St. George Attorney: What Will my Attorney Do to Handle my Case?

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What Will my Attorney Do to Handle my Case?


Question: What will my attorney do to handle my case?

St. George Attorney Answer:

After you initially meet with your attorney and they become familiar with the case regarding your accident in St. George, Utah, your attorney will investigate your claim further. This means they will review:

  • Statements from witnesses
  • Police reports of the incident
  • Possibly a visit to the scene where the incident occured
  • Review of relevant statutory law (law passed by local legislature)
  • Review of relevant case law (laws interpreting statutory law)
  • Review of all reports from medical professionals
  • Review of all medical records
  • Possibly hiring an investigator to further research the details of the incident.

In addition, your lawyer will get in touch with the insurance company for the person or company that caused your injuries. Once your attorney has made this initial contact and investigation, he or she will keep in touch with you. Your lawyer will assist you in ensuring:

  • You are following the orders of your doctors and other medical professionals.
  • You are doing all you can to improve and heal from your injury.
  • You are giving your attorney copies of your medical records of all bills related to your injury.
  • You are keeping and providing records of any wages lost due to your injury.
  • You have records of any witnesses relevant to your claim.

Your St. George lawyer will obtain relevant medical records with the use of the authorization forms that are mentioned below.  He or she will then review the records that arrive from your medical practitioners and keep your case up to date.

To Help Your Lawyer with Your Case

The top priority for you in helping your case go smoothly is to make sure your lawyer has copies of your medical bills, expenses, and loss of wages in relations to your injury. These are additional things you can do to help:

  • Return phone calls from your attorney right away.
  • Read and respond to all messages from your attorney.
  • Attend all appointments with doctors and medical professionals.
  • Keep careful records of bills and lost wages related to the injury, as previously described.
  • Keep track of all witness that may be able to testify regarding the incident or your injuries.
  • Take any photographs that your lawyer asks you for, and keep careful record of these, including copies and negatives or digital files.
  • Communicate with your lawyer immediately if you have any change in contact information such as address, email address, or phone number. Also let your lawyer know if marital status or employment status changes, or if you have any dramatic change in your health.
  • Be candid and honest when answering any questions from your lawyer.
  • Review and sign all forms requested by your lawyer.

Why do I have to sign so many forms?

Your personal information cannot be released doctors, hospitals, your employer, or anyone else without your signed authorization.   It is against the law to release your personal information, medical and otherwise, to your lawyer or anyone else without the proper documentation, and that must be signed by you.  Your lawyer will ask you to sign all of the necessary forms so that he or she can obtain the records needed for your claim.

St. George Attorneys: How do I Keep Track of all my Bills?

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How Do I Keep Track of My Medical Bills?


Question: How do I keep track of all my bills?

St. George Attorney Answer:

It is very important to keep track of all of your medical bills after your injury from

your St. George, Utah car accident. Here is how to keep accurate records of your

bills:

  • Ask for a bill from each visit to a doctor or any medical treatment.

Keep a record of all of your bills from all of your medical visits, including doctors,

hospitals, physical therapists, chiropractors, or any other medical facility.

  • Keep all prescription bills and receipts.

Save copies of any charges from the pharmacy for any medicine that you buy due to

your injury.

  • Keep a chart or spreadsheet with all of your expenses related to the injury,

and make sure to keep track of dates as well.

Make a separate record with the dates of each medical treatment or prescription, as

well as the costs, including how the expense was paid (by you or by insurance). This

is very important because it allows you to have a detailed record of your injury

expenses all in one place. This will make it easier for your attorney to help you.

  • Get a copy of each medical bill, pharmacy bill, or other bill related to your St.

George injury to your attorney.

It is crucial that your attorney has copies of all medical bills, as well as your medical

bill chart or summary when your case is ready to be resolved. Whether or not your

lawyer receives copies of bills from your medical facilities, it is very important to

double check that he has all records so that you can receive the maximum value for

your injuries during your settlement. If your attorney is missing any bills or

records, your case may settle for much less than it is worth.

  • Maintain records of medical bills, even if your health insurance carrier pays

them.

If your health insurance carrier pays or processes some of your medical bills, you

must still keep records of all of the expenses paid, regardless of the payer. Keep

copies of the bills, and keep track on your expense chart or summary. Also provide

copies of these to your St. George attorney.

St. George Attorneys: How Do I Pay My Medical Bills?

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St. George Attorneys: How Do I Pay My Medical Bills?


Question: How do I pay my medical bills after a car accident?

St. George Attorney Answer: Paying medical bills after an auto accident can be tricky business. The bills will likely get paid by a variety of sources. Each source may have to wait to be paid back until the case is completely resolved.

  1. The first payer that will kick in with a Utah Car Accident is the PIP coverage on the vehicle you were in when the accident occurred. This coverage will be primary. Most drivers carry PIP coverage of $3,000 per person. That is the state minimum. Some insurance companies will sell up to $100,000 in PIP benefits.
  2. The second payer will typically be any other PIP policy that is available to stack. For example, if you are a passenger in a friend’s vehicle and the two of you are rear-ended. Your friend’s PIP would kick in first. Let’s say he had $3,000 in coverage, but you had $5,000 on your own auto insurance. Your own policy may allow a supplemental stack or a true stack. A supplemental stack would give you an added $2,000 in the above example, and a true stack would give you an added $5,000 on top of the $3,000 you already got from your friend’s policy.
  3. Health Insurance will kick in after PIP benefits have been paid. If you have three separate health insurance policies, the first to kick in will typically be the one paid for by your employer, then the one paid for by you, then one paid for by a family member if the policy applies to you. Health insurance is extremely important in these situations and it serves as a great benefit to the injured party. It is important to remember that your PIP benefits do not count toward your health insurance deductible.
  4. Your own personal funds if you were not insured and are able to pay medical bills as they are incurred. Injured parties will need some cash on hand to navigate through this process, particularly if they do not hire an attorney.

