Hobbs Distracted Driving Accident Attorney

Potential defendants are usually covered by insurance. The insurance companies are notified immediately when an accident occurs, and they usually hire attorneys and expert witnesses to investigate the claim. It is important that witnesses be interviewed as soon as possible and evidence be preserved. Witnesses will often be more difficult to locate or will have a poor memory if they are interviewed much later after the accident has occurred. Evidence such as machinery parts or skid marks on the highway will disappear unless preserved quickly. Insurance companies have insurance adjusters who will contact you and try to be friendly. You should not trust the statements that insurance adjusters make to you. They are not working for you and will sometimes make misleading statements in an effort to trick you into resolving your case. Insurance adjusters also might record your conversations with them and use your statements against you in order to try to save money for the insurance companies.

The main thing we try to impress upon people is that it’s never too early to talk to an attorney, and it’s always too late. By that we mean that speaking with an attorney very soon after a crash or other accident in no way will harm you. Along the same lines, the longer you try to handle a claim on your own or delay hiring competent counsel, irreparable damage can be done in the form of recorded statements given to the insurance companies and evidence not being preserved. There is no risk or fee for speaking with an attorney and arranging an initial consultation.

Very often when a person is in a traumatic accident, they don’t begin to feel pain for a day or two after the accident. This is because swelling and inflammation may not take place until sometime after the initial trauma. Often it is the inflammation that causes impingement on the nerves and pain. Sometimes the initial adrenaline and excitement from the accident can mask the pain as well. It is important to see the right kind of doctor that is accustomed to dealing with the kind of injuries that you have received. A lot of general practitioners and emergency room doctors are not really accustomed to treating the kind of trauma that is common in an automobile accident. We can make suggestions on doctors who are experienced in seeing automobile accident cases. Who you see as a doctor is up to you and there are certainly many doctors who are experienced in the area of trauma to choose from.

In Texas, the answer is yes. In most other states, including New Mexico, a lawyer cannot loan a client any money.

We regularly loan money to Texas clients (or clients with Texas cases) for lost wages, medical care, housing, transportation, and funeral expenses. If we don’t win your case, you don’t have to pay us back, and we never charge interest on loans to clients.

Learn more about loans from lawyers.

The answer to this question often depends upon your specific situation. In an automobile accident with fairly minor injuries, sometimes there is Personal Injury Protection insurance or “PIP” coverage that can help pay for your medical bills.

Other times your private health insurance will pay your medical bills. Once we settle your case, we may have to reimburse your private health insurance policy for medical expenses.

In other cases where our clients do not have health insurance, we can arrange medical treatment for our clients using a “letter of protection.” That means that we make an agreement with medical providers that if and when we make a recovery in your personal injury case, then we will pay the medical bills out of the settlement.

In some cases where our clients are unable to get medical treatment otherwise, our law firm will advance the cost of medical expenses in order to assist our client. Exactly how each medical expense is handled in each case will depend on the facts of each case and the circumstances of any potentially-available forms of insurance payment.

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An unfortunate and illegal practice in personal injury law is known as barratry, or more commonly referred to as ambulance chasing or case running. Lawyers and people who work for lawyers are prohibited from making unsolicited contact with potential clients in the form of in-person visits or telephone calls. Often times after a highly publicized accident where a potentially valuable claim exists, unethical lawyers will—either themselves or through someone they hire—attempt to contact the claimants or meet them at their homes or hospital rooms. Sometimes they pose as grief counselors, funeral home staff, or even healthcare providers like nurses.

Know that you have the right to refuse to talk to these people, and if possible, you should report them to the local authorities.

Learn more about barratry.