Nursing Home and Assisted Care Lawyers in Fort Collins, CO

This is one of the most frequently asked questions. It can be answered, but the answer depends on the specific facts of your case. In meeting with many people over many years, we’ve often heard people say that they’ve read that their case is worth some multiple of the amount of their medical bills. They ask things like, “Should pain and suffering be three times (3x) the total medical bills?” or “What is the non-economic to economic damages ratio?”

But determining the amount you are owed actually has nothing to do with any kind of multiplier or factor. The amount of your pain and suffering and changed quality of life are completely independent from the amount of your medical bills. Consider these two cases as examples.

In Case 1, a person is in a high-speed crash. The car rolls several times and looks like a crushed tin can. The driver is immediately taken to the hospital by ambulance. The driver is shaken up, has some sore spots and is understandably in shock. Because of the powerful forces in such a crash, the emergency room doctor orders a full set of CT scans or MRIs to make sure there are no serious internal injuries. Fortunately, the driver has escaped any serious or lasting injury. She feels better and doesn’t seek any follow-up care. She takes it easy for a few days and continues to feel better. Within a week, she’s pain free and back to normal. We’ve seen folks in this scenario many times. Her medical bills are relatively high because expensive scans and emergency room care were provided. She also has a non-economic damages claim for pain and suffering, but how great is that compared to her relatively expensive medical bills? Her pain and suffering damages may be less than her total medical bills.

In Case 2, a person suffers a severe, permanent injury that cannot be repaired, such as paralysis or traumatic amputation of a limb. He receives initial medical treatment, but the treatment is mainly to stabilize the condition. There are no long-term medical expenses because the injury cannot be healed. He must live with the permanent impairment for the rest of his life. He struggles to care for himself day-to-day. He cannot do the hobbies and other activities he enjoyed for recreation. His medical bills are relatively low compared to the severity of the injury. But his damages for permanent impairment, disfigurement, permanently changed quality of life and pain and suffering are immense. They will be many, many times greater than his total medical bills.

An accurate determination of what your case is worth requires knowing the details of how your life was affected, the severity and duration of your pain, your long-term prognosis and medical needs, and whether you have any permanent impairment. The truth is, no one knows exactly what your case is worth unless you go through a trial and a jury decides it for you. But by applying our experience to the specific facts of your case, we can provide you with the likely range of outcomes.

Injured clients often wonder how they will pay lawyers to recover funds they are owed after an accident. Injury cases are costly and time-consuming. Almost no one can afford to pay lawyers while they are struggling to pay medical bills and missing work because of an injury. Cases often take months, or sometimes years, to resolve. Because of this, we offer contingent fee agreements for personal injury cases.

A contingent fee agreement means the lawyers are not paid until they recover funds for the client. If the lawyers fail to recover funds, the client does not owe them any legal fees. Contingent fee agreements state that the client will receive a specific portion of the recovery and the lawyer’s fees will be paid by a portion of the recovery. For example, two-thirds (2/3) may be paid to the client and one-third (1/3) may be paid to the attorney. However, the exact split varies from attorney to attorney, so it is important to read your fee agreement closely and discuss it with the attorney.

A contingent fee agreement is very different from a “Time Based” fee agreement, which requires that the lawyers be paid for each minute they work, whether they win or lose. At HSD Law, we offer contingent fee agreements for personal injury cases, and an attorney can discuss the details with you during your free consultation.

Some people try to settle their personal injury case without a lawyer. They think that lawyers are too expensive or that they can do it on their own and get the same result. This approach rarely works. The insurance companies’ lawyers and adjusters are skilled at lowballing people who do not have a lawyer. Injured people are not aware of what damages they can recover and fail to ask to be compensated appropriately.

We frequently see insurance companies offer injured people a small amount of money to settle their claim, even though their damages are ten times that amount. Some clients come to us after they have battled the insurance company for years and gotten nowhere.

Hiring a personal injury attorney will result in a better recovery for you. At HSD Law, we pride ourselves on making sure we add value to every client’s case. Hiring an attorney provides numerous benefits:

• Insurance companies more fairly evaluate claims once an injured person is represented by a lawyer. If an insurance company lowballs our client, then it faces litigation.
• We read the fine print in all available insurance policies—this includes both the at-fault party’s insurance policy and our client’s insurance policy. We check to see if the at-fault party has an umbrella policy or if there is additional coverage provided by an employer’s policy. We review our client’s policies for Med-Pay Coverage and Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist Coverage to ensure that no money is left on the table. We also help negotiate any subrogation claims that are asserted by the client’s health insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare.
• We maximize clients’ financial recovery because we know which categories of damages an injured person can recover. We work with our clients to articulate their economic and non-economic damages and gather the evidence to support the claim. When a client’s injuries result in permanent impairment, we are experienced at attributing a monetary value to the claim.
• We make the insurance company pay the full amount billed for the client’s medical services—not the amount actually paid for the services by the client’s health insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare.
• We are skilled at valuing a client’s non-economic damages—this includes pain and suffering, inconvenience, and loss of enjoyment. The more severe the injuries, the greater the non-economic damages. Knowing how to evaluate, articulate, and demand payment of non-economic damages can only be gained through years of experience handling these types of claims.
• We pay close attention to how the injuries will affect our clients in the future. We speak with doctors regarding future medical treatment our client needs and then calculate the client’s future medical expenses. When appropriate, we also consult with economists regarding what income a client will lose in the future and to calculate a client’s diminished earning capacity.

Don’t go it alone. Together we can achieve excellent results.