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7780 Westmoreland Drive
(On U.S. 41 by the Airport at the corner
of Westmoreland)
Sarasota, Florida 34243
(941) 358-5400
Fax (941) 358-5477
You
are sitting at a red light and from behind, you hear the
sound of tires squealing. As you turn to look, you feel
the jold of bending metal and breaking glass. Welcome to
your first day as an automobile crash victim. You may
feel OK today, but your body is probably in shock. Your
paraspinal muscles (the muscles that run up and down
your back next to your spine) haven't gone into spasm
yet. That spasm is the body's attempt to splint the
injured area. In a couple of days, when those muscles
have had a chance to lock up, you may feel like a
prisoner inside your own body. If you are lucky, it will
go away in a week or two. If you are not lucky, you may
be dealing with muscle stiffness, spasm and weakness for
months or years to come. This could be serious.
So why is it that so many people cannot refrain from
doing the one single thing that does the most to reduce
their chances of getting fair compensation for their
injuries? The first inclination of many people when
their cars are involved in a collision is to jump out of
the car and shout at the other driver. Some will
question the other driver's parentage. Others prefer to
ask rhetorical questions ("Who the @#$% do you think you
are?" " Where did you get your drivers license?" and the
ever-popular "Are you blind?")
No doubt, such behavior satisfies a primal need to make
ourselves feel better. However, (and there's no way to
put this too strongly) it is really stupid.
Think about this. The verdict value of cases is arrived
at by juries in mysterious ways, and never the same way
twice. A verdict is a compromise of the estimates of the
individual jurors about what a particular injury is
worth. Lawyers and insurance adjusters arrive at their
estimates of the settlement value of any given case by
guessing what a jury would do with it. So you can see
that putting a settlement value on a case involves
making an estimate of a compromise among a bunch of
estimates. As I said, it' s mysterious. But this much is
clear: One of the most important factors weighed by
jurors is which party they like better.
So, back to that outburst at the traffic light. If you
act in an abusive and tactless manner, it tells the jury
that you see the world as being all about you, and you
aren't inclined to worry about the other guy. Would you
want to give money to someone like that? After all, the
other guy didn't try to run into you, and he may be just
as hurt as you are. So what is the stupidest thing you
can do after someone runs into you? Making yourself feel
better at someone else's expense. Don't do it, no matter
how good it makes you feel.
Here's a tip to keep yourself from ruining your claim.
Be a nice guy. (or gal). And there are three important
words to remember when someone else's car runs into your
car. These words will make you look like a humanitarian.
Here are those three words:
"Are you OK?"
That's it. Go to the other driver and see if they are
hurt. The important thing is to act like the kind of
person that other people will want to reward. Remember
the man who threw his body onto the man who had fallen
onto the NY subway tracks? Didn't you wish you had a
spare million bucks to give that guy just for being such
a good person? Just think. If you were on a jury, you
might be in a position to give away a million bucks of
some insurance company's money. What could be better
than that?
Whether we like it or not, other people are always
judging us. Always being considerate would not only make
the world a better place, but would cause those people
to judge us more favorably. And immediately after an
auto crash, other people's judgments can have a cash
value, both positive and negative.
There is often no way to tell immediately whether a
crash will result in a temporary injury which will heal
itself, or a life-changing condition which may require
long-term therapy or even surgery. So whatever you do,
you don't want to do anything that will hurt your chance
for fair compensation for possible medication, medical
treatment, lost wages and out-of-pocket expense. If you
can remember to think of the other guy's welfare first,
you will be (or at least look like) a person deserving
of full compensation.
For 25 years, we have been telling clients that the guy
who ran into them is just like everyone else. We all
make mistakes. Just because he ran into you, that
doesn't mean he's a bad person. It doesn't even mean
he's a bad driver. He just made a mistake. Treat him
decently, and you will avoid a major obstacle to
recovering a fair amount for your injuries.
Think about it.
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