2010 March Archive

As a certified specialist in injury and wrongful death law by the State Bar of Arizona, I am very familiar with people who have suffered tragedy. Many of my clients suffered life changing tragedies, and I helped the families of those who have lost loved ones as a result of unexpected traumatic events. However, the constant string of pool drownings throughout the State of Arizona, from Flagstaff down to Phoenix down to Tucson and across the entire state, is overwhelming.

According to published reports, drowning is the number one cause of accidental death among children Age 1 to 4 years old. In fact, according to at least one study, other than motor vehicle accidents, the leading cause of accidental death in children from Ages 1 to 14 years old is drowning.

Sometimes, of course, these numbers mean very little to the individual family who suffers such a tragedy. And, realistically, filing a lawsuit or hiring a personal injury lawyer is the last thing on somebody’s mind at the moment they first learn of a drowning death or near drowning tragedy. However, many families begin to consider their options at some point thereafter. Many families seek to have some justice and hope to provide a deterrent so that other kids will not suffer the same fate. However, those families deserve honest answers to both the strengths or potential weaknesses of any such claim. Those people deserve a no cost evaluation with a skilled Phoenix child swimming accident lawyer to decide what options they have and what their time deadlines may be in pursuing such a case.

If you or anybody you know is trying to decide whether or not they want to pursue a claim or, in the alternative, have decided to pursue a claim but want to speak to an experienced and reputable Arizona personal injury lawyer, please feel free to contact us at Breyer Law Offices, P.C. You can count on honest, straight forward advice that will allow you to make an informed decision that is in the best interest of you and you entire family.

Very rarely will personal injury attorneys in Phoenix advise their clients or potential clients to give a recorded statement to the insurance company. In cases where a recorded statement may be appropriate, you should have your personal injury lawyer next to you in almost every situation.

Often, insurance companies will argue that a recorded statement is required. Yet there is no Arizona law that says an injury victim must make a recorded statement to the insurance company that caused the accident. This is more often a tactic that insurance companies use in an attempt to twist an injured person’s words, which they can later use against him or her.

I have often told people not to give a recorded statement. Some object, saying they are just going to tell the truth. We know that our clients will tell the truth, as they are required to by law. No good personal injury or other lawyer will be willing to work with you if you do not tell the truth. Yet those who have been in a serious accident that was not their fault should ask whether the insurance company will deal with them honestly, or whether they will find a way to use their words against them. One must ask oneself why, if all they want to do is know what happened in the accident, does the insurance company want a recorded statement. The insurance company could rather ask you to put it in writing. Finding out this way about an accident will not enable the insurance company to easily twist your words later, and will make it much less likely for an injured person to say something flippantly without thinking, something that can easily happen if under the influence of heavy painkillers. Those are just some of the disadvantages to giving recorded statements.

It is for these reasons that we strongly encourage anyone considering a personal injury claim not to make any sort of recorded statement or to have any direct communication with the insurance company without talking first with an experienced personal injury lawyer. You can consult an Arizona injury attorney, who will advise about your rights and guide you in the best way to pursue your personal injury claim. At Breyer Law Offices, P.C. we will readily take phone calls or answer e-mails for people with questions about a potential accident injury claim, and will offer an honest evaluation on the best way to move your personal injury claim forward so that you achieve the fairest result possible.

It is rarely enough to hire an aggressive Arizona auto accident attorney. Anyone lawyer can claim to be an aggressive personal injury attorney, even if they cannot back this claim up with ample experience or a long track record of winning personal injury trials. Some personal injury attorneys simply mask their lack of experience by labeling themselves as aggressive, without any proof that they have won, or even gone to trial, in any Arizona personal injury cases. The importance of having an experienced trial lawyer on your side in a Phoenix personal injury claim cannot be more emphasized.

One area in personal injury suits where a lawyer is most often needed is when it comes to reimbursement for lost income for a seriously injured individual.

The person who caused the personal injury is legally liable to pay for wages that an injured person would normally have earned had he or she been able to work. In fact, the person injured in an accident that was not their fault is entitled to complete restitution, which means every dollar that the injured person did not earn due to the injury should be reimbursed. In addition, the seriously injured person is also entitled to future wages lost due to the inability because of the injuries received in the accident to do work they once did.

