Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer Blog

What initially appeared to be a multi-car rear end collision with so low an impact that it was hard to see any damage on plaintiff’s vehicle grew into a $7.2 million dollar settlement for a plaintiff. The plaintiff described as a 35-year old athletic and healthy man visited a chiropractor after his collision and within six months was described as regressing to the point where he was losing his ability to walk without assistance. The plaintiff’s attorney made a demand to settle for $100,000 policy limits; however, the defendant’s insurance carrier Liberty Mutual denied. The original trial attorney demanded $100,000, the limits of the policy about a year after the accident, and in his demand informed the carrier that he thought the value of the case was in excess of $300,000. The lawyer worked diligently and as he described, tried to bend over backwards in an attempt to get Liberty Mutual to pay the contracted policy amount of $100,000. The insurance carrier continued to drag its feet requesting more and more information including plaintiff’s work history and medical records for the last five years. The attorney supplied the insurance company with full information and every opportunity to pay. The insurance company argued that the plaintiff’s medical condition was caused by a pre-existing condition rather than the car accident and also argued that another car accident in which the plaintiff had been involved two years earlier caused the damage. The plaintiff’s attorney continued to make new demands and in December 2010 demanded $3.5 million dollars, after which point Liberty Mutual offered their policy limits of $100,000 which was denied at that point. Thereafter in April 2010, another demand was made, this time for $5.5 million dollars. The insurance company again rejected the demand and proposed mediation and plaintiff’s lawyer said no. The insurance company’s attorneys asked for more time to review documents and depose experts.

News sources indicate that the insureds had to hire their own counsel to put pressure on their insurance company Liberty Mutual. Pressure by the insurance company to resolve the case was credited with boosting the settlement value.

Continue reading "$100,000 Policy Limits Turns Into $7.2 Million Dollar Settlement For Client Due To Insurance Carrier’s Foot Dragging During Settlement Negotiations In A Personal Injury Case" »

Believe it or not, only about 20% of judgments are satisfied in the United States. As an aggressive practicing Pennsylvania personal injury and Philadelphia car accident attorney since 1979, I have been involved in many cases where the insurance coverage was not enough to fully compensate my client or victim.

When this situation occurs, we carefully perform an asset investigation of the defendant and any and all responsible or potentially responsible parties. Many times, we are able to find assets to collect against. Many defendants think they are shrewd and carefully hide their investments, get involved with fraudulent transfer of assets, and have substantial amounts of cash. A careful and skilled attorney should conduct discovery and depositions carefully searching out sources of additional recovery and not take the defendant’s attorney’s word for it. I am fond of saying that my clients get one bite of the apple and that bite better be the biggest and whoever represents you must insure that no stone is left unturned when it comes to maximizing the recovery.

If you ask any experienced Pennsylvania personal injury attorney or Philadelphia car accident lawyer what your case is worth, an honest and experienced attorney will tell you that each case is unique and dependent upon multiple circumstances and variables. Many times at our initial meeting, a client will ask “Do you have an idea of what my case is worth?” and although they are normally frustrated when I give them an honest answer, I am always surprised to learn that many times some attorneys will promise a certain amount of money which is honestly impossible to guarantee or estimate as each case is unique. I analogize the situation to having a suit tailor-made or buying one off the rack at J. C. Penney.

An experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyer will evaluate all aspects of the case and adjust the strategy accordingly as the case progresses. Each case contains so many non-inclusive details that will potentially affect the case valuation. These circumstances are specific to the person and the injury but it can change during the processing of the case. The idea of compensatory damages is to fully compensate one for their injuries and pain and suffering sustained as a result of the incident. Quite simply, I like to tell my clients that prior to the incident, they were functioning as a whole person or a whole “pie” and that after the accident, a piece of the pie has been taken away and the defendant would be obligated to pay for the value of that “slice of pie.”

Continue reading "What Is the Monetary Value of My Personal Injury Case?" »

As the recent Toyota litigation has emphasized, Toyota as well as any other manufacturers, have routinely engaged in questionable, evasive, and deceptive legal tactics when sued. Frequently they claim they do not have information that they are required to turn over and sometimes even ignore court orders to produce key documents according to an Associated Press investigation. The Associated Press indicated in their investigation that a review of lawsuits filed around the country involving a wide range of complaints (not only the sudden acceleration problems that led millions of Toyotas to be recalled) indicated the automaker has hidden the existence of tests that would be harmful to its legal position and claimed key materials were all too difficult to get from headquarters in Japan. The major automakers have withheld potentially damaging documents and refused to release data stored electronically in its vehicles. The tactic is not so unique to Toyota and is encountered frequently by our Pennsylvania product liability lawyers and Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyers in high stakes litigation.

Continue reading "Witnesses Poor Memory and Evasion Is a Key Tactic in Many Catastrophic Injury Cases" »

When we are representing the interests of a catastrophically or severely injured individual who was the victim of someone else’s negligence, the issue always arises what can we do to help the victim support himself or herself during the pendency and until resolution of a case. At the experienced Philadelphia car accident law firm of Reiff & Bily, we handle first party wage loss and recovery of medical bills at no charge to our client. We charge a fee only on the third party portion of the case, namely compensatory and/or punitive damages. If there is not first party wage loss available, and such is the case with many motorcycle cases, the client must normally wait until the negligence case is settled to receive compensation. Many times a person is likely to turn to family or friends to borrow money and more and more victims are turning to independent non-recourse lawsuit funding companies.

Non-recourse lawsuit funding occurs when specifically independent companies provide a cash advance on the lawsuit on a non-recourse basis during of the pendency of the lawsuit. The monetary advance is solely contingent upon the outcome of the case and if you lose the case, the money provided is completely forgiven and is yours to keep. The only collateral that matters to the lawsuit funding company is the quality and possible success of the pending lawsuit. Of course, the funding company will consider your lawyer’s track record of success and credibility to make sure that they can count on an honest return of the advanced capital at the conclusion of the case.

The typical process for obtaining this type of financial assistance is quite simple. The independent financial company would have a brief intake conversation with you and your attorney to determine if your case has a high probability of success. They then want to review the records of the case to determine if the claim is meritorious and valid, and if so, for how much. This process can normally be handled in a 24 to 48 hour time period. After initial approval, the lawsuit funding company will ask your attorney for periodic reviews of the case to determine whether the case can afford additional or ongoing funding. Almost all of the companies that we have dealt with in the past do not obligate the client to repay the money unless and until you win or settle the case and the attorney collects the settlement proceeds. The lawsuit funding company asserts a lien against the settlement and works closely with the lawyers to relieve the financial pressure to settle the case too early for too little. This helps the client and the attorney, and hurts the insurance company who will attempt to make lowball offers recognizing the financial desperation of the client.