Our approach to handling personal injury cases
Around our law office at Willis, Willis & Rizzi we talk frequently about servicing the client and it is truly the mission here! It means a lot to us when someone calls and they have never had an attorney before, they have never heard of our firm before but their brother or best friend or neighbor speaks highly of us.
That is what drives us.
It means the world to us when a case is resolved that the client feels that case was resolved to their satisfaction, that they were involved and understood the process during the entire case.
Who to talk to and who to avoid after an auto collision
If you have been injured in an auto collision it is important for you to talk to your insurance company as soon as possible. You actually have a legal obligation to your insurance company as a policy holder to communicate the situation to them including what is going on with your vehicle as well as what is going on with you.
It’s important to speak with your doctor if you have a primary care physician, they need to know that you were injured in a collision.
The issue that we often have is it is hard to distinguish who is calling you in the aftermath of a collision. Typically, your phone is being flooded with phone calls, including calls from the other drivers insurance company (and it is important to know when you should talk to them and when you should not – read further), but also a lot of marketing type calls from attorneys, law firms, chiropractors and from companies who have been employed by chiropractors and law firms to essentially try and grab your case and get you into their business model and get you signed to a contract.
So, you unfortunately need to be very savvy with who you talk to in the days following an auto collision, especially if you have been injured.
Dealing with medical providers after an auto collision
When you are contacted by medical providers for any of the billing that would start to come in after the collision, for example if you went to the emergency room or a medical specialist, or even your primary care doctor, there are questions about where they are going to send that medical bill. You want to be part of that conversation and provide the information you have regarding the collision. You want to make sure you are sharing with them your health insurance information, your auto insurance information, and any other insurance information that you have that pertains to the collision.
The reason why you want to do this is – if you don’t, oftentimes the medical provider will attempt to bill the wrong party, they won’t get paid, the bill may go to collections, and they end up blaming you because you failed to provide some piece of information.
Give yourself some time after an auto collision to make sure you are OK
You should avoid talking to the other party’s insurance company if you have been injured. What we typically see in a lot of these accident cases are people who know they weren’t hurt that this is just a property damage situation. And we have plenty of cases where there is clearly an injury and a hospitalization. But there is also a third category of cases where folks feel like they are a little sore, or a little hurt but they think it is minor and they will get better without any medical treatment. And sometimes they are right but sometimes that turns out not to be the case. We see situations where someone wants to avoid any medical treatment to avoid any medical bills – they are hurting but they think their body will heal on its own, but a week or two later they find out that is not the case.
If you find yourself in that position, give yourself some time. If you don’t want to treat right away, if it is not critical or a medical necessity, that is fine give yourself some time. The insurance companies want to try and get you settled and out of their lives as quickly as possible. To them, this is a time critical situation. It should not be to you; you should give yourself some time to make sure you are truly better or realize that you are not better, and you need to see your doctor and have medical treatment.
If you are not injured it is fine to talk to the insurance company of the other driver about getting your vehicle repaired.
