7 Great Reasons To Continue Reading Our Newsletters In 2013:
1. They are free!
2. YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT THINGS HAPPENING IN THE LAW THAT MAY HELP YOU NOW OR IN THE FUTURE.
3. It’s delivered each month to your mailbox by the U.S. mail.
4. You can qualify for a free $50.00 gift card each month by answering a really easy question.
5. You can feel you did a good deed by humoring a lawyer as he rants about auto insurance companies and how unfair they are to victims.
6. YOU CAN GET AHEAD OF 98% OF THE U.S. POPULATION IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW.
7. YOU CAN SAY TO YOUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS “MY LAWYER SENDS ME A FREE NEWSLETTER EVERY MONTH. DOES YOURS?” (GUESS WHAT THE ANSWER TO THAT IS?)
Free What Would Jesus Do (WWJD) Bracelets
We have about 50 WWJDwristbands at our office. If anyone wants a free WWJD rubberwristband, please call me.
Legal Terms! What The Heck Is Hearsay?
Hearsay is any out-of-courtstatement given by the person testifying about what another person said. Sounds vague, right? Here’s an example. If you are testifying in Court, you can’t say “well my neighbor was there and she said the light was green” because that’s Hearsay. The reason Hearsay is inadmissible is the lawyer can’t question (crossexamine) the neighbor because she isn’t in the courtroom.
Hearsay is also the reason why you can’t give a Judge a notarized statement about what someone else saw. Finally, there are over 20 exceptions to the Hearsay Rule about when you can use Hearsay. Let’s save those for another Newsletter.
3 Factors To Consider In Deciding Whether To Accept The Insurance Company’s Offer Or Go To Trial:
1) Would you get more money by ajury than what the current offer is? I will always, at least, tell you my opinion on this issue before you make your decision.
2) Are you okay with the stress and the commitment involved in a trial? If the case goes to trial, it almost always lasts 2 or 3 days. If you can juggle your schedule to fit it in, that is a big factor in your decision.
3) Will the additional costs involved in taking the case to trial be worth the potentially higher jury verdict? By costs I mean for example expert fees they charge to testify at trial. A surgeon usually charges about $3,000 for one hour of testimony taken at his office. If the surgeon testifies in the courtroom they will often charge $10,000. That means the jury verdict must be that much more than the insurance offer in order to justify the risk.
These 3 reasons are why only about 1% of civil cases actually go to a jury verdict. Please feel free to call me at any time to discussthese factors or other factors in making your decision.
Referrals, Referrals, Referrals And Thank You, Thank You, ThankYou!!
Over the last few months we have begun to closely monitor where our new cases, both civil and criminal, are coming from. Well, the numbers are in and it’s not even close! HANDS DOWN, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE VAST MAJORITY OF OUR NEW CASES AND REFERRALS ARE FROM YOU, THE READERS OF OUR NEWSLETTER. WE ESTIMATE THAT ABOUT 75% OF OUR NEW REFERRALS COME FROM YOU. My God! Thank you AND PLEASE, PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING!
Last Month’s Winner
Congratulations to Patricia Hickey who won last month’s drawing for free lobster tails! Enjoy!
Question Of the Month
Please name any current or retired football player who played quarterback for the Steelers. The winner of the drawing gets a $50 gift card.
Ask The Injury Lawyer
Every Monday in the Local/Region Section ofthe Pittsburgh Tribune Review, I answer an injury related question from a reader. I have reprinted below a shortened Q & A we wrote in 2011. I hope you enjoy it and consider reading it each week.
Q: Do I need an attorney to represent me in my rearender accident case?
A: You can try and settle it yourself, but consider this: According to a 2004 Insurance Research Council study, people represented by a lawyer receive, on average, 3-1/2 times more money than those who try to do it themselves. That’s not a guarantee because each case is different and results vary. But doesn’t it make sense to at least call an attorney first? No recovery/no fee.
Happy New Year!
Your Attorney, Bernie