You are probably wondering, “Who is Alexander Mirvis, and what makes him one of the more prolific personal injury settlement negotiators in New York?” The answer is simple: my numbers speak for themselves. I have helped settle thousands of cases worth millions of dollars in the aggregate. What makes my experience unusual is the range of matters I have negotiated as a non-attorney, including motor vehicle accidents, slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall cases, municipal and federal matters, wrongful death claims, and medical malpractice cases. Many New York City firms hire non-attorney settlement negotiators because we cost less than attorneys and can focus on cases that are either comparatively straightforward or simply not where the attorneys want to spend their time. That does not mean negotiators are limited to small cases; larger matters can also settle when the defense is willing to discuss a fair value.

Most settlement negotiators throughout New York State settle only soft tissue car accident cases so that attorneys can focus on much larger cases. I’m not the best settlement negotiator. There are plenty of people out there that I have met who are better than me. I just happen to be the only one who knows his craft so well I can write about it in great detail. I have turned settlement negotiation into a science.

I think outside the box, think fast, and will take every possible advantage I can think of to resolve a case for top money. On top of that, I can be highly manipulative. If I hear you over the phone and if I can sense that you either have no idea what you are talking about, are not confident, or even overconfident, you can be almost certain that I will take full advantage of your personality traits. However, one thing I don’t do is lie or play “dirty” unless the examiner is a piece of shit. I came across those as well. I also don’t do anything illegal or unethical. After all, my boss’ license is on the line, and I have a reputation with insurance companies, which I would not want to ruin. For the same reason, I do not work with dirty attorneys either. No matter how much money they offer me and believe me, I get plenty of offers.

Let’s assume I stopped giving a shit about ethics or the law, decided to work for a shady attorney, and did something dirty, such as forging medical records. I would be finished. No one would trust me, and I would lose the respect of the insurance professionals I have worked with. Building and maintaining relationships based on honesty goes a long way in this business. I expect the same courtesy from defense attorneys and examiners. If that courtesy is not returned, I have ways of escalating the problem, including seeking reassignment of a file or reporting serious conduct issues. I have done both.

If you have ever heard of the cat and mouse games during the Cold War between the Russians and the US, in many cases, it is almost the same with settlement negotiations. We battle it out and then pat each other on the back for how well we fought each other after the case was resolved. I would like to keep that kind of rapport with the examiners so I would never jeopardize that kind of relationship just for a few extra bucks.

Moving forward, I am very direct and I swear quite a bit, in case you have not noticed. Given my personality and my complicated relationship with the personal injury practice, you can expect sarcasm, some humor, and, hopefully, a lesson or two. This book contains heavy profanity and sensitive topics and is not written for children. The “F” word may be the most expressive word in the English language. If you are hypersensitive to other people’s opinions, profanity, or political jabs, you may want to find another legal story to read. This book can be offensive. Enjoy!

Insurance Claim: Formal request of payment for damages from an insurance company by the “injured” party. The damages range from No-Fault (Medical Bills, etc.) to Injuries.

No-Fault: Pays for Medical Bills, lost wages, and things such as specialized equipment for therapy. In most cases, attorneys charge a separate fee to manage the NF claim because, essentially, it’s a completely separate practice of law.

PD or Property Damage Claim: Pays for any Property Damages. The negligent party’s insurance carrier would pay for whatever it is that they break—whether it’s your car or your phone.

Bodily Injury Claim (BI Claim): This is the claim where the client actually gets paid for the pain and suffering, assuming they pierce the Serious Injury Threshold Laws.

WC (Workers' Compensation): Type of claim that is similar to No-Fault but only applies to claimants who were injured on the job. Completely separate legal practice, and in most cases, the plaintiff has to get a separate attorney just to handle their WC Claim.

UM (Uninsured) Claim: In the event that the Defendant or Tortfeasor doesn’t have any valid insurance, unknown insurance, the host vehicle (Vehicle you are in), or your own policy would cover you for Pain and Suffering.

UIM (Underinsured) Claim: In the event that the defendant’s policy limits are lower than what the damages (injuries) are and your policy limits are higher than the BI limits, you can basically get more money from the host vehicle or your own policy.

Example: Let’s assume you have multiple broken bones, and the person who is at fault has only $25, 000 policy limits. The value of the case is much higher. Once you collect the full policy, you may open up a UIM claim against the host vehicle or your own policy. However, the UIM must be higher than the BI limits, and there is an offset. Let’s also assume your UIM Limits are $50, 000 and you already collected $25, 000 for pain and suffering. Because you already collected $25, 000, you can only collect another $25, 000.

Settlement: Agreement between two parties for compensation. For the purpose of Personal Injury, the defendant’s insurance carrier agrees to offer a certain amount to close the case.

Pleadings: Pleadings are basically court documents. They are exchanged between defendants and plaintiffs and with the court. Basically, either exchanging information/discovery or demanding something.

Litigation: The act of proceeding with a case through the court system.

Paralegal: A legal professional which attorneys hire in order to make decisions for them due to their extensive experience in legal practice. At least, that is how I see it.

S&C (Summons and Verified Complaint): A summons is a complaint filed by the Plaintiff that requires the defendant to answer the allegations.

Verified Answer to Complaint (Answer): In New York State, a defendant must submit an Answer in writing to the Summons and Verified Complaint to the Plaintiff within 30 days or the Plaintiff, in theory, can file a Judgment.

BPs or BOPs (Bill of Particulars): BPs are a huge package of facts. They include police reports, ambulance reports, medical records, and any other evidence that pertains to the case.

RJI (Request for Judicial Intervention): In New York State Supreme Court, a Judge is not assigned to a case until the Plaintiff or the Defendant files for RJI.

eCourts: New York State Supreme Court online database for cases that are in Litigation. You can basically see who filed what and any past or upcoming court dates.

Note: In New York State, you cannot see a case on eCourts unless an RJI has been filed.

I have learned a lot about leadership in the military. At some point in my military career, I even briefly trained with Special Forces or the Green Berets. I am not Special Forces Qualified, but I had an opportunity to train with them for 30 days in Ft. Polk, Louisiana, during the Pre-Combat Deployment Training program called JRTC (Joint Readiness Training Center). My unit just happened to get randomly attached to them for the pre-combat deployment qualifications. During these 30 days of training with them, I probably learned more with them than I did in years with my regular units. I also solidified my sensitivity to other cultures, which is a crucial skill.

Green Berets are probably one of the most phenomenal people anyone could ever meet. In fact, most special forces operators such as the CAG (Delta Force), U.S. Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Marine Force Recon & Raiders, Air Force Combat Controllers, and Para Jumpers, etc. are. Besides the training, they are highly intelligent, highly focused, and self-motivated and all have a distinct Type A Personality (alpha males). If you were ever in the military, you could almost see a Special Operator (SOF) guy a mile away. These are the types of people who are not only self-motivated and determined but are capable of motivating even the laziest person to climb Mt. Everest. This is the type of caliber of personality it takes to be a Special Operator. Besides their spectacular intelligence, personality, and years’ worth of world-class training, Green Berets are masters of diplomacy. They are force multipliers. During our initial missions in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11, it was mostly the Green Berets that brought all tribes, local warlords, and freedom fighters together to begin fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Specifically Green Beret ODA 595.

I am only bringing this up because, throughout the 30-day training with the Green Berets, I learned something invaluable, which completely reshaped my thinking on human interaction and diplomacy. If you ever heard of the term “winning hearts and minds, ” you probably think you know what it means by definition or what you heard on the media. It is more than building schools and churches in war-torn nations. The reality is unless you are a Green Beret or at some point, interacted with them as they instructed what a true definition of “winning the hearts and mind” is, you most likely do not. Consider this: convincing an individual or a large group of individuals trying to kill you into being your friend and fight with you is as difficult as it sounds. One simple miscalculation can get you or your buddies killed. The training I received during my very brief encounter with Green Berets became invaluable during my future settlement negotiations career. It helped me make a lot of friends with the top people in the insurance companies and in general.

My military service is also relevant to this book as it gives me a massive advantage over certain insurance carriers because they LOVE Veterans. With some carriers, as soon as I mention that I am a veteran, in most cases, they fork out a lot more money on a case than they normally would. I will get to that later.

After the military, I landed my first civilian job as a telemarketer at a telemarketing company selling Payment Processing services. This job is also relevant to what I am doing because regardless of my Military background and experience, I never had any sales or general business skills. This job paid terribly, but I did learn a lot by selling a valuable service. I also learned how to sell myself. When you sell something, people do not just buy the product, but they buy you as well because they like you. Sales jobs are undervalued because they’re performance-based. Hourly salary has a limit due to how many available hours you have during the day. But if you’re good at sales, you have unlimited potential. Charisma goes a long way. Working in sales gave me a lot of confidence to deal with people who have a lot of money.

A few years later, I finally landed a job with a reputable IT Company that mostly worked with Telecom. Something that I was looking into. I have done everything ranging from Software and Hardware Support to R&D (Research and Development). I got this job by accident, but I had extensive experience in the IT field before that. I was fixing and breaking stuff since I was 13. At some point, I was also a reputable hacker. Back in those days, hackers met in Diners, not hiding behind a VPN (Virtual Private Network) that would hide your location or in the Dark Web. I’ve been hacking systems since High School.

It was around 2010 when I was at the prime of my Technology career field. I developed amazing technology products, which were mostly in telecom. I perfected the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) coding process and was at the forefront of working for a Telecom Company, creating Phone Captioning web interfaces. My biggest accomplishments were VoIP Security Implementations, which I created using Asterisk. In fact, on the side, I still do that. Part-time, I still code, and most recently, I became a YouTuber (YouTube.com/LynxNYC). I created various Telecom “hacks” to troll and decimate Indian scammers and telemarketers. I have also taken old Lenny Bot Recordings and implemented them into a basic AI. Lenny is a basic voice bot that is designed to fool telemarketers by making them think that they are talking to a human, but they are not. It is also designed to keep them on the phone for as long as possible to annoy them even more.

At some point in my career, I managed to screw all of that up by joining a startup company to manage their team of incompetent developers. That company went under, and out of desperation of looking for a job, I was employed by my first law firm. While working for the attorney, we became close friends, and I soon referred to her as Mother Goose. And to this day, we are still good friends, and she is like my second mother to me.

She is a talented attorney. However, her downside was the inability to find clients. That was mostly due to her refusal to use runners as 90% of law firms in NYC and Multi-Specialty Physical Therapy offices use. Regardless of that, when I did work with her and her main Litigation Paralegal, I did learn a lot. But before I dig deep into how I became a Settlement Negotiator, I would like to explain what it takes to become one and how someone can become a Paralegal or Settlement Negotiator.

In New York State, any circus monkey can become a paralegal or even a basic Litigation Paralegal. It’s at a point when you begin drafting motions without copying and pasting you can start labeling yourself as a litigation paralegal or a real paralegal. But at that stage, you need at least some form of intelligence. There are four levels of being a Paralegal:

1. Legal Aide – Responsible for basic filing, some correspondence, and medical records requests.

2. Paralegal – Responsibilities may include basic litigation such as Summons and Verified Complaints, intake processing, case writeups, and No-Fault Processing.

3. Litigation Paralegal – More Complex Summons and Verified Complaints, Bill of Particulars, discovery demands, and basic Motion Practice such as Basic Summary judgment motions.

4. Complex Litigation Paralegal – Complex litigation includes Appeals, Complex Motion Practice, Trial Preparation, and have authority to settle. My good friend Layna Sabinster, God rest her soul, was a Complex Litigation Paralegal. She was brilliant and did all pleadings by hand. There was no copy and paste for her like most attorneys and paralegals do because they’re stupid or lazy. Everything was done from scratch!

As a legal Aide, you can expect to work for minimum wage, but as a complex Litigation Paralegal, you can expect to make an average of $100, 000 per year for a large firm, especially if you have an LLM or JD.

To start off working for a Law Firm, you, in theory, don’t even need a High School Diploma. I have met quite a few off-the-boat Paralegals who learned to litigate Personal Injury cases, and they didn’t even have their GED. What it comes down to is finding an attorney who is brave enough to hire you and start training you from day one. That is if you can prove to them that you have any kind of resemblance of basic intelligence. How far you will go is all based on you because most firms give ample opportunity to learn. As a top Complex Litigation Paralegal, you can earn as much as $100, 000+. Even more than a settlement negotiator. I took a different route in my career. I did plenty of litigation such as BPs, and basic motions, but I had a knack for settling cases so I branched off the typical path that most paralegals take, which is great because I didn’t want to sit behind a desk all day doing litigation and filling out HIPAAs all day. I hate filling out HIPAAs, especially when you’re doing a Bill of Particulars. What’s worse than HIPAAs, though? The stupid pre-trial subpoenas. I think I hated doing them even more.

Pro Tip: If you’re a new attorney, when you go on the Preliminary Conference, read the damn file first before you make your first appearance. Defense attorneys love to make demands for medical records that have nothing to do with the case. I have experienced a lot of situations where the plaintiff had many pre-existing conditions, that had nothing to do with a traumatic injury event, and the defense attorney made demands for those medical records. Object to the damn requests! They may not be entitled to them, and you don’t want some underpaid and over-stressed paralegal filling out a hundred HIPAA forms.

Initially, I was hired to do one thing. Run a major online marketing campaign, which included a new website and focusing on Search Engine Optimization to bring in more clients. Due to my ability to code fast and generally get things done quickly, to me, it wasn’t a full-time job. I wound up with too much time on my hands. I couldn’t help it. I think and come up with ideas very quickly. This was when the attorney decided I should help with her practice as well since she was paying me full-time.

At first, I was taught how to properly organize files—getting a better understanding of what goes where and learning the different types of documents, forms, etc. Down the line, I was taught to open up various claims and eventually read the police reports and slowly but surely got a basic understanding of which claims were for which purpose.

All this is not rocket science, but I caught on quickly, and the attorney noticed it. I learned faster than most people generally learn how to open up claims and read police reports. This all seems pretty trivial to seasoned attorneys and paralegals, but one must keep in mind that the majority of the so-called paralegals spend years doing nothing but opening claims all day. In fact, in many cases, regardless of their years of so-called experience, I have seen people completely screw that up as well to the point of borderline malpractice.

Eventually, the attorney I was working for could not seem to find any new cases, regardless of how good she was, so inevitably she could not afford to pay me anymore, and I was forced to find a new job. Surprisingly, after a brief search on Craigslist, I somehow landed a job at another firm. I was not looking to work for another law firm and wanted to get back to doing IT because it paid a lot more, but because I could not find one, I was forced to work for another law firm. So, with my newfound training and experience, I began working for a new law firm. Here is my first realization that the majority of attorneys are stupid—at least 80% of them. I completely understand that they busted their ass in college, went through law school, and passed the bar (regardless of how many times they took it) but at what point did they realize that they should open up their firm with zero experience in personal injury?

In the early stages of my legal career, I thought that the attorney was a bright guy, and I assumed that he knew everything because he was a lawyer. Nope! I was completely wrong. He did not know shit. I had to show him how to open up claims. He even used to scrutinize every No-Fault Denial that came in the mail. Meaning he would read hundreds of letters a day on why each bill got denied. He would dedicate two to three hours a day to reading all of these denials and forcing me to scan and file every one of them and note it into the file. I was starting to go insane. I called Mother Goose and asked her if they were important and told her what I was doing. Her only response was, “Is he stupid? I throw them out! ” After that, I did try to convince him that we didn’t need them. At least for the most part, but he refused to listen to me because he was the all-mighty attorney, and I wasn’t.

I didn’t know this at the time, but insurance companies don’t pay the whole bill for treatment. They try their best not to, for them to save as much money as possible. They will even go to extensive lengths just to deny a $75 bill. Either by arguing medical necessity, negative IME results, or whatever other reason they could fathom. IMEs are also a sham. Regardless of what the injuries are, most IME results come back negative. The clients are rushed in and rushed out, and the doctor barely examines them yet comes back with a five-page report on why the treatment is not a medical necessity. This brings up a funny negotiating debate. If the IME results are negative, I make various arguments during negotiations such as:

•It’s your Doctor vs. our Doctor argument

•IME doctors rush them in and out without thoroughly examining them

•IME doctors didn’t treat our patient

But if the IME result comes back positive, I would use that to argue that even their own paid doctors agree that our client is seriously injured. For the most part, it doesn’t matter whether they are negative or positive reports, but positive reports make it easier to argue.

For the most part, personal injury attorneys generally shouldn’t concern themselves with these denials unless there is a specific issue with a case or the NF claim. The doctors have their special attorneys who arbitrate the bills and eventually force the insurance companies to pay. At least for the most part. It is in the doctors’ best interest to make sure everything is done accordingly, so it’s generally their problem. Otherwise, doctors do not get paid and will refuse to treat the patient if the No-Fault portion of the case is cut off. I will discuss the No-Fault denials in detail on a case-by-case basis.

Throughout the whole time, I was working there, I guess someone was training him or showing him the ropes because he was starting to give me clearer directions of what to do. I even remember him beginning to file some cases in litigation and doing some BPs. I don’t remember most of the details, so I’m not sure whether whatever he was doing was correct or not, but he at least thought he was. Keep in mind that I still didn’t know much, and the first time I saw him send out a BP, I kind of almost renewed my faith in him because I saw him hold out a 500-page packet to send to the insurance company and thought to myself, “maybe he does know what he’s doing...” I still remember the look on his face. It was as if he had conquered a country after each BP he did.

Somehow, I managed to work for this guy doing the same crap for almost a year and a half and still wasn’t learning much. He would randomly make me do stupid things like calling insurance companies and asking for “status.” I had no idea what status he was referring to, but every time I asked him, he would simply give me a dumb look or attitude that I wasn’t doing what he told me. As inexperienced as I was opening various claims, I at least knew that it was pointless to keep calling on status. On top of that, it made me look dumb every time I did call because the insurance company adjusters had no idea what I meant by that, especially if they hadn’t even received a settlement package.

Throughout a year and a half working there, almost none of the cases that he had ever settled. From what Mother Goose taught me, I at least knew enough to know that it took way too long for him to settle a case. That’s if he did. Especially the serious injury cases with minimal policies, which are easy to settle. A day I will never forget is hearing him “trying” to settle a case for the first time. I clearly remember when the adjuster asked him how much he was looking for, and he said, “I’m looking for a lot of money. Can you give it to me? ” Even at my level and extensive experience in sales and real estate, I know that this is no way to negotiate anything that has any kind of monetary value. From what I remember, the adjuster was arguing about massive degeneration and that the client was old. I don’t remember the outcome of the possible settlement, but I bet he didn’t get “a lot of money” he was looking for.

Eventually, I left that firm due to a falling out and, more importantly, because my rent was increasing and my boss refused to give me a raise. It was also becoming increasingly frustrating to work for a firm that wasn’t providing any real learning opportunities. Fortunately for him, he was involved in other areas like real estate, foreclosure defense, and collections, which kept him financially stable. Though somewhat irrelevant to this discussion, he also had me work on those things. Without those additional ventures, he would have been out of business long ago.

After that genius, I finally went to work for a firm, where I managed to work for three years. For that firm, I think the senior negotiator and I held a record of the amount of time working there. Most people didn’t last long. This is where I learned how to settle cases and where all of the fun stuff began. The boss was out of his mind, spoke in broken English, and ran his firm the same way Stalin ran Russia. I say that because it was his hobby to have attorneys and negotiators fight over who settled the case because you would get a very small bonus if you settled a case. Backstabbing was rampant and encouraged. He would get a kick out of people who would run to him first to complain about someone who screwed up in which case. You could see that demented smile on his face when someone would run to complain to him as if he got off on it.

When I started working there, I quickly realized that I didn’t know anything and felt a little embarrassed for enthusiastically explaining what I thought I did know. Nevertheless, they took me in, welcomed me, and started training me from square one. Regardless of all of the drama in that office, I learned a lot. I am particularly grateful to the senior negotiator for his patience and dedication in teaching me. This guy was amazing. He was working full-time and going to law school at the same time.

With the senior negotiator standing over my shoulder teaching me for three years, I eventually started settling cases. Eventually, I even impressed the boss with my performance because little did I know that apparently, it was not easy to teach someone to negotiate cases due to the dynamic nature of the skill. I started settling soft tissue cases and then moved on to complex litigation cases. Ultimately, after the senior negotiator graduated from law school, he quit and left me alone with the wolves. It was a nightmare. I foresaw this massive daily drama that almost turned into daily fistfights if he quit and had to leave ASAP, which I did probably within two months after he left. Attorneys and Paralegals were at it almost daily to get that exceedingly small bonus for settling a case.

After I left, I worked for multiple other law firms refined my settlement and litigation skills, and became exceptionally great at it through each passing year. I even did exceptionally well at mediation. I even settled Municipal cases as well as complex commercial cases and medical malpractice cases.

As I was growing with my legal career, I was growing with my IT side hustle as well. I created and worked on cool projects and continued my work on my YouTube channel, which focused on shutting down scam call centers. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when I was working from home since there was nothing else to do during the lockdown other than watch TV, code, and troll scammers.

Raises and Promotions:

The bad news. Throughout my professional career as a negotiator, I have yet to work for a firm that gave any raises. For the most part, there is no such thing as a promotion in the true sense of a term for a Negotiator. Whether you are an entry-level Negotiator or an experienced complex litigation Negotiator, you’re still a paralegal. But who cares about all that recognition anyway? I don’t. I’m a settlement negotiator, and I don’t even want clients to know that I was the one that settled their case. I just want to get rid of the file for the most money possible and move on to the next case. I don’t forget that I’m only as good as the last case to most bosses either. So don’t get twisted around about getting any recognition.

