Joel Hamner, Attorney
Typically Tom and I use this column to respond to one of the many questions we receive from our readers each week. We appreciate every question and try to answer as many as we can. We view this article as a teaching opportunity and hope our readers have a better understanding of the law and how it affects their day to day lives.
Recently, I met with a couple who had hired one of these “turn your wreck into a check” attorneys and after listening to a few minutes of their story my blood was boiling and I was embarrassed for my profession. I was so angry, I suggested that this couple report this attorney and his firm to the Alabama State Bar.
In short, this very nice man had been injured in a wreck involving a commercial truck. Now most of the time we think of a commercial truck as a tractor trailer truck but that is not the only type of commercial vehicle. Delivery trucks, company vans, company trucks and cars, these are all commercial vehicles. In this case, the man had been struck by a delivery truck owned by a commercial heating and air company. He had suffered severe injuries and been hospitalized for several days. Furthermore, he had missed months of work and his injuries were permanent and he would never be the same again.
The reason the family wanted to talk to me was based on the “rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say. The family told me that after their case was settled, they were still receiving calls from collection agencies concerning unpaid medical bills. When I asked what the amount of the settlement was, to say I was shocked would be an understatement! The amount was so small, I thought that surely there had to be facts that I did not know. I then begin questioning whether suit had been filed, was any discovery undertaken, did their attorney take the truck drivers deposition, did their attorney ever learn of the policy limits of the insurance covering the delivery truck and if so did he disclose those limits to the family. As I suspected, the attorney never filed suit and simply settled with an insurance adjustor for a ridiculously small amount. Of course the attorney took his fee and left this family holding the bag.
It used to be that attorneys prided themselves on their trial skills. The older lawyers knew that in order to maximize the recovery for their clients, they had to be willing to file suit and “go to the mat” if it was required. A lawyer can only truly represent the best interests of his clients if he is absolutely willing to try their case before a jury. Insurance companies know which lawyers are willing to go to trial and those who will basically give a case away because they have never tried case and never will. The insurance companies’ offers of settlement reflect the attorney’s willingness to try a case. I was recently told that one of the well known television lawyers stated that he was not a trial lawyer but a “businessman with a law degree”! When hiring an attorney, ask how many cases like yours he has tried to a jury. Ask for proof of the successful cases he has tried and the amount of the jury verdict. Because like this unfortunate family learned, when hiring a personal injury attorney these days, you are not in Kansas anymore.
McCutcheon & Hamner, P.C.
2210 Helton Drive
Florence, Alabama 35630
Telephone: 256-764-0112
Facsimile: 256-349-2529
