BIGGER DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN BETTER
Because I am probably still a teenager at heart, I admittedly giggled when I came up with the title of this blog post. But, it is most certainly appropriate given the gist of this post irrespective of my quasi juvenile nature.
The largest personal injury law firm in the country has taken root in Las Vegas. They are proud of their size, and that’s great! And, they are proud of their results as well they should be. The head of their litigation department is immensely talented and although I have never met him in person I have read his books and seen him lecture live.
The above said, as you know if you have visited my posts before I not infrequently take over cases from bigger (advertising) firms. Sometimes it is because they drop the case. It’s too much work. The fruit is not low hanging and that means work- more work than they want to put into that harvest. Sometimes it is because the client doesn’t want to feel like a number anymore. Their case isn’t getting the attention it deserves. Now, let me be transparent about this: Mistakes happen. Everyone makes them. Things slip through the cracks. But, how does a case that involves an impaired bus driver who hits a parked car sending all three occupants to the hospital get lost in the shuffle?
A little over a month ago three potential clients came into my office. They were being represented by another law firm (don’t ASK me who). A larger firm that advertises regularly. The three potential clients had been involved in a horrific crash- in fact in all of my years as a lawyer it is in the top five worst crashes I have seen.
All three went to the hospital. All three had over $100,000 in hospital bills alone. They were significantly injured. Now, it is not uncommon that cases like this can take time. Lots of time. But, this claim is against an entity that is a “political subdivision” of the state of Nevada. This means that the entity can only ever be liable (expect in rare circumstances that don’t apply here) for only $200,000 in damages. No matter how bad the injuries are, it is $200,000.
A claim where the injured person has over $100,000 in hospital bills, the driver that caused the crash was “allegedly” DUI, and the impact was so violent that there is no more back of my clients’ vehicle is worth $200,000 every time. It’s worth more. But, with a $200,000 cap there is no reason at all to delay getting the settlement demand out with the hospital records and bills alone.
Well, this larger firm didn’t seem to understand this. When my client called her then lawyer and asked why this was taking so long, the response was, well, let’s just say it showed a fundamental misunderstanding as to how a case like this should work. My clients were told it would take another three (3) to five (5) months before the case could start to be negotiated. I disagreed.
The clients decided they wanted us to handle the case. I had the settlement demands out the next day. I did (in no small part because my clients brough their hospital bills with them to our meeting). Thirty days later all three cases were settled each for the full $200,000 maximum allowed under the law.
So, why am I telling you this story? Is it to denigrate the firm the case came from? Not at all. Like I said we all mistakes, and we don’t know what we don’t know. Maybe this firm just didn’t know. Is it to belittle large firms? Nope. Not one bit. Large firms often to great work and have immense resources. The point of this post is this: Before immediately picking up the phone and calling someone whose name is on a Zamboni, or whose billboard photo is 10 years out of date, take some time to look around. Do your research. Maybe your best option is a smaller firm with fewer cases so that your case gets the attention it deserves. Maybe it is a larger firm because you just feel more comfortable with something, well, big. Either way, be an informed consumer and make a choice based on something a bit more substantive than size.