Personal Injury Articles

Everyday Accident Prevention – Slow Down and Use Common Sense

In your everyday life it’s important to use precautions that are available and are there to help protect you. Take your seatbelt, for example. Nobody should be driving, even to the store, without being sure that their seatbelt and those of their children are being properly used. Kids should not be allowed to put the shoulder harness behind their back. They need to keep their seatback straight up, as should you as an adult. Obviously, staying off your cell phone, not texting and doing other things that will distract you is also important. I don’t know how many times I’ve had clients come in where the person who hit them was adjusting the radio. Or doing something inside the car that diverted their attention from the road. The Speed limit is the limit. That is the most you should drive. But there are a thousand reasons to drive slower. Exercise common sense and slow down rather than drive the speed limit when there’s too much traffic, it’s raining, it’s foggy, it’s snowing or there are kids in the area. The law in West Virginia says adults must anticipate that children will act childishly. So if you see kids in the […]

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How are personal injury claims handled in the state of West Virginia?

Most top-of-the-line law firms begin with a thorough interview and meeting with the client. The client needs to understand what the lawyer can do for them, how they’re going to do it, how long its going to take and, last but not least, how much is it going to cost. We work on a contingency fee basis. That means, until we get our client’s money, they don’t owe us any money and if we are not successful in their case, then they don’t owe us any attorney fees. It’s that simple. Once the lawyer is in place you start the investigation. In a simple accident, that may only take a few days. In a complex trucking case or a complex coal-mining explosion or death case, it could be a few weeks or several weeks. Sometimes, if you’re waiting on the NTSB – the National Transportation Safety Board – the wait can be as much as six to nine months. The next step is the filing of a complaint. Sometimes an insurance company or major corporation will approach the Segal Law firm quickly and ask us to provide them with information. This is so they can make an early settlement to

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Head Injury Cases

Head injury cases are unique for lots of different reasons, but they’re unique mainly because you have to have experience and know what you’re looking for, and where are you going to find it? It’s as simple a question as saying, “Do you have a head injury?” A lot of head injuries aren’t visible with an x-ray and you can’t see them with an MRI. So, if you can’t, where do you turn? How do I know if I’m going to be able to go back to work? There are neuropsychologists that we work with very closely. They offer certain types of tests that will find subtle changes that even the victim might not recognize. Another thing that’s very important based upon your experience is to make sure the wife or the husband of the person who may have a head injury goes with them. Inevitably they’ve seen changes in the head injury person that even the victim doesn’t even realize. You also have to be pretty familiar with the new techniques of medical imaging. There are tools available that we didn’t have five years ago that take different types of pictures of your brain and actually show us where

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What Makes a Good Personal Injury Lawyer?

What makes a good personal injury lawyer? There’s and old story that illustrates exactly you need. A little boy walks up to the man carrying a violin case and says, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” And the old man looks at him and says, “Practice, practice, practice.” The most important quality of better personal injury lawyers is they actually try cases. They go to the courtroom with their client, they put the witnesses on the stand, and they go to the jury to get their client the justice they deserve. Actually practicing cases is the most important quality. Also, look for a lawyer who has a high level of compassion for their clients, to understand and walk in their shoes, because of the type of injury they’ve suffered, and what that is like. What is it like to live without a leg? What is it like to live with burn marks all over your upper torso and neck? You need to be able to crawl into the skin of your client and understand how their life has been forever permanently changed. You are trying to use your skill, your talent, and your experience, and your humanity, to help

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No Two Injury Settlements are the Same

Every injury settlement is unique. In each case, we gather as much information as possible from our clients but no two cases are alike so there isn’t any kind of average amount for a settlement. Some people may only miss a few days of work while others may never be able to work again. Some injuries though serious, will heal, though it may take one to two years to become pain-free or scar-free. But for many their scars will be visible for life just as the pain may exist the rest of their life. Cases are evaluated differently based on the type of injury. Obviously, the more serious the injury – such as paralysis and burns – due to the horrific and devastating injury. And many times the entire family is affected by the injury and it changes their lives as well. These cases can lead to a high settlement value. Any cases where a limb is amputated or multiple limbs are amputated – those are at the high end of the personal injury settlement scale. Also, how you are hurt affects what the settlement is likely to be worth. In aviation cases, normally, people know for several minutes that

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Is a Small Law Firm or a Large Law Firm Better for Injury Victims?

