Do you need to file a Lawsuit, or go to Trial?

Q: I had a client ask me the other day, “Do we really need to File a Lawsuit and go to Trial?”

 A:  My response was a no, we don’t have to file a Lawsuit you can actually Settle but you’re likely to get less than 50 cents on the dollar, its really up to you. Our Law Firm is a Trial Firm that means that we prepare our cases as though we are going to Trial. Very few cases actually go to a Jury Trial. It’s probably less than 1%. Now what does all that mean? Well it means that when you’re selecting an Attorney you make the choice, do you have serious injuries (i.e. broken bones, fractures, scaring, etc.) from the accident. If you want to settle the case, which means negotiating a settlement, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. You need your Attorney to play hardball and actually come out ahead of the Insurance Company. 

After we have discussed the pros and cons of filing a Lawsuit and Litigating the case usually all of our clients do want to move forward against the Defendant and capture the true value of their case. Don’t forget we’re up against a big Insurance Company that plays this game everyday, thousands of times. Our challenge as Trial Lawyers is to educate our clients to the process. It’s a dance that we engage in and as in anything else if you’re going to do it right and be successful pick your partner wisely, if don’t do it right you lose.

Today clients have the benefit of the Mediation process which in recent years has been incredibly beneficial to our clients. The Mediator, often times a Judge but sometimes an experienced Lawyer, is very helpful in explaining how the process works the client has an opportunity to understand the plusses and minuses of the case. NELSON AND NATALE prefers bring our clients through the process. That’s a way of educating clients on the strength of their case and giving them an opportunity to share in the decision as to whether to settle the case through Mediation or to move forward to Trial. Mediations usually last for three or four hours and as in every case we prepare a Mediation Brief, sit down with a client and explain what’s in the Brief and to discuss in general what to expect at the Mediation. The benefits of course are that we don’t have to put on the stand expensive Experts and we avoid the costs of bringing in Doctors and other parties to testify at Trial. Mediations are very informal, there is no Cross-Examination of the clients there isn’t any stress. Again every client should look for a Law Firm that engages in this process. Hopefully, a Law Firm like NELSON AND NATALE, has the skill, reputations and experience to take these cases to Trial. As a client you want the Insurance Company to recognize the strength of your case and of course because of the reputation of NELSON AND NATALE transfer the respect that they have for the “Firm” to the client. It’s too obvious but the client’s selection of the Law Firm is critical since it notifies the Insurance Company as to how strong and tough that Law Firm is going to be in the case. For example, our moderately sized “Firm” has been around for some 30 years, every Insurance Company knows of us and believe me they respect us. “YOU CAN ONLY BE A WINNER BY CHOOSING A WINNER.”

Injury Accident… No Insurance??

November 4, 2011

Q:  I was seriously injured, suffered a broken leg and broken arm in a Motorcycle accident. I don’t have insurance on my bike. What should I do?

 A:  We just received a call last week from a client who found us on the internet. Recognized that our background and skill matched with what he needed to help him with his Motorcycle Accident which resulted in substantial injuries. Recent study by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Center for Statistics and Analysis shows 47% of all Motorcycles involved in fatal crashes collided with another motor vehicle. In two vehicle crashes 77% of motorcycles involved were struck in the front and only seven struck in the rear. Motorcycles are more likely to be involved in a fatal collision with a fixed object then are other vehicles. In 41% of crashes the other vehicle was turning left while the Motorcycle was going straight, passing or overtaking a vehicle.

No Insurance??

In this new case, the other vehicle made a left turn in front of the motorcycle. Unfortunately, my new client did not have a valid Liability Insurance Policy and therefore under Proposition 213, which was passed by California voters some 8 or 9 years ago, the Defendant would not be responsible for General Damages/Pain and Suffering. Special Damages such as Medical Bills and Property Damage would be covered. Pain and Suffering makes up the biggest amount of the value of a case. One of NELSON & NATALE’s Jury Trials last year reflected a $24,000.00 dollar broken wrist. The Jury Awarded $900,000.00 dollars in General Damages, one incredible amount of money. Guess what, the Defendant’s insurance company paid it. In that case our client’s insurance was not an issue, but if it was, Proposition 213 would have reduced the financial recovery to $24,000.00.

It’s a tough lesson to learn but each of us needs to take a close look at our Motor Vehicle Insurance Policy and see how much coverage we have. According to “Fox Business”, a recent survey titled “Car Insurance Confessions”, shows that nearly 40% of motorists indicate they eat or drink behind the wheel and 30% say they talk on their cell phone while driving and one in ten people are driving without Insurance. Here in Southern California it’s probably more like two out of ten or 20% of motorists do not have Liability Coverage and at least 50% of motorists don’t have but $15,000.00 coverage.