Fully documenting all claims, including doctor’s notes that support lost income, past earnings and tax returns, vocational rehabilitation that can ascertain limitations from the injury, and economists to break down the total lost income are among those that experienced AZ personal injury and wrongful death attorneys call upon to determine lost wages.

For any questions you may have concerning considerable loss of wages claim or other questions about your rights in a personal injury lawsuit, please call us or e-mail us. We will discuss potential weaknesses and strengths for wage loss claims and help you plan the best route toward complete reimbursement of your lost income.

The best Tucson, Arizona automobile accident attorneys often must explain the anti-plaintiff bias found in many personal injury cases. So much disinformation has been spread concerning serious personal injury claims, that victims of serious injuries often have to battle against insurance propaganda that taints many jurors. Because of this, documenting every injury as soon as possible after the accident is imperative.

So often people do not follow up with their doctor about the pain they are feeling after a serious car accident, as they think they will just recover from it. Though we hope that any injury victim will recover fully from his or her injuries and not have to go to a specialist doctor or have their injuries documented further, top Arizona personal injury lawyers understand that if they do not do everything possible to treat their injuries, personal injury victims may later be accused of not having suffered the serious injuries they claim to have suffered. The real danger in not seeking thorough medical evaluations is that the injury may in fact be more serious than it appears.

For example, shoulder pain or discomfort is not unusual after a serious car accident, and usually such injuries heal on their own. However, it may happen that the reason the injured party tore a rotator cuff or suffered from a torn labrum after a car accident, and the failure to follow these injuries up by seeing a doctor immediately after the accident can cause an insurance company to delay or deny a claim and treatment for the injury.

That is why it is so important to document everything. Otherwise, the insurance company for the negligent party may try to deny compensation for which you are legally entitled to.

Should you be facing a situation such as those mentioned after a serious Phoenix car accident, we encourage you to seek treatment to improve your condition and to further document your personal injury. If you have missed such an opportunity and the insurance company is now trying to deny your claim, please contact us immediately. We can discuss the opportunities that may be present to help you prove that the injuries you incurred were due to the auto accident in question.

Would it surprise you to learn that the very best personal injury lawyer in Arizona is honest? Does it surprise you if you find out that the top ten auto accident lawyers in the State of Arizona are honest? Would it surprise you to learn that almost all of the very best, most respected, highest rated Arizona personal injury car accident attorneys are honest? Well, that is too bad. It is a shame that we have come to that point.

I believe that the best lawyers are inherently honest, particularly so with their clients. And, I think it is almost necessary for a lawyer to be considered the “best lawyer in Arizona” for them to be somebody who can tell their client the truth, whether that news they are providing is good, bad, or somewhere in between.

It is too easy for someone to be a “salesman” when talking to a potential client. Too easy to tell the client that they want to sign up and have as a new client what the person wants to hear.

I do not believe a top lawyer will do that.

We have a very strict policy in our office and we have from the beginning, we treat people as we would want to be treated. If there is a problem with a case I have, I expect my lawyer to tell me that honestly and in a straightforward way. Just like if there is something very good about my case, I expect my lawyer to be honest about that upfront instead of later claiming that it was surprise or something that the lawyer created through their work and effort.

If you want an injury personal Phoenix lawyer that will be honest with you, you are free to give us a call. However, if you are somebody that just wants to be told all of the “good news” without an honest and straightforward assessment of your claim, then you should probably look elsewhere. We did not build our reputation by being dishonest. We believe that any great lawyer will be honest with their client and explain the strengths of their personal injury case, and if there are any weaknesses will be straightforward and explain those at the outset so there are no surprises down the road.

