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I was obviously still not doing great with post-traumatic stress stuff, and Joshua called me and said we need to have a meeting. And he just had a nice, personal talk with me about post-traumatic stress and how if I wasn't ready to settle, that he thought I should seek counseling, and that he would take time - give me time - to figure out what I need to do to feel better about it. It stressed me out to even think about it. But I feel like they did a really good job at tracking me down and making me do it - in a very nice way. I feel like he's very personable, really easy to communicate with, very easy to be open and honest with about all aspects of the case. I felt really nice just being separated from it, being out of town, and knowing that I could have left this and have it under control and not really have to deal with it personally.

When people ask me for advice on buying auto insurance, I tell them to buy as much as you can afford.

So you want to get the highest amount of insurance you can afford. And you particularly want to focus on your uninsured motorist protection and underinsured motorist protection. You want to call your agent and get at least $250,000 worth of unisnured and underinsured to protect you and your family in case someone who does not have enough insurance hits you.

When I was a kid and I first got a car, I was thinking about driving it without insurance. And I told my father this. And he said, "You can't do that, it's illegal." And I said, "Well, I'm not going to get caught." And he said, "Let me ask you something Josh. How are you going to feel if you run over a kid, and he needs to be in a hospital, and you don't have the money to pay for it?" And I thought, Oh. That's a really good point."

And the same principle applies to the amount of insurance you buy. If you hit someone, and they're really badly injured, you want enough insurance to pay for that. And, buying more insurance is going to cover you and your family and your loved ones, your friends that are in your car with you. So if you're driving along, and someone hits you, and they cause serious injury, you're in the hospital for months, you can't work anymore, and they only have $25,000 worth of insurance, you're probably only going to get about $25,000 from them. And that's not going to cover it.

When you first come in, the first step is to fill out a bunch of forms and answering a bunch of questions. And you'll ask us a bunch of questions too which we will answer for you. Then we start the ball moving.

First, we send letters to insurance companies. We send a letter to your insurance company, to the all drivers' insurance company, to health insurance companies, and we let everyone know that we're your lawyers now and anything that they want to communicate they should communicate through us.

Once that initial flurry is done, then there is often a bunch of investigation that we have to do. We figure out what happened. Maybe we measure skid marks, take photos of things, then we talk to your doctors and help you through your medical treatment. But the question on the table here is: how long does your case take?

And the truth is a lot of that is going to depend on how your medical treatment goes because the true legal part of the case doesn't really start until you're medically stationary. Medically stationary can mean one of two things. It hopefully its means you're all better, back to 100 percent, back to where you were before you got injured. Often it doesn't mean that unfortunately. A lot of injuries never really completely heal so in that case medically stationary means when you're medically stationary. When you're about as good as you are going to get. For some people this might mean you're now in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. For other people it might mean your back's always going to hurt a little bit.

But once your medically stationary that's typically when we send a demand letter. So the demand letter is a detailed letter that we write to the insurance company for the person who hurt you and it tells the insurance company what happened, whose fault it was, why it was their fault, and about your injuries and how this has affected your life and finally how much money they need to pay if they want to make this go away. Once they get the demand letter the negotiations starts. That can go quickly or it can be really drawn out and take a long time. Sometimes a negotiation will involve a disputed fact that we need to actually go and hire an expert to convince them all so it can drag out.

If we settle it at the demand stage, then a typical timeframe would be three to six months after you become medically stationary. It's difficult to average. It can be quicker. It can be a lot longer. It really depends on circumstances.

If the case doesn't settle at the demand stage then we file a lawsuit and then if it goes all the way through trial the time to trial here in Multnomah County in Portland is typically just about a year. In other counties it can be different and there are a whole host of tricks that the defense can use if they want to (and they often do) to delay the trial. So in bigger cases it can be a lot longer. It can be two years to trial. Sometimes it can be three, four or five. Typically it's a year, to a year and a half. That's the typical timeframe to trial after the case is filed. So all told from the time you're medically stationary it can be anywhere from three months to two years. That's the typical time range.

In Oregon, if you buy car insurance, (which you know everybody has to because it's the law) if you're driving a car you only have to buy $25,000 worth of coverage which is not very much at all. But you can get away with buying just that much because that's all the law requires.