Another piece of advice I would like to offer is that no one is more important to you than you. Never feel guilty for wanting to leave a job because your employer needs you. Paralegals are a dime a dozen. I assure you that you are replaceable. So am I. Attorneys can just hire another attorney to do my job if they really need to. But because I don’t have an ESQ at the end of my name, they use that to save a few bucks. Regardless of how much I settle or how many clients I bring in.

The Good news. Progression in salary is much easier than you think, and it is very easy to ask for a raise. Here is how. First, you need to understand your role as a paralegal at a current stage and create goals for the next stage in paralegal status once you reach the next stage. Example: If you’re a general paralegal and started doing basic litigation, I would give it a few months before you perfect your craft. Once you perfect your craft and find yourself doing more work, never be shy about asking for a raise. Most attorneys have no time for bullshit. Just be direct. If the attorney says no to the raise, that brings me back to my first point. Don’t hesitate to start looking for a new job. Paralegals are always in demand at every stage, and if your current boss doesn’t appreciate the work you do, someone will.

Just think about this for a moment. On any given day, most clients always want to speak to the attorney whose name is on the door. All that meet and greet takes up a lot of time. The attorney’s calendar is filled with endless court appearances, depositions, or motion oral arguments. They have extraordinarily little time to work up an actual case.

The conditions and incentives I am referring to are better working conditions and bonuses; if not, at least a “decent” salary. For a guy that is solely responsible for getting insurance companies to pay out millions of dollars each year, I most certainly deserve at least a more decent salary. Considering the level of skill and intelligence it requires not only to run a firm but also to settle, it is a fair trade. For a well-developed law firm with 1, 200 cases or more, $100, 000 per year should be the average salary if you are a decent negotiator. I ran a few firms in the past and was paid half of that, and I brought in millions of dollars worth of settlements each year. On top of that, even though I am not a licensed attorney, I successfully settled many cases in mediation. In this type of business, there is rarely any fairness. Many attorneys blame the settlement negotiator for not bringing in cases either. Even though it’s technically in the job description as well. After all, we’re there to bring in the money. I personally always come prepared by carrying stacks of business cards on me at all times and having intakes sitting in my car just in case.

To compound the stresses of the work itself, there is rarely any appreciation for the work that settlement negotiators do. All of the glory goes to the attorney, which the client almost always thinks has resolved the case. There is virtually no recognition for this job. We close the case, and the attorney gets to brag about it. I consider settlement negotiators such as myself quiet professionals, and our ultimate sacrifice is that we are only as good as the last settlement. As soon as we resolve a case, our bosses are always quick to pressure you to move on to the next file.

As a settlement negotiator, I have three main challenges. Convince the insurance companies to fork out as much money as possible, convince the boss to accept it, which can be even more difficult because they are either greedy as fuck or stupid, and then finally convince the client to accept it because they’re also greedy or stupid. At least one of those challenges will, in fact, make it very difficult to settle a case. Either the insurance companies do not want to pay, the attorney is greedy or stupid, or the client is refusing the offer. In many cases, it’s all of the above. In between all of that, I have to deal with clients that are, in some cases, not the easiest to deal with either. Personal injury clients seem to have either an emotional or a serious behavioral issue. I am also beginning to think that law school dumbs people down to the point where the attorneys’ brain matter dissolves, circulates in their bloodstream, and is eventually expelled with their fecal matter. This fact pretty much solidifies my theory that an average attorney has a fifteen-year shelf life on mental stability. Much less if they practice personal injury law. Maybe not most, but a large number. Don’t get me wrong; I have worked with some brilliant attorneys. But there are very few to come by. Most personal injury attorneys can’t get past doing standard appearances and EBT, let alone fully litigating a case to trial.

Throughout my experience as a settlement negotiator, I have also come across quite a few insane office managers. Not all law firms hire them to monitor cases, but most firms that hire them do terribly. In most cases, aside from understanding that we need to provide medical records to insurance companies for a potential settlement, they have zero concept of how this all works, so they tend to put unrealistic expectations on each case. On top of that, they deliberately put unnecessary pressure on settlement negotiations because they believe that the more pressure they put on you, the better the possible outcome. In most cases, that is the complete opposite.

In two firms that I worked for that had office managers who monitored case progress, they were doing terribly and made the working environment almost intolerable. Here are two of my worst examples of what I came across in those firms:

1.) In one firm, an office manager seriously needed to be sedated. He was extremely loud, arrogant, and highly aggressive. He would randomly go into rage mode and start cursing at employees as well as clients. In many cases, you would hear him from outside as you walk into the office. It was impossible to communicate with him in person. I tried my best to use email as much as possible to avoid seeing him. I reached a point where I wanted to cause physical harm to him. I basically told him, “I’m quitting for your own safety, and I am not risking going to jail because I want to jump over this table and start strangling you until you turn every color of the rainbow.”

2.) Somehow, I started working for a firm where the attorney was really cool, and it seemed like we were on the same page. However, that firm had not one manager but two! The manager who was always in the office was utterly useless. All she did for the firm, or more like what she did for me, was send out closing documents after I settled a case. Any circus monkey could have done that. The other manager, who happened to proclaim himself as senior manager, was even more useless. All he did was run around medical offices to follow up on client’s treatments. Something that could have been easily been done over the phone. Between the two, they were both on my ass like crazy glue. On average, I settled about $100, 000 per week. Or at least very close to that. Regardless of how much I settled, they would repeatedly take me into an empty room and complain that they barely see any money coming in or how come I settled so quickly or come up with various other bullshit excuses just to deliberately fuck with me. What I heard from other staff, was that ever since I came on board, the attorney began to question their role and purpose. Hence the constant harassment. However, as useless as they were, my boss would not fire them and essentially picked them over me because apparently, they were there when he first started. I reached a point where I just simply left on Friday and just never came back. From what I learned, they had a high turnover rate, probably for the same reasons.

Aside from all of the difficulties I have settling, many of the lawyers I have worked for are not only greedy but heartless. When a client hires an attorney, they hire an attorney to protect their rights and ensure the best possible outcome of their case and their health. I generally tackled this issue with my boss day in and day out. Watching attorneys trying to convince a client to do some kind of surgical procedure when the client doesn’t need it for the sake of a large settlement kind of breaks my heart. Especially when you’re dealing with a younger patient because the majority of orthopedic surgeries, such as meniscectomies, require corrective surgeries years later. Same for Discectomies.

Don’t get me wrong; there are many injuries out there where you may not feel any pain now, but years later, they progress to something serious, which may require a serious procedure. But due to the greed of most of the attorneys out there, it’s always important to get a second opinion before doing any kind of surgical procedure, and I strongly advise my clients to do just that. Especially if the procedure is done by a doctor referred to you by a physical therapy office. One thing that clients don’t know is that any doctor that practices medicine for the No-Fault industry is considered the bottom of the barrel in the medical profession.

This is why I decided to write this book. I am really tired of how clients and attorneys make a mockery of the legal system as well as how shit No-Fault doctors perform unnecessary operations just because they’re greedy. These bullshit cases may bring a quick buck to the plaintiff, but the long-term repercussions are clearly visible! But at the same time, insurance companies pay little on real cases that deserve real money for pain and suffering. Insurance rates in NYC alone are through the roof, countless unknown clients are suffering irreversible health issues due to unnecessary surgeries, and countless people are seriously injured due to staged car accidents.

Legitimate cases where people were genuinely hurt due to someone’s negligence are also waiting years in the court system because the courts are backed up with bullshit cases. You have greedy attorneys and clients who file a two bulge case in court and would litigate it for years just to get a few extra dollars or to make an example to the carrier that you’re willing to litigate a case until the end just so that the carriers could take you more seriously. It is sickening to continue to see this, so I decided to write this book in hopes that someone who has the power to make a change and make the changes needed to fix the entire corrupt system. And believe me, I have a few good ideas, which I will mention further in this book.

My first lesson was to never underestimate a client’s injury or subjective complaints because even with minimal soft tissue injuries, an injury is still an injury, and it can still hurt or the very least, be inconvenient. The enormous physical, emotional, and financial stress can be overwhelming for a client, even with soft tissue injuries—even if it is mild discomfort. If a client is suffering ongoing aches and pain, it either limits or prevents them from doing regular daily activities. Simple tasks such as vacuuming and carrying groceries with mild ongoing pain or discomfort can become a painful nightmare. On top of that, many of my clients treat an average of two to four days per week for months or longer until they fully recover, and that can take away a lot of their time either from work, school, or their families.

With a combination of the pain and the amount of time it takes to treat certain injuries, most clients go through a lot of emotional and financial stress. They are missing days off from work, cannot be fully active in their daily lifestyle, are not fully capable of performing their jobs, and most importantly, are not being active or fully capable with their family members. For a client in constant pain and discomfort, being a single parent and, even worse, being a parent of a young child who requires constant care and the ability to lift that child up can create an overwhelming situation, and I have seen it countless of times. These are some of the basic factors, which I argue during the negotiation process. Especially the soft tissue threshold cases, because they’re the toughest to negotiate. It’s not easy to convince the insurance company adjuster to pay out on a case, which has very minimal injuries, causation issues, or degenerative findings.

In my line of work, or specifically being a settlement negotiator, I have to find a fine balance between providing emotional support and settling a case. If I cross the line in either direction, it will be very difficult to settle anything. If I don’t provide enough emotional support to a client and focus purely on settlement, the client will want to leave us because the client will begin to feel neglected, regardless of the possible outcome. If I spend all day providing emotional support and answering calls, which are mostly about the status of the case, nothing will ever settle either.

So what’s the fix? The answer is as simple as time management and proper sign-up of the client, which includes a thorough explanation of the process from day one so that there are no surprises and the client will have a better understanding of what to expect.

On any sign-ups that I have ever done, very few clients ever leave me, and that’s because I spend more time with them explaining the process. I would rather spend that extra 45 minutes with a client to build trust and a relationship than to watch them leave a few weeks or days later because they felt uncomfortable with the firm. I have seen clients leave an attorney the next day because the attorney or one of his minions tried to rush the sign-up process. On every sign-ups that I do, I give them all the same word for word speech:

First part is to introduce myself:

Note: I make it clear to them that I have full authority over their cases. That’s because I generally do.

Hello, my name is Alexander Mirvis. I am the senior case manager. I am responsible for the overall aspect of your case and will help you out throughout the process of the case at every stage. If I am not available, the attorney is always available to help, and if I myself or the attorney is not available, you can reach out to any other senior paralegals in the office. They are more than capable of helping. We work here as a team.

Note: Take notice of how I not only re-assure the client that I am more than capable of handling their case but also make sure that the client understands that the rest of the senior staff is also highly capable and always available if they need to speak to someone. I also emphasize that we all work as a team and that anyone in the office can help.

Signing the Paperwork:

I never make them fill out the intake, MV-104 (if applicable), and the retainer until I explain exactly what they are signing. But first, I make them sign the HIPAA authorizations and typically no more than 10 to 15 pages because I don’t want to keep them in the office for too long. While they are signing the HIPAAs, I generally don’t like to talk because I don’t want to rush or distract them. I carefully make sure that they are comfortable and that there is no need to rush. After they sign everything, I move on to the intake and the retainer. I carefully explain to them what the attorney fees are and the expenses associated with the case. When they fill anything out, I generally do as little talking as possible because I prefer the client gives me their full attention. It is important that they are focused and listening to me carefully.

Explaining the Case and Treatment Process:

For this book’s purposes, we will specifically focus on motor vehicle accidents since this is mostly what I deal with. This is the exact speech I give to each client on what they can expect with a personal injury case and the difference between each claim type associated with their case:

This is the general process of a motor vehicle case. Before I get into details, I would like to point out that each case is different, and as you go through each step, in most cases, it will be different for you as it is for someone else. Even if you were already previously involved in a motor vehicle accident before, the process and the possible outcome can be different as well.

The most important part for you is to treat and take care of your body. We will take care of the rest. It is important that before you make any decision with your doctor, you call us first. We would also like you to call us every 30 days to advise us on your treatment status and see how you are doing. We are not doctors, so we can’t recommend what procedures your need; however, if the doctor DOES recommend doing a procedure, please decide to do it ASAP, while your No-Fault claim is still open. Because once the No-Fault is cut off, no one is paying for the treatment bill, and the procedure will have to come out of your settlement.

As far as anything else while you are treating, not much will be happening on your case. You will receive a lot of letters in the mail from no-fault, and most of them look like bills and denials. Don’t worry about the bills and denials. They are normal, and you’re just getting copies of what the insurance company is getting billed for by the doctors. The only letters we do care about are the appointment letters. These appointments are for IME (Independent Medical Exams) by the insurance doctors. If you get one, call us immediately. In most cases, the insurance companies send you the letters weeks before we get them. When you get these letters, we will advise you what to do.

If there are any other specific issues with the case, we will alert you and advise your situations and possible options.

As you can see, I have covered the basics of the treatment stage of the case and, at the same time, took my time to assure the client that we are diligently working on the case, whether the client is calling us or not for the status update. In most cases, once I clearly explain everything to the client, they generally don’t call the office with anxiety or freaking out about every letter they receive from the insurance company. During the sign-up process, a lot of clients generally ask me the same three questions, and this is how I generally respond. One thing which I would like to point out is that I try to be as vague as possible because, on one end, if I don’t give a client a detailed answer, the client will start questioning my abilities. On the other hand, if I give them a detailed answer and toward the end, we don’t meet their expectations, the clients will call us liars. Through trial and error, I have figured out the best answers to the top three questions, which a client may ask me:

1) Q: How much is my case worth?

A: There is no pre-determined formula to calculate the value of a case. Especially while you are still treating. Until you have finished treating and we submit your medical records to the insurance company to start the negotiation process, we would not know. There are too many factors to consider. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are lying to you because it’s virtually impossible to predict the possible outcome. However, we will try to recover as much money as possible. The more you get paid, the more we get paid, so we will obviously try to recover as much money as possible.

2) Q: Will my insurance rates go up if I open a case or a claim?

A: Generally, it may only go up if you’re at fault for the accident. Also, most insurance companies may raise your rates whether you open a claim or not if you are at fault. So, if you’re injured, you might as well open a claim so you could treat and get better, regardless of the possible outcome of the case.

3) Q: How long do I have to treat for?

A: I can’t tell you that. We’re not licensed physicians. You treat for as long as it takes until you feel better. These types of decisions should be made with your doctors. However, if your injuries don’t meet the New York State Serious Injury Law(s) standards, your case may be denied.

Working with Interpreters:

If a client speaks a different language other than English, there is a formal etiquette I follow, which is something I learned in the Army. More specifically, during my deployment to Iraq in 2005. In Iraq, we heavily relied on interpreters to not only win the hearts and minds of Iraqis but to also gain a broader sense of situational awareness by interacting with the locals with the help of interpreters. We also followed strict guidelines, which the Human Intelligence Collection experts trained us on.

As I have mentioned before, “winning hearts and minds” is not easy, and there are certain protocols the military follows in order to do just that. Especially when it comes to using interpreters. The goal is not only to communicate without any significant loss of translation. And it is much harder to earn trust through an interpreter if the client loses focus or is feeling uncomfortable with not one person talking but two.

The first thing I do is position the client in such a way that we face each other. I always try to keep the interpreter as far back as possible but on the side between me and the client. This way, when I talk, the client can see my facial expressions and focus only on me as the interpreter talks. This not only allows a clear line of communication but also allows the client to focus on the subject at hand. In many cases, this helps with dealing with irate or upset clients, which is a common occurrence.

Providing Emotional Support:

I am not a psychologist nor a therapist. However, in many cases, I feel like I am one. As a case manager or a settlement negotiator, this responsibility falls on my lap because, in most cases, attorneys do not want to deal with any emotional baggage. As engaged as the attorneys seem, the majority of the emotional support responsibilities usually go to the poor paralegals and settlement negotiators. In some cases, no matter how well the case managers and paralegals work with clients, the clients still want to talk to the attorney just to reassure them. But the bulk of the emotional baggage usually lands on me.

In almost all cases, regardless of how trivial or serious the injuries may be, the output of emotional distress seems to be at the same levels. As if the plaintiffs are following a pre-written script on how to project their subjective emotional and physical complaints. Early in my career, I quickly learned that the clients do that because they are all hoping that the more they yell and cry to the attorney, the more money they will receive on their case. Unfortunately, that’s far from the truth, and for the most part, it’s very difficult to explain to the client that their emotional output is unnecessary and for their case purposes, we only need their medical records, go through the litigation process, and so forth. I wish I could emphasize to clients that the less interaction we have, the better it is for their case because instead of focusing on their case, we waste time trying to make them feel better. Especially when you’re working in a firm with 600+ personal injury cases and if at least 25% of these clients call at least once a week for case status, you’ve already wasted a lot of time. In fact, there are some days where I can’t get anything done because every client decides to call for case status and keep you on the phone for 30 minutes talking about their pet fish and how it’s affecting their treatment. It gets even worse during holiday seasons because they need money.

Giving Case Status:

I hate giving case status. Clients hate hearing facts, bad news, or the fact that they must wait until the case gets resolved. Most clients are blatantly stupid. I can’t even deny that. Stupid clients react to facts, which they don’t like to hear with anger and aggression because they don’t know how to communicate effectively or think objectively. Just think about it; people hire lawyers because they need someone smarter than them to defend their rights and make decisions for them. Giving case status is probably one of the most tedious and the most annoying things I do. Other than filling out HIPAA forms. The difficulty is compounded when you are forced to give them bad news. Especially to clients that have a short-term memory loss, who forget what was told to them even though the conversation was relatively recently. As recent as a few days prior. No joke! I had some clients that called almost every day because they forgot that they called the day prior and forgot what was told to them during that conversation.

Giving case status to a client is always a delicate situation. Whether I am dealing with someone that is not that bright or someone that has a massive anxiety disorder, a simple status call can be the difference between making a client happy or a client leaving your firm to someone else’s because that client doesn’t like what they heard.

Dealing with someone that has a distorted view of reality or delusions also has its own challenges. I once had a client that was involved in a motor vehicle accident and injured her back. What made this client different was that she “felt” that it wasn’t her back that was injured but her pituitary gland. Aside from the routine physical therapy and chiropractic treatment, she bounced from one neuro specialist to another to “fix” her pituitary gland. We naturally dropped the case because she kept focusing on her pituitary gland and was clearly not injured. She would call my office almost daily on either case status or help with finding more neuro specialists to “fix” her pituitary glands.

That brings me to the next type of my most hated clients. The frequent callers. The type that has a massive anxiety disorder and can’t control their anxiety, so they must call almost every day and for almost any reason. To make things worse, they try to keep you on the phone for as long as possible because they’re always panicking about something. There is no real solution to such clients except to be extremely patient while also hoping that they won’t leave you because you didn’t answer one of their calls or forgot to call back because you had more important things to do. Other than that, there is not much you can do. Just take the beatings but also try to settle their damn case as soon as practically possible. For a reasonable value, of course!

Relaying Offers and Settling the Case:

This part always gives me the goosebumps. Probably one of the most difficult parts of trying to settle the case. When it comes to money, for most people, it is a very sensitive topic. Clients without any legal background always have a value in mind based on what they need at the time. Regardless of their injuries, if they want to buy a house, that’s the number that they think will settle the case. Even when I settle a case for a client who is not even injured or whose injury was not caused by the accident, they still expect top dollar, which is usually unrealistic. Every penny counts for them. The reason for this is the all-too-common mental block and being completely detached from objective reality. Clients do not see nor want to see the factors that come into play that insurance companies use to evaluate cases. They do not know what the value of the cases is either. All they see or know is that they want or need money, and they unjustifiably expect top dollar. Whether they deserve the money or not. I find it to be truer with clients who are not injured or the injury they claimed were not the result of the accident. They try to justify an unrealistic value that much harder.

Generally, people who are not injured or the injuries are not accident-related are more neurotic because they are scared about going through all the troubles, such as treatment, for nothing. They are always putting more pressure on the attorney to settle the case. They would call almost daily and sometimes multiple times a day and, in some cases, harass the staff.

This is where the importance is of thoroughly explaining the process to the client on day one. This is exactly why I take my time on the initial intake to explain how this all works, how cases are evaluated, possible issues that may arise, and most importantly, the breakdown of the expenses because every lawyer in New York State charges the same. They take 33.3% of attorney’s fees plus any other expenses such as litigation costs out of your settlement. Most clients forget that at the time of settlement and get angry when they see the final numbers. But if you thoroughly explain to the client that these are the additional expenses you were talking about since day one, they will not be as pissed. Sometimes, they may need that extra reminder, and I bring out the retainer that they signed and point out that I went over the retainer with them line by line during the signup process. If the process or the breakdown of the expenses was not explained to the client, you can expect a lot of rage.

Working out the liens:

In all honesty, in most cases, I really do not care about the client’s liens. What is a lien? A lien is when a client owes money to someone. It could be for cash advances, medical treatment, Medicaid or Medicare, or something else that paid out during their case. Cash advance is when you take out a loan against your case. Medical liens are also bad. They happen when the medical benefits are either exhausted, or the client has negative IMEs (Independent Medical Exams). Medical liens can also happen when there is an incident or incidents where no medical benefits such as No-Fault can be established due to statute of limitations or other weird reasons. There are also the Medicaid and Medicare liens. If a client is treated under Medicaid and/or Medicare, then they also want at least some of their money back.

