From the initial client contact to the end of a case, personal injury lawyers continuously reassess 2 factors:
1) Who is at fault? 2) What are your injuries? Together, these factors combine to form the value of your personal injury case. Prosecuting a personal injury case is costly, both in time and money. We front all expenses for most cases which means that if you lose, you owe us nothing. Therefore, we have to be choosy about cases we accept. We have to believe 3 things to take on the responsibility of becoming your personal injury lawyer:1) Your case is recognized by law Ex: “My doctor was very rude to me while I was in the hospital.” There is no law that prohibits rudeness, therefore we won't accept. 2) We can win Ex: You’re involved in a car accident in which you claim the other driver was going too fast. However, the other driver had the right of way and a witness states you were on your cell phone and did not look out the front window when you entered the intersection. Under these circumstances, we won't accept your case. 3) The value of your case warrants our time and expense A bruised knee with minimal medical treatment is not the same as a broken leg with surgery. Of course, everyone has a different definition of a “minor” injury. Sometimes, an injury does not immediately manifest itself or a person can’t understand how disabling the injury might become. Therefore, the personal injury attorneys at Lipkin & Apter encourage people injured in an accident to contact us. If we are not interested in your case, we’ll tell you. Sometimes we’ll hear you describe your personal injury case in a way that catches our attention but might not be obvious to you.“I didn’t feel I needed to go to the hospital from the accident scene and believed the pain going down my back into my legs would go away. It hasn’t.” Personal injury attorneys analyze cases on a fault-damage continuum. The greater the injury, the more risk will likely be acceptable. A whiplash injury with limited medical treatment does not have the same potential value as an injury requiring surgery and permanent disability. Potential reward justifies high risk. If we do not accept your personal injury case, it will be because of one or more of the three above factors. Keep in mind lawyers have different criteria for accepting or rejecting a case and may have a different perspective in analyzing the facts. If one firm turns you down, don’t be discouraged. Call another law firm and get a second opinion.