Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: Personal Injury Case

I feel he is dishonest. Should I cease contact with this lawyer? YES, BUT GET A NEW LAWYER FIRST.

How do I do that? Do I still have a chance of getting my bills paid if I cease contact? YES.

Do I even need a lawyer? YES.

Can this be settled in small claims court? MAYBE.

How do I get the insurance company to pay me what I am owed? CONSULT WITH A LAWYER.

Can I go back to the insurance company at this point and ask them if they are willing to pay my bills? YES, BUT THIS WOULD BE A MISTAKE WITHOUT LEGAL ADVICE.

Re: Personal Injury Case

Changing lawyers is easy, because the new lawyer will take care of replacing the old one. The only tricky part is finding a new lawyer, but that's not any harder than it was to find the first one. Shop around, ask a lot of questions, meet in person first, etc.

It does seem like your case is small, but "pumping up" the meds is not just dishonest-- it's risky. If the treatment is out of proportion to the severity of the accident, the claim is likely to be denied, and a lawsuit will have to be filed.

Once your case is in court, the other side might discover what your doctor said about not needing those extra tests, and jurors don't care for that sort of thing any more than insurance companies do. What happens if you get an award that doesn't include those extra bills? They will still be owing. Net result: you compete with the doctors for whatever money is recovered.

Your car was totalled, so the potential for real injury is obvious-- unless your car was only worth a few hundred! The pictures tell most of the story there. I would expect your bills to be higher, but a good lawyer won't be so desperate as to push a case beyond the breaking point trying to make it into something it isn't.

If you're serious about shopping for a new lawyer, you can visit my site at www.stone-molloy.com.