So when you call up Geico or Progressive or one of the other cheap car insurance companies and say, "You know, give me the cheapest policy I can possibly get," -- they're telling you on their TV ads you're going to get $25,000 worth of coverage. That's coverage that you're buying for yourself if you hit somebody. It's also coverage if somebody hits you and they don't have enough insurance. So if you buy $25,000, and somebody else that hits you has $25,000.00 Oregon law says you're not going to get anything from your insurance policy.

You can add on hundreds of thousands of dollars of coverage (that will cover you if somebody hits you and doesn't have enough insurance to cover your bills) for pennies a year. It's cheaper than health insurance. I've seen people buy supplemental policies that are expensive and pay $50-$60 a month. You don't have to do that with car insurance. It's cheap to get above that minimum level. So I tell everybody this, and my friends and neighbors get sick of hearing me say it -- "Buy as much car insurance as you possibly can!"

If you, god forbid, end up hurting somebody else by not paying attention, you're going to have enough insurance to cover what you did. And if you don't, somebody can come after you for your house or your other assets so it's a great idea all the way around. It takes out that risk factor of some driver out there that's trying to scrimp and save that's not bought enough insurance. What I have, and what you should have, is as much as you can afford on your own insurance policy.

So if somebody hits me and really injures me, I have $1,000,000 in coverage because it's cheap once you get up that high. It's really cheap. I think I paid an extra $100/year bumping up from whatever I had before, $300,000 or something. so it's really cheap to get that much coverage. The other thing it does: if I hurt somebody on the street accidently it covers what I've done. So it's a great thing to have and it's not a place to save money. You just need to call up your insurance agent and say I want as much liability insurance as I can afford. I recommend $300,000. That will give you protection if you hit somebody, AND if you get hit by somebody who doesn't have enough insurance. You can't control how stupid people are on the road, and when they are careless and negligent and don't pay attention, but you can still protect yourself.

How much do personal injury attorneys cost?

We have two different fee structures in our firm. Some of our clients pay us hourly, so for every hour of work they pay us $275.00.

And other clients choose to wait until the end, and then pay us a percentage of the money we get for them. Most people who are injured choose the second way, the contingency fee, and how it works is you don't pay us any money up front.
1) You come to us.
2) We take your case.
3) We do all the work.
4) We get you a settlement or a verdict.
5) We get you money somehow and then you pay us a portion of that money.

That portion is usual one third, that's the typical amount. So if you're ever worried about having to pay for a personal injury lawyer out of your pocket, you really don't need to worry about that, because we, like most personal injury lawyers, are willing to work for you on the basis that we get a portion of the money we get you. So, if the case doesn't work out for some reason and we don't get you any money, then we don't get paid for our work. And that's a risk we take and we're fine with it.

So, every once in a while I get a call from someone who says, "Hey, I'd like to hire you guys, but I don't know how I can afford it." So this is the answer to that and, and this is why we do it. You shouldn't ever have to worry about that when you're thinking of hiring a personal injury lawyer. Because almost all of us, and certainly our firm, are willing to take your case and not get paid until the end. At the end you will have the money to pay us because we will have gotten you that money, and if we didn't then you don't have to pay us for our work.

We get a lot of calls from people who want to know what they should tell the insurance adjuster.

The first thing you need to understand is that there are at least two insurance adjusters involved and the answer is different depending on which one you're talking to. The insurance adjusters can be pretty aggressive, so this is why we get calls: because people have gotten 12 calls over the course of week or two and they want to know what to say.

There are two insurance companies involved in any car crash. There is your insurance company, which provides you with personal injury protection PIP (sometimes called PIP) and there is the other insurance company for the driver who hit you. Now you deal with these two very differently.

Your insurance company: you need to cooperate with to a certain extent because they're going to pay up to $15,000 of your medical bills. But in order to do that, you need to fill out their forms and answer their questions. Now the one thing I would say with your own insurance company, even they're supposed to be on your side is, Don't give them a recorded statement. Now the reason for this is that a recorded statement can only be used against you. It can never been used in your favor.

Sometimes your insurance company is going insist on it. Some of them do that sometimes without real rhyme or reason, and if they do it puts you in a tough spot, because if you refuse they may stop paying your medical benefits. In fact with our clients, when that happens, we have a tough decision to make. What we sometimes do is say, "Okay, we will let our client give a recorded statement but I, the lawyer, am going be sitting in the room with them and if you ask them any inappropriate questions I'm going to put a stop to it and advise them."

