Why Alabama Personal Injury Attorneys Should Demand Full Compensation for Their Clients (Why Personal Injury and Accident Lawyers are Called Ambulance Chasers)
I received an email this morning from one of my best friends that reminds me why Alabama Personal Injury and Accident Lawyers should demand full compensation for their clients. Several years ago my friend was shopping with his family and a careless driver backed into him while he was loading his truck including his small child. Fortunately, the other driver was alert enough to avoid serious injury to my friend and his family and was insured with USAA.
This lapse in judgment could have easily crippled or killed my friend as well as his small child since he had not made it into his truck. He escaped from this with minimal lost wages and medical treatment. The child received no physical injury.
My friend called me the next day and allowed me to handle the claim with USAA. I was able to settle the claim without filing a law suit and insure that my friend was fully compensated for his injuries and damages including lost wages. This did require making a negotiated demand on USAA with the medical records and bills, letters and documentation regarding the lost wages and resolving the interest of my friend’s medical insurance in the settlement proceeds.
There is a public perception that personal injury and accident lawyers are ambulance chasers. I believe that big powerful corporations like insurance companies have helped to paint that picture. I know from experience that insurance companies are on the scene of serious accident cases and take steps to protect their interest at the expense of the injured if they can get away with it even in a less serious case. They want to minimize claims and will manipulate an investigation even in the face of someone that has been greatly damaged or slightly damaged. It is not personal for them. It is just business. So I am not proud of that perception, but I am certainly not ashamed of it and will offer no apology for it.
I was taught by my family and educators from a young age that when you make a mistake, you should accept responsibility and make amends. In an accident and injury case, I believe that means that the insurance company for the party at fault should accept liability and insure full compensation to the injured party, not partial compensation or the least amount they can get away with to make amends. After all, that is one of the main reasons you purchase insurance, especially automobile insurance. Think about it. You purchase automobile insurance partly to ensure full compensation to make amends for injury as a result of your negligent or reckless conduct. The insurance industry knows that. So why would a personal injury and accident lawyer be called an ambulance chaser for demanding full compensation for their client? Maybe one reason is that the insurance industry does not want you to hire one for your personal injury and accident case or claim.
David and I welcome telephone calls, emails and visits from injured people and their families at Gartlan Injury Law and take pride in ensuring full compensation for their clients.
Aaron Gartlan is a graduate of Troy University and the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law who focuses his practice exclusively on representing those injured by the wrongdoing of others. He is member of the National Trial Lawyers Association’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers, Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. In addition to his legal practice, Aaron teaches Business Law as an adjunct instructor at Troy University’s Sorrell College of Business and serves as a field artillery sergeant in the Alabama National Guard.
