We’d like to welcome you to this month’s issue of the Lawyers Stink E-mail Newsletter. As always, we hope that you are doing well and enjoying a lawyer free day (not an easy chore these days – and I do mean chore). With lawyers running all over the place looking for someone or somebody to sue, staying out of harms’ way and out of the cross hairs of a lawyer gunning for trouble is getting harder by the day. Which leads us to this month’s topic. Today we’re going to talk about an area of the law that personal injury lawyers have honed to a fine art form. That’s right, we’re going to address the combustible combination of car accidents and personal injury lawyers.

If you have ever been in a car accident, you know good and well what I’m talking about here. Once the police arrive on the scene (generally a while after the obligatory fifteen or so wreckers have already arrived), the officers will take the accident report. Other information is also included in the accident report, such as who was at fault and if anyone was injured in the car accident. This report is then filed of record at the police or sheriff’s department. If you were injured in the mishap, it should only take a few days for your mailbox to be stuffed with letters from personal injury lawyers looking to represent you.  

A friend of mine was only slightly injured in a car accident a while back and needed only a couple of aspirin to rid herself of a headache. However, to her amazement, in a few days her mailbox was stuffed full of letters from personal injury lawyers anxious to represent her over her “injuries”. Let’s look at a sampling of the letters:

           “Being injured in a traffic accident certainly is no fun. It
           can complicate many parts of your life.”

Like getting a money grubbing  lawyer involved in your life will make things a whole lot better. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Let’s continue.

           “And shortly after the collision, many important questions 
           arise: Should I give a statement to the insurance adjuster?
           How can I document the problems which the injury is
           causing me? How much would it costs me to obtain an
           attorney to represent me?”

OK, you better get ready, because here comes the clincher.

            “At our Law Firm there is no charge for the initial
            consultation. And when we represent an injured person for
            damages suffered in a car accident, there is no attorney’s
            fee paid until and unless we recover damages for our
            client. I hope your physical recovery from your injury is
            speedy and complete.”

Wasn’t that sweet? That lawyer didn’t even know who she was but sent this nice note hoping everything was OK. And as an added bonus, he was willing to throw in his services absolutely FREE! What a deal, Lucille.

Here’s another letter:

            “Police Department records indicate that you were
            recently involved in an automobile collision which appears
            to be someone else’s fault. These records also indicate
            that you may have been injured in that collision. By now,
            many questions may have come to mind.”

Like how do I get lawyers from bugging the heck out of me? Sorry again. Let’s continue.

           “Should I see a doctor? What about my lost income? What
           are my rights in this situation? Most individuals do not
           know the answers to these questions … remember, the
           insurance adjuster’s primary responsibility is to his
           company – not to you. I am available to advise you
           regarding your rights in this case. There is no charge for an
           initial consultation.”

What do these personal injury lawyer solicitations have in common? First of all, they want you to know that you may have been injured, as if you wouldn’t already know that fact. But there is also a subliminal message resonating throughout these cheesy solicitations as well, which says ‘if you are injured, you might get a nice stack of cash’. Even if you didn’t really have an injury, these letters may get some people to thinking, “You know, I do have a pain in my neck after all. And since it doesn’t cost me a dime, I think I’ll give that attorney a jingle.”

This scene is played and replayed thousands of times daily. Personal injury lawyers solicit clientele through these solicitation letters; along with their cheesy billboard advertisements (“Injured in a car accident? Call our injury hot line today.”) and equally cheesy yellow page ads (“Been injured in a car accident? Give us a call.”). Their message is simple and obviously plays well to the masses: “You’re a victim and you’re due compensation.” All you have to do is call the lawyer and a check will be in the mail. Cha-ching!

By the way, how did they get this information on this young lady’s accident? Police reports are filed at the police department and a number of personal injury lawyers have runners who research this information and provide it to the lawyers for a fee. It is readily apparent that using these so-called runners seem to work; otherwise the personal injury lawyers wouldn’t be sending out all of these personal injury solicitation letters. The personal injury lawyers simply play the numbers. They realize that other lawyers will also be sending out letters as well, so they hope to hit on their fair share of the ever growing personal injury pie.

Without a doubt, American drivers are banging into each other at a pretty impressive clip. Based on information collected by the Federal Highway Administration, there were an estimated 6,356,000 car accidents in the U.S. in 2000, resulting in approximately 3,200,000 injuries. That’s a whole lot of business for a whole lot of personal injury lawyers to be sure.

People with legitimate injuries is not and never will be an issue here. Deserving people who are due compensation for injuries suffered have every right to utilize the legal system for recourse. However, it should be noted that personal injury lawyers and their clients that exaggerate and even fake injuries to extort money from defendants and their insurance companies is a big time issue here.

Personal injury lawyers who play fast and loose with the law isn’t new, in fact there have been ambulance chasing lawyers around for decades. The trusty old hard to detect whiplash injury has made many a personal injury lawyer a nice chunk of change. But personal injury lawyers have taken solicitation to a dangerous new level and American is certainly the worst for it.

With television ads showing crazed lawyers screaming at the top of their prodigious lungs that they “will fight for you”, people seem to be sitting up and taking notice. Americans have become ticking litigation time bombs ready to go off at any minute. Little fender benders have now become lawsuit magnets, as opportunistic individuals and their complicit personal injury hacks look to take anyone and everyone to the cleaners. Insignificant car accidents can escalate into a very expensive proposition when personal injury lawyers are unleashed.

Come on, car accidents occur, that’s why they’re called accidents in the first place. But an immoral personal injury lawyer looking to extort money by any means possible can quickly make a mountain out of a mole hill, looking to shake out a cash settlement by filing a lawsuit. Lawyers know that nobody likes to get sued and everybody wants to get the mess over with as soon as possible. These tendencies play nicely into many a corrupt personal injury lawyers’ hands. In many instances, personal injury lawsuits are filed for the express purpose of getting the other side to toss them a bone to go away.

Irresponsible filing of frivolous lawsuits by irresponsible personal injury lawyers hurts all of us right where it counts – right in the pocketbooks. Because of this type of lawsuit abuse, we watch our insurance premiums continue to soar through the roof while we watch the personal injury lawyers laugh at us -- all the way to the bank.

Please drive very carefully and as always, we wish you a lawyer free day!

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