Is it Costing You??

Case in point our client is obviously in a bad position since his Medical Bills are likely to exceed well over $100,000.00 dollars and the Insurance on the Defendant’s vehicle is likely to be no more than $15,000.00 or $25,000.00. Serving the Public is the primary goal of NELSON & NATALE thus our policy is to focus on the client which might mean giving up some if not all of our Attorney’s Fees. Its hell to suffer to both a physical injury as well as a financial one. We do it because it is the right thing to do. Obviously the client has learned a lesson that they will surely never forget, neither will they forget NELSON & NATALE. My personal recommendation is that everyone carry at least $250,000.00/$500,000.00 of Uninsured Motorist Coverage which in effect will automatically raise the Liability Coverage. To rely on someone else’s Insurance to cover your heavy losses which will include Medical Bills, Wage Loss, Therapy and Property Damage in this day and age is to act foolishly. Make sure that you search the internet for a Policy that fits your needs and at the same time ensures that you have at least enough coverage that will take care of you and your family should you be hospitalized or seriously injured. “YOU CAN ONLY BE A WINNER BY CHOOSING A WINNER.”

Litigation against Fast Food & the Furious!!

LITIGATING AGAINST THE FAST FOOD GIANT (Do you want to be Represented by the Lawyers that got it wrong or the Lawyers that always get it right?)

This is an interesting slip and fall case that we took on 2 years ago. It was set for Trial with a Lawsuit filed and served and Depositions taken. Last week it Settled at a Pre-Trial Mediation. Every Plaintiff Attorney knows that Litigating against the fast food giants is tough. Whether they be: In-n-Out Burger, Wendy’s, KFC, El Pollo Loco, Jack in the Box, Carl’s Jr., Taco Bell, Burger King, Del Taco, Subway, etc., they do not pay Claims. Their exposure to accidents is tremendous and they choose to make it known to every Plaintiff Attorney that they will never pay on an Injury Claim. Subsequently they paid, as a matter of fact six figures, but sorry this was a Confidential Settlement.

YUMMY??

Our client, 35 year old male, slipped and fell on water in a bathroom at a popular fast food restaurant. When he fell he tried to grab on to the faucet of the sink in the bathroom in an effort to catch his fall, it cracked off. In doing so at the time he felt some pain in his right palm of or right bottom of his hand. The restaurant wrote up a report basically claiming that their maintenance employee had just finished mopping the floor four minutes earlier. That they had a cone in the bathroom indicating the floor was wet. That the faucet was broke and that there was no indication of injury or that our client had slipped, and that he apologized for breaking their faucet. Tough case, but I liked it because we did have an injury.

Our initial strategy was that there was lack of warning. Our client denied any notice of a danger or wet signs inside the bathroom or when he walked in. In the Depositions of the maintenance employee he drew a circle under the sink showing that water had accumulated after he was informed that our client had fallen. After cleaning the Men’s bathroom he cleaned the Women’s bathroom which also took him five minutes. They had claimed that no one else had used the bathroom since he had just finished cleaning it but that statement was inaccurate because the employee had then gone on to clean the Women’s restroom which took him at least five minutes and was in the process of putting his supplies away when our client walked into the bathroom. We developed the theory that the water accumulates in front of the sink because the air hand dryer is on the wall six feet across from the sink. There are no paper towels or mats on the floor. Every time someone washes their hands they must take their wet hands and walk six feet across the bathroom to use the hand air dryer. That causes water to accumulate at the sink. All it takes is one person so even though five minutes had elapsed, the testimony was four to eight minutes, so obviously someone had used the bathroom before because they admitted that there was water accumulated in front of the sink. A rather large area of water. They couldn’t explain why knowing this for years they didn’t reposition the paper towels, move their dryer or put mats on the floor or tell their Supervisor about it.  That is what established the actual notice of a “dangerous condition” and the case Settled for quite substantial sum and we had a good recovery for the client. This all occurred in Depositions.

FAST FOOD CHOICES

At the start of our Depositions our initial strategy was “standard fare”. We thought we could prove that the floor was still wet from the mopping and there was lack of signage. When that didn’t pan out we didn’t think we had much of a case until I was able to explore it further and find out that they had known about this problem of the water being dripped across the floor when people washed their hands and walked over to the air dryer. This went on for years prior to this accident never taking any safety measures. Because of our case they added a big sign next to the sink to indicate that the floor may be wet.

