Honesty with Clients in Accident Case Evaluations

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Phil Chanfrau

Let's be honest with each other.  Clients do not know how good or bad their case is.  All they really know is what their lawyer tells them, and how hard their lawyer appears to be working for them. Personal injury lawyers compete for clients and sometimes the ones who hold out the highest promises get the client even though the case is weak or meritless.  In such cases the day of reckoning comes when the jury returns a Verdict much smaller than the client was led to expect, or is given a small offer at mediation. The result is an angry client who feels like his lawyer lied to him, and makes for bad feelings against the legal profession in general.

I do not believe it is in my client's best interest to candy coat their cases.  As I said in an earlier Blog I do not believe in Veterinary law:  my clients are human beings (not kitty cats or puppy dogs) and deserve to know what the law is and how it is likely to impact their futures.  They deserve to get candor, honesty, and hard work.  Not inflated evaluations, guesses and a legal mill.

It has been my experience that clients do not always want to hear the truth about their cases.  When that happens, they are sometimes in a state of denial and do not like it when their lawyer is "up front" about their cases.  They have the right to change lawyers and often do, thinking another lawyer who has higher expectations is likely to get a larger verdict or settlement. Lawyers owe a duty to their client to fight hard for their rights. Being candid about the real facts is a two edged sword:  on the one hand they can't make exorbitant promises, and then after the client is aboard, force the client to settle for peanuts.

So, when you are asking for an evaluation of your case, ask your lawyer what his experience with cases like yours has been, whether he has actually tried cases like yours and what the downside really is. You are paying for his advice and experience, not BS.

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Welcome to my blog

Posted on September 10, 2009 by Phil Chanfrau

You are reading my first blog post. I want to make some commitments so you will know what to expect. First, I am a plaintiff's personal injury trial attorney. I am proud to help the average Joes, the Bubbas, the crackers, the little guys. So my bias is definitely for them. I am prejudiced against Big Business and against Insurance companies. I am amazed so many of my clients in their first appointments often say, "I'm not the kind of person who sues, but..." You don't need to apologize anymore. I understand.

Some of my first couple of posts will discuss the basics of personal injury practice. Bread and butter stuff like:

* "How do we find out if there is any insurance without filing a lawsuit?"
* "Who pays if there is no insurance?"
* "Why does my own insurance company have to pay when I did not do anything wrong?"

I will keep my style plain and simple. No 25 cent words when a 5 cent word will do. I can write a memorandum of law but this is not the time or place for that.

I will provide crisp, no nonsense and cutting edge insight into current legal issues.There are thousands of great lawyers who BLOG. Sometimes I will refer to other legal blogs if they are entertaining, humorous, and informative. I will concentrate on Florida issues of law, but reserve the right to provide commentary on all significant current legal issues no matter where they occur or what they are about.

Sometimes I will comment on quirks of life. Things that are so strange that they cannot be made up. They remind us we are human, and stuff happens. If we weren't human mistakes would not happen. I'll explain the difference between negligence and accidents. For now, just know that the law allows a person who has been injured due to the negligence of another to recover his damages. But if it was just an accident, there is no payday.

And how big is the payday? That is always one of the important questions. I'll do my best to take the guessing off the table.

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