Law Office of Arkady Itkin
Law Office of Arkady Itkin - San Francisco Injury / Wrongful Termination Lawyer   Contact Us at (415) 295-4730
  • Home
  • Employment Law
    • Wrongful Termination >
      • At-Will Employment
      • Termination After Unfair Warnings and Write-Ups
      • Union Grievance, Workers Comp and Wrongful Termination
      • Labor Code 970 Claims
      • Promissory Estoppel and Employment Contracts
      • Implied Contract Claims
    • Discrimination >
      • Proving Discrimination
      • Age Discrimination
      • Disability Discrimination >
        • Protected Disabilities
        • Medical Leave / Disability Accommodations
        • Job Reassignment As A Disability Accommodation
        • SSI Disability Benefits and Your Court Case
        • Sample Request for Reasonable Accommodation
      • Pregnancy Discrimination
      • Race Discrimination
      • Sample Discrimination Complaint
      • DFEH and EEOC Investigations
    • Retaliation >
      • How to Prove Retaliation
      • Dealing with Retaliation While Still Employed
      • Retaliation for Complaining
      • Whistleblower Retaliation
    • Harassment
    • Defamation at Workplace
    • Prof. License Defense
    • Leaves of Absence >
      • Medical Leave as Reasonable Accommodation
      • FMLA Entitlement and Reinstatement to Work
      • CFRA Leave
      • Employers' FMLA Notice Obligations
      • Paternity Leave (FMLA)
      • Sample FMLA Leave Request
    • Wages / Overtime Claims >
      • Wage Claims
      • Employee or Contractor
      • Exempt / Non-Exempt >
        • Admistrative Exemption
        • IT Support Specialists Compensation
        • Computer Professional Exemption from Overtime
        • Recruiters / Account Executives Exemption
        • Complaining About Being Misclassified
      • Vacation Pay / PTO
      • On-Call Time Compensation
      • Deductions fr. Commissions
    • Unempl. Benefits Appeals >
      • Tips for EDD Phone Interview
      • Unemployment Benefits Appeal Hearing Representation
      • CUIAB Hearing Tips
    • Employment Law Blog
    • For Employers
  • Personal Injury
    • Five Tips For Injury Cases
    • Slip-and-Fall Injuries
    • Assault and Battery
    • Recorded Statements
    • Repairing Your Vehicle
    • Unpaid Medical Bills
    • Injury Law Blog
    • Medical Malpractice
    • Police Excessive Force
  • Practice Areas
  • About
  • Results
  • Submit Case
  • Contact
  • Resources
    • Workplace Rights Checklist
    • Deposition Tips
    • Mediation Tips
    • Effective Mediator
    • Suing Current Employer
    • Severance Agreements
    • Workplace Investigation
    • Arbitration
    • Statutes of Limitations
    • Healthy Litigation Mindset
    • Trial Tips
    • Working Remotely

Overtreating May Reduce The Value Of Your Injury CaseĀ 

2/26/2017

 
chiropractic treatment after car accident injury
Insurance companies are some of the largest corporate institutions with large budgets and compelling reasons to invest in prevention of fraud of all kinds - from insurance coverage to recovery of damages. This clearly applies to how a larger number of insurance companies handle injury claims today. The insurers invest resources into studying injury claims (especially the ones that are alleged to be serious) and among other things, determining with the help of highly qualified nurses and doctors whether the medical treatment an injured person received was "reasonable and necessary." These are magic words when it comes to proving damages in court or determining the settlement value of an injury case. 
An insurer who discovers that the claimant treated far longer and far more frequently than he likely should have, considering the injuries sustained, will look closely at the nature and the cost of treatment received. If the treatment is clearly excessive and more expensive than it should be, the insurance company will use that information to cast strong doubt on the claimant's credibility, making him/her look like someone who is trying to treat more than needed and inflate claims for the sheer purpose of increasing recovery. This argument works quite often to reduce a claimant's recovery or event lose the case in court where they otherwise could have won. This is because few factors hurt a party in trial in front of a jury than credibility issues. Once the jury determines or event suspects that the claimant treated more than he needed for improper reason, they likely will doubt the entire claim and won't believe much else of what the claimant has to say on the stand. This is exactly the reason why it's a good idea to avoid getting more medical care than you need for your injuries, especially if your case is likely to go to trial. 

You should especially make sure you don't get too much of the treatment that doesn't help you. Therefore, if for instance you treat for a chiropractor for 1-2 months and you feel no improvement in your pain symptoms, you should at least consider switching to physical therapy, acupuncture, etc. This is because it's usually quite hard to explain why a person went to see a particular doctor for 6 months or more several times a week if it didn't help at all. 