Our job is always to improve dangerous conditions that exist in public areas. We did it in this case as well before ever even Settling for a substantial sum. Over the years we have remedied many a dangerous condition whether we win the case or lose it…“YOU CAN ONLY BE A WINNER BY CHOOSING A WINNER.” —– Silvio Natale

Need A Lawyer??

Q:  Why do I need a Trial Lawyer?

A:  ‘Trial’ Lawyers are the warriors on the front line. They are the Navy Seals that move in on the enemy with deadly striking force. If you’ve got a good ‘Trial’ Lawyer consider your very lucky. Why do I need a Trial Lawyer? Well, unfortunately, the opposite of a Trial Lawyer is a Negotiator and if you’re up against a big Insurance Company, why are they going to fear you? Do you really want a Lawyer who is simply a Negotiator? Why not just ask ‘granny’ to help you out? You’ll get the same result. There just aren’t enough of us, 98% of all Lawyers are forced to Settle out of court because they just can’t go to Trial. You will hear one excuse after another such as: Trials are too expensive, I don’t have time to do it… There’s numerous other excuses used by Lawyers to avoid going to Trial (i.e. “We better take their offer I’ll reduce the medical bills. Settling will put more money in your pocket.”) However a ‘real’ Trial Lawyer is always prepared to go to Trial, he has the staff, he has the money and he has the ‘attitude’.  If your Lawyer is willing to pay for the Trial – then what’s your problem? Any Insurance Defense Attorney will tell you that there are relatively few of us. We are the Lawyers that take on the Insurance Companies and hold their feet to the fire. The results speak for themselves.

Insurance Companies are far from stupid, they have been around for well over a 100 years all they do is sell Insurance and handle Claims. Their goal is to offer you as little money as possible to get your Lawyer to take it. That’s how they make money. That way those Claims Adjusters wind up with strong evaluations and get raises and promotions. If you were an Insurance Company wouldn’t you make low offers especially to those Attorneys you know won’t take a case to Trial? Of course you would, and on the other hand those Attorneys known for being Trial Attorneys are treated with a great deal of respect. They get the biggest offers. 

How do you know that your Attorney is strong enough and can handle your Personal Injury case? It’s simple, if you have answered a set of “Interrogatories” with the Court Case Number on it, discussed your ‘Answers’ with your Lawyer, it’s likely that a Lawsuit has been filed. Ask your Lawyer if you’re in the court mandatory ‘Discovery’ process. Your Attorney should also be notifying you of ‘your Deposition’ ahead. If so you’re in a very good position at this point. On the other hand, if your Attorney attempts to set up a Mediation or early in the case asks you to give your statement to the Insurance Company ‘prior’ to Litigation, that’s bad news. That’s a red flag, it means that the Attorney is trying to circumvent the process and simply negotiate a Settlement with the Insurance Company without doing any work. Insurance Companies know the signs of Attorney weakness and they are prepared to offer only a portion of the real value of the case knowing that your Attorney does not have the capacity to file a Lawsuit and Litigate the case. Once your ‘Interrogatory Answers’ are received by the Defense Counsel then the next thing is to set up your Deposition. The Deposition is an opportunity for the Insurance Company to know who you are. Attending the Deposition will be a Court Reporter transcribing your statement and the statements and the questions raised by the Insurance Company Lawyer. This is the process that you need to be in. It’s up to you to get there with or without your Lawyer. Don’t forget…., “YOU CAN ONLY BE A WINNER BY CHOOSING A WINNER.”

Call us for more information: 310-641-8300

How To Avoid A Traffic Ticket

HOW TO AVOID A TRAFFIC TICKET

The following are excerpts from a speech given by a former Los Angeles Police Department Commander. He makes some good points. Hopefully this information will save you from getting a Traffic Ticket with a substantial fine sometime in the future.

“A police car pulls in behind you with flashing lights. A cold chill runs up your spine. You know you must pull over. As the saying goes, it’s curtains.” What do you do next?

Driving a car in Southern California is an event that requires constant attention and a lot of attention. If by chance you’re the subject of a traffic stop by a police unit the way you react to the stop means everything. As soon as the emergency lights approach you from the rear you have about 15 to 20 seconds to indicate to the officer behind you it is your intent to pull over. The officer will usually activate his emergency lights as soon as he sees there is a safe open area ahead for you to stop and pull over to the right. Never, never delay in slowing and pulling over, the officer does not want to use his siren to gain your intentions since that may cause other issues with surrounding traffic at the same time the officer will become irritated by your behavior so you want to make sure that you pull your vehicle over to the right before the traffic stop rises to that level.

