Author: Jon Montagna

The aftermath of an accident or an injury on the job can be a stressful time. Not only are you likely in pain, but you may be dealing with insurance and getting the compensation you deserve, which can be complicated and time-consuming. 

Hiring a personal injury attorney can take away some of the anxiety and help get you the payout you deserve. If you find a firm like Montagna Law, who works on a contingency basis, there’s literally nothing to lose. 

Here’s why you should hire a personal injury lawyer:

You have knowledge and experience on your side 

After an accident your focus should be on getting better, not figuring out finances and fighting insurance companies.

Since they deal with this on a daily basis, personal injury attorneys know the ways around the legal technicalities that insurance companies use to take advantage of vulnerable clients. 

We know which documents to file, can help you fill out forms correctly, and educate you on certain statutes of limitation. A great personal injury lawyer knows when to pass up an offer and hold out for the compensation you deserve.

Many entities work against underrepresented folks 

There are so many ways someone without an attorney is taken advantage of in court. Insurance companies might offer smaller settlements to encourage early signing or force you into litigation if they claim you weren’t injured. Access to medical care might be less available since unrepresented claimants and care payments aren’t guaranteed. 

Fighting back against product defects or large companies is nearly impossible without an attorney. Having someone with experience on your side is important and necessary in many cases.

No consequences if you lose your case 

When it comes to complicated laws within the Offers of Judgement, the opposite side might be able to get attorney fees and costs from you. At Montagna Law, our attorneys work on a contingency basis, meaning you don’t owe us any payment if we don’t win your case.  

An unbiased, clear-headed partner is important 

With the stress of being in an accident or hurt on the job, having someone who has experience with these fields takes much of the burden off you. Objectivity is crucial in winning a personal injury case, and emotions such as pain, anger, and frustration usually felt after an accident can cloud your judgment. A personal injury lawyer has both the cognitive dissonance and consideration of your best interest to wait for a better offer.

They can help you make an informed decision 

Sometimes a personal injury claim might not even be worth pursuing if the chances of winning the case are slim. No attorney wants to waste your time or money and will be honest about what you should do. In some cases, a settlement can be negotiated instead of going to trial. If the settlement isn’t good enough, personal injury lawyers will fight for you as long as it takes. Either way, they have the knowledge and experience to know what you should do next.

They can negotiate and minimize financial consequences 

There are ways you can determine how much you’re owed, such as using online personal injury calculators. However, each case has so many nuances, such as future medical care, severity of injuries, and more. A personal injury lawyer will comb through every detail to make sure all your bases are covered. 

A team of investigators creates added support 

Your personal injury lawyer is your partner and wants to win just as much as you do. That’s why they usually come with backup in the form of an investigation team to comb through all the evidence and use every tool to your advantage. Anything you can remember from your incident helps, such as any witnesses you might recall, any medical providers who helped your injuries, or how your life has changed since the injury.

When put simply, a personal injury is an injury that does not involve issues with property and is, therefore, involving a person’s body and/or mind. It allows the injured person to go to civil court seeking compensation for losses stemming from an accident that occurred as a result of someone else’s carelessness or intentional misconduct. If you have suffered an injury due to the negligence of someone else, it is important to hire an experienced personal injury lawyer like Montagna Law. 

How Does a Personal Injury Case Work?

Because no two accidents are the exact same, no two personal injury cases will be the same. This makes it difficult to develop a standard across all personal injury cases, which makes it that much more important to consult with a legal professional who can work with the nuances of your case. However, there is a typical timeline that most personal injury cases follow when you look at the bigger picture:

The Defendant Injures the Plaintiff

As you can imagine, there are many different ways that the plaintiff can be injured by the defendant. The only exceptions that still fall under personal injury are contractual breaches, which are handled under a separate body of law called “contract law.”

The Plaintiff Establishes That The Defendant Breached a Legal Duty

The specific measure of legal duty is going to be completely dependent upon the situation in which the plaintiff sustained the injury. For example, manufacturers have a duty to produce a product that is not defective or unreasonably dangerous. Employers have the duty of understanding those products and teaching their employees how to operate it properly to avoid injury. 

Settlement Outside of Court May Occur

If it is clear that the defendant has breached a legal duty, they may choose to settle outside of court. This would mean they, or the insurance company representing him or her, offer monetary compensation to the injured party in exchange for the injured person’s promise to not file a lawsuit. 

The Case Ends

If the plaintiff accepts the settlement, that is the end of the case. If the plaintiff does not accept, the plaintiff may go to court and file a personal injury lawsuit. Settlement negotiations may continue beyond this point and can be reached at any time prior to the civil case being handed to the jury. 

Prior to July 1, 2012 concurrent jurisdiction existed in Virginia. This meant that a Longshoreman or Shipyard worker potentially had the ability to be covered by both the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act (hereafter “Longshore Act”) and the Virginia Workers Compensation Act (hereafter “Virginia Act”). Many people mistakenly believed this meant an injured worker could obtain a “double recovery” by obtaining benefits under both Acts. That belief was wrong. However, what the injured worker could do was choose which statute provided the injured worker with the best benefits so that the worker could obtain the best medical care and support the family. 

The below are some of the benefits an injured worker lost when concurrent jurisdiction was taken away:

PEPCO: Under the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act, the Supreme Court decision Potomac Electric Power Company v. Director, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, 499 U.S. 268 (1980), determined that an individual with a permanent disability to an extremity covered by the rating schedule of benefits, was only entitled to the rating payments and could not receive any lost wage benefits even if they were permanently unable to return to their preinjury jobs. This draconian provision does not exit under the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act. Therefore, prior to 2012, a Shipyard worker who fell into this category could obtain benefits under the State Act instead. Post 2012 the same Shipyard worker is out of a job with no way of feeding his family. 

RATINGS: Both Acts provide for disability ratings to be paid for loss of use of the arms, hands, legs, feet, eyes and ears. However, under the Longshore Act, the injury must actually occur to the above listed body parts. However, under the Virginia Act, if the injury is to a different body part, but effects the above listed body parts, a rating can be paid. 

For instance, the physical labor performed by Longshoremen and Shipyard Workers commonly causes rotator cuff tears. This injury is to the shoulder, but often results in limitation in the use of the arm, especially lifting the arm above shoulder level. Under the Virginia Act, the injured worker can recover for loss of the use of the arm. Under the Longshore Act, the injured workers recovers nothing. 

FUNERAL EXPENSES: The cap for funeral expenses under the Virginia Act is $10,000. Under the Longshore Act, the cap is $3,000. It is impossible for a spouse to say goodbye to their loved one for $3,000.

MEDICAL TREATMENT: The Longshore Act has a draconian medical fee schedule. Effective July 1, 2012 one of the biggest orthopedic practices in Hampton Roads stopped taking patients who come under the Longshore Act since they could no longer seek higher payment under the Virginia Act (Virginia adopted a fee schedule effective January 1, 2019, but the amounts paid to medical providers is still higher than what is paid under the Longshore Act).

Many other medical practices have followed the lead of the orthopedic practice. In fact, it is almost impossible to find a neurologist in the Hampton Roads area who is willing to take a Longshore Workers Compensation patient. 

This leaves workers injured on the waterfront with less options for medical care and potentially accepting inferior medical care. 

Clearly, concurrent jurisdiction never provided an injured worker with a double recovery. Instead it is clear that concurrent jurisdiction provided the injured worker with better options from medical care, the ability for distraught families to bury their loved ones without concern for the cost, and allow injured workers to be compensated to permanent loss of body parts.