Choosing the Right Lawyer is No ACCIDENT- A Personal Injury Guide - By Jeff Adelman (2025 Edition)

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Choosing the Right Lawyer is No Accidentsummarizes the care and treatment of the injury victim, and the lawyergives the insurance company an opportunity to make a reasonablesettlement. If the client can get the case resolved without having to file alawsuit, that’s good for them, good for the attorney, and good for theinsurance company.Unfortunately, as we know, such a resolution often does not happen. Ifthe demand letter doesn’t move negotiations further and they attorneycan’t get the case resolved, the next step is to draft a complaint and filea lawsuit.Jeff Adelman, B.C.S., Esq. 25
26Choosing the Right Lawyer is No AccidentTHE COMPLAINT: FILING A LAWSUITNobody should want to be involved in a lawsuit, but sometimes it’sunavoidable. However, just because a lawsuit is filed does not mean youare automatically going to trial. The vast majority of claims still settle,even if they are in lawsuit.Filing a lawsuit can move the process closer to conclusion, but whoeveryou hire as your personal injury attorney has to have the skills to navigatethe waters of litigation in the event that your claim must go all the wayto a jury.Once a Complaint (the lawsuit) is filed with the court, a Summons isissued in the name of the Defendant. Your attorney will then hire aProcess Server to physically hand the complaint (serve process) to theDefendant individual or registered agent of the corporation. It does nothave to actually be the Defendant. It can be their spouse, or anyone inthe house who is at least 15 years old. It sounds archaic in the 21stcentury, but it is still the way things are done.There may be situations where a person is hiding their whereabouts, orcannot be found, and there are ways of dealing with that as well such asservice of the Secretary of State. I’m not going to go into detail aboutthose situations in a layperson’s guide to personal injury law, but if youreally want to know, reach out to me.Once the Defendant is served with the complaint, they have 20 days tofile a response, referred to as an “Answer and Affirmative Defenses.”“Affirmative Defenses” provide reasons why a defendant thinks theyshould not have to pay, or should not have to pay as much. TheComplaint, Answer and Affirmative Defenses are called “Pleadings.”Once the Defendant has responded, the next step toward is “Discovery.”Side note: When your case is filed, you may have heard repeatedly fromyour attorney that they were dealing with State Farm, Allstate, GEICO,or another automobile insurance company. But when you look at theJeff Adelman, B.C.S., Esq.
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Page 4 and 5: DEDICATIONI dedicate this book to w
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Choosing the Right Lawyer is No ACCIDENT- A Personal Injury Guide - By Jeff Adelman (2025 Edition)

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