Cellino & Barnes Injury Attorney’s...

​Have you read about Cellino & Barnes? It is a fascinating story about two partners that built an empire off personal injury claims against auto insurance companies and then couldn’t figure out how to work together. It was a national company that had to be disbanded state by state. Seems to me it would have been easier to just divided the states up and kept the company together. Cellino, you don't go past the Mississippi River and Barnes you stay on the west side! So, enough about that. If you want to read about a messy divorce click here: https://www.thecut.com/2017/12/the-cellino-and-barnes-law-firm-breakup-explained.html
This is a post about if you really need to call a personal injury attorney as soon as you have an auto accident? Will your auto insurance company just deny claims like the ads say? Why do they want you to call them first?
There are so many ads on TV and the radio now for law firms. Insurance companies must be really terrible people right? Well, here’s the deal. Insurance companies pay out billions of dollars on an annual basis and these law firms have decided they want in on the action. Guess who is paying for those ads? It’s you and me and your aunt Thelma and Uncle Tom and everyone else that pays for insurance. So, next time you catch yourself singing the catchy jingle, just remember that you are paying for it with your insurance premiums, so sing away you payed for it anyways!
Do you really need to get an attorney if you have a car accident? The truth is most of the time you don’t need an attorney. If you get a minor injury in an accident every insurance company has a special department dedicated to handling these injury claims. They will cover medical bills that your health insurance wont cover. They will pay lost wages if you can't work while recovering. If a death occurs the insurance company will almost automatically pay out the max liability limits. They will also pay pain and suffering if needed. It isn’t always easy figuring out if a claim is legit, but if you do have real losses the insurance companies will usually pay.
One coverage that is often neglected because people don’t understand it is your uninsured motorist/ under-insured motorist coverage.  What do these coverage's do? They pay you if you are injured by someone who either has no insurance or has limits lower than you carry.  Make sure those limits are enough to protect your lost wages for a year or more people. It’s really inexpensive so make sure you add it on if you don’t have it now.
So, why do these attorneys advertise? They make a lot of money and very rarely go to court. They want you to call them first so they can assess how much you might be able to make from an insurance company, and by you being able to get a payment it means they will be able to collect a share for representing you. All they need to do is get your hospital bills, how long you might miss work, and make a case for pain and suffering. They collect the information, talk to the insurance company and everyone gets paid. You just happen to be paying for this lawyer where you could cut out the middle man and still end up at the same place.
This post seems pretty anti attorney. Now, I’m not going to say that you may never need a lawyer. There are times and certain companies that will either deny a claim or pay out very little. Sometimes you need to sue a person separate from the insurance company. For example if someone is carrying the state minimum liability coverage 15 thousand a person 30 thousand per accident. Now, you get injured by them and can’t work for six months. Your claim against that person would probably be in excess of what the insurance company will pay. They will most likely write you a check for 15 thousand dollars. If you don’t have under-insured motorist on your policy you would then have to go after the person that hit you to collect more money. If they own a house, have assets you probably can collect enough to cover your losses. But, if they don’t have anything to sue for you might be out of luck.
My advice is always try to settle with the insurance company. Remember insurance is there to make you whole again. Meaning they aren’t there to make your life better than it was before the accident. But, they are there to pay for those lost wages, those medical bills and that pain and suffering. Your lawyer can pick up the phone and get them to settle, but so can you. And if you do it you won’t have to pay for the lawyer.
Call me today to discuss your limits and make sure your under-insured motorist coverage is where it needs to be. 951-395-0754 www.socalinsured.com