Edwards & Ragatz, P.A.

I had a client call me asking what mistakes should be avoided after a slip and fall injury. One of the biggest things that we see with slip and fall cases is when someone has fallen and hasn’t notified the manager of the store or landlord where the accident took place. You need to give notice to the property owner that there was something there on the floor or leaking from the ceiling that caused your injury. The second biggest thing was that they didn’t go and seek medical treatment as a result of their injuries. That lapse of going to the doctor after being injured gives a gap of time that the other side likes to negotiate and say, “Well, obviously, your client’s not injured. If they were really were significantly injured, they would have gone and sought medical treatment right away.” It’s something we can overcome, but it makes for a much more difficult case.

In a lot of personal injury cases, we are asked whether a pre-existing condition impacts the value of a personal injury case. The answer is maybe, but not as frequently as the defense attorneys and adjusters will argue. A pre-existing condition is much different than a pre-existing symptom. If there are pre-existing symptoms before the accident, then we go in great depth and detail into the records, to see exactly what those symptoms were, how long they lasted, what the gap was between the last time one had those types of complaints and then we show the difference or how that symptom was aggravated by the accident that we’re addressing.

In almost every car accident case that we get our client will ask us, “I’ve gotten a call from an insurance adjuster; should I call them back and talk to them?” The answer is no. Speak to Edwards & Ragatz first and we’ll walk you through the statements. You are not required to cooperate with the other person’s insurance company, and we almost always advise our clients not to give those statements. You are required, under certain circumstances, to cooperate with your own insurance company, but you have the right to have time to contact us first so that we can speak with you about what the types of questions will be, and we’ll be at your side when you give that mandatory statement.

When injured clients contact us, they want to know how their medical bills get handled. That is part of the claim that we make for the at-fault party that caused your injuries. We will make a claim against them and any involved insurance company on their side to fully reimburse you for your medical expenses. Not only for what you’ve been through, which is relatively easy to calculate, but the expenses that you’re going to need for the remainder of your life. We spend significant time and resources to speak to your doctors so we know the full extent of your medical needs, and we then hold the other side accountable for every penny.

The other day I got a phone call from a client who’d just been injured in Texas in a car accident, and he wanted to know how much his case was worth. Unfortunately, early on, that’s a really difficult question to answer. Every case is different and, beyond that, we don’t know how to value your case until we know the extent of your injuries. For that to happen, you have to complete your medical treatment. As a good rule of thumb, the more injured you are, the more your case is worth. The types of compensation that you can receive are for past and future pain and suffering, past and future medical bills, loss of wages, and loss of future earning capacity.

Oftentimes, clients will call us asking what they should do immediately following a car accident. First and foremost, we want a client to take care of their health and medical condition, which is always the top priority. There are certain things that need to be preserved, from an evidence perspective, that will either change, disappear or go away – photographs of the vehicle that are damaged, seat belt marks, bruises, contusions, and wounds – so preserve or write down witnesses’ names and contact information. We would then have our investigators immediately contact the witnesses. Oftentimes memories fade and people’s willingness to cooperate changes as time goes on. Lastly, when someone takes care of their health, first and foremost, contact Edwards & Ragatz and we’ll take it from there.

The other day we had a client call in and he was in a very significant bicycle accident. He wanted to know how his accident differed from a car accident. The first thing that I told him right off the bat is his case was different because he was more significantly injured, and that’s because he did not have the benefit of a car to protect him. The next thing that I told him is that, oftentimes, bicyclists think that they’re at fault for the accident even when they’re not. The reason they feel that way is society has created a stigma where if a bicyclist is riding in the roadway, they think that person must be at fault if there is an accident. That is not the case.

One of the things I like to talk to my automobile accident clients about is mistakes they can avoid making during their case. One of the biggest mistakes is not getting medical treatment immediately after an accident. If there’s a big delay, then the insurance defense lawyers are going to claim that you’re not seriously injured. The other big problem that happens right away is the insurance carrier calls the client to interview them. Interviewing with an insurance adjuster or an insurance defense lawyer without legal advice is a mistake. You do not want to interview with someone from the other side prior to talking to an attorney. You’re legally obligated to talk to the police officers, deputy sheriff or highway patrolman at the scene, but in most instances those are privileged conversations that are protected, whereas talking to an insurance adjuster or even the person that you were in the accident with is not protected and isn’t recommended. One of the other areas we get into is people that miss appointments and don’t otherwise follow medical advice. If you’re not hurt badly enough to go to your appointments, then the defense attorney is going to say that you must not have been hurting very badly. That really injures the value of the claim. Those are some of the major mistakes that can really damage a claim irreparably.