How are the expenses in asserting a claim paid?
In the handling of any file, certain out-of-pocket expenses are incurred in pursuing your claim. Those expenses can be as little as payment for the cost of medical records, payment of mailing and long distance telephone charges or they can become more substantial if a lawsuit is filed, expert witnesses are retained, and deposition fees and court costs are incurred. For these out-of-pocket expenses, Foley & Small will pay the initial cost for those expenses. Many trial firms require their clients to pay such out-of-pocket expenses from their own personal funds placing a significant personal hardship on the client or the client's family. Foley & Small pays for the litigation expenses for you when they are incurred. Foley & Small is reimbursed for such expenses from the recovery achieved at the end of the case.
How long will it take to resolve my case?
It depends. If you are able to quickly recovery from your injuries, resolution of your case could take from as little as two to four months. If you must undergo a longer course of treatment for your injuries and the case is disputed requiring a trial, it could take up to one to three years to resolve your case. The major factors affecting how long a case will take to resolve include extent of injury, duration of medical treatment, the degree the claim is disputed and the complexity of the case.
How will my medical bills be paid?
If you are injured in an accident, one of the top priorities for you and for your family is that you receive the proper medical care to achieve the best recovery possible. Payment of your medical expenses is initially your responsibility. While the other party may have caused your injury, there is no legal obligation for the other party to pay your medical bills until a court determines that the other party is liable for causing your harm. In the interim, until such issue of liability is resolved or your case can be resolved by settlement, the cost of your medical care is your responsibility. A typical way those expenses are paid are through your automobile insurance coverage or your health insurance coverage. Most automobile policies will pay medical expenses up to a certain stated dollar amount regardless of fault. This coverage is commonly referred to as "med pay," and is most often in the amount of $5,000 or $10,000; though it can be for more.
In addition to automobile policy coverage, many individuals have additional coverage for medical expenses through their work health insurance or by a health insurance policy they have purchased on their own. These health insurance policy benefits typically only begin to pay for your medical bills after you have first used up or exhausted your med pay coverage. Most health insurance polices provide coverage of up to $500,000 or even one million dollars for medical expenses. Sometimes these coverages have a co-pay requirement which require the payment of a certain amount as a deductible and the payments of additional amounts on an 80%/20% basis up to a certain dollar amount for total medical bills, typically up to $5,000. You will want to check your health policy to see exactly what coverages are available.
At Foley & Small we will help you with this process. If you do not have any insurance coverage available to you for payment of your medical expenses, there are certain other alternatives available. These can include obtaining a deferral of collection of your medical expenses pending resolution of your claim. Foley & Small can provide your medical providers a letter of protection, which will indicate to them that we will make payment of their medical expenses first out of any settlement or judgment obtained in resolution of your claim. If your economic circumstances warrant, we can also assist you in obtaining payment of your medical expenses by way of Medicare benefits that are available to those individuals whose circumstances or Medicaid render them eligible to receive such benefits. At Foley & Small we will work with you to assist you in securing payment of your medical expenses. By doing so, we will ease your burden at a time when your attention is better spent in getting well and helping those other members of your family who may also be suffering due to the affects of an accident.
Do I need an attorney?
There is no clear-cut answer to this question; rather the answer depends upon the particular factors of your case. Certain factors must be analyzed to answer this question, and they include: total medical expenses, loss of pay, availability of insurance coverage and the amount of coverage, extent and permanency of injury, the extent liability is contested and, perhaps, other factors. In addition, insurance companies are not always fair in their efforts to resolve claims made against their insured. If you are having a difficult time with the insurance carrier for the other party to the accident, you would be well advised to seek legal assistance.
The legal and insurance issues involving a claim can be complex and confusing. Most insurance polices require you provide notice of any accident or occurrence of a loss within 30 days of the event. In Indiana there is a two-year statute of limitations, which requires that a claim be asserted within that time or be forever lost. If your claim is against a governmental entity in Indiana, apart from filing your claim within the two-year statute of limitations, you must also provide written notice to the public entities involved of your claim within 180 days of the event. If you fail to do so, your claim will also be lost.
Assuming that insurers or medical providers working with insurance carriers are looking out for your best interests can be risky. Generally speaking, those working with the insurance industry are attempting to minimize the number of claims being asserted against their policies and, for those claims that are asserted, trying to resolve those claims for as small amount as possible. Such motivations can result in an effort to resolve your claim for an amount that is less than fair to you. On the other, hand there are occasions where Foley & Small will decline to represent a potential client where it is in the prospective client's best economic interest to accept a settlement offer previously made by an insurance carrier. Working with an attorney who has extensive experience in handling personal injury and related claims can be a tremendous value and benefit to you. Typically the assistance of competent counsel can result in a better settlement of your claim or obtaining a judgment at jury trial that is fair and just. Such an attorney and his or her staff can also provide tremendous assistance to you in asserting your claim and removing from you the burden of handling all the paperwork and other tasks involved in asserting a claim. The attorneys at Foley & Small will pursue your claim in a knowledgeable, effective and efficient manner avoiding the missteps and land mines that can be present in the legal system. Finally, it can be of a great emotional value and comfort to have someone you can rely upon and work with in a friendly, caring manner on your claim. Instead of going it alone, you could have the assistance of attorneys and staff of Foley & Small.
