How many of you all are familiar with the cliché saying, “Patience is a virtue”? We’ve all heard it at least once. Now let’s narrow it down to one word, PATIENCE. What is patience?
Patience – noun
- The quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.
- An ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay
- Quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence
Now I’m sure you’re wondering what the heck patience have to do with personal injury. The answer is everything. A question often asked, “How long will this claim take?”, truth is we don’t know. Every claim is different but I can assure you it might be a slow process. So if you got in a motor vehicle accident, look for your patience, hold on tight, because you’re in for a ride.
First step for us once you’ve signed our retainer is to open a claim with your insurance and also third parties. During this time absolutely nothing happens.“How can you help?” The only way you can help on this first step is by treating. You must understand how important it is for you to treat. Your personal injury claim is based on injuries, who would’ve thought. No injuries no monies. This does not mean lie about your injuries, the truth will come out, so don’t. So, be patient, attend to all your appointments, communicate with your doctor, your focus at this time should be YOU. Focus on getting better. Your medical providers will call us if your missing appointments, let’s not make things complicated, this is your claim by not treating you are hurting your claims potential outcome, and could even be slowing the process down. Must I remind you it already is a slow process.
WOW! So you’ve made it pass face one, treating. You’ve completed treatment, congratulations. Do you get monies yet? No. Welcome to phase two of your claim, now we must collect all your bills and records. Yes, we must collect all bills and records, no, we cannot draft a successful demand if we’re missing any. Must I remind you no one gets left behind. Collecting bills and records can be very extensive. Your looking at about a few weeks, or even months. That’s the cold truth. Beloved client, calling everyday will not speed the process. Now let’s not misinterpret that sentence. We love our clients, we love speaking to you. You’re welcome to call whenever you wish, just don’t get frustrated when we give you the same answer we did a day before, especially if you’re calling everyday. Be PATIENT. Unfortunately, we cannot control how others get there job done. You will be notified when any bills and records get to us, those documents are shared with you through Clio. In the meantime you can work on our lovely 24 page demand questionnaire. I know, I know, it is extensive, but believe me we would not make you fill anything out that is not important. So please complete the document, while you’re holding on tight to your dear friend patience.
Didn’t think you’d make it this far? Well you did, thanks to your friend patience. So we have all bills and record, What’s next? Demand drafting. Once the demand has been drafted, approved by the attorney, like a personal injury or car accident lawyer Arlington TX relies on, and yourself, we will sent it out to the adjuster. The adjuster has 30 days to review the demand. Why so long? Well, in 2013 there were 5,687,000 police reported accident, 1,591,000 of those reported injuries. So that might give you an idea why we give them 30 days to review. In addition, we want to make sure they’ve analyzed carefully our demand. Once we receive an answer or their initial offer the negotiation. We will keep you in the loop. At the end of the day we cannot accept an offer without your approval. At this point you have so patient with us so we thank you, and hopefully we reach a settlement your happy. God forbid your claim goes to litigation.
At the end of the day there is no need to stress, that’s what you hire us for. We stress for you, literally, but we love what we do, and that’s why we are so good at it. So if you think you can hold on tight to your patience give the Brandy Austin Law Firm a call at (817) 841-9906. Who am I kidding give us call anyways, even if you’re not patient.
Thanks to our friends and contributors from Brandy Austin Law Firm, PLLC for their insight into personal injury practice.
patience. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved October 11, 2017 from Dictionary.com website http://www.dictionary.com/browse/patience
Cost of Auto Crashes & Statistics
http://www.rmiia.org/auto/traffic_safety/Cost_of_crashes.asp