My favorite and funniest liens to deal with is the Child Support Liens. Why? Because most liens can be negotiated. Child support liens are from the state government and cannot be negotiated. I have had this one case where a client somehow owed $75, 000 in child support, and the offer to settle his case was $40, 000, which was a gift. I always get a smile on my face when I settle a bullshit case, and all their money is at least going to somewhere more meaningful, like paying off child support. In most cases, regardless of how I feel about the client, I have a duty to look out for the best interest of the client, and I follow that duty to the letter, so I try to negotiate all these liens as much as possible. Why? Mostly because if I cannot negotiate the lien and the client sees a huge chunk of change of their settlement go to the lien, they have no incentive to settle the case. Not to mention, they all throw a tantrum because it is coming out of their settlements, and that is something I always try to avoid.

I have a basic technique on how I negotiate or work out these liens. At the end of the day, it all comes down to making a simple decision. It is either the lien holder lowers their demand, and of course, I try to get them to lower the demand as low as possible, or I stop bringing them business. This is mostly referring to doctors and loan companies. Medicaid and Medicare have always been really good with liens. They negotiate pennies on the dollar. They once reduced a $100, 000 lien to $5, 000.

Do not deliberately lie to clients:

Being honest with clients can go a really long way and can help you avoid a lot of problems. Lying can be so dangerous. Remember that everything now is on social media. The last thing you want is some emotionally sensitive millennial accusing you of lying to them just because they’re too stupid to understand something. Especially if it has to do with something like the potential possible outcome or value of a case. Attorneys and case managers always have to keep in mind that most people are stupid. You may discuss or mention a possible outcome, but these clients will claim that you promised them a specific result.

On the other hand, you must accept the fact that clients will never lose an opportunity to lie either. Whether they have a legitimate case or not, clients will lie through their teeth because in their head, exaggerating facts will bring them a better outcome.

On average, a person will tell a lie ten times a day; that seems shocking, doesn’t it? Most lies people tell are not meant to be malicious, and they are called white lies. For the most part, white lies are meant to spare someone’s feelings or avoid a conversation they do not want to have. How many times has someone asked you how you are, and you reply, “I’m fine, ” when in fact, you are not fine, but you do not want to talk about it or burden the other person with your woes. More sophisticated liars can even flip the tables. How many times has someone tried telling you about their problems and you know that it will be a long story and you really don’t want nor care to hear it, so you lie to that person and say, “Bruh… I know; you told me like ten times, ” even though it is not true.

There are experts who have been studying lying for years or working with people trying to get the truth out of people, and in the process, have learned some tell-tale signs of deception. Look at how investigators, Law Enforcement, and the CIA operate. Being able to tell whether someone is lying or not can be crucial. Every day people should be aware of signs of deception. Whether it comes to your kids and what they are up to, your partner and what they are up to. Maybe you own a business and need to hire a new employee or have come across some theft in your business and want to get to the bottom of who did it. In my case, or for any legal professional, lying could be the difference between a solid execution of a case or a nightmare defense scenario because the client lied through their teeth.

Example: I once had a client who insisted that he had no prior accidents. After the insurance company performed an ISO Search, the client’s records showed that he had six prior accidents with the same injuries. Naturally, the client was in shock and started blaming.

When questioning someone trying to uncover the truth, something to keep in mind is that even though someone may be acting nervous or angry, that does not necessarily mean they are lying. Some people are just naturally anxious, and being questioned about something may add to that nervousness. Anxiety disorder is also a huge issue to deal with because anxiety disorder is a difficult psychological layer that you need to be aware of before you even begin questioning your subject. For the most part, a good 40% of the USA Population has some kind of psychological disorder. Whether they want to admit it or not. This is why it’s important to keep certain factors in mind before proceeding.

Factors or psychological layers to consider:

(Please do your own research on these disorders to understand them better so that you are more educated and prepared.)

- 40 million adults over 18 are suffering from various levels of anxiety disorder.

- 1 out of 100 children or adults may experience an episode of psychosis (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or feeling something that is not real).

- 0.2% of the US population is suffering from delusion disorder

- 2.3 million Americans (children and adults) are suffering from bipolar disorder

- Serious anger disorders that can turn into a rage: ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), oppositional defiant disorder, and intermittent explosive disorder.

- 9.2 million Americans are suffering from a paranoid personality disorder

Fun Challenge: Try telling someone that they have any of those psychological disorders and see their reaction. Let me know if you get punched in the face. People are generally defensive and in denial.

All these factors can create various forms of static or white noise in witness statements. To filter out the static, one must peel the psychological layers one by one. Generally, that is done with the process of elimination. If you have some basic situational awareness or empathetic abilities, you should come to some kind of basic conclusion on whether the witness or the subject is suffering from any of the psychological disorders. If the answer is yes and you can almost pinpoint which disorder the witness may be suffering from, you create what is called a “baseline” in the interrogation world.

Establishing a good baseline is a progressive line of questioning that starts off as a simple question or statement that you can reasonably assume the witness may lie about. Preferably, creating a baseline that is completely irrelevant to the fact at hand to avoid any alerts of the witness at conscious and subconscious levels of thought that you are probing information. Getting angry with the witness and creating any friction in the client’s mind builds up any reservation of the subject in divulging any useful information, and this is where the half-lies come in.

Some people cannot control themselves with their lies, and there are some people who half-lie in a deliberate attempt to either string you along or create a diversion. A perfect example is the Special Operations SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) school. I know a few SOF guys, who are Special Operations Forces troops such as Green Berets and Navy SEALs, who went through these schools and are explicitly trained not to lie but provide useless half-truth information in the event that they are captured. This is all public knowledge, but SERE school is one of the most secretive schools in the military. There is only one true way to filter out half-lies, and that is with evidence. But I also use half-lies as a tool against them. Most people have a tendency of having a Freudian slip. Their half-truths may lead to an actual fact without them even realizing it.

For example, I had a case where the defense attorney claimed that the correction officers did not report any prior issues with an inmate who assaulted our client. However, after I kept digging into his brain, I got him to commit a Freudian slip, and he admitted that the defendant had a known mental illness, thus should not have been around the general population.

The list below will help give you an idea of what to look for when someone is being deceptive. Another thing to keep in mind is that if someone does only one of the following, it does not mean that person is guilty of being dishonest. Look for several signs or a cluster of signs after you have established a good baseline; if they show multiple signs of lying to you, that is a huge red flag and should be taken seriously. But before I get into the red flags to look out for, I would like to introduce a new way to filter out the white noise as well as any psychological factors such as anxiety, delusion, as well as other psychological disorders you may come across in a subject or a witness.

Analyze vs. Speculate

This one can be tricky; it is hard, if not near impossible, to tell if someone is lying to you just by looking at them. Drawing conclusions from looking at someone is speculation. For example, someone who has their arms crossed is generally seen as closed off and defensive; this is where analyzing comes in. Maybe that is how the person stands, maybe they are cold, or they could very well be defensive or upset, but there is no way to know from just looking at them.

These are called “global behaviors, ” and people put too much value on these behaviors to mean something. It would be best if you forget that; it is speculation.

Focusing on the behavior that follows in the first 5 seconds after asking any question as you establish a good baseline is what you need to home in on. If they show deceptive behavior in that first 5 seconds, then that is a red flag that you are being lied to. Paying attention to a cluster of behaviors is vital too. The first behavior may occur before you even finish your question, but within the first 5 seconds following the question. If two or more deceptive behaviors are displayed, and the first is within 5 seconds following the question, this signifies a lie. The most common deceptive behaviors are:

Evasiveness

It is only natural that you try and see the good in people, and most people are good. However, when trying to tell if someone is lying, you need to ignore the good, truthful behavior. When people are being deceptive, they will give answers that seem truthful and go into great detail and give you more information than asked for in an attempt to seem like an honest person. Make it a habit when trying to detect a liar to ignore whatever seems like truthful behavior and recognize evasiveness.

Things to look for when trying to detect evasive behavior is:

Not providing the information you asked for—is the person saying a lot of words and having a long-drawn-out answer but hasn’t actually answered the question asked?

Failure to deny - a truthful person is eager to answer your question and deny they did something wrong. If denial is being evaded, that is a red flag.

Using exclusionary qualifiers- if someone is using the terms “for the most part, ” “not really, ” or “fundamentally, ” you need some follow-up questions to find out what information is being left out.

Aggression:

If someone becomes aggressive when asked a question, that is a big red flag that they are lying. If this person goes on the defense and starts attacking the question, you, or anything involved with the question, that holds a lot of weight in whether they are lying or not. This one is straightforward and easy to spot; it is hard to miss aggressive behavior. Especially when the subject begins to swear.

Convey vs. Convince

It is essential to know the difference between a convincing answer or simply conveying information. If you ask someone a question and suspect they are lying and that person launches into a speech trying to convince you they are telling the truth, this is a red flag that they are lying. An honest person does not need to have a back story or a long-drawn-out reason for anything. They will answer with a simple yes, no, or a short and sweet explanation. When someone is trying to convince you to believe something, they are most likely lying, and by giving a long-drawn-out answer, they think that it will convince you of their lie.

Small details are important, and what words people choose to use are essential. Phrases and words such as “honestly, ” “quite frankly, ” “to tell you the truth” are known as perception qualifiers and, when combined with other deceptive behaviors, indicate that someone is lying.

Non-verbal cues:

Paying attention to non-verbal cues is also essential when trying to spot a lie. There are some critical non-verbal indicators to watch for, such as:

Verbal-non-verbal disconnect - If someone is saying something, but their body is saying something else, like saying no but nodding their head yes, or vice versa, that is considered deceptive behavior.

Grooming gestures - If someone is fiddling a lot with their clothing or hair, this is a sign of them being anxious and possibly lying. If a person swallows or clears their throat before answering your questions, this could also indicate you’re being told a lie.

Behavioral pause - Keep in mind the nature of the question when it comes to people pausing after being asked. If you ask a vague question, they may need time to think before answering, which is reasonable. However, if you ask someone a straightforward question and they pause before giving an answer, that is a sign of deception.

Hand-to-face movements - Putting their hands to their mouth, licking their lips, pulling on their ears, itching their face, or just touching the face or head, in general, is a sign of deceptive behavior.

Eye Contact - Most psychologists believe that “lying eyes” are a myth because failure to have good eye contact could be a result of anxiety, attention deficit disorder, and so forth. So, I will not comment on this factor.

Being able to spot a lie is not always easy but being able to tell if someone is being truthful with you is a great skill to have. Following the guidelines laid out above is a great start and could save you heartache, money, and getting ripped off in the future.

Case in point: I had a case once when our client was pretty much at fault. He was riding a scooter with no license and without a helmet. The story is a bit sketchy, but it looks like the defendant was making a turn and eventually raised a question of fact. The defense filed a motion for summary judgment; we opposed the motion and raised a question of fact. They lost the motion, and we got a small percentage of liability. The policy limits were $50, 000, and his injuries were significant. The client had to undergo Open Reduction Internal Fixation (ORIF) on his ankle. ORIF is worth a lot of money. Even if it were just one percent, it would exceed $50, 000 limits. I eventually got the insurance company to fork over the full policy limits.

Damages (Injuries):

Damages are injuries or pain and suffering as well as economic loss. Even though injuries or pain and suffering are technically the major factor for settlements in most cases, economic loss can be the largest component of the verdict during the trial. I have seen many cases where the jury awarded clients X amounts of money for pain and suffering and triple the amount for economic loss as well as past and future medical expenses. In New York State, the injuries and the pain and suffering factors, as well as economic loss, are determined by the New York State Serious Injury Law: Article 51 Section 2, commonly known as the New York State threshold laws.

For settlement purposes, there are four different types of categories for injuries. At least unofficially. I say unofficially because it all depends on where the case goes. I’ve seen fracture and surgery cases settle for tens of thousands of dollars and a herniated disc settle for hundred thousand dollars, yet in trials, you can get a verdict of $100, 000 for a knee surgery such as meniscectomy and $1, 000, 000 for a herniation. Why? It all comes down to economic loss and the extent of treatment. Meniscectomy is a quick fix, and there is no long-term treatment and, in most cases, minimal economic loss. At least that is the short story. Disc herniation is a progressive injury. Even after surgeries, it will eventually progress into something worse. Longer treatment and a much longer recovery time may be needed. Once you get that disc bulge, it will eventually progress to herniation with nerve impingement and create a chain reaction for the rest of your spine.

The four major components of damages or pain and suffering are: Death, Dismemberment, Fractures & Broken Bones, Surgeries, and Soft Tissue, which include ligamental tears, disc bulges, and herniations, and sprains. There are other components, but they may fall under different sets of laws.

Causality:

Are the injuries a direct result of the accident, or are the injuries aggravated from a prior accident? Is it degenerative? This is by far the most confusing factor to explain to a client. Remember, most clients are stupid. Thinking back, out of 10 clients I try to explain causality to, maybe 1 or 2 will get it. I will try to cover the details about causality as much as I can in hopes that more people understand how significant this factor is in determining the overall value of a case. I will try to bring out my crayons and my coloring books for this one (figuratively speaking), and I will start with a story…

Case-in-point: I had a 70-year-old male client once who was involved in a minimal impact motor vehicle accident. The impact was minor, but the client’s MRIs showed disc bulges and herniations all through his back. From C2-3 to L5-S1. For the most part, these would be considered degenerations. Typical wear and tear of the spine throughout the years. The client complained about pain in his back since the day of the accident. But no one bought his bullshit. Not even me. The key term for this kind of situation is, “The injuries which he was claiming is not a direct result of the accident.” However, after few months of negotiations, I still managed to get a $10, 000 settlement offer after arguing exacerbation or re-aggravation of prior injury or medical condition. For the most part, if the injuries claimed are not directly a result of the accident, the value of the case significantly drops by as much as 90%. Sometimes even down to zero if you do not have any exacerbation arguments.

Legal Precedence:

Legal precedence is when there were prior decisions made by the courts based on the various factors, which decide the value or possible outcome of the case. Examples range from threshold issues to liability. An instance is if there were prior decisions made by the appellate court that a two-bulge case does not pierce threshold, then there is a good chance that the defense will have a solid argument to file a motion to get the case dismissed.

So, the short story on how much your case is worth may depend on whose fault it is. Was there a fracture or broken bone? Was there a surgical procedure? What are the policy limits? Who is the carrier? Who is the examiner? There is no clear answer or a cookie-cutter formula in calculating a claim, but by default, all attorneys usually overshoot the value of the demand in case the examiner is stupid enough to fork over a lot of money. If I had a dollar for every time I demanded an exorbitant amount of money on a case, and the case happened to be a shit case, the examiner thought I was serious about litigating the case and actually met my demands! On that note, most examiners don’t understand the litigation process. They have no idea what is defensible and what is not. Mainstream carriers find people on the street and literally provide zero training. That is simply because there are many car accidents and other negligent accidents and not enough trained legal professionals to hire. I take advantage of that lack of knowledge. But no one can possibly predict the possible outcome of the case.

For the most part, most attorneys seem to have one thing in common. Most seem to be a high risk for alcohol, drug, or other vice abuse, but I will get to those details in the next chapter. In many cases, it is a combination of all three. Aside from alcohol and drug abuse, many attorneys exhibit serious aggression disorder and the levels of narcissism I have never seen. They can lash out at the most trivial issue. Funny enough, after a few seconds of lashing out, they immediately calm down as if nothing has happened. Then the delusion or denial comes in, and they act as if you are the one seeing things or that nothing has happened. This is one pattern, which is the most common. An attorney would create a scenario where he would lash out and point fingers at you that you were either seeing things or over-exaggerating. Many attorneys are really good at making you think that you’re the one going crazy.

And it is not just attorneys. Managers are also out of their minds. One attorney’s manager, in particular, really pissed me off. By attorney’s manager, I mean it exactly how it was in that firm. You saw the lawyer’s name on the building, but it was the manager who “owned” the firm. I could not deal with this “manager’s” mental instability. He was a hyper-aggressive, delusional, heavy drinker and was paranoid beyond measure. I was also amazed by him as well because he somehow managed to impregnate one of the staff workers, and due to his hyper-aggressive nature and paranoia, no one was allowed to speak to her. She happened to be the office bookkeeper and in charge of salary. That means if there was a problem with your paycheck, you could not complain about it to her unless you wanted to risk losing your job or dealing with the manager’s wrath. I had to quit that place asap. I’m not sure if it is in my genes or my military background, but I can get very arrogant as well. I butted heads with this idiot day in and day out. At some point, we came to an agreement that all communication would be done via email. That way, I did not have to deal with his shit. I locked myself in my office, settled cases, and reported to him via email.

However, that did not always work as planned. He sometimes had so much aggression in him that he went on rage tantrums and plowed through the whole office as he was looking for his next victims to verbally abuse. Enough was enough for me. I hate switching firms, but my sanity was more important than salary. I needed to sleep well at night without getting any anxiety the night before or in the morning when I was on my way to work. At some point, he pissed me off so bad that I calmly went into his office and simply told him, “for your own safety, I’m quitting.” I was literally inches away from jumping over his desk to strangle him until he turned every color in the rainbow.

Moving forward from that mental asylum, I could never catch a break. The next office was not any better. The attorney I went to work for next was probably within spectrum of autism. I am not an autism specialist, but I know enough to be able to tell when someone is autistic. Even with mild levels. He always seemed to repeat himself multiple times, got fixated with the most random thoughts or tasks to the point where he would re-do them over and over, whether they were completed correctly or not. For some strange reason, he had it locked in his head that every case in litigation would settle or get resolved during or after depositions, which is a rarity. In fact, the chances of a case getting settled during deposition are so slim that you have a better chance of catching a bigfoot riding on a unicorn. He would repeatedly say, “If they don’t settle, fine, we’ll get them at deposition! ” Since most defendant depositions are done by per-diem attorneys who have no idea what the case is about, they never have any authority, and naturally, they never settle. But he would continue to argue either with examiners or attorneys and would always say, “If you don’t give us the money that we’re looking for, we’ll get you at deposition! ” Lol! I couldn't help but laugh and ask how we were going to “get” them during deposition, but he always came back with weird answers such as “We will get the defendant to admit to the accident.”

For the most part, even if the defendant is 1% at fault, the plaintiff or the client is in theory entitled to the full policy. New York State is a comparative negligence state. Plus, there are other ways such as police reports, point of impact, and the VTL (Vehicle Traffic Laws) to prove who is really at fault. So, to come back constantly with the “We’ll get them during deposition” line was comical because, for the most part, we didn’t “need” to get them because we technically already got them. It also got frustrating because I would be the one yelled at for not settling the case after deposition. Especially when the client (the boss) was not accepting the offer because we supposedly “got them” during depositions.

Narcissism and anti-social behavior is probably the most common trait in most attorneys. I have seen countless people who were the nicest people I have ever met, who were full of dreams, supportive, and caring. They graduate law school, pass the bar, and eventually get admitted. A few years later, after practicing law, I have noticed the same pattern repeatedly in most people. They become angrier, overly stressed, narcissistic, and in many cases, delusional. After establishing this consistent pattern in most attorneys, I realized why attorneys hire non-attorney settlement negotiators. They need someone who has an objective view on things, street smarts, and someone that is not clouded with years’ worth of academics, which is mostly based on legal theories, pressures of student loans, endless court appearances, and long hours of motion practice. They need someone who can just focus on settlements.

I honestly have no solution on how to deal with attorneys who have mental health issues. Especially if they are suffering from delusion or some type of hyper-aggressive disorder. At the end of the day, their thought process is revolved over two truths.

1) They are the boss and you can’t argue with the boss

2) Attorneys are highly argumentative and will lash out if you do not see it their way. Even if you tattoo contradicting evidence in your favor.

I find it remarkable how most attorneys do not get committed to a psychiatric ward. As if the deterioration of mental health is a prerequisite to run a successful law firm. Lawyer bosses indulge themselves by bringing their staff to anxiety-provoking situations. But here is a kicker… Most attorneys who have some kind of mental breakdown or suffer from some kind of psychological issues are men. Most women that I have worked for were calm and collected. With the exception of one, who resorted to abuse of prescription drugs, most were a pleasure to work for. They seemed to keep their shit together when things got tough and were always objective without any emotional garbage when it came to making any decisions. The female attorneys were also good at keeping their home problems at home. They would not dare to bring their personal problems into the office. At least for the most part. So, if you are a woman who is planning to go to law school, you probably have a better shot at keeping your sanity in the legal field. We need more women lawyers!

I once worked with an attorney for a few months, and his office was a fuck fest. He would repeatedly go on a cocaine binge for days on end, sleep in the office or have these random spurts of energy where he would not sleep for two to three days at a time and stay all that time in the office doing “work.” I wasn’t sure what kind of work because nothing was really done, but one day he pissed me off so bad that I literally left the office after he started bragging about the news. My favorite part of the day was when it was Friday 5 pm when everyone was ready to leave for home, he would come in, and that would be the beginning of the day for him. He had no track of time whatsoever. There were many times when my 8-hour days turned into 16-hour days. As you can imagine, I could not work in such an environment.

Attorneys and other legal professionals seem to be falling into addiction at a higher rate, creating a demand for treatment programs specific to legal professionals and their struggles.

Professional psychiatrists believe that these are the factors that can lead a legal professional down the road of addiction. Whether it is the long working hours, demanding work, heavy workloads, schedule, and professional networking where alcohol is readily available and socially accepted. I personally feel that it’s none of the above. I believe that crazy and demanding clients, as well as the pressure of resolving a case without losing their license, could be the major contributing factors. Many attorneys also stress over finding new clients as well. The legal occupation has been identified as being a profession that uses alcohol and other drugs more often than any other occupation.

A considerable study conducted that surveyed professionals on drinking habits found that people in legal professions reported high rates of drinking habits that were problematic.