How do I preserve evidence about my claim?
Perhaps one of the most important things you can do if you are in an accident is to have photographs taken with a 35mm camera (preferably not a Polaroid) of the area of where the accident occurred, of the vehicles involved in the accident, if it is a motor vehicle collision, and of any other instruments or items involved in the accident. Of course, this often is not possible due to injury or other circumstances.
A trial law firm, such as Foley & Small, can perform these tasks for you. In addition, if you have suffered injuries, you would be well advised to take photographs of those injuries so that evidence of what occurred to you and what you have had to endure can be preserved. Such photographs of injuries should only be taken at a convenient time and never taken in such a way as to interfere or otherwise disrupt your receiving medical treatment. Photographs of injuries should continue throughout the healing process.
If there are any witnesses to the accident, you should endeavor to obtain their names and addresses and telephone numbers. In addition to accident witness, the names and addresses and telephone numbers of those providing you with your primary care and assistance in your recovery, both medical personnel and friends and family assisting with your recovery, will be needed so that testimony concerning your injuries can be secured. Physical evidence relating to the incident, which could include clothing, vehicles, and other objects, should be preserved, if possible. Contacting an attorney in the process can be helpful in identifying the items that should be examined and/or retained from an accident. Foley & Small will work to obtain and preserve all necessary evidence on your case.
What should you do when contacted by the insurance carrier for the other party involved in an accident?
Generally speaking, you should act carefully when dealing with insurance claims representatives. As mentioned in the answers to other FAQ’s, the motivation of an insurance carrier and those working with it is, generally speaking, to reduce the number of claims being made against their policies as well as trying to resolve those claims that are made for as small a dollar amount as possible. This is not to say that all insurance representatives act based upon improper motives or act improperly.
On the other hand, there is a natural conflict between the interest of the insurance carrier and your interest in obtaining a fair recovery. Often, the insurance carrier for the other party involved in the accident will ask you to provide a recorded statement. If you have any thought that you may wish to pursue a claim involving such an accident, you are strongly encouraged to seek out the assistance of an attorney before giving such a statement. This is true even if the other person's liability or fault for the accident seems obvious. Apart from dealing with the other party's insurance carrier, you will likely be required under your own insurance policy to provide notice to your carrier within 30 days of any accident or loss. Foley & Small can provide you with valuable assistance in working with the insurance carrier for the other party and in working with your own insurance carrier.
How can Foley & Small become your attorneys?
You can get in touch with us in a variety of ways. You can contact us by telephone either through our toll free number, 800-276-2525, or by contacting any of our offices directly. In addition, you can contact us in writing either by sending correspondence by regular mail or by fax. Our fax number is (219) 288-4939. You can also reach us over the Internet. On our website is a form you can complete and e-mail to us raising a question or comment regarding a possible claim or legal question you have about which we might be able to provide you with assistance. If it is a matter that we do not handle or do not feel is appropriate for us to handle, we will refer you to other attorneys in the area who you may wish to contact. You may also send us an e-mail message over the Internet directing your mailing to "i
After we obtain initial information from you, we will make a determination on whether your matter is something where we can be of assistance to you. If so, we will arrange a meeting with you at one of our offices to discuss your case. Such initial meetings typically take one hour. You will be meeting with one of the attorneys of Foley & Small and often with one of our staff members. During such meeting, we learn about you and your case and acquiring the necessary background information to move forward on your file. If after this initial meeting both you and we feel it would be wise and appropriate to proceed forward, we will enter into a written attorney/client agreement setting forth our relationship. We will then set about obtaining further necessary information on your claim. This will include obtaining medical records, information on wage losses, contacting witnesses, taking photographs and, where appropriate, retaining expert witnesses to assist on issues of liability or damages in the assertion of your claim.
You can also send e-mail messages directly to the attorneys and staff of Foley & Small. A listing of the e-mail addresses are set forth below:
Name E-mail address
Edmond W. Foley
Douglas D. Small
Beverly Paluzzi
Juliet McDowell
Kalana Fitzsimons
Kim Mrozinski
Lynn Hess
Patti Watson
What is the process of asserting a claim or a lawsuit?
