Pet Peeves
I have talked a little bit about my past, I have talked a little about my overall training to become a successful settlement negotiator, and I have talked a little about experiences in negotiating personal injury cases. Now I will talk about my pet peeves and things that annoy me the most about my job. For the most part, I am pretty good with ignoring disruptions, dealing with stupid people, or dealing with EDP’s (Emotionally Disturbed People), and in this chapter, I will briefly go over the things that annoy me the most and how I handle such annoyances and disruptions:
1.) Do not disturb! I hate being disturbed when I’m on a specific workflow…
Settlement negotiators need to know every aspect of the case and do everything from Intakes to Pre-Trial Preparations. For each case, we have an extensive workflow, and for the most part, we have at least 200 to 300 cases at the minimum. At some point, I even had as many as 600 cases assigned to me. Between dealing with clients, following up with treatment, reviewing medical records, writing up a case summary for settlement purposes, litigation, and most importantly, settling the damn case, the last thing I want is for someone to disturb me, especially with some trivial bullshit.
Occasionally, I may also have a very complex case where even the attorneys do not know what to do. I sometimes stare at the wall to think or do extensive legal research. These would actually be the worst times when I get interrupted, and once again, especially with some trivial bullshit.
2.) I hate when clients lie and, most importantly, insult my intelligence!
Do not lie to people that are trying to help you! Most clients think they are smart, but in reality, it is not always the case. They think that if they lie or exaggerate facts, they can manipulate the system. Here is a prime example, which is usually the most common thing that clients lie about:
When clients lie about prior accidents: During an EUO, the client was adamant that she had no prior accidents. However, all insurance companies do something that is called an ISO Search. ISO Search reveals all prior accident details such as Date of Accident, No-Fault Claim information, and initial complaints. After the EUO, the carrier pulled the ISO Search, and a list of 6 prior car accidents popped up. Apparently, the client was involved in at least one car accident per year. The injuries were also the same. In situations such as these, the No-Fault claim is immediately denied. That means that there would be a possible lien as well as the client not being able to treat because no one would pay for the treatment. Furthermore… if the client treats less than 90 days, the client essentially has no case because the client would not pierce threshold.
3.) Case Management Systems
I don’t mean to get all technical on you folks, but I hate most case management systems. They are cluttered with junk and were clearly designed by idiots that either sucked at personal injury law or have no idea how to code. Maybe a combination of both. But before I get into the nitty-gritty details about my issues with case management systems and what they are, here is a quick disclaimer:
Disclaimer: The reviews and opinions of personal injury case systems are my own. The reviews are non-biased and all based on my experiences by using them. I was not paid by or offered anything in exchange for my reviews.
Issue #1:
Most case management systems suck when it comes to keeping notes. I would like to have a case management system that would separate notes by categories! No one seems to do that.
Issue #2:
Most systems are ridiculously slow and cluttered. Trialworks, by far, was one of the worst systems I have ever used. It is much better now, but when I first used it when they initially came out, it was one of the worst systems I ever used. However, it is still heavily cluttered with features, which most people don’t even use.
Issue #3:
Most systems do not have remote or web-based access. Many firms went out of business during the whole COVID shut down because they couldn’t access their cases. This is why I love Smart Advocate and Filevine. These guys got it right!
4.) Clients need to start taking notes when discussing specific details with an attorney or paralegal regarding their case:
I cannot emphasize this enough on how stupid most clients are. They forget everything they were told literally minutes after you discuss the specifics regarding their case. After they get home, they soon claim that you didn’t tell them anything or gave them the wrong information because they simply forgot. They will use you as a scapegoat. Alternatively, I can email them with the case status and details. But who has time for that? Instead of working on cases, I would spend half the day corresponding with half of these idiots. To think, someone would take notes on an important issue such as their legal matter
5.) When clients think that you are lying to them just because they do not understand something.
This is probably the most frequent issue I have during signups. You tell a potential client some specific information, and because their 2nd cousin in a different state had a car accident as well, they think you are either lying to them or do not know what you are talking about because that 2nd cousin had a completely different experience.
6.) When the boss or staff of the firm bring in a case of their relatives or friends
For the most part, even if it is a really crappy case, I give it the benefit of the doubt. I have had a lot of cases where I thought some of them were so bad that I wanted to drop the same week, but, in the end, I managed to settle for really good money. Regardless of the quality of the case, I always give it a 110% for two main reasons: 1.) I love to outsmart insurance examiners and defense attorneys 2.) I am extremely argumentative by nature. Both are fine qualities for a good negotiator.
But this is where things get really complicated. In almost every firm that I have ever worked for, an attorney or someone from the staff brings in a case and expects me to perform miracles on it. Even if it’s a case with no hope because they are trying to impress their friends and family. I personally have no qualms in dropping a friend’s or relative’s case if there is no hope. Unfortunately, most bosses will litigate the case to death just to show them how hard we “fight, ” and if we lose a case on threshold (no injuries) or liability, it is ultimately my fault because I did not settle the case. And people don’t want to see how we “fight.” They want results and money in their pockets.
