00:02 [Music]
00:14 welcome to the Auto Accident Attorneys
00:16 podcast brought to you by the Auto
00:18 Accident Attorneys Group where our motto
00:20 is simple We take care of you While
00:24 we're known for helping navigate the
00:26 aftermath of auto accidents this podcast
00:28 is about so much more Yes you'll find
00:31 helpful episodes on what to do after an
00:33 auto accident how to deal with insurance
00:35 adjusters and the tips for preventing
00:37 accidents in the first place But we
00:40 don't stop there This show is about
00:42 taking care of people in every way we
00:44 can That means talking about topics that
00:47 impact your everyday life from how to
00:49 safely prune trees in your yard to the
00:52 importance of adopting pets from local
00:54 shelters My puppy's not here right now
00:57 to show you but tune in for that episode
00:59 which is going to be amazing Each
01:02 episode is designed to offer thoughtful
01:04 often overlooked advice to help you stay
01:07 informed empowered and cared for whether
01:11 you're dealing with an accident or
01:12 simply trying to improve your life and
01:15 your community Because at the end of the
01:17 day taking care of you isn't something
01:20 we just say it's what we do And along
01:24 the lines of taking care of you today I
01:26 want to discuss something that people
01:28 don't often discuss when they're dealing
01:30 with auto accident attorneys auto
01:32 accident cases and claims issues or
01:36 settlements
01:38 the rare situation where a client
01:41 actually wants to accept a settlement
01:44 where we believe that value is left on
01:47 the table Our job as accident attorneys
01:51 is to recover compensatory damages I use
01:55 the word compensatory damages or words
01:57 compensatory damages a lot It's
01:59 compensatory It is meant to compensate I
02:03 think I threw in an extra N in there the
02:05 if we Google that definition real quick
02:09 Compensatory damages are monetary awards
02:12 in civil cases designed to compensate
02:15 the injured party for actual losses
02:18 caused by the defendant's
02:21 action Monetary awards in civil cases so
02:26 money in a civil case as opposed to a
02:29 criminal case designed to compensate the
02:33 injured party That's you That's our
02:35 client
02:37 rather for actual
02:40 losses These are provable
02:43 damages caused by the defendant That's
02:46 the at fault driver In the cases of auto
02:49 accident cases it's the at fault driver
02:51 In other cases it could be a landowner
02:54 could be a wrongdoer And when when I was
02:57 reviewing this monetary awards and civil
02:59 cases statement it reminded me of the OJ
03:02 Simpson case uh RIP or should we even
03:06 say RIP for OJ i don't know He did rush
03:08 for a metric ton of yards So he was a
03:14 hell of an athlete But if you guys
03:16 remember OJ was the defendant So
03:19 plaintiffs technically the people the
03:21 people of the state of California In
03:22 criminal
03:24 cases no individual brings a criminal
03:27 case forward It has to be brought
03:28 forward by the state So in criminal
03:31 cases you always see in criminal court
03:33 the people of the state of Georgia
03:36 Tennessee California In the OJ Simpson
03:38 case it was the people of the state of
03:41 California versus OJ Simpson
03:44 Orinthal James Simpson I don't remember
03:48 but it's the people versus OJ The people
03:52 the plaintiffs the injured That was not
03:56 just Nicole and uh was it Ron it wasn't
04:01 just the the victims It's the people of
04:02 the state of California They are the
04:04 injured technically That's why the
04:06 people are bringing the criminal case
04:09 forward They lost that
04:11 case However there was a civil case that
04:15 followed So
04:17 yes technically OJ won in criminal court
04:20 but he lost in civil
04:24 court and in civil court there are
04:28 monetary
04:29 damages So that's why he had to pay
04:32 That's how he went broke actually And he
04:34 ended up
04:35 um in jail a second time because if I'm
04:38 not mistaken he had to he was short on
04:40 money So he had gone to some show in
04:42 Vegas to re retrieve some items that
04:45 belong to him Uh I don't know We I'm I'm
04:47 going down a rabbit hole I don't need to
04:49 You guys uh maybe we'll have another
04:51 episode if there's any Uh Alex
04:55 Kazerian criminal defense attorney out
04:57 in California that I went to law school
04:58 with Maybe if you want to come on the
04:60 show we can discuss the OJ Simpson case
05:02 You could be I'd love to have you as a
05:04 guest If you guys don't know Alex go
05:06 ahead and Google her follow her on on
05:09 Instagram She's got great social media
05:11 content As a reminder don't forget to
05:13 follow me attorney Ali on all social
05:16 media platforms But I digress So after
05:20 auto accident cases we're trying to
05:23 retrieve compensatory damages for our
05:24 clients The that monetary award that's
05:27 supposed to put our client back in the
05:31 position that they were in prior to the
05:33 accident or as close to that position as
05:35 possible As a matter of fact the
