Below is a video featuring auto accident attorney Steven M. Gursten, partner of Michigan Auto Law. Gursten is a Michigan Lawyers Weekly Lawyer of the Year and president of the Motor Vehicle Trial Lawyers Association. He is discussing what usually happens to victims of car accidents and truck accidents at the hands of insurance companies, and why so many clients need help from the car accident lawyers at Michigan Auto Law.
Below is the video transcript:
Most of my clients come from other Michigan injury lawyers because of the nature of the cases themselves. But I’m not aware of another firm like that, where we really just hold ourselves out as we are going to try and accomplish the very best possible results for our clients year in and year out, and have other lawyers refer their cases to us. And that’s our strategy: That we want to be the very best we can be to help our clients, and then let other lawyers refer us cases. (The Michigan Auto Law Difference)
You have a world that’s run by insurance companies and by super computers. And who that lawyer is, and the record of settlements and verdicts that that lawyer has, actually can make an enormous difference on the final value of the settlement of that case. So I’ll give you an example. We’ve been very fortunate. In Michigan, in 7 of the past 10 years, we’ve had the largest trial verdict for either a car accident or a truck accident.
No one wakes up in the morning and says, “Gee I hope I get hit by a Coca Cola truck and make a lot of money.” People come to me because they don’t really have a choice. Through no fault of their own, their lives get altered, and the entire trajectory of their life gets changed. And then what happens is not only are they trying to get better because of their injuries and the healing process; you start having all of the additional stressors that get piled on top of these people when the insurance companies or the claims adjusters start playing games. And they almost always play games. Michigan is one of the few states without bad faith laws or punitive damages. So what we can say is that people on the whole get treated far worse by insurance companies in Michigan then they do in other states. So eventually what happens is after a couple weeks or a couple months, the claims adjuster probably has a note in the computer that pops up that says, “Try and find a way to stop paying these people their medical or their wage loss, or their medical bills.” And they start having problems with their insurance company. Or the truck that hit them is ignoring them, or doesn’t make any overtures to resolve the case. And meanwhile, (car accident victims) are sitting there in pain every day. And they don’t know if they can return back to work.
Eventually, these people through frustration of what they’re going through have to turn to and find a lawyer just to help them through, really the minefield of what has become litigation. And the good thing is (if there is any good thing about this), is that because this is all I do, I know where the mines are in that minefield. So I can guide people through that minefield quickly. And I can have them avoid the mines so that they don’t blow up; and help them so they’re not harming their case when the insurance company tries to play games and sends them to these cut-off doctors or starts playing with their wage loss or things that really tend to happen to almost every one.
What I can truly say is not only can I get my clients results that in many cases are faster, they’re also far more sizable than they would be if you had a generalist who was handling a run-of-the-mill, every once in a while auto case, or a once every three year truck accident case. This is all I do.
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If you’ve been injured in an auto accident and need help, call Michigan Auto Law at (800) 777-0028. Our auto accident attorneys can answer your questions free of charge.
For more information on steps to take following a car accident visit https://www.michiganautolaw.com/car-accident-lawyer/car-accident-checklist/
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