What would a caveman bring to meet with the lawyer?

Steve Lombardi

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 335

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The first topic I’m going to cover is one I see that many clients wonder about. They get ready for the first meeting with the lawyer and don’t know what to take with them to the lawyer’s first sit-down. Before I give you the answer let’s set it up with a discussion of what the client’s been doing before seeing the lawyer because many of you don’t come right in, rather you wait, and wait, and wait and then wait some more.

By the time most people get around to deciding it’s time to see a lawyer after being injured they’ve let weeks, months or maybe even a year go by. Some let almost two years go by and then decide in a panic that all this time they’ve needed a lawyer and then it’s “HELP!”. Usually we can help, but it’s not always easy after you’ve waited; so don’t wait, call a good lawyer and ask if you have a case and how to protect your case. But before making the call read this.

Why do you wait?

Most people wait to see a lawyer because they don’t want to be one of those people who just sue, you know like the lady did from McDonalds that was burnt by 180 degree coffee, you know the frivolous law suit. You see the idea behind the concept of the frivolous law suit was to make you hesitate in seeing a lawyer after you were injured. Because when you hesitate and let weeks, months or years pass by, evidence is slowly lost. And without evidence you can’t prove your case and that means you lose and the insurance industry wins. It really is that simple. (So simple that even a caveman knows it.)

You probably think I’m just another, what do adjusters call us, “blood sucking lawyers” trying to promote law suits. For today I’m going to let you make that assumption. Because it really is untrue and it really doesn’t matter what you think of lawyers. You see after you’re injured you need a lawyer and if you believe them and buy into the frivolous lawsuit mentality, they will win by default. And when they win that means, you guessed it, you just lost. It doesn't even matter how nice you are, even nice people lose cases by default.

Here I can prove to you that you are being fooled and made to look like a fool.

First, what do you think the judge will say after you’ve waited to see a lawyer whose job it is to gather to the evidence and your delay has allowed the insurance companies to destroy all the evidence? Do you think the judge is going to say, “Oh my you waited and didn’t run right in to see a lawyer. Congratulations you’re not one of those people filing frivolous lawsuits, so you win!” Not on your life honey, the Judge is going to say, “You should have seen a lawyer sooner; and because you have no evidence you lose.” And you’ll say, “That’s not fair!” Oh yeah it is fair, it’s the law.

Remember this point because even a caveman can.

Okay some of you remain skeptical of my explanation. I can tell because many of you are really persuaded by the whole frivolous lawsuit concept. It’s really a fiction of Madison Avenue and those making a ton or money off of your premium dollars but why believe me why not take the lead from the guy I think is the best at investing your premium dollars, Mr. Warren Buffett. Most of you will recognize his name, just as you do Coke and Jesus Christ, he’s that popular, but he’s also a great value investor. And guess what his main investment is? You guessed it, GEICO Insurance. Now you hear that little voice in your mind, the one saying, “No way!”, well it’s yes way. Read any investment book and they will tell you owning an insurance company is a cash cow; sort of like owning trailer parks. Like the renters in a trailer park the policy holders of auto insurance (you) send in that monthly premium check like clock work. And then all you need to do is invest what you don’t spend on claims. And that’s a lot of money, so much money that they don’t like talking about how much. But they love talking about what a good investment GEICO has been to Father Warren.

So much that even a caveman would want to own an insurance company.

Let’s use Warren Buffett once more. Warren is the top dog at Berkshire Hathaway, the most expensive stock you can buy. And no, stick to the subject, he’s not Jimmy Buffett’s dad.

What do you think Warren Buffett would do if your car crashed into his at a controlled intersection and you were driving? Do you think Mr. Buffett would stand around for a year worrying about people thinking he was filing a frivolous lawsuit? Let me go out on a limb here, probably not. From the crash he’d probably get on his cell phone, make an appointment with his legion of lawyers and have them send one of those groveling associates right over to the accident scene to take pictures of the car and accident scene. Yes, even in Nebraska they sue. Imagine that!

Do they refer to Warren Buffett's legion of lawyers as blood suckers? Probably not.

Back to the meeting; you should bring to the first lawyer meeting all the paper, photographs, medical bills, doctor’s excuses and every other piece of evidence that Warren would bring with him to see his lawyer. We all know that by the time most clients see a lawyer they’ve worked really-really hard at screwing up the case. They’ve given a statement to the insurance company adjuster, didn’t get any photographs of the damaged cars or the accident scene and talked ad infinitum to the adjuster who, like he was trained to do, has worked diligently to make you wait patiently so that most of the evidence to prove your case has been eliminated.

Even a Caveman Knows You Need Evidence to Prove a Legal Case

You adjusters right about now are probably flipping out, because I’m letting the secret out of the bag. Sorry ladies and gentlemen of the adjusting world. That’s life. You’ll all have to go back to adjusting-school to learn new tricks about how to maladjust cases. Or is it misadjust cases? Spell check doesn’t seem to like “maladjust”.

So back to Warren Buffett and his legion of lawyers who helped him win his not-so-frivolous law suit. After the collision those involved should take photos of the damaged cars; yes even the other guys. Open a file jacket and put into it your insurance card, a copy of your insurance policy, the insurance declaration page, photos of your damaged car, photos of the other guy’s damaged car, photos of the accident scene, doctor bills, business cards with the doctor’s contact information, doctor’s work excuses and releases, letters sent to you by the insurance adjusters, a copy of that statement you should never have given to the insurance company (we’ll save that for another day’s post), the car damage repair estimate, car rental bill, car storage and towing bills and any correspondence from anyone having to do with the collision/crash/accident or whatever else you want to call it. And yes, it’s certainly permissible to ask for a copy of whatever that friendly-now-not-so-friendly-later insurance adjuster has, like the recorded statement and photos of you car, etc.

Even a Caveman Can Adjust Claims

Question: What is Warren Buffett doing while you’re sitting there wringing your hands worrying about being the guy filing the frivolous lawsuit?

Answer: He’s probably counting the $37,000,000,000.00 he’s worth. That’s $37 Billion.

“Last year America's most beloved investor was the world's richest man. This year he has to settle for second place after losing $25 billion in 12 months. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway down 45% since last March. Injected billions of dollars into Goldman Sachs, GE in exchange for preferred stock last fall; propped up insurance firm Swiss Re in February with $2.6 billion infusion. Admits he made some "dumb" investment mistakes in 2008. Upbeat about America's future: "Our economic system has worked extraordinarily well over time.” See The World’s Billionaires, #2, Warren Buffett.

Follow this Injuryboard series on Being A Client; or as I like to call it, really dumb ideas that clients like to believe and that hurt their claim. Ideas that even a Caveman client doesn't believe.

The writers include: Wayne Parsons, Devon Glass, Mike Bryant, Rick Shapiro and Pierce Egerton.

Wayne Parsons started with the first post titled, I was in an automobile accident. What should I do? Ten Tips For Hawaii Drivers on September 14, 2009 - 3:59 AM EST.

Your Premium Dollars at Work – Heck even a caveman can do this.