05:37 definition here says compensatory
05:40 damages aim to restore the plaintiff to
05:44 the position they would have been in had
05:47 the harm not occurred covering both
05:50 tangible and intangible losses Tangible
05:52 losses being those that are calculable
05:55 things that have a receipt um durable
05:57 goods like a a cane a neck brace
06:01 hospital bill ambulance bill those are
06:04 tangible Intangible is that pain and
06:07 suffering that you hear everyone talk
06:09 about on the TV commercials or general
06:13 damages is what attorneys refer to The
06:15 topic of today's conversation
06:18 is there are times where we will
06:22 negotiate a claim on behalf of a
06:26 client and the other side the defense
06:30 puts up a dollar figure and for one
06:33 reason or another the client wants to
06:36 take it We believe that it is not the
06:41 true compensatory value That's such a
06:44 subjective thing to determine because
06:48 $10 may mean
06:50 something to
06:52 someone and something completely
06:54 different to someone else That's a very
06:56 small example of putting it When I say
06:58 that as attorneys we believe that the
07:01 compensatory damages are not adequate
07:03 it's based
07:04 on historical data prior cases we've had
07:08 with similarly situated plaintiffs with
07:11 similar injuries in similar
07:13 jurisdictions because depending on the
07:15 jurisdiction the value of a case could
07:17 vary greatly You could have a really
07:20 sympathetic jur jury in one jurisdiction
07:23 and you could have a super conservative
07:26 jury in another who doesn't believe that
07:28 anyone should get paid out for suffering
07:32 a loss of any sort So based on our
07:35 historical data and our advice we might
07:38 think that we need to continue
07:42 negotiations or push this case further
07:45 along in the litigation process or maybe
07:47 even go to trial but the client doesn't
07:50 want to The client wants to settle The
07:52 client needs that money right then and
07:55 there It doesn't happen often It's
07:57 probably less than 10% of all cases I've
07:59 ever seen this come up But I have had to
08:02 deal with it on both small cases and
08:04 very large cases actually And either way
08:07 it it I never feel great about the
08:10 settlement until I get I obviously
08:13 always have conversations with the
08:14 client but then I get the client to put
08:17 that in writing their instruction for us
08:20 to settle the case I will draft a memo
08:23 and I will have their signature on it
08:25 and I disclose all of the things that I
08:28 believe they are leaving on the table by
08:30 settling the
08:32 case What do you do with that though the
08:35 way I see it is that we are nothing more
08:38 than advocates for the clients From the
08:41 moment a client retains our firm every
08:46 single person that works in this office
08:47 steps into the client's shoes So the
08:51 only thing we can do
08:53 is behave and act and conduct ourselves
08:57 as if we're the client If you as the
08:60 client if if you're going
09:02 to undertake some sort of action you're
09:05 going to act in your own best interest
09:08 That's what we have to do That is what
09:10 we
09:11 do The conflict comes up
09:13 when we have stepped into the client's
09:16 shoes and we believe that it is in our
09:17 best interest to continue
09:19 We believe that we're leaving money on
09:21 the table We believe that this client is
09:23 going to incur future expenses that they
09:27 are not taking into consideration right
09:30 now because right now they have some
09:32 sort of life situation that they need to
09:35 deal with where they need money
09:37 immediately I say conflict
09:40 because we're trying to act in the best
09:42 interest of the client but the client
09:43 wants something else So the only thing
09:46 we can really do and I believe it's it's
09:48 the best solution I've come up with is
09:50 that we have really meaningful
09:53 conversations with with our clients in
09:55 this situation We let them know what we
09:58 believe the value should be how much
10:00 they're possibly leaving on the table We
10:02 discuss based
10:04 on other clients or other injuries other
10:07 cases that we've had what we see people
10:10 having to deal with in the future and
10:12 those costs that come up in the
10:14 future And it turns out there's like a
10:18 50/50
10:20 split
10:22 sometimes Actually I guess it's more
10:24 like 60/40 More often than not the
10:27 client understands and they sign off on
10:29 the documents and they want us to go
10:31 ahead and close the case because they
10:33 just can't wait In a minority of
10:35 situations where we believe that there
10:37 is a huge disparity in the current
10:41 settlement value that is being offered
10:43 and what we believe the true damages are
10:46 in a case we actually end up using a
10:50 settlement advance company
10:52 There are a ton of great people in that
10:54 industry and they're good people Some of
10:57 them are friends of mine They come and
10:59 stop by at the office So if you happen
11:02 to be listening this isn't to disparrage
