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Need attorney for car accident


Tailgate

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Friend just called. His wife was in an accident that totaled her vehicle. Other driver was cited. She has a back injury and the other insurance is trying to get them to settle asap and they aren’t sure how serious it is yet. Any attorney recommendations would be helpful…unless there is a way for my buddy to handle it himself. Not sure what attorney fees are here and if a % is involved.

Appreciate any thoughts.

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23 minutes ago, Herbie Hancock said:

Unless your friend is looking to get fucked, and I’m not talking proper fucked, the last thing he needs to do is engage in battle with an insurance company that has an army of lawyers at their disposal.

Yeah, I know. The more I have had to deal with insurance the more I realize their MO is to decline anything possible and pay lowest. 

 

22 minutes ago, immamac said:

Yeah, this is why personal injury attorneys exist. City/county info useful. 

Thought about this and the percentage they would want. Not sure this case is that big. Maybe it's something an hour with a good attorney he can get some tactics to use himself. Happened in Austin.

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2 hours ago, Tailgate said:

Yeah, I know. The more I have had to deal with insurance the more I realize their MO is to decline anything possible and pay lowest. 

 

Thought about this and the percentage they would want. Not sure this case is that big. Maybe it's something an hour with a good attorney he can get some tactics to use himself. Happened in Austin.

There's a lawyer that rocks

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6 hours ago, Tailgate said:

Friend just called. His wife was in an accident that totaled her vehicle. Other driver was cited. She has a back injury and the other insurance is trying to get them to settle asap and they aren’t sure how serious it is yet. Any attorney recommendations would be helpful…unless there is a way for my buddy to handle it himself. Not sure what attorney fees are here and if a % is involved.

Appreciate any thoughts.

Personal injury firms generally don't take cases on an hourly basis. Contingent fees typically range from 33-45% depending on the case and how long it takes to resolve. The whole do it yourself thing with a bit of guidance isn't necessarily terrible, but can easily back fire.

Send me a PM if you want. 

 

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On 1/29/2025 at 3:47 PM, Dahobbs said:

Personal injury firms generally don't take cases on an hourly basis. Contingent fees typically range from 33-45% depending on the case and how long it takes to resolve. The whole do it yourself thing with a bit of guidance isn't necessarily terrible, but can easily back fire.

Send me a PM if you want. 

 

Aren't car wreck firms a little cheaper than that if they don't have to file suit?

Decades ago, the "multiples" In Dallas County, at least, that is what extra percentage over out-of-pocket medicals juries tended to award so insurers would come close to paying out pretty easily justified even a 33% contingency.  Meaning, for OP and others, if you could submit legit out-of-pocket medicals of X, a Dallas County jury would award 2x+ plus property damage.  So you'd still come out pretty far ahead with a skilled insurance negotiator from a PI firm.

It is my understanding that the multiples have narrowed, so that may be less true than it was.

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8 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Aren't car wreck firms a little cheaper than that if they don't have to file suit?

Decades ago, the "multiples" In Dallas County, at least, that is what extra percentage over out-of-pocket medicals juries tended to award so insurers would come close to paying out pretty easily justified even a 33% contingency.  Meaning, for OP and others, if you could submit legit out-of-pocket medicals of X, a Dallas County jury would award 2x+ plus property damage.  So you'd still come out pretty far ahead with a skilled insurance negotiator from a PI firm.

It is my understanding that the multiples have narrowed, so that may be less true than it was.

The general trend for PI firms has been to increase the contingent fee. We previously had 3 tier contracts with 1 rate for pre-trial, 1 rate for trial, and 1 rate if it goes on appeal. But, the reality is that it was often confusing for the client, and frankly a poor indicator of how much work had to go into the case. We've moved to a single rate for our cases. That said it is possible some of the firms that focus on volume car crash work still have lower rates. But I don't know of anyone going under 1/3rd contingency on a normal basis. I have had cases that resolve relatively quickly and recommended reducing the fee after the fact, but that is a voluntary reduction based upon the actual work and not guaranteed upfront. 

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29 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

The general trend for PI firms has been to increase the contingent fee. We previously had 3 tier contracts with 1 rate for pre-trial, 1 rate for trial, and 1 rate if it goes on appeal. But, the reality is that it was often confusing for the client, and frankly a poor indicator of how much work had to go into the case. We've moved to a single rate for our cases. That said it is possible some of the firms that focus on volume car crash work still have lower rates. But I don't know of anyone going under 1/3rd contingency on a normal basis. I have had cases that resolve relatively quickly and recommended reducing the fee after the fact, but that is a voluntary reduction based upon the actual work and not guaranteed upfront. 

Fair nough.  My knowledge of such things is outdated.  My law school roommate did insurance defense way back in the day that included a lot of car wreck cases.

And I knew Brian Loncar somewhat well outside of strictly professional settings and learned some of the business from him.  He may have been a schock jock, but from all of my interaction with him, he was a pretty authentic, sincere dude that cared about getting his clients their due. Then again, once you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.  He was definitely a volume shop and employed a lot of adjusters/former claims reps that he said were quite profitable and did good work for their clients.