A survey called Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, a.k.a. AUDIT, was conducted amongst the legal community, and it found that 36.4% of participants had scores that are consistent with alcohol abuse. Just to give you an idea of how that number compares to professionals in other occupations, only 15.4% of surgeons were reported to have scores consistent with alcohol abuse. Legal professionals had a score double that.

In comparison to the general population, men in the legal profession did not really rank much higher than men in the general population for alcohol or substance abuse problems. Men in the legal profession had a rate of 33.7% of them, whereas men of the general population rated at 32%—a slight increase but not significant. On the other hand, women had a much higher rate of problematic drinking in the legal profession, with their rating being 39.5% compared to women in the general population being 19%. That is an incredibly significant increase and something to be aware of.

Legal professionals reported or showed signs of having personality disorders that all too often lead to alcohol and substance abuse problems. People in the legal profession tend to show signs of antisocial personalities (17.6%), and narcissistic personalities (11.7%) are common in the legal field and are also common personalities to develop problems with alcohol and substance abuse; according to a study done in 2008 (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory)

Heavy drinking is not a new problem, and it certainly is not a new problem in the legal profession. It is, however, a problem and one that needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, there has always been a stigma and judgment attached to substance abuse regardless of profession or walk of life and regardless of which substance was being abused. This makes it difficult for people struggling to seek help. They have a valid fear of becoming an outcast or being judged harshly.

For professionals amongst the legal community, the threat to their jobs or an academic career is a huge factor in not seeking help and hiding a substance abuse problem. This is a barrier that will keep people stuck in the cycle of addiction and living a double life instead of getting the help they need. For students, the thought of not getting admitted to the Bar due to a drug and alcohol problem is a massive threat and a good reason to hide their problems rather than seek help. It is common for any networking event to involve alcohol. Since alcohol is socially acceptable and enjoyed by most people, you will be hard-pressed to find a networking event that does not include alcohol. This can be a considerable hurdle for legal professionals who need to network as part of their career to increase social capital to achieve a good reputation with colleagues and clients alike, which will lead to an increase in earnings.

Networking is another barrier for a legal professional to deal with when it comes to alcohol and drug addiction.

As of 2014, there have been developments of specialized programs for legal professionals struggling with addiction. The Lawyer Assistance Programs, a.k.a. LAP, have formed in most states throughout the USA and specialize in treating legal professionals and the occupation-specific barriers that come with being a legal professional. These LAP programs seek to reduce the barriers between people wanting treatment and to reduce the fear of repercussions from the legal community. The LAP programs ensure the confidentiality and safety of its participants. The LAP programs are run by lawyers and judges, making it easier for people seeking help to relate to them and ensuring the programs are run with understanding and empathy. The providers also understand how important confidentiality is to a legal professional.

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation has been offering specialized programs for legal professionals since 2011. These programs are run by people who have experience as clinical practitioners and as legal professionals. These programs were designed to address people’s specific and unique needs in the legal community, such as lawyers, judges, legal assistants, and other legal professionals.

With the providers that run these programs, having first-hand knowledge of the struggles and barriers in the legal occupation helps them to engage with patients on a more personal level and offer specialized plans when designing a treatment plan. The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation also offers group sessions, as well as individual sessions that are held off-campus for legal students who find themselves struggling with alcohol and drug abuse. These programs help break down barriers and fears specific to legal students that prevent them from seeking the help they need.

If you are a legal professional and find yourself with an alcohol or substance abuse problem, you may feel that seeking help will ruin your career and reputation; the LAP programs are designed to be confidential and protect you from any professional lash back for seeking treatment. These programs are also realistic and run by professionals who understand the implications of your profession on living a healthy lifestyle and help you to design a strategy that works for you. Surrounding yourself with people who understand your situation from the first-hand experience and provide a safe space for you and others who are in the same position as you will drastically help you in your road to recovery.

Suppose you work with legal professionals that are experiencing alcohol and drug addiction. It is crucial to consider the unique problems and barriers these individuals face in the legal community. Reaching out to occupation-specific recovery programs, like those offered at The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Legal Professionals Program or The Other Bar—an anonymous non-profit peer support group specifically for people in the legal profession. It is an excellent place to start to help someone get onto the road of recovery. Keep in mind that offering confidentiality and support to the person with the alcohol and substance abuse problem will be appreciated and a significant factor in recovery.

I once had a new case come in. The client left his prior attorney due to poor service. Not sure what the issue was, but he kept insisting that he needed some kind of serious procedure done on his knee. The doctor that he saw prior to coming to us recommended some kind of serious three-part procedure on his knee, which entailed a bone or cartilage grafting. I wasn’t even sure which procedure because the prior doctor never returned our calls or the client’s calls for months. Bone grafting is a procedure that uses a transplanted bone to repair the damaged bone of the patient. The client had a complete derangement of the knee and his X-Rays showed that he had loose bodies, malalignment, and chondral damage. Unfortunately, because our client was a victim of a previous gunshot wound, he could not do any MRIs to do more thorough studies of any possible soft tissue damage.

Initially, I personally did not care which doctor he used, but as mentioned before, the prior doctor neither returned my phone calls nor the client’s calls. I asked the physical therapy place that we know and trust to refer him to a different orthopedic doctor for a second opinion and possibly fix his knee because he had legitimate traumatic injuries. Within a few days, the client had an appointment with an amazing orthopedic surgeon. After reviewing the X-rays, the doctor recommended an exploratory endoscopy. If the doctor found something, he would fix it on the spot.

During surgery, the doctor noticed an ACL tear, meniscus tear, as well as extensive chondral damage. There is a distinction between chondromalacia, which is degenerative, and trauma-induced chondral damage. The client clearly had severe trauma-induced tibial chondral damage. The doctor performed the meniscectomy to repair the torn meniscus, ACL repair, as well as extensive chondral repair without the need for any bone grafting. This type of injury has no 100% recovery, and it was not a permanent solution because down the line, he would be at high risk for arthritis and would never retain 100% use of his knee, but overall, he retained 75% use of his knee. His range of motion limitations was only between 10–15%, which is not bad at all, compared to 70% before the surgery.

About 99.9% of personal injury attorneys try to convince their clients to undergo a surgical procedure to bring a higher value to their case. Especially when they see a large policy. But on the other hand, there is a subset of people who would sell their kidneys for more money. In fact, many people do! As if they know what the deal is. They all seem to know the possible prospects of a much higher settlement offer if they do some kind of surgical procedure. I am not a doctor, but I will go over the three most common surgical procedures as well as the pros and cons of each procedure, which most clients report back to me.

Since everyone is different and everyone’s injuries are different, I will not specifically mention an overall assessment on whether it is more of a pro or con. Any surgical procedure can have a long-lasting life effect on your body and should not be taken lightly. There can be significant risks such as infection, blood clots, permanent nerve damage, and slow recovery due to chronic inflammation or chronic underlying health issues. These types of decisions should be done with the doctor who would be performing the procedure. It is highly advisable to get a second opinion before deciding to go forward with any surgical procedure.

The most common surgical procedures that clients get are meniscectomies, ACL repairs, shoulder ligament repairs, and discectomies. On more extreme measures, I have seen some attorneys who work with dirty doctors who convince clients to undergo spinal fusions. It makes me sick just thinking about it. After the procedures, half the clients start calling me crying and complaining about all the pain that they are having or how much worse it has gotten because of the surgery. This is why I wrote this stupid book. Specifically for this chapter. Not just to vent on how much I hate this job but to also educate some of you greedy idiots who decide to go under the knife just for a few extra bucks. So, here is a breakdown of the type of common injuries that may or may not require a surgical procedure.

Cervical Spine (Your Neck) / Thoracic Spine (Middle of back) / Lumbar Spine (Lower Back):

What is a Spine? A spine is made up of bones or vertebrae and in between each vertebra is a cartilage-like disc filled with cerebral fluid. The discs are specifically designed to allow your bones to move, flex, absorb shock, and hold the vertebrae together. The disc is made up of hard cartilaginous tissue. Similar to the cartilage in your bone.

Note: There is also Sacral Spine and Coccyx. Aside from random fractures because someone fell on their ass, it is very rare you would see any injuries to those parts of the spine, so I will not even mention them.

(Credit: )

Common Type of Injuries:

Disc Bulge – A damaged disc may slightly protrude or bulge out. This generally would not create any pain because most disc bulges do not touch or impinge the nerve roots.

Disc Herniation – A disc herniation is a protruding disc that has ruptured. Most pain comes from an impingement of the nerve.

Degenerative findings:

These types of injuries may be degenerative and not accident-related but could be exacerbated by the accident, which means that it could make your pre-existing injuries hurt a lot more.

Disc Desiccation – A common degenerative disc disease, which dehydrates the disc. It keeps the disc from Flexing.

Fun Fact: Disc desiccation progresses with age. As the discs dehydrate, you begin to shrink and become shorter with age.

Scoliosis – Scoliosis is a condition, which curves your spine. The problem with scoliosis is that you are prone to get disc bulges and herniations as well as other degenerative issues.

Why it hurts: Whether it is a disc bulge or disc herniation, the pain mostly comes when the protruding disc is touching or pressing into the nerve.

Surgical Procedures:

Percutaneous Discectomy – A minimally invasive surgical procedure that relieves the pressure of the nerve roots

Complete Discectomy – A procedure, which requires some vertebrae removal to gain better access to the damaged disc.

Annuloplasty – a minimally invasive outpatient procedure that repairs the ruptured or torn annulus (not ruptured anus).

Laminectomy – a surgical procedure in which a surgeon removes part of all of the vertebral bone (lamina).

Spinal Fusion – A procedure, which requires a rod or screws to fuse two or more vertebrae together.

Shoulders (Soft Tissue Surgery):

Shoulder surgeries are usually the most lucrative of all soft tissue surgeries. The bare minimum value of a shoulder surgery case may be as little as $70, 000, assuming there are no issues with causality. That’s if the doctor performs basic debridement of a tear. The value goes exponentially higher if the doctor must perform decompression and even more if the doctor must create anchors to support loose tissue.

Knees (Soft Tissue Surgery):

There are various soft knee injuries, which may result from a car accident, which may or may not require a surgical procedure. Most No-Fault doctors will agree that meniscal repair surgery is crucial in recovery, while most prestigious doctors who have an extensive history in academics and research claim that meniscal repair surgery may not be required for most meniscus tear injuries. Some of these procedures include but are not limited to meniscectomies, ACL repair, synovectomy, which is mostly attributed to synovitis, which is a degenerative issue, and chondroplasty, which is required to repair (somewhat) chondromalacia, which is also a degenerative issue.

All Bone Injuries:

Generally, when there is a significant injury such as a broken bone or displaced fracture, most of the surgical procedures are ORIFs (Open Reduction Internal Fixation). This is when the doctor inserts rods and screws to hold your bones together until they heal. ORIF cases are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. I once settled a tibia fracture case, which resulted in an ORIF surgery for $600, 000 before we even had to file a bill of particulars.

Conclusion: Most of my cases take an average of six months to a year to settle. For the most part, I don’t see any long-term complications from soft tissue surgeries. However, at least 60% of all long-term litigated cases clients complained of some kind of lingering pain or discomfort, which the client claimed was not there BEFORE the surgery. It makes me wonder why they did the surgery in the first place if that was the case. I never advise clients to do any type of procedure if they are not in pain. A lot of my prior bosses have though. I don’t know how they even sleep at night.

Premises Case: Premises and negligence case has too many nuances on establishing claims. In almost all instances, unless there was a fracture, broken bone, or surgery, the case isn’t worth keeping or pursuing. Setting up claims can be difficult as well because many times, it’s hard finding the defendant’s carrier, and you may have to file a lawsuit until the defendant finally submits the Summons & Verified Complaint to his carrier to defend him in the claim. At that point, the carrier will contact you to establish a claim.

Step 1

Note: This step is crucial. Whether you are going to hire an attorney or be stupid enough to open your claim, I highly advise you to follow this step:

When you get into a car accident, the first thing you would do (if possible) is to call 911. Make sure the police come. If the police do not come, there are recourses, and I will get to those later. On the scene, do this:

1. Take photos of the scene and the damages

2. If possible, get the insurance information

Step 2:

Obtain the police report and any other incident report as well as any first responder (EMS) report. The police report will have vital information such as policy information of the other driver. Any incident and EMS report will have detailed information, which will help you establish the “injured on the scene” facts.

Step 3:

For car accidents, after you have received the police report, you must open various claims such as PIP (Personal Injury Protection), which is also known as No-Fault claim, PD (Property Damage Claim) if it applies to you, and BI (Bodily Injury) Claim. Depending on the scenario, you may also need to open Uninsured and Underinsured claim.

Most common scenarios and which claims to open:

Scenario 1 – Read End

You are Vehicle 1, and the person that rear-ended you is Vehicle 2

Type of Claims to Open:

Veh #1:

1. PIP / No-Fault Claim

2. Uninsured Claim

Veh #2:

1. Bodily Injury Claim

Scenario 2 – Passenger

You are a passenger in Vehicle #1, and Veh #2 hit your vehicle. You’re not sure who is at fault it is.

Veh #1:

1. PIP / No-Fault Claim

2. Uninsured Claim

3. Bodily Injury Claim

Veh #2:

1. Bodily Injury Claim

Uninsured Claims:

If this was a hit and run or the defendant has no insurance, you will need to open something called MVAIC (Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation) Claim. For this, you will definitely need an attorney. Regardless of how good you think you are, you will need an established firm’s resources to resolve an MVAIC case. The worst part about MVAIC cases is that the most you can possibly get is $25, 000, and they usually settle pennies on the dollar. Another thing to consider is the fact that you can’t even sue MVAIC without express court permission.

Pro Tip: If you were hit by a car that is out of state and not sure which carrier is insuring the other vehicle, you can open an Uninsured claim. Most law firms do not have access to out-of-state DMV License Plate Search. But the Host UM Carrier will do the leg work and find the policy information for you because it’s in their best interest to not validate the UM Claim.

Rental Car Services:

Graves Amendment prevents you from filing a lawsuit against Rental Car Policies. For the most part, unless there is any secondary insurance, you will also be stuck with $25, 000 minimal policy limits.

Step #4: Receiving Claim Acknowledgement Letter

Once you have established all the pertinent claims, you will receive an acknowledgment letter with the claim number, the policy limits, as well as handling examiner’s information.

At this stage, the examiner may ask a whole bunch of questions regarding injuries. It’s best to delay that entire process until you receive the complete medical records because let’s say you only mention both knees were injured, then 30 to 60 days later you mention both knees and both arms were injured, the examiner will use that information against you and claim that there was a gap on initial complaints. For the most part, I generally say that I don’t know what the injuries are until a few months later when some medical records start coming in. Technically, this is the start of the negotiations process.

Legal Advice (The Only Legal Advice I can Give): If you have a fracture or a broken bone or emergency surgery and the Bodily Injury Limits are $50k or less, you can submit those medical records with the Claim Letter or Letter of Representation with a demand for Full Policy Letter. But be careful with that. Never settle a full policy case until you have exhausted all searches for possible Underinsured or Umbrella Policies, and be sure to request affidavit of no excess as well as policy declarations page. affidavit of no excess is a document that the defendant is required to sign that affirms that he has no other excess or umbrella policies. There is nothing like a quick and easy settlement!

The force of impact to the victims’ body - human dynamics analysis

Once deltaV is calculated, the insurance company expert will then calculate the impact that the deltaV and the G-force had on the people inside the vehicles, the victim in particular.

This calculation is referred to as the analysis of human dynamics. There is also a software used to calculate this. By entering the deltaV and the G-force along with some other data of the accident, the software program will figure out if the accident was the cause of the victim’s injuries. Some of the other data needed for the software are the occupant’s height and weight, stiffness of occupant’s seat, headrest location, and data regarding how occupant was sitting in the vehicle.

Human tolerance values of the accident victim

There are two studies generally referred to by biomechanical experts when deciding if a victim’s injuries were caused by the accident.

“Low speed rear-end collision testing using human subjects” by D. H. West. This study used human volunteers who were exposed to a low-speed rear-end collision with up to and exceeding five mph. West concluded that if the equivalent fixed barrier speed (EBS) of the impact was less than 5 mph, then those forces would not cause injuries any more than everyday activities would cause.

and…

“acceleration Perturbations of a daily living-a comparison to whiplash” by Murray E. Allen.

This was conducted by studying repeated human head accelerations that happened during daily activities.

Consisting of eight volunteers, Allen compared thirteen daily activities with G-force to low-velocity rear-end auto accidents. This study also concludes that a force of low velocity and no damage on impact causes little to no injuries to victims.

When it comes to settlement negotiations and even trials, all that trash you just read is out the window. A lot of attorneys fall for this pseudoscience, and the defense attorneys keep regurgitating the same nonsense repeatedly. This is how I get around all their arguments and still settle minimal or no impact cases:

10 flaws to the biomechanical expert’s theory:

1. Is this a qualified expert in biomechanical engineering?

When an insurance company brings in an expert to determine if a victim’s injuries are as severe as claimed, sometimes the experts can be former police officers qualified to reconstruct an accident scene and calculate the deltaV and G-forces. However, these experts tend to venture outside of their lane of expertise and give their opinions on injuries from a low-impact accident without any credentials as a biomechanical engineer, knowledge of human anatomy, human dynamic, or human tolerance values.

2. Is the expert using the correct data?

A lot of experts will rely on data from the CRASH III software. According to the creator of this software, it was created with data from studying crash tests of over 20 mph deltaV and is made to study collisions of deltaV between 10 to 40 mph.

Making it an improper measuring tool for a low-impact crash which is 5mph.

3. Is the expert using Neptune engineering data software?

Some of the experts brought in by the defendant’s insurance company will rely on data collected by the Neptune engineering data. When deciding if someone’s injuries match the collision, the vehicle stiffness coefficient must be considered, meaning how hard or soft the vehicle is. Different parts of the vehicle being harder than others; the frame is much harder than the bumper.

The Neptune study was conducted on high-speed collisions with a high deltaV. Making its data useless and hold no clout when it comes to a low-speed auto accident.

4. Is the expert relying on the proper measurement of G-force?

There is a point during a collision when the G-force is at its peak, usually at the moment of the impact, and then will recede as the vehicles come to a rest. Sometimes the expert will focus on the average G-force of the accident and entirely bypass the peak G-force, which makes downplaying the victim’s injuries easier.

5. Is the expert focusing on the right G-force?

Often the expert will focus on the G-force on the car that was struck rather than the occupants themselves. The G-force experienced by the people in the vehicle will be a lot higher than the vehicle’s G-force.

6. Has the expert taken the law of physics into account?

One of the laws of physics is that all energy must go somewhere. The defense attorney will say that because the accident did not cause damage to the vehicle, then the occupants in the vehicle must not have been affected by the impact. This is wrong and flawed on so many levels; for one, the energy during an accident can be transferred in more ways than damage to the vehicles, including transferring to the occupants of the vehicle.

7. Is the correct duration of the accident being used?

It is common practice to use a time range of 100-120 milliseconds when calculating the duration of a collision. This is not an accurate representation of the duration of the specific crash in question, which may have happened in a smaller time frame; the shorter the duration, the more significant the impact making an injury hard to calculate using a general range.

8. Is the expert using information from flawed studies?

The studies mentioned earlier done by West and Allen were limited because the subjects used were all reasonably similar. Allen used healthy men and women 4 of each gender between the ages of 19 to 50 years old. At the same time, West used all men from 25 to 43 years of age. Other experts have criticized these studies in the same field for not being broader with subjects and varying situations. Biomechanical engineer Michael Freeman’s study “A review and methodic critique of the literature refuting whiplash syndrome” criticizes the studies done by Allen, West, and other similar studies that defense experts use in settling personal injury cases.

Some of the flaws pointed out by Freeman are:

•An inadequate sample size of subjects

•Insufficient study designs

•Bias in the selection process

•Conclusions not supported by results

•Misquoted literature in studies

•Not representative of real-life crash victims or conditions

9. Is the expert using up-to-date federal bumper standards?

Sometimes the defense expert will rely on Title 49 of the code of federal regulations, part 581. This states that vehicles made from 1974 to 1982 have bumpers front and back that can withstand an impact of up to 5 mph. If there is no damage to the vehicle that was hit during the collision, the defense expert may conclude that deltaV was under 5 mph, and no injuries could have been sustained. This is a big problem since most people have more modern cars whose bumper systems have been designed to sustain an impact up to 10 mph and not receive any damage from the collision.

10. Is the expert using a one-size-fits-all analysis?

There are so many variables involved in an auto accident. Using the studies and software mentioned above do not take these variables into account and use a one-size-fits-all for the auto collision. The defense expert should be questioned when it comes to how they came up with the data that they are using as proof to discredit the victim.

Some things to investigate when it comes to the biomechanics expert opinion:

•The victim: was the victim’s body composition, age, gender, and pre-existing conditions considered?

•Victims body position: what was the victim doing during the point of impact? Were they twisting in their seat, have their head turned, was the victim braced for impact?

These are all factors that need to be considered; different positions could have left the victim more vulnerable to injury.

•What was the seat back and headrest position: the insurance institute for public safety states that slight differences in the vehicle’s adjustment headrest and seat back can make a significant difference during a collision regarding how forceful an impact is on the occupants?

•Seat belt: was the seat belt being appropriately worn based on the occupant’s weight and height?

•Angle and direction: not all rear-end collisions are textbook rear-ends and can occur at different angles and from different directions adding a new dynamic to collision and how the occupants in the vehicle would have been impacted.

