Personal Injury Attorney Las Vegas - Injury Med Pay

One of the biggest decisions people make in making a personal injury claim in Las Vegas is what attorney to hire to help them through the process. Advice I could give people who are considering hiring a personal injury attorney is, first and foremost, if you go to meet with an attorney regarding a personal injury claim, and during that initial meeting you never speak to an attorney, but rather an assistant or a paralegal; that's probably a very good indication that you're not in the right place. An attorney handling personal injury cases should always meet with their client. This is for several reasons: 1- The client and the attorney need to build a report from the beginning. 2- For an attorney to be able to properly represent a client, he needs to know that client, know what that client is going through, how their injuries have impacted their life, and in order to help them he needs that information. Also, a client needs to know that an attorney is invested in handling the claim themselves. If an attorney's not at that initial meeting, there's a good chance that an attorney may never look at that file, or very seldom look at that file.

Beyond that, it's very important that an attorney specialize in handling personal injury cases. There was a time, long ago, where most attorneys were general practitioners, and handled all types of claims. Since that time the law has become very complicated, and that is inclusive of personal injury work. Make sure you meet with an attorney when you first show up at your appointment, and also, that you are meeting with somebody that specializes in handling personal injury cases, so that you're assured the opportunity for the best representation.

One of the questions that I'm asked all the time is, "How can I afford a Las Vegas injury attorney?". Personal injury attorneys work a little differently than most attorneys. We charge a contingency fee basis as opposed to an hourly rate. If you've ever been to an attorney before, most attorneys charge you $300 - $500 per hour and make you give them a retainer up front and then draw against that retainer. And then when the retainer runs out they ask you to write them another check, and as you can imagine, many people can't afford to do that. Personal injury attorneys work a little differently. We work on what is called a contingency fee basis, and that means that our fee is contingent on getting money for our clients. If I spend 1000 hours on a client's case, but don't get that client any money, the client doesn't owe me anything for my time. We have a strong incentive to get the most money for every client, and we do that anyway, but, obviously, the more money we get for our clients, the higher our fee goes. It's a good situation for most of our clients because they can't afford to write that check up front, and they're generally very pleased with the outcome.

One of the things that I tell all my clients to be aware of are the so-called, "discount firms" that charge a discounted contingency fee. In Las Vegas the standard contingency fee is one-third (33.3%), but there are some firms that advertise less. One of the things you need to watch out for is hidden fees (or hidden charges). Typically those lawyers will charge you for things that other lawyers won't. They'll charge you for a percentage of the property damage that's recovered. Most reputable firms here in Las Vegas don't charge for property damage. They'll also take a percentage of the medical payments coverage that was obtained, and that's money that you would have gotten anyway (even without an attorney). The other thing I always tell me clients is, "If you're dealing with a discounted fee, you're usually going to get discounted service too." So be careful because you get what you pay for.

If you've never heard of Las Vegas "Medical Payments Coverage", it's an extra coverage that you can get through your insurance company. A lot of people I talk to say, "Oh, I have full coverage, I have everything I need.", but they really don't have full coverage. To me, full coverage is every coverage available: rental car coverage, uninsured coverage, under-insured coverage, and medical benefits coverage (commonly known as "Med Pay"). Las Vegas Med Pay coverage is a no fault health insurance policy that you have if you're in your car when there's an accident, and it covers anybody in your car, and it's usually sold in 1, 2, 5, or 10 thousand dollar increments (I carry $5,000 in Med Pay coverage). What that does is it will pay all of your out-of-pocket expenses, all of your co-pays, and all of your deductibles caused by a car accident, regardless of whether or not your caused it. Even if you have health insurance, there are a lot of costs that don't get covered, and Med Pay can cover those things. The other benefit for that: the at fault driver's insurance company doesn't get the benefit of the Med Pay, so if Med Pay benefits have been expended, the other driver is still responsible for all the bills and all the costs incurred.

One of the other things I tell all my clients about Med Pay coverage is that if you go to the hospital, don't bring in your car insurance. The hospital wants to use your Med Pay because it's like cash to them. But, if you have health insurance, use your health insurance. Hospitals will suck up all of the Med Pay and then they'll still bill your health insurance for the balance. So don't tell them you have Med Pay, just tell them you have health insurance. They're required to take it if you have it. The other thing I tell me clients about Med Pay is if you use it, because there's no fault (it doesn't matter if it's your fault or not) your insurance company can't raise your rates or increase your premiums or drop you if you use it, so there's no reason not to use it if you do have it.