One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is making a statement to the at-fault drivers insurance. That’s a big no-no. You don’t want to make a statement to their insurance, because they’re trying to deflect liability from their client and lot of times they can twist around what you say.
You just don’t want to make a statement, because a lot of times people are really shaken up after the accident and they may have memory loss or they may not know exactly what happened. They may be confused and that’s just not a good state of mind to be in when you’re making a statement to the insurance company. That’s one of the big mistakes Chesterfield car accident attorneys see people make.
Another mistake is not getting enough treatment. A lot of times people don’t want to go to the doctor. They may think they don’t need to go to the doctor, though they may have serious injuries. They’re just stubborn. That’s a big problem, because if they’re not keeping a diary like you referred to or they’re not going to doctor, or if they don’t have any pictures of their injuries or the car damage, it becomes very challenging to prove up their pain and suffering if there is no record of it. That’s another obstacle that we have overcome a lot of times is the lack of treatment.
Those are probably the two biggest mistakes I see people make and I’m sure there are plenty of other ones, but those two are the biggest ones that come to mind.
Client Morale
Interviewer: You’ve worked with people for good amount of time. What have you observed about their attitudes or their state of mind when they meet with you? Are they generally hopeful or afraid? What sort of emotions have you dealt with as far as your client goes?
Kevin Roach: Most people, once they come into my office, typically want to take all this worry about their case and dealing with insurance companies off their plate and they want to just focus on getting back to work or focus on getting better. I see a sense of relief in people once I sit down with them and go through what I anticipate happening in their case and give them a basic understanding of the process.
I see that the people are really put at ease. We try to keep them in the loop as the case progresses so they feel like they’re involved in the case and they’re not calling us constantly wondering what’s going on. I see that with a lot of law firms where they don’t keep their client involved with the case and nobody wants to be kept in the dark. Everybody wants to know what’s going on even if it’s just an email or phone call once a week or once a month just to let them know what’s going on. That’s all it takes.
A lot of times they’re put at ease, so a lot of times people are initially really stressed out. We deal with a lot of spouses that are trying be the caretaker for their injured wife or injured husband and they’re trying to keep everything together and they just want some help. That’s one of the most satisfying things with our jobs as to be being able to help people out when they need it.
