I got a call last week from someone who had hired an attorney to help them with their personal injury case. What happened to them saddened me – and it was caused by the attorney that was hired. This was an auto accident case in which the person’s vehicle was a total loss.
The attorney handling their injury claim refused to assist with the property damage claim. This is apparently more prevalent than I anticipated because the person informed me that they spoke with several law firms and none of them would assist with the property damage claim, but all of them were happy to help with the injury claim. The reason why? They don’t get paid on the property damage claim.
To be honest, helping a client with their property damage claim does not take up a ton of time and should be done as a courtesy. After all, these people are suffering from injuries and have to go to doctors visits, worry about work, paying bills, etc. The last thing someone injured in an accident should have to worry about is whether or not they are going to be treated fairly by an insurance company regarding their property damage.
Even though the injury claim for this person was already resolved and I knew I would not make any money, I decided that I was going to help them resolve their property damage claim. Guess how long it took me to help this person get the amount that was reasonable for their vehicle? Two days. The fact that the prior attorney could not be bothered to spend an extra two days to assist this person was baffling. It was not a complicated issue, they were just not being offered a proper amount for the total loss. It was resolved easily.
If you are injured in an accident and suffer property damage – here at Markwood Law, you will be given expert advice (for free) on how to handle that aspect of your claim and what you are entitled to recover from the insurance companies involved. Furthermore, if you hire us and we find out later on there is no bodily injury coverage, we will not drop you as a client until your property damage claim is resolved.