Question: How Do I Get Medical Treatment if I Don’t Have Any Money?

St. George Attorney Answer: It is important that you always inform your medical providers that you are seeing them because of injuries related to a car accident. Many doctors, hospitals, chiropractors, etc., will see you on what is called an Attorney Lien. Seeing you on a lien means that your provider will hold out their bill for payment until your case has been resolved. That way, you don’t have them sending you invoices every month. Doctors typically will not see you on a lien unless you have an attorney. This is because they want an experienced attorney to be able to analyze your case and tell them that they can treat you with confidence because they will eventually be paid.

Question: Why won’t the insurance company for the person who caused my injuries automatically pay my medical bills as they occur?

St. George Attorney Answer: Simply put, the law does not require them to do this. The law requires that the tortfeasor (the party responsible for your injuries) makes you whole. The insurance company seeks to do this in one lump sum. They want to wait until all of your treatment is complete before they pay a dime. This helps them in many ways. It pinches the injured victims financially and thereby forces them to incur less bills than they may have otherwise. It also give the insurance company an opportunity to analyze your case as a whole so they can attack it better. There are tons of different varieties of pitfalls that injured victims may fall in after an auto accident. In order to get maximum recovery, your recorded medical treatment needs to be nearly flawless. Only an experienced injury attorney can help you ensure that happens.

In summary, if you get to the right doctors, and you have an attorney that gets liens set up, you have good PIP coverage, and health insurance, the months following a car accident may not be so bad after all. However, missing any of those four key ingredients can make getting a fair recovery nearly impossible. If you hire McMullin Injury Law, our focus will be handling all of this nonsense. That way, your focus can be on getting back to optimal health.

St. George Attorneys: What Should I do After a Car Accident?

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St. George Attorneys: What Should I do After a Car Accident?

Question: What is the most important thing for me to do after my St. George, Utah car crash injury?

St. George Attorney Answer: The most important thing for you to do is simply to get better from your injuries caused by the car crash. There are many qualified healthcare providers throughout St. George, Cedar City, and Mesquite—schedule an appointment. Injured people are required by law to minimize their damages. What this means is the law requires you to do what is necessary in order for you to feel better physically and recover from your injuries. You should seek treatment to heal you injuries in a way that a reasonable person would. Reasonable people go to doctors when they are hurt or sick. If you need advice on finding the right St. George Chiropractor, Medical Doctor, Physical Therapist, Pain Management Clinic, Surgeon, or Licensed Massage Therapist, consult with your Attorney, we can get you to the right place.

You may have to follow all or several of the next steps:

  1. Do not miss any appointments with your care provider. Keep in touch with your physician and be certain you will be able to maintain your appointments. Use common courtesy, if you need to miss an appointment for any reason, call ahead. Having a “no show” on a doctor’s record can be used against you at the time of settlement or trial.
  2. Attend physical therapy sessions as prescribed by your doctor. Your doctor or hospital may recommend therapy to help you recover from your injuries. Such procedure is beneficial in many types of injuries including strains, sprains and other soft tissue injuries. Do not miss your appointments, not only will you slow your healing, but you will look unreliable to an insurance company and they will be less afraid of you. Once again, if you cannot make your appointment, make sure to call your doctor, but try to avoid cancellation as much as possible.
  3. Do what your physician tells you to do. If your doctor prescribes medications, therapy exercises, or gives you limitations on certain activities, be sure to follow your physician’s orders. When your doctor says one thing, but you say another, it looks bad. Insurance companies place a great deal of weight on the things your doctors say about your injuries. Going directly against your doctor’s orders makes you appear unreasonable.
  4. Follow your physician’s advice in respect to work and leisure activities. If your physician recommends you to rest, stay home from work, or avoid specific actives, it is crucial that you follow such recommendation. If you resist your physician’s advice and participate in activities that have been limited, it will only slow down the process of your recovery, and can also affect legal aspects of your case. As long as you can afford to miss out on some income in the short-term, it is crucial that you follow advice from your doctor so that your recovery will be enhanced. Your personal injury attorney will attempt to recover lost wages.

With regard to lost wages, if you do not feel well enough to work, or if you feel like your employment is aggravating your injuries, you need to inform your doctor. You will have much more success in finding recovery for lost wages if you have a doctor’s note detailing exactly why you cannot work, and for what time period. Once your doctor says that your injuries should no longer limit your work, you should return to work as soon as possible. Oftentimes an employer will be much more willing to grant you time off if your doctor has provided you with written documentation stating that some time off is necessary.

Andrew Spainhower attorney

St. George Utah Injury Lawyer

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St. George Utah Injury Lawyer

At McMullin Injury Law, we get it. Many people wonder why people seem to get so much money after a St. George Utah Car Accident? This video answers that question in a step-by-step process. If you have further questions about Utah Injury Law, or need to speak to an Injury Attorney in Southern Utah, call 435-673-9990 for a free consultation. We do everything we can to ensure those injured by the carelessness of other receive all the compensation they deserve.

S. Andrew Spainhower, Esq.

McMullin Injury Law

In Your Community. . . And On Your Side.