FAQs

If you have been injured, or if your family has suffered a catastrophic loss of life, you will have questions about hiring a lawyer. Following are some of the most common questions that arise in virtually every personal injury or wrongful death case.

» Do I need a lawyer?

» Isn't it wrong to get money for pain and suffering?

» Can I afford to hire an attorney?

» How long will it take you to get the money?

» How much money am I entitled to receive?

» How will I pay all these medical bills?

Also, read the "Top 10 Reasons to Hire an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney" (external link to USAToday.com)

Do I need a lawyer?

The answer depends on what you want. If you want to be sure that an insurance company adjuster is not taking advantage of you, if you want to receive all compensation to which you are legally entitled, or if you want to be sure that you repay your own insurance company only what it is legally entitled to be repaid, then you need a lawyer. It's like having cancer and asking, "Do I need a doctor?" Again, it depends on what you want.

If you want someone to go to jail, or if you want an apology from the at-fault person, you do not need a personal injury lawyer. Troy Marsh, whose practice concentrates on personal injury law, is trained to help his clients find and recover all damages (money) to which they are legally entitled. However, a personal injury lawyer cannot assist you in a criminal prosecution, and he cannot participate in a malicious lawsuit nor obtain an apology. Just as a doctor is trained to find and prescribe all available treatments that will help the injured person get well, a lawyer helps the injured person obtain compensation to become a "whole person" again. Without a lawyer, an injured person might not be aware of all the types of damages available to him or her and might settle the case for an amount far beneath its true value. For example, in Georgia, a person injured because of someone else's negligence is entitled to recover compensatory damages, the purpose of which is to compensate the injured person for his or her losses. Those losses may be "out-of-pocket" losses, such as medical bills and lost wages, and are called special damages. Those losses may also be pain and suffering losses, called general damages. In certain cases, an injured person might be entitled to another type of damages called punitive damages, the purpose of which is solely to punish and deter the wrongdoer
from repeating the behavior. Without a lawyer to assist you, you will probably never know what financial resources are available for compensation, and you will probably never know if you are being treated fairly by the insurance companies.

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Isn't it wrong to get money for pain and suffering? After all, money won't make the pain go away.

No, obtaining compensation in the form of money is not wrong. In fact, Georgia law specifically allows compensation for pain and suffering to be in the form of money. If this were a perfect world, compensation would mean that the injured person is returned to his or her condition just before the injury occurred. Of course, no one can turn back time, and no one can "uninjure" another. Money is neither designed nor intended to make the pain go away; but, the law treats pain like any other commodity, like furniture, apples, or automobiles, upon which a value can, and must, be placed. If a person negligently causes another to suffer pain, that pain has a value, and its value is measured in dollars.
The law intends for money to compensate the injured person, to replace the pain and suffering so as to make the injured a "whole person" again. It's sort of like asking and answering the question, "How much money would it take to make the injured person whole again?" There is no scientific formula for measuring how much money will make an injured person whole again, so determination of the amount is left to the enlightened conscience of an impartial jury.

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Can I afford to hire an attorney?

Troy Marsh, P.C. represents victims of personal injury on a contingent fee basis. That simply means that the attorney's fee is contingent, or dependent, upon someone or some insurance company paying the client money. If there is no recovery, there is no attorney's fee. Of course, expenses, such as copying costs, long distance telephone charges, court reporter fees, expert witness fees, and the like are separate from the attorney's fee and are usually advanced by the firm. If money is recovered from someone or an insurance company, these expenses are repaid from the client's portion of the money after attorney's fees are deducted at the conclusion of the case. If there is no recovery, the client remains responsible to repay the expenses to the firm.

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How long will it take you to get the money?

This is probably the most common question we receive. The answer, unfortunately, is not simple. Personal injury law has become very complex and specialized. One injury can result in a tort case, a workers' compensation case, a social security disability case, a short-term disability case, a long-term disability case, a medical payments insurance case, or a combination of two or more of these. Often, Medicare, Medicaid, or some first-party insurance carrier (like a group health plan or medical payments automobile insurance coverage) pay some or all of an injured person's medical expenses after an automobile wreck or other injury producing event. If money is recovered from the negligent person or his insurance company, both Medicare and Medicaid are legally entitled to be reimbursed for part or all of the money they paid. Many times a first-party insurer will claim a right of subrogation. The law regarding the right to reimbursement and subrogation is extremely technical and complex, and a lawyer's lack of experience dealing with these issues can result in the client ending up with little or nothing in his pocket. The amount of time it takes to resolve a personal injury claim depends on the following factors, which are present in every case, and other factors which will be unique to each individual case:

1. All of the factual details surrounding how, when, where and why the injury occurred in order to determine if there is any liability for the injury at all and, if so, to assess what defenses may be available and to estimate the degree of fault which may be assessed against the injured person, as well as the prospective defendant(s);

2. Whether it is a tort claim, a worker's compensation claim, or both;

3. The details of the injured person's medical history, both before and after the injury;

4. All medical expenses, including hospital, physician, drugs, therapy bills and other expenses incurred or expended to date for diagnosis and treatment, and all such expenses which may be incurred in the future;