OFFICER SAFETY

If the officer feels in any way threatened by your behavior then the stop will not go well.

Once you are stopped do not get out of your car.

Put your hands on the steering wheel and sit in the car with the window rolled down and don’t reach for anything. The officer will be approaching from the rear of your vehicle and primarily he is interested in focusing on his safety. You may be harboring a weapon near or under your seat. So your hands must remain visible at all times on the steering wheel of the car. The officer does not want you to get out of your vehicle so stay in the car.

After the officer comes up to your vehicle he is going to ask you “Do you know why I stopped you?”. Your response should be “no”. If he feels you were speeding, he will tell you.

Never ask the question of officer “What did I do?”. He’s not going to tell you until he has in his hands both your Driver’s License and the Registration of your vehicle at which time he can safely tell you why you are being stopped.

Your response to the officer’s question as to why he stopped you should be that, “all [you] know is that you traveling within the speed limit” otherwise an “Admission” of excessive speed or other violation will have you at fault and you will be given a ticket.

If the officer tells you, you have executed a California stop then it is your opportunity to let him know that you never travel above the speed limit and that you did not run the stop sign. But make sure you are agreeable and cooperative at all times and not argumentative. In California when the officer asks you for your license you must remove your Driver’s License from your wallet or card holder and hand it to the officer. In some states the Driver’s License is handed to the officer along with a bribe. However in California the officer will not consider any numeration but only your Driver’s License and your Registration will be all that will be accepted. Hopefully all will go well with you and your cooperation will be met by the officer’s agreeable attitude.

Choosing a GREAT Attorney for your Accident! Motorcycle, Auto INJURY

Q:  How do I know I have the right Attorney to handle my Motorcycle/Auto accident?

 A: That’s a tough question. My simplest answer is to make sure you don’t have a negotiator instead of a Trial Lawyer. Trial Lawyers never advertise. A few years ago a client came to me for a car accident. He had a previous Motorcycle Accident that had Settled three months before. In that accident he had broken his leg. A car pulled directly in front of him from a side street from a stop sign, and he was forced to lay his Motorcycle down, he slid on some sand in the roadway right into the car. Unfortunately the Defendant driver of the car had only $15,000.00 dollars in liability coverage. As the client went on with his explanation I could see that his Attorney missed the ‘biggest’ Defendant. In his case the question that I present to you is, how do you know who to sue? How do you know who’s responsible for the accident. While it’s obvious that the vehicle that pulled in front of him and cut him off was the actual cause of the accident, what about other Defendants? His Attorney, a so called “Specialist” in Motorcycle Accidents unfortunately never went beyond the obvious and the client wound getting less than $5,000.00 dollars. I felt bad and the client felt worse. His case was easily worth six figures with current Medical Bills and Wage Loss and future Medicals probably starting at $500,000.00 dollars. Attorney’s are in a way similar to Doctors. There are General Practitioners we also have Doctors who Specialize. Most surgeons specialize. Cosmetic Surgeons, Orthopedic Surgeons, Eye Surgeons and Foot Surgeons. Almost all Doctors Specialize, not all Attorneys Specialize – Look at the Attorney’s website. It’s up to you, the client, to locate the best Attorney for your case. My client made a costly and serious oversight. He could have done better hiring his ‘grandmother’ and hot had to pay Attorney’s Fees. Unfortunately, the facts will speak for themselves. The more you qualify your Attorney based on their ‘Experience and Specialization’ the smarter you are and the results are going to be dramatically and financially different.

 An experienced Trial Lawyer approaches each accident case with an open mind. What are the facts? Who are the potential Defendants? He or she will go out and take a look at the accident scene, study it and take witness statements. What did each of the witnesses see? What does the client remember what did they see? Who are the parties named in the Traffic Report? And who is identified but not in the Traffic Report? Why not? Just prior to the accident, where did those vehicles come from? The big question is, ‘Is there anything unique or unusual about this accident?’ There in lies your problem. If the Attorney you hired has handled hundreds and hundreds of Traffic Accidents then he or she should recognize the uniqueness of each case. Now why do I mention a Trial Lawyer? Because a Trial Lawyer is going to look at this case not as a quick Settlement but where will this case be a year and a half from now. The Trial Lawyer is going to invest 5 to $7,5000.00 dollars in an Expert to prepare your Doctors for his/her Deposition. Serve the Lawsuit and and Litigate the case. What are the questions that are going to be asked? Will the Trial Briefs win the case? Hopefully your Attorney has handled thousands of cases. We at NELSON & NATALE are still tuning up our skills even after 30 years in handling over 8,000 Injury Cases.