When you are injured in an accident, you might wonder if a large law firm or a small law firm is best for you. I’m sure both small and large law firms feel they are best for your needs, but for me personally, I have made a deliberate effort to keep my law firm small over the years. I did this for one important reason – because I believe someone who has been catastrophically injured or lost their life deserves personal attention. Having a small law firm makes it possible for me to familiarize myself with every single case in my office. I know who is working on it with me and what is happening at any given moment with that case. It is much easier to keep the client informed about their case and in fact, every single letter, no matter how small, is sent to our clients. An added benefit with a small firm is that it ensures the secretaries know our clients when they call. The lawyers know all of our clients and in the Segal Law Firm, each case is assigned to two lawyers, leaving me free to supervise each case. Some of the more complex

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Out of Pocket Costs When Filing a Personal Injury Claim

If someone is filing a personal injury claim, the question they most want to know is how much it will cost them to file that claim. The Segal Law Firm understands that when people come to us as the result of losing a loved one or a painful injury, this places them in a very dark time in their life. Many times an injury stops someone from working and this can mean money is very tight, and because of this, we advance costs to them and wait until settlement or jury verdict is awarded before we recover those costs. Filing fees are the same amount in all cases and those associated fees are referred to as “service fees,” depending on exactly how many companies need to be sued. For example, if you are hurt in a tractor-trailer accident, you would only sue the tractor-trailer company involved in your case. However, in a Mesothelioma case, depending on your job, hundreds of asbestos companies may need to be sued and this requires more money for those service fees. When settlement or jury verdict is reached, we explain these associated costs to our clients so they have a thorough understanding of what costs

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The Statute of Limitations for Injury or Diagnosis

Two years sounds like a lot of time, right? Well, it’s not when we’re talking about filing a personal injury lawsuit. If you have been seriously hurt or killed in an accident, generally speaking, you or your family have two years from the time of the accident to take action. Does that mean you should sit around and wait those two years before you call an attorney like The Segal Law Firm? Absolutely not. It will take most of that time to develop your case and make sure evidence isn’t destroyed. Call us right away so that we make sure you are on the right track to the money you deserve. This two year statute of limitation applies to any type of accident or diagnosis; motor vehicle, tractor trailer, workplace, coal mine or mesothelioma. But let me specify that this time frame only applies to adults. If you have a child who has been injured or diagnosed with a disease, the rules are a little bit different. One set of rules will apply to you and another will apply to your child. For instance, you may have five to ten years to file a case for your child, but all

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Avoiding the Stereotypical Attorney

There are lots of very fine attorneys in the state of West Virginia – very caring attorneys. You should hire an attorney the same way you would hire a doctor or dentist or someone who’s going to do any important job for you. First, you should research them on the internet. Look up their webpage. Google them. See what kind of cases they have handled, what awards, if any, they’ve been given and then Google and research that. One of the things I’m very careful about is that I don’t boast about or advertise awards that attorneys can buy. It’s a very dangerous procedure and misleading to people. It’s important when you walk in to a lawyers’ office and you see things on the wall, ask the lawyer. “Did you win that or did you pay for that?” If someone sees something in my office and it catches their eye, they should know that I won or earned the distinction. My certificate to the Inner Circle of Advocates is a good example. They should be perfectly comfortable saying, “Hey, did you pay to get in that organization?” And “what is their criteria? Because I’d like to know that.” And that’s

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The Most Commonly Asked Questions of Lawyers

Commonly Asked Questions The two most common questions we get asked when people come to the law firm and meet me for the first time, is first, do I have a case? And second, how am I going to pay you to handle my case? The first question is a rather complex question because it depends on how were you hurt. Who is responsible? Who’s doing the investigation? Is it AMSHA? OSHA? The police? Who’s looking into this and whom are we going to have to talk to see if you have a case? Here at the Segal Law Firm we handle cases on what’s called a “contingency fee basis.” It’s important that you get your contingency fee agreement in writing. Generally speaking, somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of whatever is recovered will pay the attorney’s fees. The range depends upon the complexity of your case, as well as the risk involved in the case and the type of experts that are going to be involved. Other questions to ask when evaluating a case include: Do they need a firm like the Segal Law Firm? Do they understand the contingency fee contract? We don’t get paid unless we make

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