Most of my bosses also almost always seem to indulge their friends or relatives with the hope of receiving a large settlement. Feed them with false hope instead of being honest with them. They could simply just say, “Hey… We’ll give it our best shot but can’t promise anything.” But no! They promise their friends and relatives everything under the stars and when they don’t deliver, it’s my fault. Like WTF? It’s not my fault they bring in shit cases or have unrealistic demands!
7.) When attorneys hire kids and interns to submit settlement packages and medical records to insurance companies
I was once in an office where the firm brought in 20 cases a day. Naturally, I couldn’t review all the settlement packages that were being sent out. We had a staff of newly minted so-called paralegals with zero experience who work for minimum wage to request and send settlement packages to the carriers. In a perfect world, I would confirm with the client on their treatment, validate whether they had any prior or subsequent accidents or other injuries, even if most of them lie, and request pertinent medical records. After I would receive the medical records, I would ensure that anything that’s not related to the injury is not exchanged. I consider myself a decent teacher. In fact, I have a basic sheet of instructions with large bullets on what to look out for:
•Over-Lapping treatments
•Prior accidents. Treatment that is prior to the mentioned accident.
•Subsequent accidents.
Unfortunately for me, the medical clerks or these kids never listened, and they sent everything to everyone. It made things very challenging for me to negotiate these cases.
8.) When clients lie about prior or subsequent accidents
Clients think they’re slick. They think that if they don’t tell us something, we will not find out. If you were ever involved in a prior or subsequent car accident and opened a No-Fault (PIP Claim), that information goes to DMV. All carriers request an ISO Search to confirm whether or not a client has any or prior accidents. ISO Searches has the following information:
•Date of Loss
•Carrier, which the NF Claim was opened with
•Claim Number
•Injuries
9.) When clients make me repeat the same basic instructions over and over.
I hate when I make a statement to someone, and that person takes my statement and repeats it as a question, and then I have to repeat myself or elaborate my statement, and then they freaking turn that elaborated statement into a question. They then blame me because they’re too stupid to understand the basic instructions the first time!
Note: For the most part, I would never give clients difficult tasks. It is not their job. However, the most common task I give my clients is to request their own medical records because it would speed up the process, especially with the hospitals. It takes forever for hospitals to provide medical records. There is a specific process that the hospitals go through. The process is as follows:
1) We make an official written request and include the HIPAA Authorizations to obtain medical records. This request sits on someone’s desk for weeks before the request is processed.
2) The collection and the processing of the medical records (Printing and/or Putting it all on a CD) take another week or two. Sometimes longer.
3) After the medical records are processed, we receive an invoice for the medical records. Usually, it’s $0.75 Per Page.
4) We send out a check for the medical records, and that check is sitting on someone’s desk in the hospital for a few weeks before it’s even deposited. Once the check clears, an OK from the billing department for the medical clerk to finally send out the medical records.
There is no specific time frame from start to finish before we finally receive medical records from the hospital.
A common example of how frustrating it can get to request clients to do basic tasks:
Me: This is what I need you to do… When you go to the doctor’s office, ask the doctor to print out the medical records for you so that you can bring them into my office. Will make things quicker.
Client: So you want me to go to the doctor’s office and ask the doctor to print the medical records out so I can bring them into your office?
Me: Yes
Client: So what do you want me to do when I go into the doctor’s office?
Me: *Scratching my head* As mentioned 2 minutes ago, I need you to go speak to the doctor and ask him to print out the medical records so that you can bring them to my office.
Client: So why did you not say this the first time? So you basically want me to get all my records when I see the doctor?
Me: Yes… That is exactly what I want you to do.
Client: Well… You should have been clear about what you wanted me to do the first time.
10.) Don’t take money from your kids!
Every time I have a case where a child is involved, the parents are always trying to take money from the kids. Thankfully, the child’s money is protected by the law and the ICO (Infant Compromise Order). However, the child’s parents almost always become irate when they think they can fight the ICO Process. There is almost no way to go around the ICO Process.
11.) When clients come to the office to complain that their case was dropped
If you, a client, receive a drop letter for whatever reason, especially if it was for a dual denial (Liability & Threshold), you don’t need to come to the office and scream at the top of your lungs at the staff. Law firms hate dropping cases. We spend a lot of time and money working up each case, even if it’s a shit case. If we drop a case, it was probably for a good reason, and you are more than welcome to go to another attorney and see if someone else is willing enough to take your case. Mistakes do happen, so you never know. I have taken over a lot of cases from other firms, which were dropped, and managed to settle them for a lot of money. I can also tell you another thing. If you feel that the attorney made a mistake, don’t try to convince them that they did. It’s their loss if another attorney manages to settle your case.