As a certified specialist in injury and wrongful death litigation in Arizona, I am very experienced in helping people who have suffered serious injuries as a result of the negligence of another. Immediately after the injury is suffered, most personal injury victims are taken to the hospital. Very often this is done by either helicopter (air evacuation) or by ambulance. The documentation of the condition and the injury suffered begins right at the scene of an accident. The first responders will have notes of the condition that they observe for a new personal injury plaintiff. After that, the ambulance driver and/or air evacuation unit will have further notes. Upon arrival at the hospital, there is a new set of eyes and medical providers who are taking more notes. Within 45 minutes of a very serious accident, it is not unusual to have at least three different sets of notes and observations.

After that, the medical records grow and grow and grow. The reality is that medical providers are very busy. They do their best to document the medical condition somebody is in. However, medical records are very often inaccurate. That is due to any number of factors including, but not limited to, how busy the doctors may be, communication problems between the person who was injured and the doctors, doctors memory when they dictate notes after having seen many different people between the time they saw the injured plaintiff and the time that their notes were dictated, and a variety of other factors.

Overcoming errors in medical records can be very difficult because of the power of the written word and the faith people put into the medical charts. Therefore, having a Scottsdale personal injury lawyer who is experienced and going through all the medical records, and where necessary having a nurse or doctor review the chart for added scrutiny, and looking for things that will be consistent with the information that was accurate and favorable, as opposed to the mistake or miscommunication that got written down by one provider, is vital.

If you have any questions whatsoever about obtaining or handling a personal injury case and what to do about your medical records, please do not hesitate to give us a call at Breyer Law Offices, P.C. We are very happy to provide you honest insight into the effect any particular medical records may have upon your potential serious personal injury claim.

“If it isn’t written, it didn’t happen.” This is a statement that every personal injury claimant should be aware of. It is one we use around our office regularly. It is not true. Many things happen that are not written. Many other things happen in serious personal injury cases that are written, but they are written inaccurately.

Unfortunately, cases are not decided based upon the truth. They are not decided based upon the facts. Instead, cases are decided based upon “evidence.” Evidence may or may not be accurate, and it may or may not be an accurate reflection of the facts that actually happen.

Therefore, one thing to give very serious thought to, is keeping a diary. You should talk to any top personal injury Arizona lawyer that you hire prior to making this decision. There are risks in keeping a diary. They have to be kept not only accurately but kept in some sort of consistent manner dealing with the types of things that your lawyer may want you to deal with.

However, there can be advantage over not keeping a diary in many cases. If a case goes to trial, the jury will often be hearing about the severe effect on the plaintiff’s life from years earlier. The plaintiff can take the stand and explain all of the ways their life was affected because of the personal injury case and the injury from which it arose. However, being able to show the jury documented evidence of what they went through written back at the time they were going through it can be very powerful.

Like any other matter related to serious personal injury cases, find the best Phoenix injury attorney you can find and have a very serious discussion about whether or not keeping a diary or journal is a good idea for your case and, importantly, the best way to keep that journal to avoid somebody later twisting it and trying to use it against you.

Many people who are searching for a top auto accident lawyer in Phoenix think only in terms of finding the best lawyer they can for themselves. This is exactly what they ought to do. They ought to find a lawyer with the best credentials, with the right personality and demeanor, and the right spirit and sense of justice that fits the needs of the person who has only one chance to obtain justice. And, that is the reality – there is only one opportunity to obtain justice after a serious personal injury matter or for the family who has lost somebody in a wrongful death situation. Therefore, the focus is rightly on finding that top lawyer. However, some wonder whether or not a lawyer will always work for their client, regardless of what may happen.

Well, I can only speak from personal experience. Our clients fight to overcome the obstacles they have been presented and they deserve a fighter on their side. We will take a case all the way to trial, regardless of the odds that stand against us and regardless of the fact that others may “quit” on their clients. Justice, in and of itself, is worth the fight. Beyond that, any time a lawyer simply runs away from a fight and drops a case or just about “forces” their client to settle a case the insurance company and the insurance industry is watching. They know the lawyers that will fight, and they know the lawyers that don’t know their way around the courthouse.

However, there are rare circumstances where lawyers can-and should-“fire” their clients. If a client is dishonest with their lawyer and/or has not told the truth to medical providers, police, or other vital witnesses related to the personal injury case, they do not deserve a lawyer. The best lawyers stay committed to their clients from start to finish no matter what. People who do not have real claims and are simply trying to “work the system’ do not deserve lawyers, and those lawyers should immediately “fire the client” if that is every discovered.

