It is very important that your attorney understands the intricacies of automobile and trucking cases. It is true that some of these cases are straight forward and relatively uncomplicated, but it is also true that many of them can become extremely complicated. The attorney must understand the many aspects associated with these claims including what insurance policies may be available to their clients. The attorney must know that under certain circumstances, the client may not only be able to recover from the at fault driver, but may also be entitled to pursue recovery from the owner and/or employer of the vehicle and driver. In certain circumstances you will also be entitled to recover from your own insurance policies in addition to, or in lieu of, the coverage or lack thereof of the at fault driver.
It is also very important for your attorneys to be well versed in medicine in order to make sure that they are arguing the right damages and seeking the appropriate level of recovery. We have been involved in numerous circumstances where clients have come to us after speaking to other attorneys who have failed to understand or recognize the significance of certain medical findings. If this occurs in your case, you may recover far less money than you are entitled to and may even learn after settlement, that you need future treatment that was not contemplated before the settlement. It is imperative that your attorney be sophisticated in their understanding of the medicine because they will be dealing with doctors and will have to be educated in the type of inquiry that will fully demonstrate the extent of their client’s injury. The physicians often do not have the time to try to educate a lawyer that is not highly skilled in these matters. Further, the information obtained from the doctors is often only as good as the questions asked by the lawyer. Doctors are in a different line of work then your lawyer and do not think the same way as a lawyer regarding what evidence is needed to prove your case. Therefore, a lawyer sophisticated in the medicine will more fully explore your injury and obtain the intricacies of the medicine that a jury will need to hear during a jury trial.
In addition to the medical aspects of the case, the liability in any given case may require sophisticated experts. Depending on the case, your lawyer may have to employ highly trained experts in the areas of trucking, accident-reconstruction, biomechanical engineering etc. Our firm has worked closely over the years with these experts and fully understand what experts are required for a particular case and why. Moreover, often Federal Regulations will come into play which will require the attorney to fully understand the Federal Codes and Regulations in order to understand what experts will be required to prove up your case. These experts can make or break a case for a plaintiff. Further, it is important to also understand when an expert may not be required to prove up your case or that the Plaintiff may be able to use a non-controlled expert witness to prove up their case. There are many tactical reasons that you may choose to use a non-controlled expert witness rather than an expert hired from a particular field of expertise. These decisions are critical and can cost a client millions of dollars. Therefore, before you hire a lawyer to represent you in what may be one of the most critical incidents in your life, be sure that you fully interview them and test their knowledge.