5. All past and predicted future loss of income and loss of earning capacity arising from the injury;

6. All other past and projected monetary losses and expenditures arising from the injury;

7. How the injury has affected the injured person's ability to perform the various activities he engaged in before he was injured, including work, sports, social, household and recreational;

8. Whether the prospective defendant has insurance and, if so, how much; or if there is no insurance, information concerning the ability of the prospective defendant to pay;

9. The injured person's work history, marital status, educational history, and appearance, credibility and demeanor as a witness;

10. The capacity and willingness of the injured person to train for and perform other work, the cost of any such retraining and the income which might be earned after retraining;

11. The prospective defendant's appearance, credibility and demeanor as a witness;

12. The availability and credibility of both expert and non-expert witnesses on all liability and damage issues;

13. The law which would be applied to the case in the state(s) where it would or could be filed;

14. Whether the case could be filed in or removed to a federal court and, if so, which one(s);

15. A history of jury verdicts which have been rendered in similar cases in the court(s) where the case would be filed and a "feel" for how a jury in that jurisdiction would be likely to react to the case;

16. The anticipated expense of prosecuting the case through trial and possible appeal; and

17. Whether there are any aggravating circumstances which could give rise to a claim for punitive damages.

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How much money am I entitled to receive?

This is the second most popular question I receive. The value of any particular case depends on all 17 factors listed in the previous answer, plus the factors that will be unique to each individual case. Remember that if the injured person and the other party(ies) cannot agree on the value of your case, which includes general damages, special damages, and sometimes punitive damages, the injured person can have a jury trial (in most cases) and can ask the jury to award the amount of money he claims. The legal standard for the amount of general damages to award an injured victim is the enlightened conscience of an impartial jury. The legal standard for the amount of damages in a wrongful death of a person is the full value of the person's life, which includes economic and non-economic value. There is no "magic formula" for calculating the value of any particular case. Just because the last case settled for $5,000.00 does not mean the next case involving the same injury will settle for the same amount. Every case is different, and only a personal injury attorney can advise you of the strengths and weaknesses in your particular case so that you can decide whether and when to settle your case.

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How will I pay all these medical bills?

Many people mistakenly believe that if someone's negligence causes you to be injured, that other person's insurance company will pay your medical bills. That is not true. If you have been injured, you will likely have medical bills from physicians, hospitals, physical therapists, and other health care providers. Those bills will be in your name and will most likely be sent to your address. You are primarily responsible for paying your bills, regardless of the cause of your injuries. The at-fault person's liability insurance carrier is responsible for paying you reasonable compensation for the amount of your special damages, which includes medical bills, but that insurance carrier is not responsible for paying your doctors, hospitals, and other providers. It is your responsibility to make sure they are paid.

Injured victims have several resources for payment of their medical bills. First, if you paid a premium to your automobile insurance carrier for medical payments coverage, then you may submit your bills to that insurance carrier for payment. Your insurance carrier will only have to pay up to the limits of medical payments coverage.

Second, if you are insured under a private health insurance policy, such as an employer provided group health plan, you may submit your medical bills to that carrier for payment. That insurance carrier will only have to pay the percentage of the total bills for which you paid a premium.

Third, if you were injured in the scope and course of your employment, you may be entitled to submit your medical bills to the workers' compensation insurance carrier.

Fourth, if you have no medical payments coverage and no other health care insurance, and the at-fault party has no liability insurance coverage (uninsured), uninsured motorist insurance coverage may be available to pay your medical bills, but only if you or someone paid a premium for that coverage and only in certain circumstances.

Finally, you may pay your medical bills with money out of your own pocket.

Remember that if your insurance carrier pays some or all of your medical bills, you may be responsible to reimburse your carrier for some, or in some cases, all of the money it paid. Whether an insurance carrier is legally entitled to such reimbursement or subrogation is determined by applying complex state and federal law. An experienced attorney is often able to obtain a reduction, or perhaps a waiver, of the company's alleged right of reimbursement or subrogation, without litigation.

Recently, a client brought her daughter to me and told me of a horrible automobile wreck that left her daughter with permanent brain damage and partial paralysis. Her medical bills exceeded $135,000.00, and the mother's group health insurance plan had paid most of the bills. The at-fault party's liability insurance policy limits were only $100,000.00, not even enough to pay the medical bills. She had been to three other attorneys, none of whom specialized in personal injury law. Each of those lawyers told her that a lawsuit against the at-fault party would be a waste of time because even if she was awarded the $100,000.00 policy limits, the health insurance carrier would be entitled to the $100,000.00 as reimbursement for some of its payments. Being knowledgeable of the law regarding rights of reimbursement and subrogation, I was able to legally avoid the carrier's right of reimbursement, and my clients were rightfully allowed to keep the liability insurance proceeds.

If you fail to pay your medical bills, the doctor or hospital or other health care provider can turn your account over to a collection agency and/or file a lawsuit against you to recover the amount of your bill.

Immediate legal assistance can often help you prevent your unpaid bills from being turned over to a collection agency or a lawsuit being filed against you.

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