11:05 you in any way but honestly I hate
11:08 settlement advances It's not technically
11:11 usery because there's no personal
11:13 guarantee When you go to the bank and
11:16 you borrow money you get a loan you have
11:19 a personal guarantee So if something
11:22 happens and you have a hard time paying
11:25 that loan back you have a personal
11:27 guarantee that debt is going to follow
11:29 you around Uh if you've got assets that
11:32 the bank can take your assets a
11:34 settlement advance does not have a
11:36 personal guarantee and that's why it's
11:39 technically not usery but the interest
11:41 rates are very high The reason the
11:43 interest rates are high are because of
11:47 the fact that there is no personal
11:48 guarantee The only guarantee is the case
11:51 itself So if that case is lost that
11:54 settlement advance is gone They can not
11:58 pursue the
11:59 client for paying repaying the money
12:03 that they got as a settlement advance
12:05 It's a necessary
12:07 solution in a minority of
12:10 cases It re it definitely belongs Now I
12:14 do know some firms use that as a
12:17 marketing tactic to get cash into
12:19 people's pockets upfront and a little
12:21 bit of cash you know a couple hundred
12:24 bucks but by the time it's the case is
12:26 settled they're paying back double what
12:28 it is that they borrowed And I think
12:30 that it's uh not good practice That's
12:32 not what settlement advances are good
12:34 for Settlement advances are really good
12:36 for the particular situation I'm
12:37 discussing right now where the client is
12:40 really hard up They need to get through
12:42 let's call it the next eight months of
12:44 life They want to settle their case
12:46 because of that because of their
12:48 financial
12:49 problems We can set them up with a
12:52 settlement advance and move the case
12:54 forward And hopefully when we get to a
12:57 verdict or if we get a settlement amount
13:00 before we get to a trial it is
13:03 exponentially higher than what they
13:06 would have settled it for so that once
13:08 the settlement advanced loans are paid
13:10 back with interest they have that little
13:13 nest egg that they really did deserve
13:15 for the injury It's a situation that
13:18 doesn't come up that often but it still
13:21 is something that we have to deal with
13:24 And I don't know if our listeners have
13:26 ever considered uh the fact that that
13:29 situation exists Usually what you you
13:31 hear about mostly is
13:33 um in in during cocktail conversations
13:37 or or social settings you hear about
13:39 people that have been in auto accidents
13:40 and they're like "Oh my attorney didn't
13:41 settle it for a high enough or I got
13:44 ripped off or they they they weren't
13:46 aggressive enough The number was too
13:48 low." You rarely hear people talking
13:50 about how their attorney didn't want
13:52 them to settle and they they actually
13:55 forced the attorney's hand to settle but
13:58 it happens It happens and I I understand
14:02 why it happens and the reason I'm
14:04 creating this content right now is
14:05 because maybe if somebody is in this
14:07 situation in the future you have this
14:10 information in the back of your head So
14:12 you kind of
14:13 consider to think about the long term
14:16 Listen to your attorneys Assuming you've
14:17 got competent attorneys as your counsel
14:21 and they're helping you through a case
14:22 if they're telling you that it's too
14:25 soon to settle you should really heed
14:27 that advice
14:29 Um even if attorneys aren't benevolent
14:33 as long as they are plaintiff's
14:35 attorneys working on contingent
14:37 contingency
14:38 fees their interests are aligned with
14:41 your interest
14:42 because if an attorney is earning a
14:44 contingency fee it's always a percentage
14:47 So it's only a slice of the whole pie So
14:50 the attorney's motivation is to make
14:53 sure that the pie is as large as
14:56 possible so that that attorney's
14:59 percentage or that the attorney's slice
15:01 is a larger slice If it's a bigger pie
15:04 it's a bigger
15:05 slice Heed the advice of competent
15:09 counsel If you're dealing with an
15:12 attorney that's pushing you to settle
15:14 though and uh there there there's still
15:17 money on the table you believe there's
15:18 money on the table that's a different
15:20 conversation altogether Um I will say in
15:25 defense of some attorneys that might be
15:28 doing that it could be a true situation
15:30 where there really is no additional
15:33 value or at least in their opinion in
15:37 their objective reasonable opinion
15:41 There's no additional value left to be
15:43 had on that case And it's actually
15:46 beneficial to go ahead and settle
15:48 Talking about personal anecdotes we had
15:50 a case that uh we believed we we got a
15:54 great it wasn't massive It didn't crack
15:56 six figures but it was a minor accident
16:01 Uh let's say moderate accident because I
16:02 don't want to diminish our our client's
16:04 injuries Uh it was a minor property
16:08 damage accident with moderate injuries
