Choosing the Right Lawyer is No ACCIDENT- A Personal Injury Guide - By Jeff Adelman (2025 Edition)
If you are reading this, you likely have been injured as a result of a car accident or slipping or tripping on someone’s premises as a result of negligence. In the pages that follow, I will provide insight as to what you should expect from a lawyer (attorney) fighting on your behalf for personal injuries. This book is intended as a general guide if you are unfortunate to have had this happen to you. It has been with the least amount of “legalese” as possible, so you do not have to be a lawyer to understand it.
If you are reading this, you likely have been injured as a result of a car accident or slipping or tripping on someone’s premises as a result of negligence. In the pages that follow, I will provide insight as to what you should expect from a lawyer (attorney) fighting on your behalf for personal injuries. This book is intended as a general guide if you are unfortunate to have had this happen to you. It has been with the least amount of “legalese” as possible, so you do not have to be a lawyer to understand it.
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Choosing the Right Lawyer is No Accident
Plaintiff, their doctors, family members, and anyone else that can talk
about the impact on the injured person’s life. This is ONLY in
automobile negligence cases, but not in slip/trip and fall cases and other
negligence personal injury actions. Still, a doctor stating that a person
has a permanent injury from an incident carries significant weight with
a jury.
You may be thinking to yourself, “How the heck does someone calculate
those damages?” Truthfully, they are the hardest to explain to a jury.
There is no exact formula for calculating these damages. As the
instruction says, “There is no exact standard for measuring such
damage. The amount should be fair and just in the light of the
evidence.” Commonly, attorneys will make arguments asking for a
certain amount of money per day, per week or per year for having to
suffer with the pain and ailments caused by an individual or corporate
defendant’s negligence.
Economic Damages
These are the most straightforward damages to prove and for a jury to
understand. They are exact numbers. They are understandable. Jury
Instruction 501.2(b) is the first section concerning economic damages,
medical expenses.
This instruction asks the jurors to award what they believe is the
reasonable amount of money spent in the past for medical bills, and what
it will cost the person in medical bills in the future. Juries can look at
past medical bills to come up with opinions concerning future medical
care. They can also rely on expert witness doctor testimony from the
Plaintiff’s treating physicians or the defense medical doctors. They are
not to consider whether a person has health insurance in almost all
situations.
Section 501.2(c) deals with lost income/wages. To successfully make a
lost wages claim, the Plaintiff must have been employed at the time of
the accident. The attorney will want to look at your past tax returns to
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Jeff Adelman, B.C.S., Esq.
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