My cases range from slip and fall cases on defective sidewalks or property to motor vehicle accidents, to doctor’s negligence, unsafe medications or unsafe products (they are called product liability cases), workplace injuries as well as things like wrongful termination.
Reasons For Practicing Personal Injury Law In Philadelphia
Out of the three branches in government, the courts are the one branch where a regular person can go and be heard and seek justice. It does not matter how rich you are or whether you have any connections. In this particular area of the law, I personally find it very rewarding to help regular people from the neighborhoods in Philadelphia and out in our suburbs and our counties and fight for them against the insurance companies and the big corporations that want to deny them that justice.
Is A Personal Injury Claim A Relatively Easy process?
When a claim is filed, it is definitely a lot of fighting with the insurance company or whoever the defendant happens to be. Most of that fighting is done by our team here at Fodera & Law. From the client’s perspective, what is usually required is simply answering a series of written questions that are called interrogatories, appearing for a question and answer session under oath, which is called a Deposition, and possibly attending one or two doctors’ appointments to have their injuries evaluated for the claim. Those are all relatively painless for the clients.
Do Most Personal Injury Claims Reach A Settlement Before Trial?
Some personal injury cases are able to settle before even a lawsuit is filed. It would be a case where the defendant’s wrongdoing is very clear and undisputed and the injuries in the case are fairly well established and undisputed. Most cases do have to at least go to the point where a lawsuit is filed and we do what is called discovery. That is the written questions and the question-and-answer session and possibly the medical examinations before the case will settle. The vast majority of the cases that go through that discovery process do settle before a trial. However, there are some cases in which the defendant refuses to offer a fair amount to settle the case and we do have to proceed to the trial to get a fair value.
Is It Mandatory To Respond To The Other Party’s Insurance Agent?
You are never legally required to give a statement to another party’s insurance company. There are times when a person’s own insurance company in a motor vehicle case, for instance, who may be paying some of the initial medical bills will want to get a statement, it is best to cooperate with your own insurance company with the assistance of counsel, but there is never an obligation to give a statement to the other person’s insurance company, at least not without having consulted with an attorney.
That insurance company will certainly try to discourage the injured person from seeking representation by an attorney, claiming that they can get money quicker and with less cost than having an attorney. But they certainly are not on the side of the injured person. Their job is to pay as little as possible and hold onto as much of their money as they can. That means they are not going to offer a fair value to resolve the case, and giving a statement is not going to help that process at all.
How Long Do Personal Injury Claims Typically Take To Get Resolved?
If the case can be settled without having to file a lawsuit, that can be fairly quick. That could be just a matter of a couple of months. That keeps the cost down and it results in more money in the client’s pocket. If a suit does have to be filed, for example in the arbitration program here in Philadelphia county, and that is for cases that have a value of less than $50,000, that case will get to an arbitration hearing within about nine months of the date the complaint is filed. If the case is filed in the major jury program in Philadelphia, which means the case is valued at more than $50,000 that case should proceed to trial in about a year from when the complaint is filed. Now, that is for Philadelphia. Some of the surrounding counties have different timeframes that are usually longer than that, sometimes they can be significantly longer than that.
For more information on Personal Injury Claims In Philadelphia, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (215) 569-1212 today.
