A spinal cord injury can turn your life upside down. You may wonder about how you'll complete even the most mundane everyday tasks, how you'll keep working, and whether you'll ever feel like yourself again. Seeking out a Spinal Cord Injury Attorney takes time, courage, and attention to detail, so being turned away from one attorney can be profoundly demoralizing.
But the law is a subjective endeavor. That's why courts routinely disagree about what the law says, and why even highly skilled lawyers may disagree about whether a case has merit. If your case has been rejected, consider seeking a second opinion, since there is no need to give up based on the word of one person.
Some common reasons personal injury lawyers reject spinal cord injury cases include:
Spinal cord injuries are among the most challenging types of personal injury cases to litigate. They require a lawyer to comb through thousands of documents, and may involve multiple claims, including claims against doctors for medical malpractice, businesses for providing unsafe conditions, or individuals for contributing to your injuries.
Your lawyer must determine who is liable, assess whether that person is able to pay a judgment, review insurance policies, and peruse recent case law. He or she will certainly have to hire expert witnesses, and will need enough medical knowledge to accurately estimate your lifetime medical expenses.
Spinal injury cases are not for inexperienced lawyers. Many personal injury lawyers turn these cases away because they know they have inadequate experience. If this is the case, your attorney should tell you so, though not all do. Your lawyer's inexperience may also convince him or her that your case has no merit, even when it does. Even a lawyer who has litigated a handful of spinal cord injury claims may not have the experience necessary to properly assess your case, so you should always seek a second opinion if the first lawyer you speak to turns you away.
Litigating a spinal cord injury case is very expensive, involving reams of documents, endless depositions, and myriad of expert witnesses. To be worth your attorney's time and attention, your case must be worth quite a bit of money. If you only stand to recover a few thousand dollars, or if the policy limits on the responsible party's insurance will not fully compensate your loss, a lawyer may turn your case away. After all, personal injury cases are contingency cases, which means that a case that produces a low award will also produce limited attorney's fees.
Of course, attorneys can and do underestimate the value of cases, and a skilled spinal cord injury lawyer may be able to find ways to get around insurance issues and other restrictions. If the first lawyer you speak to indicates your case isn't worth much, double-check this opinion with another attorney before giving up.
Just as it makes no sense for a lawyer to take on a case of limited value, it is also a problem for your lawyer to take your case if the costs of litigation exceed the value of the case. If your case involves lots of esoteric medical details, numerous expert witnesses, and lots of travel time, but has only limited value, your attorney might turn your case away. Likewise, even if you have a high value case, a lawyer who does not have have the funds to cover your case might turn you away.
Legal precedent on important issues like jurisdiction and liability, can also determine whether your case ever sees the inside of a court room. Your attorney will have to sort through recent legal decisions to determine what is and is not relevant to your case. And even a case that seems like a clear winner may not be if a recent opinion limits your ability to seek damages. If an attorney tells you that legal issues preclude bringing a claim, seek a second opinion, since even the most skilled lawyers can misread precedent.
The statute of limitations means that you cannot bring a claim years after your injuries and the statute of limitations is different in each case. If you are outside this time frame, your lawyer will have to decline your case. And if you are close to the statute, your lawyer might worry that it will be impossible to file your case in time.
Time constraints matter, so it's important to consult with a lawyer as quickly as possible. Your lawyer likely has many other cases, so it's unfair to expect that he or she will immediately be able to drop everything and file your case. But if time constraints have caused your case to be declined, seek a second opinion, and do so quickly. Time is of the essence with spinal cord injury cases, it would be tragic to be unable to recover damages solely because you missed a filing deadline.
Lawyers are people just like the rest of us. They have families and histories that may make certain cases more difficult for them to litigate than others. Your lawyer might turn your case away if it brings up bad memories, causes undue worry about his or her family, or otherwise triggers the myriad personal idiosyncrasies we all have. By law, an attorney must tell you if they have a conflict of interest in your case and if your case is turned away for personal reasons, since this is a good reason to seek another lawyer, and does not suggest that your case is unwinnable or has no value.
You should seek out a second opinion if you have been turned away by a spinal cord injury attorney for any of the above reasons. Like any professional, attorneys are still human and their opinion is just that -- an opinion. It can be disheartening to hear that an attorney does not want your case but don’t give up just yet.
Do you have questions about the legal factors of your case? We are here to answer your questions anytime.