Clients often will enter our office thinking, "I was involved in an accident. Therefore, I am entitled to compensation." When we tell them that this is not true, they beome troubled.
Being involved in an accident is a necessary ingredient of a case. However, it is not sufficient. To win a case, a plaintiff's lawyer must prove more than just that his client was involved in an accident. Each case has multiple parts and being involved in an accident is just one part. A Plaintiff's attorney needs to prove all parts of a case. If a case consists of five (5) parts, a Plaintiff's attorney must prove all five (5) parts. This is why it is easier to be a defendant's lawyer than a plaintiff's lawyer. All a defendant's lawyer needs to do to win is knock out one part of a multi-part case.
Moreover, the amount of compensation to which you are entitled depends on the consequences of an accident not the causes of an accident. Compensation is proportional to the consequences not the causes. Serious injuries great in magnitude and duration deserve higher compensation than minor injuries of a lower magnitude and a shorter duration. A driver may be drunk, steering the car with his feet, wearing sunglasses at night and not paying attention at all, but, even though he is highly negligent, if he does not hit you, there is no case. In basketball the adage is 'No harm; no foul.' A jury does not compensate you for proving that a defendant was in some way negligent; a jury compensates you for all of the evil consequences that arise from the negligence.
To get an idea of the parts of the various types of cases we handle, click on the links below.