What have we told you that one phone call could potentially make you tens of thousands of dollars?

It is literally that simple, if you have a personal injury claim and don’t try to handle it yourself. Richard Griffin of the Griffin Law Firm is here to tell us about one man’s $70,000 mistake. What happened?

Well, he almost made a $70,000 mistake. Luckily, he called us.

Okay, good.

A University of Georgia student was on a motorcycle and driving on the campus, it was a beautiful day and someone pulled right out in front of him. He ended up being knocked to the ground, he broke his ankle, had a torn ligament, needed to have an ambulance, had to go to the emergency room, had to have surgery to fix a torn ligament, and then had to have a cast for a long period of time he had a lot of medical expenses. He was hoping to save some money, he tried to represent himself.

He called the adjuster, the adjuster said, “$30,000 is all we got.”

Now, if you get a $30,000 offer and you’re not being represented, then that should be the clue that it’s worth a whole lot more than that.

Really?

Yes, because normally offers for people who don’t have an attorney, [they’re] going to be small, $500 or a $1,000.

Well, he called us up, before he signed the release and before we settled the case. We ended up getting a sworn affidavit for coverage. (Which we always identify ALL the insurance.)

Turned out, it was a $50,000 policy.

The insurance adjuster said, “Oh, I just meant, $30,000 was all I could offer.”

The client was furious, because he said, “No, I was told that the policy limits, were $30,000.”

That would have been a $20,000 mistake.

Then, we got to tell him, “You have a policy that also covers it for another $50,000.”

That could have been a $70,000 mistake, if he had tried to save a little money and represent himself.

We had a case that I settled just last week for $100,000 and it was with a limited release. There was more insurance we were going to go after. They sent the check and on the check it said, “Full and final general release of all claims.” They were trying to wipe out the additional insurance on one that had an attorney.

It is very, very easy to make a mistake and it can cost you a lot.

We should talk about when something like that happens and you think, “Oh, I might not have any injuries.” You have no idea­ (and you end up having injuries) how many expenses you’re going to have that you haven’t thought of right when the accident happens. But, that’s what you know.

Right. Even on small cases you’re going to have (a lot of times) the lost wages. You’re going to have the medical expenses. You may not get the treatment you need because you’re afraid of the expense. That may mean that you don’t get physically better. It also means that it gives that adjuster that opening to say, “Hey, I don’t think you’re really hurt because you didn’t get that treatment.”

Calling 877-PAIN-LAW right from the beginning means that we can help you in so many ways.

There are also a lot of those secondary policies that are called UM (Uninsured or underinsured). They require written notice in their policy and if you don’t get that written notice out timely, (and each policy is different, on when that deadline is) you can lose that coverage altogether.

I imagine the deck is really stacked against you when you have an injury because the insurance companies know exactly how to… They might make an offer that sounds really great… If you would just make a call to YOU, you can get so much more.

That’s right. There’s so much to lose because injuries… Not only do you have the impact of your medical expenses, your lost wages, you also have those specific examples of how it impacted your life in a negative way. Maybe you weren’t able to exercise and spend time with your family or spend time at the park maybe it affected your job; maybe your injuries are so severe that it’s going to make it where you’re going to have to change jobs all together. You used to have a job that required physical lifting and now you’re going to have to get retrained. Well, that is something without an attorney you’ll never get paid for your future lost income.

Well, it’s something you don’t think about and that’s what you’re trained to do is to think about all the repercussions of what happens with a single accident. So, it’s just a phone call. It’s free.

There’s no retainer of any kind.

It’s a contingency fee contract. So that means you don’t pay anything unless we get you the settlement that you authorize. So it’s a win-win situation.

You’ve got nothing to lose with that phone call. Richard, thank you so much.

Don’t forget to get the help you need, contact the Griffin Law Firm. Call1-877-PAIN-LAW

You can also log on 877painlaw.com