 Let’s look back on the instant case. This was in fact an actual case. As I continued to question the client regarding the Motorcycle Accident he had. I found out that there was a Construction Site just to the right of the intersection and it was the sand and dirt from that site that dropped on the street and caused the Motorcyclist to slide and wind up hitting the car. Having been a Contractor myself everyone knows you must use a ‘sweeper’ on the big ‘dirt’ jobs. Bottom line, instead of a $15,000.00 dollar Policy Limit my client would have been entitled to the Defendant’s Insurance Policy of at least a million dollars. In other words that broken leg added to the time off work was probably worth $400,000.00 dollars plus. Why didn’t the Attorney consider that? You hired the Lawyer, apparently not a good one. Maybe the issue was short on experience or no Trial experience or maybe the issue was just too busy and just didn’t care. At any rate, the client lost out. I took the time to educate my client on Motorcycle Accidents, and guess what? He continues to call me every year referring a case to NELSON & NATALE knowing that We are thorough, We are Experienced and We care. “YOU CAN ONLY BE A WINNER BY CHOOSING A WINNER.”

Information is knowledge and you need to know about your rights and the Law!!

Q:   I slipped and fell, I’m seriously injured, what should I do?

 DN:   This is a broad subject, “Slip and Fall” cases are often categorically referred to as “Premises Liability.” However, it depends on the circumstances of where you fell. Often times falls occur in Markets or on slippery surfaces in Shopping Centers, in Apartment Buildings or sidewalks, it can be just about any place. Clients call us with regard to bus falls. These usually involve the injured victim not taking proper precautions and holding on to the safety rails and sitting in their seat. This is all verified by video tapes which are used to defend these cases and I would guess that 90% of all bus fall cases are defensible. The injured victim has placed themselves at risk for not properly maintaining control of their person. Video tapes and Surveillance tapes are fundamentally a good source of establishing the claim, however, often times the Plaintiff was not holding on or for some other reason their negligence added to their fall.

 Act Fast. We take a very aggressive approach to handling Premises Liability cases. It just so happened that we received a call from a prospective client last Monday that was shopping for an Attorney that could handle his wife’s case. His wife was seriously injured and suffered a Commuted fracture in a fall on some wet paint in her apartment building. Liability was good since it was the Apartment Manager who painted the decking minutes before and left no barricade or warning signs to prevent tenants from doing exactly what the client tenant did, which was walk down the stairs, step in the paint, fall and suffer a serious injury. Our client’s spouse, a Medical Doctor, really held our feet to the fire. We were left to secure a surgeon for the Prospective Client which we did immediately and set up an appointment the very next day. On Tuesday we were out visiting the accident scene taking photographs, measurements, samples of paint, interviewing witnesses, etc. This approach is critical on these cases, evidence slips away very quickly, witnesses move, etc. The client met in our office Thursday, and was very happy that we acted so promptly in carrying out the investigation and setting up the surgery which was performed on Saturday. There is still much to be done on this case. At the next step we will bring in our Trial Expert who will in fact testify as to the nature of the paint and we will actually do a demonstration before a Jury with ‘drying time’ based on an estimate of how long it was on the deck, where our client slipped. A friction analysis test will put this case together.

 As you can see, it takes an awful lot of work to prepare these cases and each case is significantly different. However, if you build on what you’ve learned from prior cases it makes a big difference. The fact that we’ve handled over 8,000 cases in the past 30 years gives us an advantage of developing and ‘honing’ our skills. Other factors in the investigation involve taking pictures photographs of the entire building, walk ways, stairs, etc and of course particularly this area on which the Plaintiff fell. All of this is part of the preparation. This allows the expert to arrive on the scene and follow up on our initial investigation and what we have discovered thus far so we are all set to go. Here is a case likely to be worth somewhere between $500,000.00 and $1.5 million dollars. But its not worth anything unless the ‘Right’ Law Firm is Representing you. Their case was handled the right way. The client a Sophisticated Professional knew it but it takes experience, staffing and coordination we step up to the plate, having handled close to a thousand of these “Slip and Fall” cases over the past 30 years. Any obstacle or facts uncovered in our investigation which would have prevented us from a successful resolution of the case we would know in the beginning, we would have immediately informed the client and withdrawn. However, this is an example of how to handle a Premises Liability case, fast and without any hesitation. If your Attorney isn’t at the scene of the accident within 12 hours of the accident “Eliminate ” this Firm. “YOU CAN ONLY BE A WINNER BY CHOOSING A WINNER.”