8 Critical Things Your Auto Accident Attorney Won’t Tell You
Why and How to Prepare so You Get the Best When You Need it Most
By Paul A. Samakow, Attorney At Law
Licensed in Maryland and Virginia
Law Practice Limited to Injury & Accident Cases
Copyright (c) 2009 by Paul A. Samakow, Esquire
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the author.
This book proudly printed in the United States.
13 digit ISBN: 978-0-615-30795-4 - $19.95 retail
10 digit ISBN: 0-615-30795-7 - $19.95 retail
The Law Offices of Paul A. Samakow, P.C.
8230 Old Courthouse Road #430
Tyson’s Corner, VA 22182 www.samakowlaw.com
Table of Contents
Introduction
From the Author
Chapter 1
What to Expect from the Insurance Company
After an Accident
Chapter 2
The Eight Critical Things Your Auto
Accident Attorney Won’t Tell You!
#1 How Your Case will be Managed
#2 Getting Your Car Fixed can be Maddening
#3 I Don’t Know how Much You’ll Get
#4 There May Not be Enough Money
#5 Justice is Rare
#6 Justice is an Illusion
#7 Lawyers are Pessimists
#8 You can Fire Me
Chapter 3
The Right Attorney for Your Automobile
Accident Case
How to Contact the Author
INTRODUCTION
I’m writing this book to educate you. I have been practicing law since 1980, almost 30 years now, and I have seen too many clients come to me with complaints about lawyers, hoping I was “better” and asking if I would take their case. The two top complaints about lawyers are that they don’t communicate with their clients and that they don’t tell them what is going on. What I will tell you, and what I’d tell any lawyer, is that a lawyer must be 100%, totally honest with his clients, and he must tell them everything, before they need to know, so that they can make intelligent and informed decisions.
My time, every working day, is devoted to helping injury and auto accident victims. I am committed to fighting the big insurance companies who see people as numbers, and to delivering stellar and honest legal services. The problem is that sometimes the legal system gets in the way of delivering that help. And sometimes, it is the lawyers who get in the way.
In today’s environment of skepticism and tough economic times, there are hundreds of facts and even more interpretations of those facts that can affect the many aspects of a client’s legal case. And even if we forget the legal case, there are many considerations that can directly affect the client and the quality of his or her life that direct the course of action that needs to be followed correctly. Events and actions which should be routine, expected and simple, such as getting your car fixed and getting medical care, are sometimes fraught with problems, mostly because of the insurance industry and its attitude toward paying you, and sometimes because of victims’ lack of knowledge on what can be described as the “what, when and how” of doing things.
In this book I describe what I have seen over the many years of my practice and I hope to help you by sharing some of my knowledge and observations, so that if and when you get into a car accident, you will have the best chance to minimize the real life problems and to maximize the results of your legal case. Part of that chance involves understanding lawyers.
FROM THE AUTHOR
Thank you for requesting this book. You will get value from reading it, and I would sincerely appreciate your comments.
If you have been injured in a car accident, or if someone you care about has been injured, I’ll bet you are concerned about what will happen next. There are immediately many problems and emotions that will suddenly appear because of the accident, not to mention the physical pain. You might naturally wonder about how medical bills will be paid, how your car is going to get fixed, what doctor to see, whether you should talk to insurance company people, how you’re going to manage financially because you can’t work now, and on and on. So, you don’t need problems with or because of your lawyer.
My name is Paul Samakow, and I am an attorney. I practice in Maryland and Virginia. I have been an attorney since 1980 and for over the last 20 years I have done nothing but represent people who have been injured. I have NEVER represented an insurance company. I am a plaintiff’s lawyer, and I am proud to say that. My personality would never allow me to represent insurance companies. They aren’t nice, and they don’t care about people. I do, and my professional goal in life is to help as many people as I can, because I know that they are not armed with the information or the tools to help themselves.
I am on a crusade against insurance companies. They are not your friends. Their goal is SOLELY to profit. The less money they pay victims, the more they profit. Insurance adjusters may be very nice people, but they are trying to do a good job for their boss and the company they work for, and that means ultimately paying you less, or not at all. Adjusters don’t get raises or promotions by paying you MORE money.
Today, and particularly in tough economic times, people who are injured need straight answers to their questions. I am upset that when accident victims are most stressed, in the aftermath of the accident, and in the days and weeks that follow, insurers try to take advantage. Insurance companies hire people to listen to police radio frequencies and when they hear an accident has occurred they send someone to the victim’s house, or call them, and offer them some money to pay for medical bills if they later find they are hurt. Insurance companies employ trained professionals, adjusters, investigation people, and lawyers, all with the goal of figuring out ways to pay you less or not at all. They take pictures of your car from angles to make it look like there’s not much damage, and then the adjusters tell you that they can’t understand how you could have any injury, given that there wasn’t much damage to your car.