“One call, that’s all”? It’s not that simple, folks!
Have you been injured by
somebody else? The first few years I started out practicing law in 1995
were spent neck deep in car wrecks and other personal injuries (“PI”).
Typically, it will take a PI client at least a year for his or her
injuries to “plateau” – that’s when the doctors are able to determine
that injuries have leveled out to the point where there’s ascertainable
permanency (and that’s what fuels the engines of PI lawsuit
settlements).
While the injured client’s
injury plateaus, the insurance companies’ lawyers have him or her
attending lengthy depositions, answering interrogatories and being
examined by their own expert doctors (rules of attorneys professional
responsibility prohibit me from saying just how we on the injured
client’s side refer to them as).
So, it’s not just one call to
the lawyer’s office and that’s it for a PI claim. It can take a long
time to resolve them and people in need of PI representation need a law
firm with attorneys who are the most knowledgeable in their field, who
are the most compassionate towards their clients and who have their
clients’ best interests at heart.
Talk to me to see if you might
have a viable claim before you decide on a personal-injury attorney to
represent you. Though I don't handle these types of cases myself
anymore, I do work with those types of attorneys and I'll steer you in
the right direction and take the mystery out of choosing the right
lawyer to go with for you.
Being sued?
First off, don't panic. You're not the first person to be sued,
nor will you be the last! Suing people has come to be a very common,
everyday occurrence, as all the urban legends and lawyer jokes have
been indicating for us for so long. The first thing to do when the
process server hands you those papers is to be aware that you only have
a certain amount of time in which to make a proper response to both the
court and the party suing you. Take the papers to a comfortable spot
when you have calmed down and read them carefully. Depending on the
type of lawsuit and/or the amount of money in controversy, you'll
receive a summons and either a petition or a complaint and, perhaps,
copies of documents supporting the other party's claim(s) against you
or, in some cases, formal discovery tools (such as interrogatories and
requests for production of documents which must be responded to within
a limited amount of time prescribed by statute). In Wisconsin, claims
of $10,000 or less, and evictions, are handled in small claims court.
Those complaints are usually short and to the point, and require no
lawyer's assistance most of the time. Larger dollar-amount claims can
get really hairy, though, so you'd do well to contact me or another
attorney as soon as humanly possible to address the matter. If you
don't have insurance coverage that would pay your legal bills, I can
assist you on the side with the preparation of court documents or fully
represent you in court for a low, hourly fee. Call or email me for
details.
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 579, Milwaukee, WI
53201
E-mail: jeffmurrell@lawyer.com
I maintain an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau!
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