•Ramping effect: what is referred to as “ramping effect” is if the occupant’s body moved up or backward during the collision and by doing so may have increased the odds of a cervical injury.

X: These are the X-Factors that always get the biomechanical experts to stop and think:

1.) Did they ever treat the patient?

2.) Do they know or understand the nature of the injuries?

There are so many dynamics and variables in automobile collisions that basing them on flawed studies and not on the facts of your collision is doing a disservice to your case. Do not let the defense biomechanics expert trip you up and second-guess your injuries based on their flawed information. If I had a dollar for every minimal or no impact case I have settled for good money, I would be a millionaire. I always manage to argue through their so-called pseudoscience.

An arbitrator is an attorney who has many years of experience working with personal injury cases. Sometimes, there will be two arbitrators: a plaintiff arbitrator and a defense arbitrator. When your case is settled through arbitration, your personal injury claim will go before one or two arbitrators to settle the dispute.

After the discovery phase of your case expires, your attorney will be notified of the arbitration date and time.

What is the process of arbitration?

The arbitration will take place in a conference room in the superior court building where you filed your case. Plaintiffs and the defense will need attorneys who will submit packets to the arbitrators containing the following information:

•Police reports

•Medical records

•Photographs

•Testimonies

•Any relevant information to the case (Evidentiary Support)

If figuring out who is at fault when it comes to the collision is a focus point, then the plaintiffs will be asked for a testimony while under oath and have the attorneys and arbitrator ask them questions regarding the collision. The success of the testimony usually is based on credibility.

Example: If you’re uneducated and have a chronic drug issue or criminal issue, your testimony would be meaningless for the most part. On the other hand, if you are educated and have a professional career, your testimony would have more credibility. Especially if you are well-spoken.

My suggestion: Don’t use the word N**GA when describing a witness or defendant during a sworn testimony. It happens quite frequently in New York. Judges don’t like it, and neither does the jury if the case goes to trial. Don’t be an idiot. Try to be at least a little bit articulated and sound somewhat educated.

Once the arbitrators have heard the details of the case, both parties will leave the conference room, and the arbitrators will decide what the monetary value of the case is. The final decision will be sent to the plaintiff and defendant’s attorneys in writing. Both parties are able to reject the decision within 35 days, and the awards may be due in 14 to 30 days after the hearing has closed.

Arbitration vs. mediation: what’s the difference?

Arbitration and mediation are similar in the sense that they both have the same end goal in mind, which is settling your personal injury case. However, there are some significant differences that you need to understand when deciding if one is better suited for your situation than the other.

Mediation is a negotiation with a neutral third party, a.k.a. mediator, who is there to help both parties reach a settlement by helping with communication, obtaining relevant information, and finding the best options. Mediators are not there to find faults, make decisions, or issue orders. Often the mediator will meet with both parties separately and discuss the dispute, exploring possible ways to resolve the dispute, but in order to resolve the dispute, both parties must agree to a resolution.

Arbitration is binding, which means that the decision is final and there is no way to appeal a decision. Mediations on the other hand, is non-binding, which means that if the case doesn’t settle during the mediation, you can just walk away and try again and continue litigating. During the arbitration, both parties are given a chance to present their case to the arbitrator. Similar to a court, attorneys can question witnesses from both parties. The arbitrator has the power to decide the outcome of the case. The arbitrator can make a binding decision that means it cannot be appealed or a non-binding decision giving both parties a chance to challenge the end decision. A binding decision can be enforced the same as any other court ruling.

What are the advantages or disadvantages of arbitration for the plaintiff?

Advantages of deciding to venture down the path of arbitration when settling your personal injury case are it offers more privacy, is less expensive, and settlements are paid quicker and more efficiently than if you were to take your case to trial.

With arbitration, the rules aren’t as strict, and your legal team can have a say in who your arbitrator will be. You can also have your case settled and receive your award, if won, much quicker than going to trial.

If you lose in arbitration, you may be limited in your ability to appeal the case. For the most part, you can’t. If the arbitration is binding, it is final. However, if there are any clerical, typographical, or computer errors, the American Arbitration Association will allow an arbitrator to change the final award. If a change is wanted to the settlement from either party, they must request it within 20 days after the final award is sent.

This never happens in a personal injury case, but if the arbitration is somehow non-binding, you can apply for an appeal. If you feel that your case was not settled fairly, you can fill out a form called a Trial de Novo to request a new trial. If your request is approved, the arbitration will start over, and the former arbitration will be completely null and void. But in almost every case of all Arbitrations are Binding.

Having an attorney to help you navigate through the arbitration process will help ensure that your evidence is presented correctly and in a compelling way—you are more likely to win your settlement when you enlist the help of a professional personal injury attorney who has done a lot of arbitrations.

•You’re threatening the attorney that you will leave to another attorney so the attorney may file a lawsuit without even asking you to preserve some right to any attorney fees. Only shady attorneys do this.

Costs associated with Litigation (New York State):

Note: All attorneys in New York State charge the same for personal injury matters. The attorney fee is 33.33% plus expenses.

Litigation expenses:

Filing a lawsuit in New York has various state fees, but that doesn’t stop there. There are various other fees that will be associated with the entire litigation process. These fees are:

Filing the Summons and Verified Complaint: $210.00

Filing the Summons and Verified Complaint or (S&C) is what initiates the lawsuit, and this is when the court assigns a dedicated index number.

Sending out for Processing: (Depends but can be hundreds of dollars)

After a lawsuit is filed, the defendant(s) have to be served by licensed Process Servers. Depending on where the defendant is and how many defendants there are, it could cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars.

RJI, Motions, and other filing fees:

Throughout litigation, there will be various fees associated with various legal proceedings, such as motions, depositions, and other filing fees. The most common Fees are:

RJI (Request for Judicial Intervention): $95.00

Motion or Cross-Motion: $45.00

Demand for Jury Trial: $65.00

Stipulation of Settlement: $35.00

Deposition + Court Reporter: Typically, $350 but could be more or less.

Miscellaneous Fees: Various smaller fees may include such as mailing, subpoenas, medical record requests, which are usually $0.75 per page.

Steps in Litigation:

This is a rudimentary explanation of how litigation works. There could be other steps in between, but for the most part, these are the basic steps. Keep in mind that it takes years for a case to be litigated until the actual trial date. Mainly because the courts are backed up.

Step 1.) File Summons and Verified Complaint (S&C)

Summons and Verified Complaint or Summons and Complaint for short is drafted and then usually filed electronically. Once filed, an index number is assigned to your case.

Step 2.) Serve the Complaint by Licensed Process Server

Once the complaint is drafted, the S&C must be served to all defendants by a licensed process server. Once the complaint is served, the Process Server will file something called Affidavit of Service. An attorney will need that paper and the exact date of service because the defendant will have 30 days to file an answer or be at risk of being in Default. If a Default is granted, the defendant will be forced to fork out the full and complete demand that the Plaintiff has initially demanded.

Step 3.) Discovery Stage

Once the defendant is served with the complaint, the defendant’s insurance company’s attorneys file an answer and make initial demands for discovery.

To be more specific, the defendant’s attorneys demand something, which is called Bill of Particulars or (BPs / BOPs) as well as Combined Demands.

In the BPs and Combined Demands, the defendant will request:

•Police Report

•Any video and photographs, if available

•Ambulance Report

•Hospital Records

•Other Medical Records and Authorization

•Various other things

Pro Tip: If the defendant is running out of time or ran out of time to file an answer (30 days in New York State), the defense can request a stipulation to extend time to file an answer. It is good or standard practice to not annoy the defense this early in the stage of litigation, and I generally grant them an extension without any arguments. However, I do require that they must “Waive Jurisdictional Defense.”

Waiving Jurisdictional Defense has many repercussions. I will let you Google experts do your own research on this matter, but this puts a huge wrench in the defendant’s defense, and many defendants refuse to Waive their Jurisdictional Defense. If the defendants refuse to Waive the Jurisdictional Defense, we’re not extending their Stipulation to Extend time to answer. That means they have to scramble in hiring an attorney and filing an answer ASAP, or we will eventually file a Default Motion if they don’t file an answer in time.

Note: For the most part, the defendants can vacate the default motion very easily, but it creates mini chaos in the firm and with the carrier. I always enjoyed stirring the pot.

Step 4.) Drafting and serving the BPs as well as Combined Demands and filing the RJI (Request for Judicial Intervention).

Drafting BPs and complying to combined demands can be a routine, but there is a lot of information that the Plaintiff’s attorney may try to object to. The list can be extensive and varied case by case, but as an example, we don’t provide Social Security Numbers in BPs or even Depositions because most case pleadings such as motions and BPs in New York that are in litigation can be accessed via eCourts, which is an online system that everyone has access to.

Step 4.5.) Making our own demands

With the BPs as well as complying to combined demands, we also make our own demands. We generally request similar information such as available policies, photographs, witness information, and so forth. Anything that is important to the case.

Step 4.75.) Filing for RJI (Request for Judicial Intervention)

When the BPs are drafted and served, an RJI is filed as well. RJI basically puts the case on the court calendar and gets the judge assigned.

Step 5.) Preliminary Conference

On the preliminary, few things happen:

1. Confirm on Discovery (Evidence) Demands

2. Schedule Deadlines for Discovery, Depositions, IMEs and Motions. Essentially create Standards and Goals. This is when you will have SOME KIND of an idea or a rough estimate (give or take a few years) on how long it will take to litigate the case before the case is finally certified for trial.

Step 6.) Depositions and Liability IMEs

Depositions are self-explanatory. But based on what you testify to on what you injured, the adverse carrier will demand you go for Liability IMEs. Similar to NF IMEs, but could be thorough.

Pro Tip: If the defendant does not appear for depositions, it is best practice to file a motion to preclude the defendant from testifying, and in that motion, it should also preclude from any future filings of any kind of affidavits. If there are any liability issues and the defendant can’t say his side of the story, then they’re screwed.

Pro Tip: If the liability is clear and there are no disputes on liability and there is compelling evidence that will not raise any Question of Fact, it is good practice to file a Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment (MSJ) on Liability. A motion for Summary Judgment on Liability is a motion that asks the court to decide and issue a Summary Judgment on Liability. What that does:

1. From the date that motion is granted, an interest starts accruing. In New York State, that’s 9% every year. This interest applies to verdicts. If the verdict is $100, 000, the plaintiff will receive $109, 000.

2. The plaintiff will be precluded from testifying on liability during deposition and trial. From the issuance of the Summary Judgment for Liability, all future discovery and testimonies can only be on Damages only.

This puts immense pressure on the defense to settle early as well.

Step 7.) Threshold Motion Time!

If you have a shit car accident case that is in litigation, chances are that the adverse carrier will file a Threshold Motion in an attempt to dismiss the entire case. After all discovery is exchanged, depositions complete, and IMEs done, this is their opportunity to do so. If you have at least one of these factors that are mentioned here, you are at high risk of getting the entire case dismissed:

•You have pre-existing condition(s) due to prior accidents or chronic condition

•You have degenerative findings. Example: Multi-level bulges and Herniations, Scoliosis, and/or you’re old.

•Didn’t treat more than 90 days. More Specifically, no significant limitations that lasted longer than 90 days.

•Your MRIs show minor injuries. Example: One bulge or herniation.

•Minimal Impact Cases. If your vehicle only has a few scratches or a slight dent, the adverse carrier will claim that the injuries are not causally related to the accident because the impact was too minimal to create any kind of injuries.

Note: This argument is a hit or miss because there are ways of arguing around this issue.

Step 8.) Compliance Conference

The compliance conference is a quick conference with the adverse party in front of the judge to confirm that all discovery has been exchanged, and this is when the judge gives a deadline to file something called Note of Issue. Note of Issue certifies the case for trial.

Step 9.) Filing Note of Issue

After you file the Note of Issue, two major things will happen. The case goes on the actual trial calendar, and the judge may try to convince the defendant to settle the case during mediation or arbitration. For the most part, a lot of these proceedings are handled by per-diem attorneys. Per-diem attorneys do not handle the case at any level. The per-diem attorneys are hired just to show up and generally have no authority to settle or make any serious decisions. It’s usually not until JCP (Jury Coordinating Part) or jury selection when an actual handling attorney who has any kind of authority may offer some sort of settlement. On the flip side, I try to use this opportunity to put more pressure on the examiner to settle before we go to trial because once we get to trial, we are fully committed to getting a verdict.

Step 10.) Trial

It’s everyone’s guess on what will happen during a trial. Since I generally do not get involved in trials, I will not get into details. If you have any specific questions regarding trial process, I strongly suggest you see an actual attorney.

General Disclaimer:

This is a basic outline of how the settlement negotiations are performed. There are thousands of different variables as well as possible steps and factors that go into different types of cases. Many details will be missing or vague. If you have a specific question regarding a particular case, it is highly advisable to discuss that matter with an actual attorney. This is not a rule book or meant as legal advice or instruction manual—just a basic outline.

•Think outside of the box and be dynamic! I can’t even begin to share how many cases I have settled where there was either a huge liability or causality issue where I have managed to figure out a way to overcome those issues.

•Always be on top of your game! Despite popular belief, claims negotiators do not lie. At least I don’t. However, our major strength is to expose the truth or the facts of the case and an ability to push your narrative. I may not lie, but I will also not volunteer information unless it’s beneficial for our client’s case either. Not to mention the determination to fight for our clients.

•Patience is a virtue! Never jump the gun on a case unless there are major issues such as SJM’s, deadlines, etc. I have had quite a few cases where I blatantly didn’t even return back the examiner’s calls for months or even years because I knew it was a waste of time! I either got lowballed or got not offers. Eventually, they would all almost miraculously call and offer something realistic. Example: I had one case where there was a 60-year-old male with two herniation and a moderate impact. No issues with liability. Initially, it was denied on threshold. I didn’t even bother calling the examiner. Nine months later, a new examiner got on file and started offering some money. After many days of milking the examiner, the offer went up to $20k. Tip: They want to get rid of cases as much as you do if not more.

•statute of limitations is your friend! This one should technically fall under the patience point. I have had MANY cases where the insurance company denied a claim based on either threshold or liability and in many cases where it wasn’t worth litigating. One of my tricks is to explain to the client the situation and issues with the case. If the client needs to treat, let them treat. Do due diligence on the case. If I get a case and get a denial, I just let it sit there. No point in calling the carrier every few months. I let it sit there until the end of SOL. 6-8 months before the SOL runs out, I would call the examiner and plead with them to offer some kind of a decent offer I could feel confident coming to my client with. Make it clear that SOL is running out, and neither one of us wants to spend money and years litigating “this” case. Often, the examiner will make a business decision and offer money on a case in fear of spending thousands of dollars and years of their time litigating a bullshit case.

•Reverse psychology ALWAYS works with examiners: When I negotiate a case with them, I get so good at it, where I almost always convince the examiner I’m doing THEM a favor by settling the case. Keep in mind... They want to settle the case as much as you do!

•Understanding how to read and interpret the law: In a NYS case, you must know and be able to interpret:

1. VTL (Vehicle Traffic Laws)

2. CPLR (Civil Practice Law & Rules)

3. New York State Serious Injury Laws

4. Appellate Decisions. More specifically, how appeals courts see threshold, Bio-Mechanical Arguments, and Liability

•Understanding and having an ability to argue liability issues: This requires an over-active imagination. Example: Understanding how to thoroughly read the police report. That includes the citations, points of impact, location, direction, and even any weather or road condition factors. I also use Google Maps as a reference to confirm which directions the street goes, any control signs, and lights.

•Understanding pathophysiology of various injuries, surgical procedures, and testing such as EMGs, as well as discerning the difference between Objective and Subjective complaints. To be more specific, orthopedic and emergency procedures. This includes detailed anatomy, surgery procedures as well as the residual impact of injuries and medical procedures.

•Thorough understanding of anatomy and knowing how to read and interpret the MRI reports, surgical procedures, and objective tests such as EMGs

•Be a borderline Sadist: I’m not a sadist, but I’m a professional internet troll. I love to start a controversial topic for discussion, step back, and watch people fight over the topic. This skill comes in handy because I use this skill with examiners when I have multiple defendants. I make them fight over liability and just step back. Sometimes I either interject or throw hints at them.

•· How each insurance carrier operates such as Litigation and Negotiation Procedures:

1. How does the particular carrier respond to a case that has been filed?

2. What is the process of getting authority to settle?

3. Does the carrier arbitrate or mediate cases?

4. How is the settlement package received and processed?

5. How to reach certain examiners and supervisors.

•Do not trust ANYONE! That includes the examiner, your client, or even your own instinct! Always get every offer in writing and never trust someone else’s notes! I can’t even begin to tell you guys how many times I took over a file and some genius put in notes that there was this offer, but when I finally started discussing the case with the examiner, there was either no offer or a completely different offer!

Best tools for the job to make you more effective:

Excel Spreadsheets: Regardless of how effective or advanced your Case Management System is, nothing beats a properly designed Excel sheet that lays out all of your cases to give you a better situational awareness of what is going on. What I like to do is enter all my cases or preferably run a report of all my cases if the case management system has that option and do a monthly audit of their status. I only use few specific lines of data:

I also like to color-code each case. Red if the case is denied on Threshold and/or Liability, green if there is an offer. Keep it white if the client is still treating and blue if the client has a serious injury or surgery. I generally don’t put any litigation details because that’s not the purpose of the excel sheet. The main purpose is to give me a better situational awareness of the negotiation process.

Calendar: The calendar is probably my most important tool. Yes… Everyone uses a calendar to maintain deadlines, keep follow-up appointments, and such, but I take it to an extra level. Specifically use it to troll examiners. I will get to that later.

All this knowledge doesn’t come overnight and only comes through extensive instruction, research, and OJT (On the Job Training). But let’s say, for argument’s sake, you learned all this practical knowledge overnight and are ready to start negotiating your first soft tissue case. Because your first cases will always be soft tissue. At least until the attorney will start believing in your settlement outcomes. The first step is:

1) Always confirm you have complete RELATED medical records:

That can be done by calling the client and confirming all the treating physicians that the client treated for. I generally don’t go in-depth about their treatment because, for the most part, they have no clue what they did or when, but I do confirm with the treating physicians on all the treatment dates, tests, and any procedures that were done.

2) Request Complete Medical Records to Insurance Carriers:

This part is self-explanatory. Fill out a few HIPAA forms, pay the invoice, and receive the medical records. Once you have confirmed that you have received all the medical records, you send it to the examiner that is assigned to the file. That’s Step 4, and we will get to that later.

3) Write up the file

After all medical records are received, this is where all the hard work really begins. It’s generally not every law firm’s policy to do this, but I like to be prepared when the insurance companies call for possible settlement. Instead of fumbling around through notes and medical records, I create a 1 or 2 pages max cheat sheet that lays everything out. Everything from liability to injuries to policy limits. I would generate a Word Document and write out all the important information:

LIABILITY: This is where I would put the theory of liability

LIABILITY CARRIERS: This is where I would put all liability insurance company details

Carrier Name:

Examiner Contact Info:

Claim #:

% of Liability:

POSSIBLE Underinsured and Any Possible Excess Policies: Sometimes you get lucky, and there is an excess policy to go after. Always important to do due diligence to confirm all available Liability and excess policies.

PD Value: Property Damage Value helps me determine the extent of the impact. Rule of thumb is, if the PD value is less than $2, 000, the carriers will consider the case as a minimal impact case.

ER: Date of Admission

INITIAL COMPLAINTS: This is where you put general parts, which the client confirmed that initially hurt.

MRI Results: MRI Results come in two parts. Detailed Interpretations and Impressions. I generally put the shortened version of impressions.

Head

C-Spine

T-Spine

L-Spine

Shoulders/Arms

Knees/Legs

Feet

EMG Testing: EMG (Electromyography) is a nerve test that measures electric activity when it responds to electric stimulation. It helps detect nerve abnormality or damage. For the most part, the most common injury the test will show is called Radiculitis. Radiculitis is pain that radiates along the nerve, which is caused by impingement or inflammation.

Operative Reports: Most attorneys would argue that Operative Reports should be on top of the list, but I prefer to keep it on the bottom because just because someone had surgery doesn’t automatically mean that they will get a million dollars. I like to read through initial complaints, objective testing, treatment, and severity of impact to see what leads to the surgery. More specifically, find the causal agent. After all, I still must prove that the injury is the direct result of the car accident.

Liens: Liens is when the client owes money to someone. Whether it’s the treating physician, Medicaid/Medicare, Cash Advance, Workers' Compensation, and so forth. You can’t settle a case until all liens are accounted for and resolved (Paid, Reduced, or Eliminated)!

Step 4.) Send complete medical records to Examiners:

Note: Settlement negotiators usually do not send Letter of Representation to insurance carriers. This step is based on the assumption that a Liability Claim has already been established, an examiner is assigned, and you know what the policy limits are.

I argue about this step with attorneys all the time. For some strange reason, many firms have a specific extensive process on the “proper” way to send medical records.

Most major firms want you to do a complete writeup of the file on a cover letter with all the medical records. Theory of Liability, Injuries, Treatment, Demands, etc. It’s a complete waste of time. Examiners don’t even read most of that junk, and worst of all, if you laid out all your cards, especially with the demand, you would have very little to use during the negotiation process. On top of that, if you make a really high demand, the examiner may not even call you back. All my cover letters, that’s even if I send one, states nothing more than:

“Attached are complete medical records for your review for possible settlement. After you have reviewed the file, kindly get back to me so that we could resolve the matter amicably.”