16:11 It wasn't six figures but we got close
16:13 Uh I believe that we actually had gotten
16:16 negotiated a figure that was not only
16:19 reasonable but probably abundantly fair
16:22 and I attribute our staff and attorneys
16:26 here at the office for doing that The
16:29 client didn't want to settle but the
16:31 client was only thinking the converse of
16:34 what I was talking about earlier where
16:35 their a client is in a situation where
16:37 they need money now Uh this person also
16:39 needed money They didn't need it right
16:42 now but they had this figure They wanted
16:44 a payoff They wanted their mortgage paid
16:47 off So in their mind they had tied this
16:50 settlement to something completely
16:53 unrelated to the
16:55 accident Now just like how we have to
16:59 listen when the client doesn't want to
17:02 continue litigation if the client
17:05 doesn't want to settle we have to file I
17:08 say we have to file we can terminate the
17:12 attorney client relationship but we just
17:15 don't operate that way Uh we will
17:17 disclose that we don't think that this
17:19 should go into litigation And again just
17:22 like how uh when we're trying to
17:25 convince a client to litigate a case and
17:27 they want to settle and we have them
17:28 sign off on paperwork we have these
17:30 clients sign off on paperwork saying
17:31 "Hey we believe that if you go into
17:34 litigation there likely won't be more
17:37 money uh there may actually be less
17:40 money available because we're incurring
17:42 additional costs Obviously the
17:43 attorney's fees go up and there's the
17:45 cost of litigating the case but you also
17:48 understand that there is the possibility
17:51 of getting a defense verdict which means
17:54 that you get a big goose egg You get
17:56 zero dollars Even though before
17:58 litigation we had this offer on the
17:59 table it's possible that we get zero
18:01 dollars
18:02 this particular client signed off on
18:04 that and we got a defense verdict Uh not
18:10 something that we love to advertise but
18:12 we had we had the settlement in hand
18:15 prior and tried to advise the client as
18:19 much as we could urge them as much as we
18:22 could They had a particular idea in
18:25 their mind So we just moved forward with
18:26 that and um luckily we had disclosures
18:29 and signatures on everything So when it
18:31 was all said and done we had a paper
18:34 trail to show the client we were trying
18:36 to advise you as appropriately as we
18:38 could this entire time and uh you didn't
18:42 heed our advice but as long as you feel
18:45 like we have taken care of you even
18:48 though you didn't win we abided by your
18:51 wishes That's what it means when we say
18:53 we take care of you We're not going to
18:56 very rarely And when I'm thinking back
18:58 now it it's it would be a false
18:60 statement for for me to say that we've
19:01 never cut a client loose or terminated a
19:04 client It has happened but those are
19:07 really unreasonable clients and there's
19:10 just no no point in trying to mitigate
19:14 that In this particular case even though
19:17 the the dollar figure was tied to
19:19 something completely outside I don't
19:22 believe anyone else would have taken the
19:23 case So if we cut the the client loose I
19:25 don't think they would have had
19:26 representation elsewhere So we did our
19:28 job And uh that probably is another
19:32 aspect that I should touch on right now
19:34 You want to work with law firms that
19:36 have working capital because if a law
19:39 firm is short on cash and you want to
19:43 litigate a case but they are short on
19:46 cash so they they don't have funds
19:48 available they may need to get that case
19:50 settled so that they can continue
19:53 operating That's one of the benefits of
19:55 having a you want to have a cashrich law
19:59 firm behind you Litigation is not cheap
20:02 It takes money to fight You don't have
20:05 to pay anything out of pocket upfront
20:08 The law firm pays all of those costs
20:10 Obviously it gets repaid from the
20:12 settlement if and when we win but those
20:16 costs are paid up front So
20:19 the other aspect of considering who to
20:22 hire and when is knowing that who you're
20:26 dealing with has enough capital reserves
20:29 to litigate not just your case but all
20:32 of the cases that they have in their
20:34 firm to completion to the desire of
20:37 every client I feel like I took about
20:40 seven different detours during that
20:42 conversation I hope the main point
20:44 wasn't lost Uh the main point as always
20:47 is that we take care of you That's my
20:51 entire identity is I take care of people
20:54 So I hope that um if you ever feel the
20:58 need that you need to be uh taken care
21:01 of if you need representation please
21:04 reach out to the auto accident attorneys
21:06 group Reach out to me personally if you
21:08 have any questions attorney Ali And uh
21:12 tune in next time for more general
21:16 advice uh fun topics and things that
21:21 will help you get through life All right
21:24 take care everybody