The number most attorneys cite is somewhere between ninety-five and ninety-seven percent of personal injury cases settle before a jury ever decides them. If you are in the middle of one of these cases right now, that number probably sounds reassuring on one level and unsettling on another. Reassuring because it suggests most people get […]

If you had a prior injury, a chronic condition, or a history of treatment for the part of your body that got hurt in this accident, you are probably worried about what that means for your case. Maybe you had a bad back before the crash. Maybe you had a prior knee surgery, a history […]

Yes. This is one of the most misunderstood areas of personal injury law, and the misunderstanding almost always runs in the same direction: people who were injured in accidents assume that because they already had a bad back, a prior knee surgery, a history of migraines, or some other pre-existing condition, they have a diminished […]

If you have been talking to a personal injury attorney, you have probably heard the term maximum medical improvement, and you may have been told to wait until you reach it before settling your case. That advice is correct, and it is worth understanding exactly why it is correct, because the reasoning behind it will […]

Yes, medical bills can be negotiated after a settlement, and in many cases they should be. If you are waiting on your disbursement check and wondering why the numbers on your settlement statement do not add up to what you expected, the answer is often sitting in the lien column. What most people do not […]

If you were injured in an accident and you do not have health insurance, or your health insurance has refused to cover your treatment because the injury was accident-related, you may have been told by a doctor’s office or a specialist that they will treat you on a letter of protection. You may have even […]

This is one of the most important questions you can ask after a car accident, and the answer most people get — if they get one at all — is vague enough to be useless. So here is the direct version: your settlement will very likely not simply pay your medical bills and hand you […]

You can, and if you are asking this question right now, there is a good chance you are in a situation where the timing of everything feels impossible. Your accident happened weeks or months ago. You may not be able to work. The medical bills are arriving faster than you can open the envelopes. Your […]

If you are on Medicare or Medicaid and you have a personal injury case, part of your settlement is almost certainly not yours to keep. That is not a scare tactic. It is a legal reality that catches people completely off guard at the worst possible moment, usually right when they think they are done […]

The short answer is that the check goes to your attorney first, and then to you. But that one-sentence answer leaves out almost everything that actually matters when you are sitting at home waiting to find out when you will see your money. The mechanics of how a settlement check moves from the insurance company […]