by jo » Sat Apr 03, 2010 06:48 pm
I had an auto accident almost 2 years ago. The time limit is 2 years in my state. I want to hire an attorney to submit a demand letter and be ready in case I need to file a lawsuit. Will the adjuster still communicate with me after he receives the demand from the lawyer? How do I need to handle this so the adjuster still talks to me?
Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:48 pm Post Subject:
I think I understand where you are coming from and what you want to do. If it would work, I'd say it would be a smart way to address the situation. However, I don't think you would be able to do this.
Attorneys handle cases for 33% of the settlement in order to not charge you anything. If you don't want them to take 33% of the settlement after it's settled, they you'd probably need to pay then up front. You _might_ find an attorney that would wait until your case is settled and then take less then 33% but I _really_ don't think you will. Reason is, attorneys are not about to shoot their industry in the foot by not collecting 33% of the settlement for their service. In almost ever case they actually do very little to collect. So it's good money (someone has to pay for all of those commercials and phone book advertisements).
You want an attorney to file a Complaint in order to protect the statute but then continue handling the claim yourself so you don't need to pay the attorney 33%, correct? As I said, I could see this as a smart move if it were possible. You'd need to verify this but I think you can file a Complaint and not have it served but this only last 6 or 12 months. I'm also not sure if this protect the statute or if the complaint needs to be served in order to protect it. If it's served, the other party will need to file an Answer right away and then they are going to move forward with discovery, etc.
My advice.... I'd _strongly_ recommend you speak to an attorney to see what can be done.
Once you have an attorney you can still deal with the adjuster. You just need to have your attorney give this authorization to the adjuster.
Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 02:46 pm Post Subject:
Thank you very much, you told me exactly what I needed to know.
Add your comment