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6 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Fair nough.  My knowledge of such things is outdated.  My law school roommate did insurance defense way back in the day that included a lot of car wreck cases.

And I knew Brian Loncar somewhat well outside of strictly professional settings and learned some of the business from him.  He may have been a schock jock, but from all of my interaction with him, he was a pretty authentic, sincere dude that cared about getting his clients their due. Then again, once you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.  He was definitely a volume shop and employed a lot of adjusters/former claims reps that he said were quite profitable and did good work for their clients.

I think you have recommended Jeff Rasansky in Dallas. I know Arthur (Butch) Schechter in Houston who is retired but his firm is still around (Schechter, Shaffer & Harris). Adam Pulaski in Houston is a good guy but it looks like he ratings are bad (Pulaski Kherkher). Same with Jeff Davis in San Antonio. Damn, I didn't know I knew so many. Anyway, it seems like the larger firms who advertise on TV and are kind of volume shops get lower ratings than the ones who are more hands on.

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if you have clear liability and actual injury, you might think you do not need an attorney.  But one of the things an attorney can give you is an analysis of the medical causation and if you need someone like an orthopedist or neurologist to prove your damages. 

If you go see a chiropractor for two or three months, there won’t be a huge issue with paying you something for pain and suffering and your medical care bills.   But your PI attorney will also get involved in your medical liens and trying to reduce medical bills so that you come out ahead with more money in your pocket.     Most PI attorneys work with medical clinics that do so much business with them, they can often cut their bill once the case settles if you need to.  The incentive to do that for a private self pay patient is practically nonexistent.

But you should consider that many physicians want nothing to do with lawsuits, nor do they have a particular interest in helping you with medical causation to prove your damages.  If you rely on your own medical insurance, you may get some really conservative doc that essentially throws you under the bus and says you don’t need an MRI or a specialist - and that your never had before accident back pain is due to you being old and having pre-existing conditions

In Louisiana, there are a few people who will take 20% on cases that are quick non-serious flips, or cases where they will pony up the policy limits immediately.    

The main thing is, there are a lot of moving parts in a personal injury matter, and if you don’t understand them and try to do it yourself, you could wind up completely screwed, or you could wind up fine.    But you might consider that every insurance company is hoping and praying that you do not get lawyered up.  Which should tell you something.

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I would also say this, if you have a catastrophic injury, and you go direct to the lawyer that is going to actually work up the case instead of through the billboard guys or case runners who just sign it up and refer it out to the guys who really work it up, you can often negotiate a lower rate than 40% or 45% that is common because you are cutting out the middleman.  Maybe 33%.  The trial guy makes more because he isn't paying 40 to 50% of his fee to the originating attorney.

Your case, thankfully, does not sound like one of those catastrophic cases (death, burn, TBI, amputation or paralysis).

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45 minutes ago, Frank Drebin said:

I would also say this, if you have a catastrophic injury, and you go direct to the lawyer that is going to actually work up the case instead of through the billboard guys or case runners who just sign it up and refer it out to the guys who really work it up, you can often negotiate a lower rate than 40% or 45% that is common because you are cutting out the middleman.  Maybe 33%.  The trial guy makes more because he isn't paying 40 to 50% of his fee to the originating attorney.

Your case, thankfully, does not sound like one of those catastrophic cases (death, burn, TBI, amputation or paralysis).

This is correct. 

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17 hours ago, Bevo said:

I think you have recommended Jeff Rasansky in Dallas. I know Arthur (Butch) Schechter in Houston who is retired but his firm is still around (Schechter, Shaffer & Harris). Adam Pulaski in Houston is a good guy but it looks like he ratings are bad (Pulaski Kherkher). Same with Jeff Davis in San Antonio. Damn, I didn't know I knew so many. Anyway, it seems like the larger firms who advertise on TV and are kind of volume shops get lower ratings than the ones who are more hands on.

To be clear, I knew Jeff some in undergrad.  He's a decent guy, seemed sharp.  I know very little about his practice or ethics or any of that.

However, I have found that most pretty decent, sharp people I have known that ultimately went to law school turned out to be sharp, decent attorneys.

It's the ones that might be some kind of savant, that is outwardly kind of meh, but maybe stacking grades in undergrad and law school that you may have to worry about.  Or not.

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1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

To be clear, I knew Jeff some in undergrad.

 

I assume you were an engineer, right? How did y'all cross paths? PM me if it is private. I know Jeff and Jerry although I haven't kept up with them.

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Just now, Bevo said:

 

I assume you were an engineer, right? How did y'all cross paths? PM me if it is private. I know Jeff and Jerry although I haven't kept up with them.

Think it was Texas Relays Student Committee.  If not that, something kind of similar. 

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13 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Think it was Texas Relays Student Committee.  If not that, something kind of similar. 

 

Ha, scared me for a minute - there was a guy who was a year or two older who was an engineer who had M&K speakers - and helped do the electrical for PatOs - and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he went to law school - and he would have known Jeff. It is interesting that we know the same people.

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