Aside from the cover letters, most firms would want you to organize the settlement package in a very specific way. ER records go on top, surgical report goes on the bottom or sometimes vice versa, depending on what their procedure is, MRIs go next, followed by any testing and then followed by positive IMEs. Physical therapy records and any unpaid medical bills go on the bottom. More specifically, any liens. Plus, anything else that may be pertinent to the case. Personally, I think it’s all a waste of time, and I don’t do any of that. I like to annoy examiners and deliberately mix everything up. The reason being that I like to annoy them and bother them weeks after on whether they reviewed the file or not for possible settlement even though I know in most cases they haven’t because they’re still trying to organize everything. It puts more pressure on them to speed up, and I usually hope that they will miss something in their writeup and put more delays on thoroughly evaluating the file, and if they don’t writeup a file in time, the supervisors will be on their asses and put pressure on them as well. But I will get to that part later.

Note: Especially if it’s a motor vehicle accident, I generally send medical records to ALL Parties. Even though they may not be liable because a lot of examiners may offer some kind of nuisance-value settlement offer, especially if the case is in litigation.

Step 5.) The settlement negotiations begin

Building a Relationship

Building a positive and productive relationship with examiners is crucial. I can’t even begin to emphasize the importance of building a good relationship with an examiner. Not so much with an attorney because they never have any authority to settle, at least for the most part, but an examiner is someone you will be working with on a single case for months and even years. With many examiners, I have a really tight relationship. I even know the kids’ names and birthdays of some of them.

Expectations vs. Reality

For the most part, it usually takes an examiner no more than 30 days to evaluate the file for possible settlement. At least enough to get the ball rolling because, in reality, there is no specific time frame on how long it takes to settle a case or to even get that initial offer. A case can be settled in as fast as few weeks to as long as three to five years if it’s in litigation. Depending on the carrier and complexity of the case. Examiners may also be super busy and may not always be the first ones to call unless it’s an easy case to settle. If the injuries and/or liability are clear, and the injuries may be more severe than what the policy limits are, the examiner may do a quick tender instead of needlessly fight it as well. If the examiner is familiar with you and knows you will not make any outrageous demands, they may try to prioritize to settle with you as well. Unfortunately, sometimes you may end up with an examiner, who you have to call weekly for months to get them to come back even with an initial offer. And guess who’s at fault when a case doesn’t settle? You are. Lol. Because every client wants to settle their damn case YESTERDAY!

The starting point! Let the Games Begin!

Once I submit medical records to the examiner, the first thing I do is put the case on the calendar two weeks out to call for status. More Specifically, I like to schedule my calls Mondays through Thursdays between 9: 30 am until 12 pm. I know very well that two weeks isn’t enough time to review all the medical records, especially when I send them the settlement package in a mess, but it initiates a situation where I put them under a lot of pressure by annoying the crap out of them.

For most carriers, examiners have a policy that they are required to call you back within two hours. If they don’t, you can contact their supervisor to complain, and believe me, I do! It creates a funny situation where once they tell me that they haven’t had a chance to review the file, I tell them that it’s “ok, ” and I will just call back later in two weeks and move up the settlement call two weeks out on the same day. I’ll keep calling every two weeks until the examiner either gives me an initial offer or denial if that is the situation. If the examiner starts to complain about why I’m calling them so frequently, I will blame it on my boss that he’s the one making me do it, and if I don’t, I’ll get in trouble. I’ll sometimes even give him a sob story on how much I really hate this job.

Receiving Initial Offer!

For the most part, most initial offers are lowball offers. Examiners know that these offers will be rejected, but the secret of getting a realistic offer is figuring out what the examiner’s maximum authority is. What the insurance companies do is to have these weekly roundtable meetings where they put authority on each file. There are two problems with this entire stupid process:

1. If the authority is too low of a value because the supervisor overlooked or underestimated a case value, it is very difficult for the settlement negotiator to convince the examiner to come back to the supervisor to get more authority. Just think about it. Most supervisors are assholes, stupid, or arrogant, just like most of my bosses are, and I’m stuck in between three assholes trying to resolve the matter. The third asshole is the client.

2. If the supervisor refuses to give more authority, the case needlessly winds up in litigation. Because of stupid insurance carriers supervisors, the entire court system is clogged up with stupid soft tissue cases that should have or could have been settled.

On the initial offer, the conversation may go like this:

Examiner: Hello, I reviewed the file, and here are my concerns. The liability is an issue (some carriers may completely deny liability even if your client is only partially at fault), as well as injuries. We consider this to be a minimal impact case, so that means that the injury, which your client is claiming, is unrelated, but we are willing to offer you $x.

Me: Offer seems ridiculously low. As far as liability is concerned, why are you denying the case when our client is only minimally at fault? As far as the impact is concerned, we both know that it’s a moot argument. Ever heard of Man vs. 1000 argument in court? By law, I am required to take this offer to my client, and I know what my client is going to say. The client will laugh at me and outright reject the offer. While I take the offer to my client, I highly suggest you re-evaluate the file and come back with a more reasonable offer.

Examiner: How about you talk to your client first (this is when they are stalling…), and we will take it from there.

Me: Very well. But I still need the offer in writing because our firm has a policy to present all offers in writing to mitigate any confusion.

I never jump the gun… I try to be as methodical is I possibly can be. If the offer is too little, I may stop calling the examiner and make the examiner call me first. In fact, I may even ignore the examiner for months if I know that the examiner will keep lowballing offers. But if the examiner keeps lowballing the offer, I may just decide to file the case. The sooner, the better, because I don’t like any unnecessary delays. For the most part, I never threaten or make any promises that I will file the case either. I generally like to surprise them. To go even further with that, when they call and complain, which for the most part they do, I pretend to act surprised as well and blame it on my boss’ decision. That way, the examiners will still maintain a good relationship with me.

Filing a Lawsuit - The Basic Checklist.

I have a basic checklist on whether I should file a case to mitigate any possible risks or bombshells arising during the discovery process or any other issues. Especially the Depositions.

Checklist:

•What county does the plaintiff live? (Will use NYC as an example since this is where I live and work)

•Bronx and Kings are one of the most unorganized Supreme Court counties in NYS. Bronx County is an utter nightmare. If you have to take a case to trial in either county, you will be waiting 5 to 10 years.

•Is the client a good witness? At some point, your client would have to testify, and these important factors could be an issue if there are significant flaws in the case, such as liability or threshold issues:

a.) Education: Education goes a long way in testimony. If the client is not articulate in their story, and the case must go to trial, the jury will not like them. Especially if it’s in a conservative county like Nassau County. I have witnessed a lot of cases with terrible verdict results because the Nassau County jurors do not like “Street People, ” which is an irony in itself. Many of them are well educated and successful but, for the most part, are under alcohol or drug substance abuse.

b.) Employment: Money is usually a motivating factor to push further with a case. Jurors see employment to judge the plaintiff’s motivation. If the plaintiff is employed and has a career, chances are it’s not only about the money. If the plaintiff has no job and is living in their parents’ basement playing video games, they will assume it’s about the money and make a judgment call on whether a person like that really needs all that money.

c.) Criminal History: This shouldn’t play any role in a case. The plaintiff can be a serial killer, but if an injury is caused by someone’s negligence, by law, they deserve equal rights and protections.

d.) Mental Health Issues: I have mentioned mental health issues numerous times throughout the book. But serious mental health issues are rampant in New York. People are hyper-aggressive, paranoid, delusional, detached from objective reality, and live in their own world. Projection is another form of psychological, mental health issue. They would create a situation or exhibit bad behavior and then claim that you committed that action. Or say something and claim that you said it. People like that are always “fun” to depose. Ideally, it’s not a good idea to litigate a case and face depositions if your client exhibits any kind of serious mental health issues. On the other hand, if the liability and the injuries are there, just because your client is crazy doesn’t mean that they are not entitled to any type of compensation for pain and suffering. Therefore, we have the law to provide equal protection.

Does the client have any serious injuries? More importantly, does the client pierce threshold?

I have a huge problem with this issue. I honestly do, but I do not know how I feel about filing a soft tissue case. Especially if it’s a case where it’s on the borderline between piercing or not piercing threshold. For the most part, most of my bosses file cases whether the case does pierce or doesn’t pierce threshold, and I understand where they are coming from. They want the carriers to take them more seriously if they show that they are willing to litigate a case until the end of time. So, the ultimate question is… what are the chances of us surviving a threshold motion?

Were there any prior, subsequent accidents or pre-existing conditions?

Most clients lie. They will lie about being involved in any prior or subsequent accident. By the time the negotiation process kicks in, the examiner most likely ran an ISO Search to see if there were any prior or subsequent accidents. Some examiners are assholes, and they hide this information from you and don’t bring it up until deposition. This creates a huge clusterfuck, as you can imagine. Especially with relevant pre-existing conditions such as arthritis or scoliosis. The main motivating factor for clients lying is money, of course.

What are the Policy Limits?

Policy Limits are important. For the most part, it’s a terrible idea to litigate a case when the policy limits are only $25, 000 in New York because between all the hard work litigating the case, filing fees, and the time spent on the case, both the firm and the client will see very little. But if the carrier significantly lowballs a case, we have no choice.

What are the Liability Issues?

For the most part, liability is usually rarely an issue because, for the most part, it’s not hard to raise question of fact. Even on rear-end cases. All we need to do is prove that the defendant is at least 1% at fault.

The actual filing of a lawsuit!

Once I have determined that the case is worthy enough for getting filed and then file the case, I immediately send an e-filed courtesy copy of the summons and complaint to the examiner. Once that’s done, three things can happen:

1) The carrier may request a larger and hopefully more realistic offer

2) The case may get reassigned to a more senior examiner, who has a much bigger authority to settle

3) They can get pissed off and rescind the offer. But that’s rare.

This is the part that confuses me the most. If the examiners know that a firm will file and litigate a case until doomsday, why the hell do they not make a realistic offer since day one? For the most part, once you file a case, the insurance company will want to complete the discovery process, which means that they will want all authorization for medical records, film reviews, peer reviews, depositions, and more IMEs. The entire process will take at least a year or two.

Re-negotiating the case one litigation step at a time:

Throughout the litigation process, I still try to settle the case at every stage of the litigation process. I still call the examiners on a regular basis, but I extend the calls to every 30 days or, in some cases, until or before we reach each next step of the litigation process. For the most part, examiners want to complete the discovery process. It would be a waste of my time to call every two weeks. But when I do get someone on the phone, I would generally try to ask a basic question or bring up an important point about the case just to initiate some sort of a response that can lead somewhere positive in the negotiation process. This is when I try to keep the communication channels open and, at the very least, nickel and dime the case to ensure that any offer that was made is still on the table. Not so much as to just get more money. I generally do not threaten with each step such as “we’ll depose your defendant” either but do discuss procedural issues as well as throw in random requests for more money to keep the case moving in a positive direction.

In the event the case doesn’t move forward in a positive direction, meaning they don’t make significant or realistic offers, I just wait for the next step in the litigation process until I begin to start asking for more money. Throughout the negotiation process and litigation process, I also try to find new information, facts, better interpretation of the injuries, and etiology of the injuries to bring up in every new conversation. I generally try to find every excuse possible to call an examiner. Even if it’s a trivial issue. If I find new facts I can argue every other day, I will call every other day. I don’t just make shallow requests for money without any basis like most attorneys do. This is actually one of my secrets on how I get more money on cases than most aside from figuring out the top-dollar of the examiner’s maximum authority and tapping into their reserves. That never gets anywhere. An examiner will think that you’re not only annoying but also stupid, especially when you get a tantrum on the phone. Negotiation is an art form of sort. You can’t show any sign of emotion when negotiating a case. It shows poor mental control. If I could compare myself to any character on TV when I negotiate a case, I would compare myself to Spock from Star Trek. Focused, to the point, no exposure of any verbal emotion but yet finding that fine balance of sounding human.

If the carrier gives an option for mediation, I would most certainly push for that as early as possible. But for the most part, the carriers do not give that as an option until the discovery is complete. But once it does become an option, I jump on the opportunity because 8 out of 10 times, the case gets resolved for a really good amount. Arbitrations are not so desirable unless the policy limits are no more than $50, 000. It’s a hit or miss with arbitrations, regardless of how strong the case is.

Good Cop vs. Bad Cop:

Playing good cop vs. bad cop helps if you get stuck on settlement negotiations! If I get stuck on a settlement, which I kind of need to settle in a relatively short time for whatever reason, I may ask someone else to call on the case for me. In fact, the person I ask to call, I ask them to play dumb. That person would make a higher demand, claim that I never put any notes into the file, and demand that the negotiations begin from square one. This annoyed the examiners to hell. But they do the same shit to us as well, so who cares! ? With large carriers, they switch examiners every six months to a year if the case doesn’t settle. This tactic usually helps because the examiner doesn’t want to beat a dead horse and start from square one and many times, magically comes back with a bigger authority.

The issue with the Note of Issue (Certification for Trial):

In the event the case doesn’t settle throughout the litigation process, filing the Note of Issue gives the negotiation process a boost, and here’s why. Once you file the note of issue, the case goes on the actual trial calendar. Even though it may take another year or two to take the case to trial after filing the Note of Issue, the insurance companies start scrambling more and start taking a closer look into the case because they begin to see that we are taking this case more seriously. The case may also be reassigned to an actual trial attorney to take the case to trial. Most of the previous litigation cases were most likely handled either by per-diem attorneys who do temp work or other in-house attorneys who just make appearances. The good news for the plaintiff side is that defense attorney firms have no idea what the other hand is doing. They don’t even know at what point the negotiations are. They don’t even call the examiner and advise on whether the case should be settled or not. At least for the most part. This is why when a case reaches this last stage in litigation before the actual jury selection, I usually maintain my demands high because, at this point, we might as well take the case to trial and get a good jury verdict.

At some point, the judges will also try to intervene and may force mediation or a settlement conference pre-trial if it’s a case that should be or could be settled. That’s all fine and dandy, but the defense attorney firms are so over-booked that they usually send a per-diem or an attorney with no clue what the case is about to try to settle it. Not to mention, they have virtually no real authority to even settle. Something that could have been easily fixed by a single call to the examiner, which never happens.

What happens if you’re stuck and the case HAS to get settled?

I am stuck with this dilemma almost daily, and there are few recourse actions you can take to somehow push a case forward with settlement if the examiner stagnates with an offer or is stuck on denial. But you first need to know and understand one thing about how insurance companies operate. Here are three quick key factors to remember:

1) Insurance companies are fiduciaries: Their main purpose in life is to protect their insured from any possible personal loss and exposure to personal assets. If an examiner lowballs a case, they are forcing unnecessary exposure of their clients and thus not providing adequate protection—a reminder to the examiner of their contractual obligations help in negotiation process.

2) Insurance companies are defense attorneys’ clients: Most people do not know this, but insurance companies are the clients of defense attorneys. Defense attorneys’ jobs are to advise their clients (insurance companies) on what to do, defend the policyholder, and settle the case if possible because they don’t want to expose the policyholder.

3) Acting in bad faith: There will be many instances where the examiner may negotiate based on bad faith. Aside from lowballing, they may try to use tactics, which may seem outrageous even if they are somewhat entitled to certain procedures or demands.

4) Basic example: Examiner may offer a lowball offer and be adamant about not offering more money only if we provide authorizations for something that is completely irrelevant to the case.

The fix: Write an extensive bad faith letter explaining in detail how the accident happened (theory of liability), injuries, causality, economic loss, where and why the negotiations went wrong, and why the negotiations were based on bad faith.

If the negotiations go sour, I go balls to the wall with examiners. I try to reach the supervisor and complain, and I also send out a bad faith letter. In conjunction with all that, I will try to sweet-talk the defense attorney to call up the examiner and convince the examiner to settle the case for X amount of dollars. That helps a lot because the defense attorneys, for the most part, are honest with their examiners, and they don’t want to do extra work on a soft tissue case, which most cases are in litigation. Essentially, I try to circumvent the examiner from every angle. In many cases, it may create a circle jerk between the examiner, supervisor, the defense attorney, but that’s fine. What I like to do is initiate some kind of a serious discussion, step back and let them fight over it. This brings me to my next point and one of my favorite things to do because I find this situation extremely funny.

Multi-Car Pile Ups

Establishing who is at fault on a multi-car pileup case can be extremely difficult. The key may arise based on how many impacts the client felt. If the client felt only one impact, chances are, it’s mostly the last vehicle in the chain that caused the accident. If the client felt two impacts, chances are it’s the vehicle either directly behind them or closely after the vehicle behind them. In situations like this, I send settlement packages to ALL the vehicles, and through deductive logical reasoning, I find the vehicle that is LEAST at fault and come up with a ridiculous liability theory and put the complete blame on the vehicle that is least at fault. This creates confusion and a trickledown effect. I would generally bother only that examiner for the largest portion of settlement, and that forces that examiner to start fighting with other examiners to fork out more money. Remember, all I need is 1% liability, and the examiners know this. In effect, two things happen. The examiner does the work for me by convincing other examiners to fork out more money because I don’t have to make a hundred calls a day to all these examiners, and I get a contribution from other vehicles involved. I once settled a case for $40, 000 on a two bulge case on a six car pileup case using this tactic.

Negotiating Soft Tissue Cases:

Negotiating soft tissue or cases that have barely any injuries is probably the hardest thing to settle, but here is a fun fact. 80% of all personal injury cases for most firms are soft tissue cases. These are the bread and butter cases for most firms. There is very little to go after or what I like to affectionally call “to bite on.” But at the end of the day, the only things you can possibly use to argue are:

- Medical proof that shows significant limitations, such as Range of Motion testing.

- Note: Some carriers are funny with this. Some may require manual, and some may require computerized range of motion testing.

- Economic loss such as lost wages that last more than 90 days

- Positive IMEs if by some miracle you get positive IMEs on a soft tissue case. That would be like winning the Lotto.

- Significant impact, where the photos show significant dents or more in the vehicles.

Negotiating ICO (Infant Compromise Cases):

I love ICO Cases. Infant compromise cases yield the best results because the judge is involved in making sure that the offer is fair and reasonable. With ICO cases, I always demand much higher because both I and the examiner or the defense attorney with whom I’m negotiating the case know that if they offer too little, the judge may not approve the settlement. I always tell the examiners the same thing:

“Our client’s parent(s) is not interested in settling. They are committed to litigating this case because the client won’t see the money until the child turns 18 anyways.”

Examiners usually fork out more money after they realize that the client is committed.

Pro Tip: If the client is at least around the age of 16, it may be best to wait until the client turns 18 to save time and money with the ICO Process.

Municipal cases – Specifically NYC and NYC transit cases

If I ever hated any type of case, municipal cases are at the top of the list. Negotiating or even pushing the case forward for possible settlement is a pure nightmare that lasts for years. Here’s why: After the 50H (sworn statement) is complete, we will have an “opportunity” to send a settlement package to the ESU (Early Settlement Unit). Conveniently, no one ever picks up the phone and there is no general email. I personally have some representatives’ emails and that’s how I manage to send some settlement packages through, but for the most part, unless you have those contacts saved, there is virtually no way. If I do manage to reach someone on the phone, and manage to get a contact at the Early Settlement Unit, and manage to send the settlement package to the correct examiner, that examiner will want you to send him a settlement package directly. Once you have done that, that examiner will claim that he sent the settlement package to the comptroller’s office for authority to settle. After months of following up, that examiner may get reassigned or go MIA. The new examiner will want you to send them the settlement package because the examiner will claim that the file is empty. This can go on for years.

If the case is in litigation, good luck reaching the attorney that’s actually assigned to the case because chances are, that attorney will have no clue what’s going on with the case because all he does is sign off on the pleadings and there is a separate attorney that can negotiate the case. Just like the examiners, the settlement attorneys also randomly rotate; even though they may claim that they are the head attorney for whatever county the case is in. For the most part, unless it’s a problematic case or a soft-tissue case that’s not worth litigating, I generally leave these cases alone and wait until they call me. I refuse to spend months or years on a circle jerk with NYC.

Even if you do manage to settle the case with the city, it takes another 90 days at least to even get the settlement check. That’s if you filled out the 15-page closing documents they have prepared for you, which you also had to wait at least a month to receive. This is what happens when democrats run anything. Nothing works the way it should.

Wrongful Death or if a client dies during the case process:

This is a very complex issue and will not dive into it. But in the event that someone dies due to someone’s negligence or during the course of the case by natural causes or any other means, the Surrogates court must be involved to establish an Estate. The eventual settlement or award for the case would be made out to the Estate and the party or parties, who are assigned as the administrator(s) of the estate.

Other Type of Cases:

Even though Motor vehicle cases are the bread and butter of most personal injury firms, I still don’t want to leave out other cases as well and briefly go over them as well. These cases are General Negligence, Slip & Falls, Trip & Falls, Municipal, and so forth. For the most part, the procedures for other types of negligent cases are similar aside from Municipal Street Trip and Fall cases, where you need a prior written notice to establish liability and on-the-scene first responder report or video evidence. You would basically establish a claim with the insurance company and begin the negotiation process similar to what I outlined in this chapter. Since these types of claims have many more factors involved and can be more complex, it’s best to discuss the details with an attorney on specific of each case.

MVAIC (Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation) cases

MVAIC is a carrier that is run by New York State. I’m not sure if there are equivalent agencies in other states, but in New York we thankfully have MVAIC. MVAIC pays for motor vehicle accidents when the injured victim was either hit by a hit-and-run Vehicle that fled the scene or there are no other valid insurance policies to go after. MVAIC cases are the second worst cases. Unless someone dies, you’re only going to be able to settle the case for no more than $25, 000. If someone does die, the maximum settlement would be $50, 000. What makes MVAIC the worst is that you can’t just sue MVAIC if the settlement goes south. You need the court’s permission to even sue MVAIC. To compound the problem, even if you have a serious injury, the carrier will often not offer the full policy because they know that you or the client will not waste thousands of dollars of expenses to get the full policy. Fortunately for me, I have been doing very well with MVAIC and managed to Tender full policies on most of my serious cases that I have. They’ve been really good and fair with me lately.

