Torem and Associates Personal Injury and Immigration Attorneys - Torem & Associates

Have you or a loved one been injured in a car accident?

Here is some important information that you should know before speaking with the insurance adjuster, giving a recorded statement and signing any papers.

Car accidents are the leading cause of personal injuries. Injuries from a car accident may range from simple soft tissue bruises, cuts and lacerations to broken bones and disc injuries (either bulging or herniated discs) to catastrophic injuries such as broken backs resulting in paralysis at the neck (quadriplegia) or lower body (paraplegia), serious head and brain injuries and severe burns due to a gas tank explosions.

The two most common causes of car accidents are being hit from the rear by another vehicle and being hit by a car making a left turn without yielding the right-of-way to oncoming traffic, resulting in a collision. A factor in any car accident is driver inattentiveness; the driver simply was not paying attention to the road, traffic signs, and/or traffic lights. They may be distracted by eating in the car, changing the station or a CD on a stereo system, tending to a crying baby in the backseat, an eye-catching window display in a store, using a cell phone, drunk or any of a number of things.

If you or a loved one, have been injured in a car crash—especially if the injuries are serious or a death is involved—it is imperative that you contact an experienced personal injury lawyer immediately. Do not talk with the insurance company investigator or adjuster before you have had the chance to speak with and retain an attorney.

The attorney will often advise you NOT to give a recorded or written statement to the insurance company’s adjuster, as they are trained to trick you into saying things that will come back to haunt you at a later stage of the case.

Another reason to hire an experienced personal injury lawyer immediately is that the lawyer will want to start gathering evidence as soon as possible. Your lawyer will want to send his or her investigator to visit the scene of the collision to see if there were any contributing factors to the accident, take photographs of the scene and the cars before they are repaired or destroyed, talk to witnesses while their recollection of the accident is still fresh in their minds.

In catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases, the lawyer will frequently hire an “accident reconstructionist" –an expert in recreating automobile crashes—to prove that the other driver was at fault.

If you have been seriously injured, or a loved one has been tragically taken from you, as a result of an accident that is the fault of another, contact TOREM & ASSOCIATES immediately so that we can start working right away to protect all your interests and make every effort to make sure that you obtain all the monetary compensation you are entitled to.

Here is a  list of of some of the tasks we may be called upon to do in your case. Remember that each case is different, and that not all of these tasks will be required in every case. They are:

• Initial interview with the client with one of our attorneys [FREE consultation in person or on the phone.]

• Contingency Fee- NO RECOVERY, NO FEE
• Help Client get the proper medical care on a lien basis if Client is not able to do so or does not have health insurance.
  

• Educate client about their personal injury claims

• Gather documentary evidence including police accident reports, medical records and bills.

• Analyze the client's insurance policy to see whether there are any coverage’s which the client has that may pay all or a portion of the medical bills while the claim is pending

• Analyze the client's insurance coverage’s and make suggestions as to what coverage’s should be purchased for future protection

• Interview known witnesses

• Collect other evidence, such as photographs of the accident scene

• Analyze the legal issues, such as contributory negligence and assumption of the risk

• Talk to the client's physicians or obtain written reports from them to fully understand the client's condition

• Analyze the client's health insurance policy and ascertain whether any money they spent to pay your bills must be repaid based on the terms of health insurance contract
  

• Analyze the validity of any liens on the case. Doctors, insurance companies, welfare benefit plans and employers may claim that they are entitled to all or part of the client's recovery

• Coordinate the repair to the client's vehicle

• Arrange for a rental vehicle while client's car is repaired

• Contact the insurance company to put them on notice of the claim, if this has not already been done

• If suit is filed, prepare the client, witnesses and health care providers for depositions

• Prepare written questions and answers and take the deposition of the defendant and other witnesses

• Produce to the defendant all of the pertinent data for the claim, such as medical bills, medical records, and earnings/income documentation
  

• Go to court to set a trial date
  
• Prepare for mediation and/or arbitration
  

• Prepare for trial and/or settlement before trial
  
• Designate expert witnesses needed for the particular case
  

• Prepare the client and witnesses for trial

• Organize the preparation of medical exhibits for trial

• Organize the preparation of demonstrative exhibits for trial

• Prepare for mediation and/or arbitration

• File briefs and motions with the court to eliminate surprises at trial

• Take the case to trial with a jury or judge

• Analyze the jury's verdict to determine if either side has a good grounds to appeal the case

• Make recommendations to the client as to whether or not to appeal the case. Note, our contract with you does not obligate us to participate in any appeal.

• Prepare a full accounting of funds held in trust for clients benefit.

• Disburse monies according to outstanding liens and balances due client after resolution of the case