Marc Lazarus: $850,000 settlement /car accident claim
Our 50 year old, married, father of two was rear-ended at a high rate of speed by a driver who was inattentive because he was on his cell phone. Our attempted to handle the claim on his own for 23 months to no avail with no offer from Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, who represented responsible driver. A lawsuit must be filed within 2 years of an auto accident here in California or the claim cannot be pursued. Our client hired us on the eve of the 2 year anniversary and we immediately filed the lawsuit, which protected his rights and allowed the claim to proceed. Despite the client doing and saying many things that hurt his claim while he was acting as his own attorney – which is pretty typical when someone who has never handled a personal injury claim tries to match wits with a billion dollar insurance company – we were able to resolve his back injury claim for $850,000 on the eve of trial. Our client deserved that compensation for what he had endured and he was deliriously happy with the outcome. As good as an outcome as that was, we know we could have done even better if he would have hired us much earlier.