If you don't have a lawyer you've got a tough situation, because they're going to use the recorded statements against you -- but if you don't give it, they're going to stop paying your medical bills. If you have health insurance that's not necessarily the end of the world, because if your auto insurance stops paying your medical bills (because you won't give a recorded statement) your health insurance will usually pick up the slack. If you don't have health insurance, you're really in a tough spot.

Now let's switch gears. If the insurance company for the person who hit you calls you up, my advice is just hang up the phone. You do not need to speak with them. I advise people who are going to try and settle the case themselves: Do as much of it as you can in writing. In particular, anything they say, get it in writing. If they make you an offer, get it in writing. If they threaten you, which they sometimes will do on the phone, get it in writing. If you insist upon talking with them on the phone, and negotiating that way, do not let them record you. I have seen cases ruined by recorded statements, and I know that you're planning to only tell the truth, but you have to understand these insurance adjusters have been doing this a long time; they know a lot of tricks and even though you think you're just going to stick to the truth, they will ask you tricky questions that you can't anticipate and you'll stutter and stammer and then you'll answer one way or another and then if they ever play that at trial it just it makes you look bad. So please, don't give a recorded statement to the other insurance company and don't give a recorded statement to your own insurance company unless you really have to.

I was involved in a motor vehicle accident in December 2008. I was rear-ended on the freeway. I went through physical therapy for about a year and a half.

I was finally told that I would have to have a discogram, so I have an artificial disc placed in my neck. I was very educated on the process and what to expect. I was given paperwork when I left the very first day, and I knew what was ahead and I was informed the entire process. Everyone here has been extremely professional.

It is a waiting period but the wait is definitely worth it. I am very confident that behind the scenes everyone here was working on my case and in my best interests until the very end and I would strongly recommend this law firm.

The people here are just really friendly and I looked forward to the conversations and coming in. It was very much resolved to my satisfaction because it wasn't a one-time offer from this law firm. They went back again and renegotiated which actually ended up to my advantage.

If you've been in a car crash, your most important concern is to get better, and you need to get your medical bills paid right away. If you have auto insurance, you have what's called personal injury protection benefit, or PIP That's a no-fault provision of your auto policy that will pay for your medical bills. You need to call your insurance company right away, and tell them you've been involved in a car crash, and they'll set up a claim for you, and that's the way to get your medical bills paid right off the bat. Sometimes it does happen that your insurance, your PIP benefit will not pay for your medical bills. If that happens, PIP may decide to stop paying your medical bills. You might have to get an attorney involved at that point. Attorneys in Oregon can sue your PIP carrier and force them to pay your medical bills. If that's not an option, sometimes you go to your health insurance, if you have it. Health insurance will pay when your PIP insurance will not pay.

I was parked at a stop sign, and a car hit me from behind going about 25 mph. And I immediately got out of the car, and my neck hurt.

As I was getting acupuncture, my acupuncturist told me about Shulman DuBois. She said, "You know, we've heard really good things about them," and I came here.

Everything was very easy, simple, and everything's been taken care of. They not only educated me, they gave me accurate information that I've actually passed on to other people, that was used, and I've actually had other people call as well!

They had a very nice pamphlet and packet that they gave me, and I have called them to ask things because I had never been in an accident before. I would call them, and an hour later Josh would call me back. If you want it nice and easy, they'll make your life very easy. This is a good way to go. Very good.

Angel Accident Victim: Hello! Can you help me?I I was in a car accident and I was hurt.
Devil Insurance Adjuster: I do not think I can help you.
AAV: But you are the insurance adjuster for the man who ran into my car.
DIA: Well...Have you filled out all the correct paperwork?
AAV: I don't know.
DIA: How much will all your medical treatments cost, in total, for all time?
AAV: I don't know.
DIA: Do you know anything about filing a lawsuit if I don't want to help you?
AAV: No.
DIA: Then I do not think I can help you.
AAV: But I need help with my medical bills and I don't know what to do. Please help me.
DIA: Ok, I will offer you $1,000 dollars. But that is my final offier.
AAV: But my medical bills are over $8,000 and I am still in treatment.
DIA: Too bad.
AAV: If you don't help me, I cannot pay my bills. I need to pay my medical bills!
DIA: Too bad.
AAV: The other driver was texting on his phone and not paying attention to the road.
DIA: Too bad.
AAV: He ran a red light and hit my car. The car was totaled.
DIA: Too bad.
AAV: He broke two of my ribs.
DIA: Too bad.
AAV: I will get a lawyer to take my case, and they will get me the money I need.
DIA:...Oh....ok....I will help you now.