Fortunately, in our experience, people who are trying to “get over” on the system are extremely rare. Most people are honest, straightforward people whose lives have been changed due to no fault of their own, and they want the best possible lawyer to fight for them and stand by their side.

What does the fictional, albeit revered, Rocky Balboa of the Rocky movies have in common with personal injury plaintiffs? A great deal, as it turns out.

Rocky is an older movie, so it is worth a quick refresher course. It may surprise anybody, based upon their memory of the movie with Rocky as a boxer, that there are any parallels that can be drawn between the seriously injured personal injury victim and somebody who is portrayed as a boxer. However, with just a slightly closer look at the themes of the movie and the real life experiences of those whose lives have been torn apart as a result of auto accidents or other personal injury claims, the similarities become readily apparent.

Rocky was down on his luck at the start of the movie. Similarly, most people who suffer life-changing serious personal injuries are experiencing what is usually the worst moments of their lives. However, what was great about Rocky was not that he won the fight. In fact, few recall the fact that in the first Rocky movie, Rocky actually lost. What was incredible was the fact that he fought to overcome his life circumstances and put himself in the best possible position.

Many people seem to believe that the seriously injured clients that we represent are somehow quitters. However, many people believe that the families who lose a loved one simply give up on life and file a lawsuit. That is so far from the truth that it would surprise almost everybody. The reality is that most people who suffer through these injuries show a level of courage and commitment to overcoming their obstacles that few could understand. These people are inspiring. The fact that they search for justice by hiring the best lawyer they can find at pursuing the truth and compensation does not in any way take away from the fight they are willing to undergo. In fact, it shows courage and a spirit that fits the struggle they almost always fight and some times are able to win.

The next time somebody reads about a personal injury lawsuit, perhaps they should consider the real life experiences of people whose lives have been destroyed by injuries they did not cause. Instead of looking at the lawsuit as some sort of “money grab” maybe they should consider the fact that in reality these are people who are go-getters, they almost never quit, and they fight to get better.

If you or anybody you know has suffered a serious personal injury and you want a Tucson personal injury lawyer who is represented many, many, many people who have fought to get better and kept a positive attitude but wanted someone to fight for justice, feel free to give us a call.

As an experienced Tucson personal injury lawyer, I have been approached in many, many cases by people who want to leave the lawyer they originally hired. Very often, the reason they want to leave the lawyer they hired is because they hired a lawyer that handles many different areas of the law and does not have a specific focus or expertise when it comes to personal injury. As a result of that lack of experience and expertise, the lawyer makes many mistakes along the way that can jeopardize the rights of the person that they represent.

A personal injury claim is unlike some other claims in the law. It is not an ongoing process that has no end. Hiring the wrong lawyer is not something that just affects somebody during the time they have that lawyer. Instead, hiring the wrong lawyer can have serious financial repercussions for somebody over the rest of their life.

Arizona personal injury cases are almost always settled on a “one time only” basis. In other words, there will only be one settlement. Therefore, hiring just any lawyer that may be in the neighborhood or may be in the same city- if it is not the best lawyer you can find that fits you and your case- can be a terrible mistake. Find a top lawyer. Find a lawyer that focuses entirely or almost entirely on personal injury law. If it makes you more comfortable, find a lawyer who has been certified as a specialist by the State Bar of Arizona in injury and wrongful death litigation, a lawyer who has met the credentials necessary and has proved themselves to judges, their adversaries, and their peers in order to allow them to achieve that designation.

However, hiring the best lawyer is more than just about finding the right credentials. It is about finding a lawyer who will be straightforward and honest and who fits your personal needs. Whether that personal injury Arizona lawyer is two blocks from your home, or on the other side of the state, it is worthwhile to find the best lawyer for you. Between email, faxes, phone calls, and through the mail, having the best lawyer is much more important than having the lawyer that just happens to be a little bit more convenient for you. This is not about picking up a quick lunch; this is about something that can affect the rest of your life.