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Mistakes in Personal Injury Suits

When accident victims are representing themselves, there are at least 12 common mistakes they make which are hard to correct, even after they later hire a lawyer. At my office, we refer to the things below as “self-inflicted wounds,” because these are things that clients do on their own which damage their chances of being treated fairly. Sadly, I have had experience with virtually all of these, and they have cost clients thousands of dollars:

• Failing to timely report an accident Not only will this jeopardize your worker’s compensation benefits (if the accident was work-related), but it raises suspicion about the legitimacy of the claim and makes it harder to locate witnesses and secure other evidence that will help you prove your claim. For example, if you slip and fall in a store and leave without telling anyone soon after the accident, but later make a claim for injuries, the insurance company will refer to this as a “blind claim” which is subject to closer scrutiny.

• Failing to seek medical care promptly Where there are significant gaps between the accident and the first medical treatment, this raises two questions about your case. First, if the accident was so bad, why didn’t you at least get checked out to make sure that nothing was wrong? Second, did something happen in between the accident and the first medical care that could have caused the injuries? In an age where jurors are inherently suspicious of people who file lawsuits, doubts as to the answers to these questions can be damaging to your case.

• Failing to accurately complete an accident report If your employer requires you to complete an accident report, or if you decide to complete an accident report for your accident, it should accurately state what happened and what caused your injuries. Leaving off important information and failing to accurately state what happened can cause serious damage to your case. An accident report that says, “Fell while shopping” sounds very different than one that says, “Slipped on detergent from broken container in aisle 4 and fell, injuring right ankle.” You do not need to say a lot, but you do need to be accurate.

• Giving a recorded statement to an insurance company Insurance companies hire adjusters and investigators who understand what the key legal issues in the case are, and when they take a recorded statement, they are not just trying to find out what happened, but trying to get you to make admissions which damage your case before you fully understand what the key issues in your case are. Over the years, I have had several clients give statements to the insurance company and then hire a lawyer only after the claim has been denied. I can count on my fingers the number of times that I have reviewed these statements and found that the client did not hurt their own case.

• Failing to accurately describe the accident to your doctors When you see a doctor the first time, he or she will ask you what happened. It is crucial that you are clear about this because the doctor may write in your medical record something different. This can create doubts about what actually happened and as to exactly how you were injured. Be clear and concise when explaining how your accident happened.

• Failing to follow up with doctors Jurors look to see that you are working hard to recover from your injuries and to return to work as quickly as possible. Failing to return for follow-up visits and missing appointments are not the kinds of things that jurors like to see.

• Failing to follow medical advice When you do not do what your doctor tells you to do, he or she is almost certain to record that in your chart, and you can be sure that a defense attorney will bring that out in the same way that they will bring up the fact you frequently missed appointments. If you fail to follow-up on recommended care or therapy, it casts doubt on the seriousness of your injuries or your desire to get better. Further, if your failing to follow medical advice caused additional injury that you would not have suffered otherwise, this can limit the defendant’s liability for your injuries. You do not have to have surgery or participate in other risky treatments if you do not want to, but failing to follow medical advice in other respects can come back to haunt you.

• Failing to follow work restrictions If your doctor places you on work restrictions, those restrictions should be followed – both at work and at home. If you have a 10 pound lifting restriction, you should not be moving 50 pound bags of fertilizer around your yard. Insurance companies sometimes hire investigators to videotape you without your knowledge, and if you are caught on tape doing something you are not supposed to be doing (or worse, something that you said you could not do), this could be fatal to your case because it calls into question your basic honesty.

• Failing to hire qualified legal counsel Personal injury cases are complex cases, and not every lawyer is truly qualified to handle them. Lawyers need to be able to understand the factual, medical, and legal issues involved in your case and be able to present them to a jury in a clear, compelling manner. If you hire a lawyer who does not fully understand the issues involved, errors in strategy may result in a loess than optimal result in your case. Once you have hired a lawyer, it may be difficult to change lawyers down the road.

• Signing a release A release is the document which you sign to get a settlement check from the insurance company. This ends your case forever against the party you are releasing, even if it turns out that you were more seriously injured than you thought or that there was additional insurance coverage available to you. Before signing any paperwork from the insurance company to get a check, make sure that you understand what you are signing.

• Exaggerating your injuries Many people who are involved in accidents feel the need to exaggerate how badly hurt they are. Whether this is motivated by a desire to show how bad the accident was or to convince the insurer to give them more money, it is a horrible idea all the way around. Many issues in your case will turn on your credibility, and any time you can be sown to anything less than completely honest will only serve to hurt your case.

• Claiming wage losses that are not supported by your tax returns Insurance companies may ask to see your tax returns as part of your wage loss claim. If your claimed loss is well in excess of what your prior tax returns showed and cannot be explained away by a promotion or a raise, this sets off alarms at the insurance company and guarantees that all aspects of your case will be subject to a higher level of scrutiny. This is an acute problem with employees that are paid in cash, such as waiters. If your tax returns show that you make $400 a week and you are claiming $900 in wage loss, you are either exaggerating your wage loss claim or confessing to committing tax evasion. Neither is good, and jurors tend to hate people who cheat on their taxes.

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We hope that this information is useful to you. Following it will hopefully help you reach a successful resolution of your case – whether we work together or not.

Please feel free to call our office at (312) 263-1080 if you would like to discuss this information or your case further.

The Law Offices of
Barry G. Doyle, P.C.
5215 Old Orchard Road
Suite 710
Skokie, IL 60077
Phone: 312.263.1080
Fax: 312.263.0153

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