Overtreating will Hurt Your Injury Case

11/26/2009

 
Any "serious" attorney who handles bigger injury cases and facing a real likelihood of jury trial knows that regardless of the facts of his client's case and his injuries, his case to a great extent depends on his client's credibility. The impression that the injured plaintiff gives to a jury is critical to his ability to recover compensation. A typical juror has his own pains and problems and is inherently skeptical of the pain of other people. Any well founded suspicion that you exaggerate your injuries and your treatment is inflated will make you come across as a whiner who probably exaggerate just about everything he says and will make the jury far less generous than they would have otherwise been. 

Remember, a hero stops being a hero as soon as he considers himself one. The physical pain you are suffering, as well as your emotional distress as a result of the pain is something that the jury / defense attorneys have to infer indirectly from what happened in the injury incident and not simply take your word for it. 

This means that treating longer than you reasonable should have to simply increase the amount of medical bills, or having your doctor write a report to grossly exaggerates your symptoms and injuries will likely backfire at a deposition, when it's time for you or your doctor to testify or later - at trial. This means that you should not treat longer than you feel is necessary, and you should not continue seeking the same type of treatment of too long if it proves to be ineffective.

San Francisco Injury Lawyer: Your Credibility is Essential to Proving Your Case

7/15/2009

0 Comments

 

Most lawyers are well aware that the credibility of their client, especially in larger cases, is essential to a successful prosecution of an injury case. However, few attorney explain to their clients why being credible and believable is so important. 

Let's face the cruel but obvious truth. The jury of twelve strangers does not really care about someone else's injuries. We are all jaded with all the tragedies and injuries we constantly hear about through different channels of media and through are friends and co-workers, and we are often unable to really sympathize with yet another injured person  unless he is our close friend or relative.  This means that the jury is fair and generous to those victims who the jury likes as people. Ironically, an injured claimant who feels sorry for himself, gets much less compassion from the jury who determines whether to award plaintiff damages and how much that award should be. 

If you have been injured and are about to testify at a deposition or trial, it is critical that you don't exaggerate your injuries. It is very important that you don't say that your condition is worse today than it was right after the accident (because that's almost never possible or believable). Unless you have been involved in a catastrophic injury, don't make your injury sound like a global disaster. Be honest about how you hurt yourself and what pain you experience today but do not exaggerate. The moment the opposing attorney and/or the jury doesn't believe one, seemingly insignificant fact about your case, they will doubt everything else, and you must avoid being caught in that situation. 

Remember: casting doubt on your credibility and honesty is one of the strongest defense weapons that the insurance companies might have. If you don't give them that ammunition, they will likely settle your claim sooner, and likely for a larger amount of money.

0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer

    Contact us

    Contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss your injury claim at (415) 295-4730

    Categories

    All
    Accident
    Accident Injuries
    Arbitration
    Bicycle Accidents
    Burn Injuries
    Car Insurance Issues
    Cellphones And Driving
    Chiropractor
    Compression Fracture
    Depositions
    Disc Herniation
    Dog Bite Injuries
    Mediation Of Injury Case
    Medical Bills
    Medical Malpractice
    Medical Treatment Of Injuries
    Motorcycle Injury Accidents In California
    Negligent Entrustment
    Pain And Suffering
    Pedestrian Injuries In San Francisco
    Physical Therapy
    Rear End Accident
    Rear-end Accident
    Slip And Fall Injuries
    Spinal Injuries
    Surgeries
    Texting
    Trial Of Injury Case
    Uninsured Motorist
    Work Related Injuries

Personal Injury Law

San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
Contact San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer
Useful Legal Links

Employment Law

What Is Wrongful Termination?
Sample Request for Reasonable Accommodation
Sample Complaint about Workplace Discrimination 
FAQ About California Employment Law 

Law Office of Arkady Itkin

Contact Us
About
Our Practice Areas
Current Cases & Results 


Law Office of Arkady Itkin - San Francisco & Sacramento Injury and Employment Lawyer
We represent employees and employers in employment and wrongful termination cases, as well as victims of serious injuries in San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Palo Alto, San Mateo and throughout Northern California. 


57 Post Street, Suite 812, San Francisco, CA 94104; Tel. (415) 295-4730; Fax. (415) 508-3474; arkady@arkadylaw.com
Photos used under Creative Commons from feserc, Elvert Barnes