12.) Clients inclination to think that we’re their psychotherapist
This is the sole reason why I never give clients my cell phone number anymore. And believe me… They ask for it! Aside from giving the status of their case or asking the status of their treatment, I try my very best to limit my communication with clients. I don’t even want clients to know that I was the one that settled their case. I just want to work on the case, settle it with the best of my abilities, and move on to the next file. But in the early stages of my settlement career or even when I was a training paralegal, I fell for a lot of sob stories. Clients would call me at the wee hours of the night (mostly females) and begin crying on the phone about usually trivial things they couldn’t emotionally or psychologically manage.
I had one client who suffered from anxiety and paranoia. At exactly 8 pm on the dot, she would begin calling me on the phone, panicking because someone looked at her weirdly or thinking that someone was stalking her. It’s a common trend between paranoia and being noticed by a stranger who would randomly glance at a paranoid individual who begins to panic and start thinking the worst. In most cases, paranoia is usually coupled with the fear of persecution. Some kind of end result such as fear of being injured or kidnapped. Not with her. The mere look from someone just bothered her, and she reported to me every incident she had. The only reason I even indulged her psychotic behavior was that she had a good case and did not want to lose her as a client. She was the type of person who would immediately go to another attorney if she didn’t receive the attention she needed.
I’m betting that there will be a lot of my old and current clients who are suffering from paranoia and immediately think to themselves, “This Mofo is talking about me! ” In reality, I’m talking about 30% of my clients.
13.) When clients begin to discuss stupid nonsense, which has nothing to do with their case
I like my interaction with the clients very brief. But I hate when clients try to keep me on the phone for an hour just because they want to discuss the death of their hamster or how their nine-year-old decided it was a great idea to bring the dead hamster to school to show it to his friends. Yes, that happened. Clients need to learn to be brief and not waste our time. If we’re spending all day answering their calls, most of which are irrelevant or redundant, that’s the time they’re taking away from us on actually working on their case.
14.) When clients sign something when we tell them not to sign anything
Not going to mention the name of the carrier. Joking… It was Progressive insurance company, and this issue has been well documented. Progressive used to go door to door to injured car accident victims right after the accident before the victims have a chance to find legal representation and convince them to sign a release and give them checks on the spot for $1, 500. Regardless of what kind of injuries they had. Even if it was a fracture case. They tried this stunt for a year (don’t remember which year) until attorneys started litigating and demanding Framed Issue Hearings to fix the situation as well as filing complaints with the New York State Insurance Board. I’m glad it stopped fast, but whoever came up with that idea is a smart idiot.
15.) When clients go to IME appointments when you specifically tell them not to
During the intact, I am very clear by telling clients not to go to any appointments without confirming with our office first. Some clients just don’t listen. IME appointments are not there to treat you. They are there to determine whether you are seriously injured or not and if that injury is a direct result of the accident. Even if you are seriously injured and the injury is a direct result of the accident, the doctor, for the most part, will claim that you’re not. Even if you had a fracture or surgery.
IME doctors are getting paid by the insurance companies. It’s their job to try to deny your case. If your case is denied below the 90-day mark, that means none of the bills from the date of denial will be paid. If none of the bills from the date of denials are getting paid then, the doctor will either discharge you or let you continue treating on a lien. That would mean that from that day forward, you will have to pay the doctor back after your case settles. I have had numerous cases where the client felt it was a good idea to go to the 1st IME appointment 30 to 50 days after the accident without even telling us. Insurance companies are really smart! They send the client notification letters but “forget” to send us a copy or delay sending us a copy in hopes that the client doesn’t call us and let us know about the upcoming appointments.
We try hard to push back those IME appointments as far back as possible. We have two chances to do that. Sometimes three if we’re lucky.
16.) When clients take out cash advances and then complain that their NET settlement check is too little
Cash advances are the worst. Unless a client is getting evicted or has a catastrophic emergency where the client loses their job, taking out a cash advance should be the absolute last resort. Cash advances are a rip-off. You take out $1, 000 and you will owe $2, 000. We can negotiate with the cash-funding companies after we get the final top settlement offer, but the funding companies only reduce the interest rates by a tiny percentage. Maybe even a whole point if we beg them hard enough. But for some reason, clients seem to think that it is our fault that they have such a massive lien. As if we are the ones who made the decision for them. I personally always urge clients to never take out a cash advance because no one knows what the possible outcome of their case would be. I have also had numerous instances where the cash advance lien was much higher than the top settlement offer was.
17.) When clients hire a personal injury attorney, they think that they are retaining us for their personal problems
We are not your therapist, we don’t care that your hamster died, nor do we care that your neighbor’s dog keeps peeing on your doorstep. We are here to bring you the best possible outcome of your personal injury or medical malpractice case. I have mentioned this fact throughout the book. You don’t need to call us and start socializing with us. The more time we spend on the phone socializing with you, the less time we have to actually vigorously work on your case.