So if you found this video, it's probably because you searched for something like an Independent Medical Examination or an IME.

I get questions about them all the time. I just got one today, and so I wanted to talk about it for a second. Here's the situation. You've been in a car crash, and you probably don't have a lawyer yet and your insurance, your PIP (Personal Injury Protection), the company that you bought your insurance from, is paying for your medical bills. You're going to the doctor and you're getting the treatment that you need, and then all of sudden they say, "Oh wait, we want to send you for an IME -- an Independent Medical Examination."

And the thing that you have to realize is there is nothing, absolutely nothing, independent about them. In fact we call them DME, or defense medical exams. And even though it's your insurance company, they're not doing you any favors.

They are sending you to a doctor for one reason, and that's because they hope that doctor will tell them, 'Oh you're fine, you don't need to treat any more for your car crash that you were in, you should be done right now, that's my medical opinion.' If that happens then the insurance company, your insurance company, can stop paying for your medical bills.

So what are your options? I get calls from a lot of people who say, "Do I have to go?"

And the short answer is "Yeah -- especially if you don't have a lawyer." Because if you don't go, the insurance company will say you're being uncooperative and by the terms of your contract with them you have to cooperate, and that's a basis for just denying your benefits right there.

There is recourse. There's things you can do, including suing your own insurance company to force them to pay your medical bills. So don't be fooled by the independent in the Independent Medical Examination.

How we deal with this issue is, we have a whole medical department who tracks your treatment from the beginning (so the earlier you come to us the better) and because we've got a whole team working on that we're sometimes able to get the medical exam canceled completely. Or if it happens, we keep your benefits from being denied. That's how it should be handled; proactively from the beginning, and when you're looking for a lawyer ask about that. Ask about what kind of staff they have on hand to deal with medical issues as they arise -- not a year later. If you find a good attorney from the beginning, who knows what they're doing in these types of cases, you've got a much better chance of having this not happen. So my suggestion is talk to a really good lawyer who knows personal injury work and is a specialist in it, who can help you figure out how best to handle it.

[My natural inclination is, any good personal injury attorney would do that and it's not true because most of them don't do anything about it.]

if you've been hurt in a car crash and you have an Oregon auto insurance policy, every policy has a wage loss provision, so if you miss work and miss wages for 14 consecutive days or more, your policy will pay your wage loss.

Now the thing you have to remember is they only have to pay a certain amount. Right now, as of July 15, 2009, it's $1,250 per month. That amount is about to go up, thanks to a bill passed by the Oregon legislature. It's going up from $1250 per month up to $3,000 per month. Well, what about the rest? If you make $5,000 per month, how do you get paid for that extra $2,000 per month?

That amount of money is included in the claim for damages along with all the other damages from your car crash. That includes your noneconomic damages (pain and suffering), your medical bills, and the lost wage amount that wasn't paid by your insurance. But that doesn't happen until the end of the case.

If you're in an accident that some other driver caused but there was no contact between the cars - so you're driving and someone cuts you off and slams on the brakes and you swerve and you end up hitting a tree - but you don't actually hit their car - that's called a "phantom vehicle."

So there's a problem with those claims, and the problem is that the insurance companies sometimes don't believe it. They think you just ran into a tree, and now you're making up someone else to make it look like it's someone else's fault.

You have to tell the police within 72 hours, and tell your insurance company within three days.

So hopefully there's a witness, some skid marks on the road can sometimes do it.

So, a phantom vehicle, if you're seriously injured in a phantom vehicle crash, it's a situation in which you probably want a lawyer, and you want him fast.

You know, people ask us all the time, "What's my case worth?" And, it's a frustrating question. Because, there's no easy answer.

We can figure out how much the damage to your car is worth, that's pretty easy, we have repair bills. We can figure out how much your wage loss is worth. Easy. Figure out how much money you would have made, that's straightforward. We can figure out how much your medical bills are.

But then there's the pain and suffering money, the money you get for inconvenience, for making your life more difficult.

There's hardly ever a trial. There's a trial probably less than 5 percent of the time; most of the cases we settle. But [lawyers] are all thinking about trial. We're thinking about what would happen in a trial, and that's the only way to get a value for your case. There's no easy answer.