1. Pre-suit/Claim Phase
In most cases, we will make an initial effort to try to resolve your claim without the need of filing a lawsuit. This process will involve the initial client meeting, obtaining necessary medical and loss of pay information, securing witness statements, obtaining photographs and other necessary information to set forth a settlement proposal on your behalf. That proposal will be in writing and will describe the accident leading to your loss, your injuries and property damage and your recovery. Thereafter, an effort will be made to negotiate with the insurance carrier or other party to determine whether a settlement can be reached without the need of filing a lawsuit. If such negotiations are successful, your case will be resolved without the need to file a lawsuit. If those negotiations are not successful, we will move forward in asserting your claim to the next phase, which is the lawsuit phase.
2. Lawsuit Phase
If settlement negotiations are not initially successful, the next step would be to file a lawsuit on your behalf. Typically your claim would be filed in a state court, but on occasion it may be deemed best to file your claim in the federal court. The lawsuit is commenced by the filing of a complaint with the court and serving a copy of that complaint upon the other party to the incident. The other party will then obtain counsel, either on their own or through their insurance carrier, to represent them. After the defense attorney enters his or her appearance, they will file an answer on behalf of the other party to the accident, and in the court system this other party is called the defendant. After the answer and complaint are filed, the parties typically engage in what is called written discovery. That is a process whereby written questions can be submitted to either side to obtain information on the party and information with respect to the accident itself.
Apart from written questions, the parties can also request documents be provided involving the accident and pertinent background information. Depositions may be taken where the attorneys can ask questions of the other side and of third party witnesses, including medical providers, regarding the accident, injuries and course of treatment and recovery. After a lawsuit is filed, there is typically a hearing held with the judge where a pre-trial schedule and trial date are set. The pre-trial schedule is the setting of dates by which certain work is to be completed in preparing the case for trial.
3. Mediation
In addition, apart from also setting the trial date, the trial court typically orders that the parties submit their claim to mediation. Mediation is an informal settlement procedure prescribed under Indiana law. This procedure involves both parties agreeing to the selection of a mediator, which is an attorney who has been trained specifically on how to be a mediator and has no involvement in the case on either side. The mediation session typically takes place over the course of an entire day or least a substantial part of the day at the mediator's office. You will be asked to be present along with your attorney from Foley & Small and the attorney representing the defendant is typically present along with the representative of the insurance carrier for the defendant or the defendant himself or a representative of the defendant may be present.
The mediation session typically begins with the mediator briefly explaining the process and then asking each side to provide a brief statement on their claim or the defense of the claim and what they expect to be their presentation during the course of trial. After these short presentations, the mediator will separate the parties and their counsel into different rooms and will then begin a process of what might be best described as shuttle diplomacy, meeting with one party and then the other exchanging information and offers and counteroffers to determine whether a common ground can be reached and the claim settled.
While you may be required by the court to attend the mediation conference, you are not required in mediation to agree to a settlement. Your case will only be settled if both sides reach agreement that such occur. Thus, if you do not feel a fair amount is being offered to settle your case, you are not required to accept that amount in mediation, nor is the other side required to pay an amount more than which they feel is appropriate to resolve your claim. Mediations have proven to be very effective in resolving cases prior to trial. Often a mediation session cannot effectively be conducted until after the parties have exchanged further information, completed discovery, taken depositions and similar tasks to fully understand and appreciate the strength and weaknesses of each side to a case.
4. Trial
If mediation is not successful the next and final step, absent appeal, would be proceeding to trial. Most injury or loss claims are decided by a jury trial held at the courthouse. Jury trials typically take three to five days to complete though in a more complicated case, jury trials can take two to three weeks to complete or even longer. Foley & Small will work to prepare your case for trial. Meetings will occur with you and witnesses to review testimony and trial activities so all is ready to present your case at court.
If I am injured or suffer property losses as a result of an accident or occurrence for what type of things can I expect compensation?
If you are involved in an accident or other occurrence where you suffer personal injury and property damage, you can recover for a variety of different losses associated with such event. For property damage, you can recover the fair market value of the property, if it is a total loss, or the cost to repair the property if the property is not rendered a total loss. For personal injury, you are able to recover your medical expenses, your loss of pay, your future medical expenses, the value for a permanent injury, including, but not necessarily limited to, an injury resulting in disfigurement or disability, for your past pain and suffering and for your future pain and suffering.
If the accident was of such a nature that one of your family members were killed, those who were dependent upon that family member are able to assert a claim for wrongful death. For such a claim, dependent family members are able to recover for the medical bills, loss of wages, pain and suffering and related losses that occur if the death did not occur immediately after the accident. For the death itself, the dependent family members are able to recover the funeral expenses, the loss of future earnings of the person who died who would have been providing financial support for the family and for the loss of the love, care, affection, guidance and other related assistance that the person who died would have provided to the surviving family members.
These are the general elements of damage that you can recover in such personal injury or wrongful death cases. Each case is unique and you may have certain other elements of recovery that may be available or not available, depending upon the facts of the case. Foley & Small will review and analyze your case in the effort to obtain the best recovery for you on your loss and injuries.
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