure your medical records and bills are up to date. Once you have reached a point in your treatment where you are as good as you are going to get (maximum medical improvement), we may request a narrative report from your doctor spelling out your future medical needs and costs, permanent injuries and impairments, and effect of your injuries on your employability and your daily life.

 

• We will compile the results of our investigation, medical bills and records, narrative reports, and personal statements and present a demand to the insurance company or responsible party. We make sure we have your input and authority for the demand and explain to you why we feel the demand is appropriate. We pledge to give you an honest appraisal of your case including any pimples and warts (facts or defenses that are detrimental to the value of your claim).

 

• We negotiate to attempt to settle your case for full and fair value. Negotiation skills are critical. After we have obtained what we feel is the maximum offer that the insurance company is going to offer, we discuss with you whether it would be advisable to accept or to tell the insurance company to pound sand and file suit. Some insurers, Allstate in particular, always make lowball offers and maintain that offer up to trial. We do not believe in having our clients humiliated by making a settlement demand when it would be pointless to do so. All this does is allow the insurance company more time to prepare defenses for trial. In that instance we believe it is best to skip attempting to settle a case without filing suit and go directly to court proceedings. See Anatomy of a Colorado Injury Lawsuit for more information.

 

• Doctors, hospitals, health insurers, and government agencies such as Medicare or Medicaid may have a lien on your case. They operate just like a mortgage lien on a house. When the case is settled (like a house being sold) they must be paid. There are exceptions and we pursue all of them as aggressively as we can. When negotiating outstanding bills and/or liens fails, we may litigate against a lienholder in order to get them to waive or reduce the lien.

 

• If your case settles we will prepare all necessary paperwork and make sure your bills are paid out of the settlement.

 

• Although the vast majority of cases settle, when it appears that your case will not settle or the insurance company is not treating your fairly, we will file a lawsuit. We will not delay or wait until the statute of limitations runs. A lawsuit can be especially stressful for someone dealing with permanent injuries or ongoing treatment. Even if we feel certain that you would get greater compensation by filing a lawsuit, if we believe that the stress and ordeal of a suit would be worse for your health we will tell you so.

 

• We pledge to always give you honest answers to your difficult questions. Many lawyers hedge on giving totally honest answers and assessments for fear that their clients will fire them and seek another lawyer. We believe that you are ultimately better off having honest answers and a realistic assessment of your case.

Back to Personal Injury Victim Help Center