Getting an Updated Offer(s):

Periodically, whether it’s the settlement negotiator or the examiner or the defense attorney who initiates a follow-up settlement negotiator after the initial demands are rejected, a new offer may be relayed.

Finalizing Settlement and Settling a Case:

Finalizing settlement is not as easy as it sounds. Just because you finally received a really good offer from the carrier, it’s too early to celebrate. Before settling the case, you should always confirm with the client about all expenses and possible liens before accepting the offer from the carrier. I have had numerous instances where the offer was fair, but the liens were a huge chunk of the client’s settlement, and the client gave me a lot of shit about that situation. There is very little you can do other than to keep litigating the case if the case is in litigation. You can’t accept any offer from a carrier until the client is explained all the expenses and liens, if there are any, and the client gives the OK to settle.

Once the settlement is confirmed with the client and the carrier, the final closing documents are requested with the last top offer. The closing documents are signed, and if the case was in litigation, a Stipulation of Discontinuance is also filed with the courts to formalize the settlement with the courts.

My Mistakes:

I didn’t become a decent settlement negotiator without making any mistakes. Fortunately for me, I figured out how to fix those mistakes on the fly, and I had no real repercussions. Here are some mistakes that I have made and how I fixed them by some miracle.

Mixing up cases and giving the client the wrong offer amount:

In a high-volume firm, this happens regularly. Especially when you have clients with the same first names or similar last names or when you have multiple cases open on whatever system you are using. The worst thing that ever happened to me was when I gave one client an offer over the phone and asked him to come into the office to sign closing documents. I didn’t realize what I was doing. The guy walked into the office, happy as a 5-year-old kid on Christmas. He asked to see me. I asked him for his name, looked up his file, and noticed that he had a shit case, and I was about to drop his case because he barely treated. I had a lot of explaining to do, and I was fortunate enough that we dropped his case shortly after. This sort of thing happened to me a number of times, but I was always fortunate enough to have some clients who were understanding in the mistake. These days, I am much more careful when I’m relaying any offers. I always make sure that I never relay any verbal offer and always ask for any official offer in writing before I relay it.

Not confirming liens:

This rarely happens, but there were instances where a random lien would pop up that was not entered into the system or put in the file. Most commonly, it’s either some kind of child support lien, social services lien, or cash advance lien. The worst situation I have had was when I settled a case that we received from another attorney, and the prior attorney never put anything into the file that it was a Workers' Compensation case. The case was long after the client finished treating, and the PT office said there were no liens. After the case was settled, the Workers' Compensation Board calls up asking for their money. The lien was minimal, Thank God, and I managed to negotiate with them to reduce it. You cannot settle a personal injury case without the Workers' Compensation Board’s approval. I have made other trivial mistakes, but for the most part, I have managed to resolve them either through quick thinking, research, or assistance from other team members. Teamwork is crucial.

● Most early covid testing results were false positives. Example: If you had a viral pneumonia, the doctors would most likely label you as a covid patient.

Doctors salivated over the idea of covid patients because they got paid more money by the federal government over the covid treatment, such as intubations and ventilators. This is not a theory, it’s a well-documented fact by the CDC and the Surgeon General's Office. You can look this information up. Google is your friend.

Don’t get me wrong. COVID is very real and like any viral infection, it can be very deadly. However, I strongly believe that the cases and death statistics were highly inflated.

The point I am trying to get to with this information is that doctors, just like lawyers and many of my clients, are also greedy. There is a hierarchical bureaucratic system of greed, which doctors are a part of. Some head honcho creates new ways for doctors to make more money and patients buy into it. But don’t get me wrong, not all medical malpractice is intentional. Some are accidents, such as operating on the wrong organ or accidentally leaving a medical device inside a patient; these actually happen to be the best and easiest cases to litigate, by the way.

Do you have a case?

Proving negligence can be difficult and I will get to that later. But there are a few things to consider before an attorney decides to take on your case:

● Keeping in mind that doctors must have an F grade in order to have a workable medical malpractice case, they are allowed to have D’s. Especially ER doctors.

● Did the doctor operate on the wrong organ or body part?

● Was there anything left inside your body that shouldn’t be there after the surgery?

● Was the condition exacerbated or prolonged due to the doctor's actions? This is the hardest point to prove.

There are about 100 other factors to take into account as well, such as legal precedence, but these are the most common. Simply put, the case would also have to be worth it for the lawyer. Unless it’s a case that is worth at least $250, 000, it’s not worth pursuing because the lawyer will be spending in excess of $75, 000+ for medical experts and litigation costs alone. Not even counting the year’s worth of litigation that it usually takes to litigate medical malpractice cases.

Establishing a Claim:

Establishing a claim against a doctor or a hospital is not as easy as it sounds. Most doctors ignore it and the insurance companies that insure the doctors will not do anything unless the case is in litigation. For the most part, unless you file a lawsuit, nothing will get done.

Proving Negligence:

Proving negligence is the hardest part. For the most part, it’s usually the Doctor vs. Doctor argument and the following factors come into play to prove that you even have a valid claim. Otherwise, you could be litigating a case for five years only to eventually get the case dismissed. This is done during the discovery phase, such as depositions and medical record reviews done by expert doctors. Plaintiff attorneys usually hire expert witness doctors who are experts in that specific field and they would write an extensive report based on the medical records as well as depositions. The expert witness doctors are usually Ivy-League physicians as well as researchers. Most hold MDs as well as Ph. Ds. The expert witness doctor would also testify at the trial. Of course, the defense would have his or her own expert witness doctor. Self-explanatory cases such as operating on the wrong organ or leaving medical devices in patients, usually settle at earlier stages, because there is really nothing to argue about. It will just turn into a damages-only discussion; as in, how much is the case really worth?

Valuing your claim:

Negligence is technically not really determined until the jury says so. However, in the negotiation process, the value of the claim is usually determined by legal precedence and prior verdict results. For settlement purposes, the value of the case is usually at 50%-75% of the value of the possible verdict.

Negotiating the Actual Claim:

Most settlements are done over the phone. However, with a complex case such as a medical malpractice case, it is always best to settle during mediation. In many cases, it may take up to two to three mediations to finally settle a medical malpractice case. During the settlement conference, the following discovery is discussed:

1. Damages, such as past and future pain and suffering

2. Past and future medical bills and expenses

3. The actual alleged negligence (what caused the injury)

4. Expert witness reports, which described the theory of negligence, pathology, as well as risk for procedures and so fourth.

Once a reasonable settlement offer is made, the client would sign the release and get paid like any other claim. But that would bring a whole new set of problems. Many clients get into a temper tantrum or anxiety would kick in and even though it generally takes at least a month for the check to be received and processed, assuming there are no liens, otherwise it could take months, clients would start calling every single day asking about their damn check.

If I was more productive, that would mean I would complete more tasks and, in turn, settle more cases. The downside of it all is that I would be:

a.) Undervaluing each case just for the sake of getting rid of cases faster

b.) Would be forced to convince clients to accept the offer and essentially lie to them that it’s a good offer.

c.) The workload would be insane. I don’t like stressing myself out.

Becoming more efficient has more benefits. Each case would be more thoroughly worked on and given much more care. Even the worst cases would have a better outcome. Alternatively, if I was just trying to push out cases because I was trying to be more productive, I would be forced to drop cases, which would give little hope to produce any reasonable revenue for the client and the firm. When it comes to cases, whether they are weak or not, I generally don’t compromise. In fact, I find myself working on the worst cases the hardest because they are the hardest to settle usually because either the boss or the client is refusing to take the offer.

My Schedule Breakdown

Monday through Wednesday – Are always the busiest days of the week. These are the days when I get home and just sit on my couch and just stare at my wall for 30 minutes just to clear my head.

From 9: 00 to 9: 30/9: 45 am:

I generally like to make my daily quadruple shot espresso until I feel like I’m ready to climb on the ceiling, slowly drink it, and stare at my computer screen to emotionally, spiritually, and physically prepare for the work ahead.

From 9: 30/9: 45 am to 11 am:

I would call the examiners and leave them voicemails to give me a call back for possible settlement or to resolve various issues. For the most part, most of them do not pick up, but once in a while, some do pick up on the first try, and we would try to resolve the case right then and there. For the most part, I try to avoid clients at all costs during this time so that I could focus on settlements and making my daily calls. I generally ask the receptionist to tell the client to call me back after 4: 30 pm when it’s less busy for me.

From 11 am to 12 pm:

I take that hour to take a breather and try to line up some tasks that I would need to do for that day.

From 12 pm to 1 pm:

I leave this block open to take any random incoming calls I get. Some are actually important. I may even take clients’ calls.

From 1 pm to 2 pm:

Lunch! Even though it’s my lunch hour, I may still take some incoming calls, especially if it’s a settlement call or a pissed-off client.

From 2 pm to 5 pm:

This is the time when most examiners start calling me back for possible settlement or going over some issues about any particular case.

From 5 pm to 6 pm:

This time is specifically reserved for cleanup. Confirm I input all my notes, received documents are scanned in, and so forth.

Thursday and Friday:

Thursdays and Fridays are my open days. These are the days I generally reserve to complete any missed or fell through the crack tasks and take any calls from the clients, providers, and examiners. Most examiners don’t usually settle on Thursdays and Fridays either because they also reserve these days for similar tasks, but they do come in sporadically. Especially if the examiner didn’t call when they promised to call. In fact, most settlement calls come in on Wednesday.

If I have a really tough case, which even legal precedence can’t help me crack, I sometimes stare at a wall for a good hour to figure out a solution. I generally do this at least two or three times a week. Sometimes longer if need be if I have a complex case.

For the first few weeks, it was dead. There was almost nothing to do. For the first few weeks, all I did was complete a few tasks, update medical records, and follow up with some clients about their treatment. Most people were panicking. Carriers were shutting down, and for the most part, trying to figure out how to work remotely or transitioning to work remotely. Most insurance carriers have hundreds if not thousands of employees. For any large corporation, regardless of the type of business that you are running, it is a technical nightmare that can potentially cripple any business. One small mistake or delay can cost a small business tens of thousands of dollars a month. Most insurance carriers lost millions! You really didn’t know what was going to happen, how long this would last, and what would be the end result. The bosses would also call endlessly, asking me if there were any settlements, even though most examiners were not picking up the phone or were just beginning to work from home.

Waking up and going to sleep was beginning to turn into a nightmare as well. It was getting pretty cold, everything was closing early, and there was nothing to do. That means I would wake up, wash up, and get to work—all without even being able to step out because there was nowhere to really go. After work, there was nowhere to really go either. Everyone was panicking, staying home, and social-distancing. It was just me and my cats! I was going nuts! I couldn’t even visit my parents because they were scared that I would give them COVID from outside. I had to think of something before I was going to go into a deeper state of despair. So I began working out in the morning. I wasn’t doing anything crazy. For the most part, I would wake up early and take a long, fast-paced walk for at least an hour. That workout helped me tremendously. Aside from my morning fast-paced walking routine, there was no other physical activity to do. Nowhere to go. It was too cold, and everything was shut down in NYC. Even the dating scene was odd. Women only wanted to chat online or on video. No one actually wanted to meet. Things started to get boring really quickly.

At some point, boredom and depression hit hard. I didn’t know what to do with myself. Since everyone was socially distancing, I was up to no good. Created various hacks to troll scammers, which I proudly document on my YouTube Channel, and even created my own wine, which I promised myself not to drink until we are out of this damn lock-down, which I did. My cat approved.

As far as work was concerned, more and more carriers began to start picking up the phones, and more settlements were starting to come in. Most examiners were bored as well and really didn’t care much about anything at that point. Most examiners that were working from home had their own versions of living in hell as well. They lived with their significant others and kids. It was a chronic affair when you hear their significant others or the kids screaming in the background as you’re trying to negotiate a case. In fact, some examiners would be talking to me about a case and then abruptly put me on hold because their significant others and/or kids were endlessly raging in the background about something. The monotony was real. On top of that, there was that ever-present pressure from my bosses to perform as if nothing had changed. But a lot did change. Most examiners were impossible to reach. Things were done at an excruciatingly slow pace.

By April 1st, 2020, things really began to take a turn for the worst. Happy April Fools in NYC, I guess. In New York State alone, we were experiencing a staggering amount of death almost every day. Insurance companies lost some good examiners, and some New York City attorneys died due to COVID-19. Mostly due to doctors’ terrible failure in judgment. Doctors were instructed to intubate everyone who had COVID-19, who had difficulty in breathing or had low Oxygen Saturation Levels, knowing very well that intubating has significant risks. Not to mention, no one really knew how or if intubated patients would even recover.

If you look at the COVID-19 statistics, specifically between March 20th and June 23rd, you will notice that more people died due to COVID-19 even though there were fewer covid cases compared to the peak of COVID-19 cases on January 13th, 2021, when, at the height, only 200 people died from COVID-19. Did doctors finally figure out how to manage COVID-19? Numbers don’t lie. These statistics were done by CDC. Furthermore, Dr. Ezike, the Illinois Director of the Department of Public Health, admitted that regardless of the nature of death, doctors were instructed to label each dead as COVID related death if, at the time of death, the patient was COVID-19 Positive. Whether the patient had cancer or some other terminal disease or died due to an injury, the cause of death was labeled as COVID-19. If you ask me, I think something fishy is going on, and I’m not a conspiracy theorist.

Throughout the entire time working from home, we, as in the legal workforce such as lawyers, courts, insurance companies, created a new norm. Conferences were held via remote phone or video conferencing, more and more legal proceedings were filed electronically, and even depositions are now held via video conferencing. I have seen cases where attorneys on holiday in Mexico were presiding over a Compliance Conference. Remote working has become a standard as if it was going on for years. Even after eventually returning to the office, it was a slow process to fully adjust to getting back to work. Most staff was still a bit complacent and mentally recovering from essentially being on house arrest. Many staff members were still grieving for their lost loved ones as well as recovering from overwhelming anxiety, which is still persistent to this day.

Now I digress… Moving forward, I will give you a few crazy stories about some crazy clients that made me question even my own sanity. Some are funny, some are sad, and some are just bizarre. In most of these situations, there was no right way of handling these types of clients. So enjoy!

Story #1 – State of Apoplexy

A client was involved in a motor vehicle accident. There was rarely any property damage, the client was barely treated past 90 days, and most importantly, the MRIs showed no injury other than one disc bulge with no nerve impingement. The client was in his 40’s. Throughout the treatment process, the client kept crying and complaining that his pain was unbearable and was looking into surgical solutions. Fortunately for him, there were no notable injuries to his back, and the doctors recommended against any surgical procedures. Naturally, the carrier sent out a threshold denial, and there was essentially no case.

One day, literally the next day after we received the denial, the client visited our office without an appointment. We were actually in the process of sending him a drop letter. So, guess who had to tell him the bad news? Me! Telling clients “bad” news is never easy. Keep in mind, for the most part, it’s a business to them. Regardless of how serious their case is, once you start discussing money, the conversation automatically turns into a business matter. After all, business is business. What makes these “business transactions” even more complicated is the fact that most of them are driven by emotion. Mostly due to stress because most clients have no clue how the personal injury process works or knowledge of the law or legal system.

As the client came into the office, I was being very polite, and knowing firsthand how most clients react to bad news such as case denial or minimal offers for whatever reason, I began my typical small talk routine. I usually try my best to briefly calm them down and make them feel relaxed. It doesn’t work on half of the clients because they all want to know the status of their case without wasting time or any kind of bullshit, but I at least try. I had no intention of hiding around the bush with this guy, so I quickly moved on to the point. I said:

“Look… I’m not sure whether it’s good news or bad news for you, but the carrier denied your claim. As per the New York State Serious Injury Laws, you do not qualify for any type of compensation. For one, you barely treated, and most importantly, you virtually have no injuries and that’s the good news.”

The look he gave me was the look I had seen countless times. Same look I received after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Iraq. As someone told him that a significant tragedy occurred. I could immediately see the sadness in his eyes and a tear coming down his eyes. After two minutes of extreme unfathomable sadness, he quickly regained his composure, and as if he was about to break out and cry, he asked me:

“What do you mean? The other driver has $300, 000 policy limits, and I was already starting to look for a house for me and my family! I was counting on this money! You’re doing something wrong! ”

At that point, my mouth almost dropped. He was at a point of apoplexy and pretty much began to cry as he was running out of the office. Mind you, when I sign clients up, I clearly explain the process, the law, and the requirements or legal standard for someone to be eligible for any type of compensation.

Story #2 – Anxiety off the charts

I have touched upon mental health issues and disorders a bit, but this time, I will give a prime example of how certain mental health issues can impact day-to-day life. Anxiety is the most common mental health disorder in America, affecting at least 40 million adults over the age of 18. At least according to ADAA (Anxiety and Depression Association of America).

I had this one client that had the worst case of anxiety I have ever seen. He had a prescription for medical marijuana, but that was not enough for him. He had to purchase more on the side and smoke it all day in order to stay somewhat calm. He had a legitimate case with legitimate, serious injuries, but dealing with him was almost impossible. He would literally call at least once a day and always start each conversation with a screaming panic and would not even let me respond. To compound on the issue, he would blame me and say that I was the one that was aggressive towards him even though he would not even let me respond. I eventually settled his case, and that was when his anxiety went into an over-drive. After signing the closing documents, he would literally call me two to three times a day asking me about the settlement check until he finally picked it up.

Study #3 – You have cancer or tumor

99.99% of attorneys will never mention this, but we get a lot of MRIs, which have positive results for some kind of cancer or a tumor. Most clients were not even aware and usually went in a state of shock. One often thinks about the possibility of randomly receiving such terrible and shocking news. What if it was me? What will I do now? Most people take the news as expected. However, I had one client that was completely detached from reality.

The client was involved in a motor vehicle accident, and he had no actual injuries. However, his MRIs showed that he had cancerous bone tumors that were very aggressive and were rapidly growing. I am not an oncologist, but from what I know about cancer, that looked terminal. Based on the MRI results, the cancer metastasized to nearby organs. The first thing I did was tell the client to take these MRIs and see his PCP (Primary Care Physician) as soon as possible. He came back to me screaming that he wanted a lot of money for his case because the car accident caused the bone cancer. I tried to explain to him that car accidents could not cause cancer, but he was completely enraged. I completely understand that he has God knows how long to live and very empathetic over his situation. Unfortunately, that is not how this stuff works. Eventually, I calmed him down, provided emotional support the best I could, and tried to get as much money as possible. I argued exacerbation and aggravation of pre-existing condition and managed to get him some decent money on his case. Year after settling his case, the patient passed away.

Study #4 – Here, take my daughter

I’ve met some crazy parents in my life, but I will never forget that time when my clients, who are a mother and father to a 22-year-old female. All three of them were involved in a motor vehicle accident. I have had the “pleasure” of signing them up, and it was the oddest experience. It seemed to me that they were not too fond of the daughter and were extremely controlling. I do not care how many people were inside the same car, I see each individual as a separate case. Everyone is different, and everyone would have different type(s) of injuries, so I would naturally discuss the details regarding their case and treatment at individual levels. But these stupid parents would not let the poor girl talk. Ever! They would either answer for her or snap at her to answer me what they wanted her to say. One day, after they finished treating and I had submitted their medical records to the carrier for a possible settlement, both the mother and the father came into my office without an appointment with their daughter and almost immediately told me that they like me and that I can “court” her daughter if I get them a really good settlement. I felt disgusted that people like that actually exist. They made me really uncomfortable since day one. I eventually settled their case and got a decent amount. Close to the $50, 000 policy limits since there were three of them.

Study #5 – I know more than you do

This is not directed towards a specific client or a case, but there are many people who are either stupid or feel so insecure about their intelligence or level of education that they deliberately try to pick a fight with a licensed professional. Whether it is a doctor, nurse, lawyer, and so forth. I’m not a lawyer, but I have been in various legal practices for over ten years. My take on legal practice is this. People come to lawyers when they need someone smarter than them to help make decisions for them as well as adjudicate a case. That means complete and hopefully win a case. But you have these “geniuses” that think they are smarter than lawyers or doctors because they either Googled something or because their cousin had a similar situation (no such thing since each case is different). So they pick a fight, get loud and aggressive because they don’t believe what the lawyer is telling them. Always coming back with rebuttals such as “but you’re my lawyer, you have to fight for me! ”

Study #6 – Tell us your name, damnit!

This happens on a regular basis. When a client calls up to discuss their case and never say their name when asked. Or only say their first name. Then go into rage mode, screaming, “But you’re my lawyer! You have to know your clients! ”

Study #7 – Do not bring your family into this!

Having a family to back you up is one thing. But when the client calls for case status and once you explain exactly where the case is, they don’t need to ask your entire family of 15 to call the office to ask about their case status! It is a frequent occurrence when I have a client that calls at least once a week and when I am done discussing the case with that client, all of the family members start taking turns calling me to confirm what was discussed. God forbid you misspeak on one issue, the entire family will cross-reference what you have told them, and they will all start calling in unison and complain that you don’t know what you are talking about.

