Mistakes Lawyers Make in Massachusetts Injury Cases

      Number one, they don't provide information to their clients about their cases. They're inaccessible, they don't return their phone calls, they don't let their client know about his/her case. And they don't have anybody on their staff who is authorized or capable of letting the client know what's going on.

      They just don't communicate well.

      The first thing that our lawyers do that other people don't do is that I talk to the client. We conduct the initial interview and spend usually an hour and half with each client at the beginning. The client always has names of who to call on my staff if they have any questions, or if any problems come up.

      We tell them that if they have an emergency they can reach me 24 hours a day, either during office hours or calling my answering services after office hours.

      If we don't hear from somebody every two to three weeks I write them a letter. I say call us, let us know. We need to know what's going on.

      If something goes bad with their case and the lawyer must drop it because we can't get them any money, we tell them why I dropped it.

      Our lawyers simply try to communicate.

      The second most common mistake is that lawyers try to do personal injury as part of a general practice rather than concentrating on just personal injury. And that causes the personal injury cases to be neglected. Because with the emergencies that occur in a general practice every week, they're not able to invest the time in your personal injury cases that they should.

      And I'm telling you that that's exactly what happens. I've been there . . . and that's what happens.

      The third biggest mistake is that lawyers do not plan for the worst. Most lawyers are pollyannaish about their cases, believing that they'll be able to settle them rather than having to try them. And they don't do the things on the front end that need to have been done if you have to try a case.

      They don't investigate it, they don't get pictures of their client's injuries or of vehicles or equipment or location of where the injury took place. They don't identify, locate and interview witnesses. They don't investigate the actual mechanics of the injury. You have to go out and make sure that what the client tells you is possible. Then you have to determine if it was probable in cases where liability is in question by hiring an investigator or accident re constructionist.

      I'd say that the fourth mistake lawyers make is that they don't investigate and obtain records of prior injuries and/or prior medical treatment. This is important because that determines whether you have a claim for essentially a new injury or you have a claim for an injury that existed before the injury in question that made it worse.

      It's new versus what lawyers call aggravation of pre-existing condition. And that's critical because it's a trap for the client. Because if they present this as a new injury to their doctor or their specialist or their lawyer or the jury, and it turns out that it's an aggravation--it's something that was made worse by their injury--then they're going to get eaten up. Their credibility is going to be destroyed.

      On the other hand, if you're thorough at the beginning of the process, you can question the client. For example, you can say "Look, have you ever had any problems with your neck?" And so on.

      But lawyers take what their client tells them at face value, and then they and their client gets blown away. So I guess this comes back to they don't obtain enough information about prior injuries in the initial interview.

      A fifth mistake is not filing suit against everyone potentially liable, or failing to file suit and getting service within the applicable statue of limitations. At this time in Massachusetts, if you file suit but do not get service within 30 days you must refile.

      I think another mistake that many lawyers make is not being realistic with their client's as to the value of the claims. So there are a lot of clients that get disappointed with what they get. This is a failure of communication and preparation of the client as to the realistic value of the claim.

      In other words, they're not getting the straight story.

      A final common mistake lawyers make in PI cases is that they don't start them immediately. One way to compare the way most lawyers work on PI cases is to compare them with the way that adjusters for insurance companies work.

      An adjuster for an insurance company immediately goes and obtains pictures of the scene, and has telephone interviews with the injured party and any witnesses. They have a checklist and they do everything on the checklist as soon as possible. They do it because it's important to collect this information shortly after the accident while details are still fresh in everyone's mind

      Most lawyers put off doing the actual nitty gritty of the investigating of the case until just before trial. And that's why they get their ass kicked.