Welcome to another legal information video from the Houston Lawyer Referral Service. Today we will be asking attorneys Elena Bueno and Mark Weycer from the Weycer Law Firm here in Houston some general questions about injury cases, including medical malpractice and product liability. Welcome Elena and Mark. Thank you for agreeing to educate the public. And let’s just go ahead and get started with some questions that most people have and just don’t know who to ask.
Is my injury worth contacting an attorney?
I always tell clients when they call me, and a lot of times they ask that question. You don’t know until you call. So, it doesn’t hurt to call an attorney who specializes in injury cases and ask them that question. That’s your best course of action is to ask an attorney. Don’t be afraid to ask.
And the second question we have today is what does it cost to hire an injury attorney? Because you know most people are struggling for personal injury cases which include medical malpractice and product liability cases.
It doesn’t cost the client anything upfront. Attorneys don’t get paid unless we make a recovery for the client. So if the clients don’t win the case then attorneys don’t get paid.
And what if the insurance company’s already offered me money? Do I still need an attorney?
I always tell clients that never trust an insurance company. There’s a reason why Elaine and I are so busy every day with so many clients. Insurance companies are not set up to pay people fairly. Their sole purpose is to collect premiums, not to pay people money. So you should never ever trust an offer from an insurance company.
Very good to know. So what if my doctor missed something and they misdiagnosed me? Is that medical malpractice?
Not necessarily. For medical malpractice for medical malpractice case, there would need to be a departure from the standard of care. So the standard of care is not necessarily the best care. It’s the minimum. So if the conduct of whatever the doctor did falls below that standard, that’s when an attorney would get involved in the case.
And I heard that in Texas, you have to have an expert witness for a medical malpractice case. Is that true?
In every medical malpractice case, you don’t want to get involved in litigation without having an expert witness and a physician in medical malpractice cases being on board with your case. Otherwise, it can get very costly because of other deadlines that can come up and there’s a prerequisite expert report that you have to submit at the beginning of the case.
So there’s more work up front which is why it’s important to consult with an expert witness and the attorneys find that witness for you or is that something that we have to do?
That is something that we as attorneys would take care of.
And what if I was treated at a county hospital or a VA hospital, do I sue them the same way?
Counties, states are exceptions to the rule. They have to fall within, well, let me back up. Generally, those types of defendants are immune from being sued. So if you can establish that your injury was caused by some tangible personal property that is an exception to their immunity. So for instance if a medical instrument caused an injury during a surgery at a hospital then you would have a right to sue. If a doctor made a poor judgment call at Ben Taub Hospital and you suffered injury, you would not have a right to sue.
Very interesting. I was injured by a product that had a warning label. Can I still sue?
Yes, you can sue. Product liability cases are broken down into three different types of cases. One is a design defect. That means that every product is designed defectively. All of them are defective. Manufacturing defect. That means that that one particular product that injured you is different than the way it’s supposed to be designed. That’s a manufacturing defect. And then the label that falls under a marketing defect. Something about the warnings or the instructions make the product dangerous. And so if you have a product that you’re using and the instructions don’t tell you certain things, then you could have a case if you get injured because of bad warnings or bad instructions.
So what if the product that injured me is broken? Should I just throw it away?
Absolutely not. If you don’t have the product that was defective or the one you’re claiming is defective, it makes it very difficult to do a case because the product or the defective product during the course of litigation is going to be inspected and evaluated by experts. They’re going to test it, they’re going to compare it with an exemplar. Very, very important that you keep that product that you are alleging was defective.
And I believe that it’s a big misunderstanding and misconception among the public that injury cases should be settled quick. I was injured. I mean, it’s obvious I was injured. Where’s the money?
It really does a disservice to you if you try to rush into a settlement. There are a lot of different issues to take into consideration when you get injured. Did you lose time from work? Are you still able to work? You may not be able to work in the future. There are a lot of different numbers and variables that you have to take into account to determine what’s the fair value for my case. Will I need surgery in the future? Can I still do housework around the house? Can I cut the yard? All of these things go into establishing what the true value of a case is. And you can’t rush it. And if you do, then you’re compromising your recovery.
And the last question we have for you two is if I was injured and my medical bills are more than the insurance policy limits, what are my options?
Unfortunately, a lot of times we run into that problem where there just isn’t enough insurance in order to cover medical bills, medical expenses. Often times we’re able to negotiate reductions in the medical bills and we reach out to the providers to try to get them to accept less money because of the fact there’s not enough insurance. But what I would advise people to do is to really look into the cost of increasing your insurance coverage. You would be surprised the minimal cost that you would cover in order to have more insurance.
Do you mean like my personal medical insurance or car insurance?
I’m talking about your car insurance. Car insurance is usually in different combinations. 30,000/60,000 50,000/100,000 100,000/300,000 there is a small increase in monthly payment to go from 30,000/60,000 to a 100,000/300,000 and a lot of people would be surprised that they don’t have to spend a lot of money to get more coverage for your car.
And this protects, having a larger liability policy, protects not only the person if I should hit them but myself should I become injured and they don’t have insurance. Is that correct?
Yes. Correct.
Awesome. Well, you guys have been extremely helpful today. Is there anything you would like the public to know about injury cases?
I would just like to let people know that when you mentioned, well what if the person that hits me doesn’t have insurance and that’s commonly referred to as underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage. It’s interesting over the course of my career, often times agents will not offer to sell you that type of coverage because it’s very inexpensive to get that coverage. It costs carriers a whole lot more money to pay out on a uninsured/underinsured motorist claim. Always I tell clients always make sure you go and get that additional coverage.
Wonderful advice. I could not agree more. Thank you so much for joining us today.