Case Study #8 – When clients don’t listen and do their own thing

If you hired an attorney to represent you, why the hell don’t you listen and do your own thing? ?? Example: I recently had a client that had their first IME (Independent Medical Examination) Appointment scheduled. All firms try to delay these dreaded IME appointments at all costs and as far back as possible so that the clients can continue treating because after they make their IME appointments, NF will find every excuse to deny most No-Fault claims. That means the No-Fault Carrier will not pay for any future medical bills, and the client will not be able to treat. I clearly told the client not to go to this appointment and that we would reschedule that appointment to a future date. What did the client decide to do? He felt guilty and showed up anyway. The NF Claim was denied the following week, and he was only able to treat for approximately 40 days. The bodily injury Policy Limits were only $25, 000, so there was no point in making the client treat under a Lien, and he had no Private Insurance. We had no choice but to drop the case because the client didn’t breach the injury threshold.

Case Study #9 – When clients go on social media doing crazy shit

Insurance companies will go through your social media! I had one case where the client was involved in a motor vehicle accident and had some decent soft tissue damage. The client’s IMEs even came back positive. However, someone in the carrier decided to go through the client’s social media and found a lot of disturbing evidence. The client was a stripper on weekends and doing crazy maneuvers on the stripper pole. She was also an avid biker and martial artist. Naturally, the case got denied on threshold. We had no choice but to file, and eventually, by some miracle, when the defendants filed a threshold motion, they lost the motion due to positive IME Results.

Case Study #10 – When clients commit insurance fraud

I personally don’t see much insurance fraud. Do clients try to milk the system and get as much money as possible even though they’re not seriously injured? Yes! But blatant insurance fraud is a rare occasion, believe it or not, and thankfully, all of the firms that I have ever worked with do not tolerate it. We drop the cases immediately.

The most notable insurance fraud case I have ever had was when five individuals came into my office claiming that they were involved in a motor vehicle accident. They even brought in a police report, which notes that they were a passenger in a livery vehicle. The livery vehicle happened to be an Uber car, and the car was a Nissan Sentra. Aside from the five passengers, there were three other passengers and a driver. I had a hyperactive imagination, and the first thing I thought to myself was, were they riding in a clown car? Nissan Sentra is a small car and can barely fit four people altogether. Apparently, what really did happen was while the driver and his real passengers were distracted by the EMS and the Police, the five idiots were talking to other cops, claiming that they were also in the car.

The passengers didn’t know the driver, where they were going, and where they were coming from because they were too stupid to come up with some kind of story, and the driver later claimed that he only had three passengers. We naturally dropped their case, and the insurance company filed a criminal complaint.

Case Study #11 – When paranoia is controlling your life

When I first started out as an actual settlement negotiator, one of my first clients was suffering from a severe case of paranoia and delusion. She was always scared that someone was watching her, and if someone did look in her direction, she would automatically assume that they were either stalking her or judging her. She was also seeing things. She would always say that she saw something moving when nothing was really there. As with most people who suffer from some kind of low or mild psychological disorder, they are either unaware, in denial, or too embarrassed to discuss the issue. For the most part, they are usually unaware. But in her defense, we live in a crazy world. You could be standing on the train, and some deranged lunatic can just throw you off into the tracks, so I kinda see paranoia as a very effective defense mechanism.

This lady was involved in a mild motor vehicle accident. Something was triggered in her case where the insurance company felt it was a good idea to put the case into SIU (Special Investigative Unit). At some point, an investigator started following her and taking pictures, and boy, did that activate her paranoia to infinite levels. She immediately began frantically calling our office. The panic was overwhelming to the point where she thought that someone was trying to kill her. In fact, she at some point thought that the insurance company was watching her while she was sleeping, and she thought she heard them creeping in her hallways. I’m not sure what kind of conversations she had with the attorney, but from what I remember, he dropped her case because he didn’t want to deal with her craziness.

Case Study #12 – Don’t tase me, bro!

EMG (Electromyography) is a test that measured muscle response or electrical activity in response to a nerve’s stimulation of the muscle. During the test, one or more small needles (also called electrodes) are inserted through the skin into the muscle. An electric shock is passed through the needle to perform the test (hopkinsmedicine.org).

I had a situation once when the physical therapist's office frantically called me because the client became extremely belligerent and almost physical. Almost striking the EMG Technician in the face and screaming, “Don’t tase me, bro! Don’t tase me! I didn’t do nothing, bro! ” After spending 30 minutes on the phone with the client, I finally calmed him down and explained what the test was like and what it was for. I guess some repressed memories resurfaced.

Case Study #13 – At-Fault Raging Client

Dealing with a difficult client is a regular occurrence for me. However, dealing with a client that is completely detached from reality with an overwhelming amount of rage makes my job as a PI Settlement Negotiator “interesting.”

In this case, our client was the driver of Vehicle 1. She accidentally kept her foot on the gas, which caused her vehicle to strike a parked car. She is clearly at fault for the accident.

This is where it got interesting. She called me with the biggest attitude and almost screaming at me that she should be compensated for her injuries, and at the same time, she asked for a $3, 000.00 cash advance. This was my speech to her:

“Deborah… Here is the deal. You are at fault for the accident. Insurance companies do not pay just because that you got into an accident. We have to prove that the other vehicle is at fault before we even get into the injuries portion of the case. We’re not even sure if we can represent you.”

The client flipped out on me… “But you’re my lawyers! You must fight for me! I was injured! This is why it’s called No-Fault! You clearly don’t know what you’re doing! ”

Calmly, I responded… “When you have a motor vehicle accident case, we open multiple claims. Mainly a No-Fault claim and a Bodily Injury Claim. No-Fault pays for the medical portion, and by law, your carrier is required to pay for medical bills regardless of whether you are at fault or not. This is why they call it No-Fault. The bodily injury portion of the claim is only paid out if the other driver is at fault. In your case, you are 100% at fault. You accidentally kept your foot on the gas. As far as the cash advance, law firms don’t fund clients. You can go on Google and look for a Cash Advance company online and see if they could approve you for a loan. But I highly doubt it.”

Client came back screaming at me... “That doesn’t mean anything! I’m the client! Not him! Why are you defending him? ?? ”

At that point, I just hung up on her… I have no patience in dealing with stupid raging lunatics.

Eventually, I sent her a drop letter.

Case Study #17 – I can’t deal with hypochondriacs

Hypochondriacs are the worst. They constantly feel that they’re going to die or want to see the doctor for the slightest medical issue. As soon as they get a pimple on their ass, they run straight to the ER. What makes them even worse is that they’re constantly looking for attention or more specific, they’re constantly looking for an audience. They want you to see them “suffer.” And if their objective findings come back negative, they get even more upset because they have nothing to cry about.

Case Study #16 - Romeo and James - A sad story of love lost and attempted suicide

Love hurts. I know this first hand. But just because someone you love dies, it doesn’t mean you should kill yourself. In this case, I had a client who was gay, and his husband died. On the second anniversary of his death, he decided to kill himself as well. He decided to kill himself the most elaborate way I have ever seen. I shit you not. I have seen and heard of people shooting themselves, poisoning, jumping off from rooftops, hanging themselves. But never have I ever seen an attempted suicide by a freaking chemistry set.

As mentioned multiple times in this book, in my line of work, I have to play the doctor, psychiatrist, and lawyer all at the same time. This case has truly tested my levels of intelligence and sanity. I honestly did try to be empathetic to his pain and console him when it was necessary. I understand that we all need someone to talk to, and I was that guy.

So this is what happened. The client thought it was a brilliant idea to mix sulfuric acid with some other chemical to create some kind of carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide gas so he could breathe it in and die. The experiment went terribly wrong. The chemicals somehow blew up and created some kind of chemical burns. I don’t know how or why we took this case on, but the way the client spun this was that his chemical burn injury got infected due to either unnecessary skin grafting procedure or poor un-sanitary care at the mental health hospital. The result of the procedure was terrible. Instead of sutures or other options, which doctors could have used to apply the grafted skin onto his arm, the doctor decided it was a good idea to staple it, which subsequently created a serious infection.

So naturally, we sued the hospital, and regardless of whether the injury was self-inflicting or not, the doctors had a duty to provide the best possible care, and I fought balls to the wall to settle his case. I honestly worked months on end to settle this case. There were multiple defendants, and it took a lot of medical and legal research. Sadly… I don’t remember how much I settled the case for because I try to forget the cases as soon as I settle them. But I do believe it was a fair value under the circumstances.

A typical conversation between me and a belligerent hyper-aggressive stupid client when upset about their soft tissue settlement offer, which barely pierces threshold.

This script is all too common. When clients complain about their soft tissue settlement value, it’s almost always the same script. As if it’s pre-written somewhere and the clients practice the script before they come into the office to speak with me. In this case, we will call our client Sarah, and this conversation is paraphrased based on a client I had a few years ago with a different firm. The prior boss didn’t want to deal with this client and made me talk to her.

Me: Hello Sarah, I have asked you to come into my office to discuss the current top settlement offer, which we have received for your car accident case.

Sarah: Oh! That’s great! Because I was already shopping for a new house.

Me: Ummm… Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. But before I get into what the offer is, I would like to remind you and explain to you how insurance companies evaluate motor vehicle accidents in New York. In order for you to be eligible for any type of compensation for a motor vehicle accident, we have to prove that you have serious injuries as per the New York State Serious Injury Laws, such as fractures, broken bones, surgeries, permanent loss of body organs, and significant limitations that last longer than 90 days, and the injuries, which you are claiming, are the direct result of the accident. Another criterion is Liability or Who is at fault. Since the liability is not a factor in your case because the other driver accepted 100% liability, I will not get into that portion. The major issues which we are facing are the injuries, which you are claiming. Or lack thereof.

Sarah: Wait… I’m confused by what you have just told me. So the other guy hit me, and he has $300, 000 Bodily Injury Policy Limits. Is that what I’m going to get?

Me: No, Sarah. Just because someone has a certain amount of policy limits doesn’t mean you’re automatically entitled to it.

Sarah: What do you mean? But I was injured in a car accident, and the other guy is at fault.

Me: No, Sarah. Just because the other driver is at fault, as per the New York State serious injury laws, we still have to prove that the injuries you are claiming are significant enough to pierce threshold and are a direct result of the car accident.

Sarah: This doesn’t make sense! But I have serious injuries and treated with a doctor for four months and did physical therapy. I even did MRIs.

Me: Insurance companies don’t pay just because you treated. I have already explained to you what the law states, and insurance companies don’t pay just because you treated. Insurance companies evaluate cases based on objective testing such as MRIs, EMG, and Range of Motion testing as well as procedures if you had any. And this is where the problem is. Your MRIs only show minimal soft tissue injuries. You only have two disc bulges on your lumbar spine, and as per the New York State serious injury law, that is not considered a serious injury.

Sarah: This is bullshit! But the other guy is at fault, and I already quit my job and started looking at homes to buy because I thought I was going to get $300, 000.

Me: Now I’m confused… What made you believe that you were automatically going to be entitled to $300, 000?

Sarah: What do you mean how? ! I was in a car accident, and this is what I want!

Me: We all want a lot of things in life. But unfortunately, that is not the reality. After vigorous negotiations, I have managed to squeeze off $7, 500 top offer from the insurance company.

Sarah: $7, 500? Are you fucking kidding me? ! This is some fucking bullshit! This is not why I hired your firm! I want my $300, 000! Now! ! You are just not fighting hard enough for me!

Me: Sarah… I’m going to explain this to you again for the last time. Your injuries do not count as serious injuries. That’s not me saying this. That’s the law saying this. The law is very specific on what kind of injuries you should have in order to be qualified for any type of compensation. You are lucky to even get that because they initially wanted to deny the claim completely.

Sarah: So what am I supposed to do what little money? ? I quit my job, and now I can’t even buy a house because you’re running a shitty law firm.

Me: Sarah… At this point, you have three options 1.) Accept the money that they are offering while it’s still on the table 2.) Find another lawyer who might be stupid enough litigating this matter and pray that the case doesn’t get dismissed 3.) Wait until the Statute of Limitation run out, and you will get zero because we’re not filing a lawsuit on this case.

Sarah: What do you mean file a lawsuit? Isn’t it why I hired a lawyer in the first place? To sue and get me my $300, 000?

Me: Sarah… No one ever promised you that you would even get $300, 000. I already explained to you multiple times that you are not entitled to that kind of money. As far as the lawsuit, I honestly don’t want to litigate a two-bulge case for two to three years just to even possibly get a few more thousands of dollars. That’s even if it doesn’t get dismissed in the first place. That’s thousands of dollars in expenses, man hours, and numerous appearances in court that would last all day. It’s just not worth it.

Sarah: Wow! I think you just don’t care about my case and are just being lazy and full of shit!

Me: Ok… You really need to stop cursing. I’m being polite to you, and I have thoroughly explained the process and your situation to you. I would appreciate the same kind of courtesy.

Sarah: I don’t give a fuck what you think or say. I want my $300, 000! I am your client, and you have to do what I tell you!

Me: I have spent many years and have extensive experience in settling cases. The firm’s attorneys have a decades of combined experience in litigating and trying cases. Not to mention, you are our client on contingency basis, which means you don’t pay me until I settle or win the case in court. That means we don’t get paid until you get paid. My job is to look out for the best interest of the client and collect as much money as possible. The more you make, the more the firm makes. If there was any other possible way for us to get you more money, we would. At this point, you have to make a decision. Either accept whatever money they’re offering now while it’s still on the table, or maybe you will find some idiot attorney who would be willing to litigate this case for three to five years and by some miracle not get the case dismissed due to lack of serious injuries. Are you even still in pain?

Sarah: No! I’m not in pain! What kind of stupid question is that? If you want, I can go see another doctor and tell him that something else hurts.

Me: Sarah… This is considered a fraudulent case, and I will not be a part of that.

Sarah: I think this is just a shitty law firm and your commercials lie. You guys say that you have won millions of dollars for your clients.

Me: Yeah… But we’re talking about serious injuries such as broken bones and serious surgeries. You don’t have any of those injuries. You’re 36 years old, and your back is healthier than most 20-year-olds.

Sarah: I’m through with you! I’m going to find a different lawyer.

Me: That’s fine! Good luck with that.

Funny note: Half the clients who leave because they have unrealistic expectations and are detached from objective reality come back to me after trying with multiple other attorneys. The other half of the clients don’t come back because most feel too stupid to come back.

Pro Tip: When I receive a written offer, and if the client leaves, I always put the file on a lien with the carrier, and the carrier has to honor the last offer, which was relayed to us. So we still get out attorney fees based on the last offer if the case settled with another attorney.

Example: Let’s assume I got a $7, 500 offer and the new attorney on record received an $8, 000 offer, that new attorney will only be entitled to attorney fees based on the difference he received.

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.

A combination of these two ideas will free up the courts drastically.

Personal injury laws and, more specifically, the laws that govern car accident cases are flawed. Only in New York can you get into a car accident with virtually no injuries and damages to your vehicle, treat for a pre-existing condition, tie it to the car accident, and get paid for it. In Michigan, it’s even worse. From what I hear, all you need is proof of billing for physical therapy. It’s a complete sham of a system that begins with the Article 51 of the New York State Serious Injury Law:

Article 51 of the Insurance Law provides that a plaintiff in a personal injury action arising out of negligence in the use or operation of a motor vehicle must establish that he/she has incurred a basic economic loss exceeding $50, 000 or must establish that he/she has suffered “serious injury.” Insurance Law § 5104(a), (b). Serious injury is defined as personal injury which results in one of the following:

•Death

•Dismemberment

•Significant disfigurement

•Fracture / Broken Bone

•Loss of Fetus

•Permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function, or system

•Permanent consequential limitation of a body organ or member

•Significant limitation of use of a body function or system

•Medically determined injury or impairment of a non-permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person’s usual and customary daily activities for not less than 90 days during the 180 days immediately following the occurrence of thein jury or impairment.

The main issue with this law itself is the entire portion of Medical Determined injury or impairment that lasts longer than 90 days during the 180 days immediately following the occurrence of the alleged injury or impairment. This portion of the law is extremely vague and can be interpreted to benefit either the injured party or the defense. One can argue that the alleged injured party is seriously injured, while the defense can argue that the injuries are not serious and whether the injuries are also causally related. The way that the plaintiff attorneys try to prove that the injuries are, in fact, serious is by sending clients to random physical therapy doctors to complete a Range of Motion test after 90 days from the accident, which shows limitation of range of motion. Generally, by law, that can automatically pierce threshold even if the MRIs show no significant injuries. If I had a dollar for every time I had a case where clients had either no injuries or massive degenerations because they were old and the case was initially denied on threshold but then settled after a simple range of motion test that showed significant limitations, I would be a very rich man.

Another factor, which really kills me inside is the bullshit “2000 car vs. Human” argument. More recently, I had a case where there was barely a scratch on the rear bumper, and the client somehow got injections done to her back as well as a discectomy. Eight months later, she’s still seeing a psychologist, which is somehow still being paid by no-fault for PTSD due to her “traumatic” event. This makes me wonder. What kind of an idiot appellate judge created a legal precedence where property damage argument is virtually invalid or why biomechanical experts’ testimony is only an opinion? An idiot with an IQ of 40 can visually determine that these types of accidents are complete bullshit. Of course, my main job is to look out for the client’s best interest and get as much money as possible. I got this lady $75, 000 for something that she already had! Cases such as these make me feel like I’m a piece of shit hustler that essentially schemes insurance companies.

Don’t get me wrong, at least 30% of all the cases I have ever had were legitimate cases—even the soft tissue ones, where there were no surgeries or fractures or broken bones. As mentioned earlier in this book, a disc herniation that’s impinging into the nerve can create a lot of pain and discomfort. I personally had a disc herniation, which was repaired surgically, and I can tell you this: there were days where I didn’t even want to get out of bed. Naturally, I fought extra hard for such cases. In many cases, I took them personally and fought vigorously. Unleashed all my powers of intellect, skills of manipulation, and aggression. Ultimately getting insane results for my clients. From 2013 up until the end of 2021, I have settled over $15, 000, 000 worth of cases. I know this to be true because I keep track of all my settlements and keep a detailed spreadsheet of every case I have ever settled. If anyone ever wonders why I keep a detailed spreadsheet, it’s because one time I was working for a firm where the attorney and the managers were just pieces of shit people. They had thousands of cases, and I settled at least one case a day for the 30 days I worked there. These assholes had the nerve to pull me to the side of the office and grill me like drill sergeants on why I barely settle anything. Ever since then, I keep a detailed list.

This is the problem with the entire personal injury practice—it’s extremely difficult to determine whether the clients are full of shit, or hypochondriacs, or see car accidents as an opportunity to get a nice buck out of it. Whether or not it’s a legitimate claim. Because of that one simple portion of the New York State Serious Injury law, which essentially makes you prove that you have significant limitations that last longer than 90 days, whether the case is legitimate or not, people would look at car accidents as an opportunity to get some money out of it. At the end of the day, I find that for almost all of the clients that I have ever had, money was almost always a motivational factor to start treating and initiating a case. However, due to their subjective complaints that they’re in pain, attorneys are accepting cases as they are.

If it was up to me, I would completely remove that portion of that law and replace it with specific language or standards that essentially dictate what kind of specific injuries a plaintiff can actually claim, and to even go further with the case, I would create specific standards in law on whether the injuries the client is claiming are direct results of the accident.

3.) Insurance companies need to provide incentives for people to buy a freaking Dash Cam: This will save the insurance industry a lot of money and alleviate a lot of headaches when it’s time to figure out what really happened. I personally do not drive anywhere without a Dash Cam.

The Problem with Russian Clients:

For many years back in the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s, many Russian Attorneys and Physical Therapy offices offered a kick-back for clients that came to them for a case. Many still do. Kick-Backs or Referral Fees are illegal. Besides them being illegal, the Law Firms and PT offices that still practice this shady sort of business are not only jeopardizing your case, but they are also jeopardizing their licenses. As the Feds began to shut down these law firms and physical therapy offices, fewer Attorneys and Physical Therapy offices provide any sort of kickback. Furthermore, Insurance companies have a special investigative department called SIU (Special Investigative Unit.) These units are responsible for investigating potential Insurance Fraud. The fact that most of the investigators are former Detectives and Federal Agents, they pretty much know what they are doing and are really good at their jobs.

What does this mean to you? Carriers know, which attorneys and doctors are shady and this is what you can expect:

•Carrier Examiners will lowball the attorneys cases because they know that most shady firms will not put up much of a fight, in fears of being exposed. That includes filing a lawsuit. They will generally try to settle pennies on the dollar just to get rid of the case for as much as possible and as quickly as possible. That means you can expect a much lower settlement.

•Almost all cases with a shady law firm are thoroughly scrutinized. Almost all shady Law Firms are forced to have an Examination under Oath at their location. The whole purpose of the EUO is to validate each bill and treatment to make sure that everything is legit. They also do this because this gives them an opportunity to see how the firm operates in person.

•Most shady firms do not Litigate or “fight” for clients. No-Fault can be denied at any moment after a negative IME or unfavorable EUO. If that happens, that means: 1.) You can’t treat any more. 2.) All treatment has to be done through a Lien, which means it will have to come out of your settlement.

Fixing Shady Law Firms and Physical Therapist Offices:

Insurance companies need to start making clients read and sign some kind of a warning form. They already have this language created:

Any person who knowingly presents a false or fraudulent claim for payment of a loss or benefit or knowingly presents false information in an application for insurance is guilty of a crime and may be subject to fines and confinement in prison.

This language needs to be included in every initial application at the Law Firm and Physical Therapy Offices in multiple languages. Especially English and Russian. In fact, I would make it a law, which would require Law Firms and No-Fault Physical therapy offices to hang this sign in their office like they do with Workers' Compensation and Federal Minimum Wage Posters.