1. Summons and Complaint: A summons demands that a person appear in court or respond to a complaint.  A complaint describes the person’s actions that caused the lawsuit and a description of the damages suffered.
2. Discovery: this is the time period in which the plaintiff (the person bringing the case) and the defendant (the person who is being sued) learn about each other’s case.
3. Deposition: this is a question and answer session, under oath and in front of a court reporter, in which attorneys ask witnesses and parties the events that they experienced.
4. ADR: is usually an arbitration hearing or a mediation hearing.  Arbitration is when an independent person hears evidence and makes a decision.  Mediation is when an independent person tries to arrange an agreement between the parties that settles the case.  Most jurisdictions or courts require ADR before trial.
5. Pretrial: is when a judge either tries to resolve a pending case, or when a judge schedules the dates of trial and the identities of witnesses and evidence that will be used at trial.
6. Trial: occurs when a jury of people just like you are gathered to hear evidence and make a decision that will end the legal dispute.

1. Evidence: can be a person’s statements—testimony—or documents such as medical records, employment records, written statements, photographs, etc.  Some people on the jury learn by hearing things, some people on the jury learn by seeing things, some people on the jury learn best by touching things; and most people on the jury learn best by a combination of these learning styles.  In my experience, it is most effective to show juries pictures, diagrams, and documents as well as to have them hear testimony so that the information is presented in as many forms as possible.
2. Testimony: can be the most interesting part of a trial as people will testify differently in court as they testified in their depositions.  Juries have been trained by television, movies, plays, and other forms of entertainment to pay attention to stories and to people telling them stories; thus, when presenting testimony, it is most effective to tell stories to illustrate testimony.
3. Witness credibility: often a trial will be won or lost based upon the credibility or, in other words, the believability of a witness.  The witness who the jury believes and likes will have more power than the witness who the jury does not believe.
4. Jury deliberations: I have tried more than 43 cases to juries all over the US.  In the cases in which my clients have received favorable verdicts, and in the cases in which my clients have not received favorable verdicts, I am sure that the jury did their best in resolving the dispute.  Juries take their duty seriously.  They pay attention to the evidence, and they make their decisions based upon what they think is the fairest and most appropriate outcome.  It is unquestionably the best system devised to resolve disputes.

Some questions to consider before hiring any attorney: Is the local lawyer experienced in negotiating with insurance companies in serious injury or wrongful death cases?  Does the local lawyer have experience in trying serious injury or wrongful death cases to a jury if the insurance company does not make a fair offer?  Does the local lawyer have experience in negotiating with lien holders or entities that have subrogation interests?  Is the local lawyer too busy to work on your case him or herself?  Is the local lawyer too busy on other cases to devote the necessary attention to your case?  Will the local lawyer promptly return your calls and will he or she communicate with you?  These are questions you should consider before hiring any attorney.

The insurance company is going to hire the best wrongful death lawyer that they can to represent their interests.  Will your lawyer be able to “stand up” to the insurance company lawyers?  There are many capable lawyers—why should you hire a lawyer whose office is not close to you?  Let me tell you a true story—I met with a man whose wife was killed in a truck accident.  He was 230 miles away from me.  I met with him in his home and discussed my qualifications to represent his family.  Before hiring me, he wanted to talk with other lawyers and I encouraged him to do that.  Even though I was 230 miles away from him, I met with him in his house; but, when he wanted to meet with the other lawyers; he had to travel to their offices.  He valued the personal attention that I could give him, and he decided to hire me.

I enjoy helping people and working with them in difficult times.  I value the relationships that I form with my clients; therefore, I limit the number of cases that I take so that I can devote adequate time to each case, and to each person.  Many clients think that my approach is the best one for their case and for their family.  Please contact me if you think that I can help you.

UM insurance, or uninsured motorist insurance, protects your family if an uninsured driver injures your family.  With the economic difficulty that people face today, more and more people are driving their motorcycles, cars, and trucks without insurance.  Some statistics that I have seen said that in some states up to 10-20% of the drivers are uninsured.  If these drivers cannot afford insurance, do you think that they can afford to pay your medical bills if they injure you?  Because of the large number of uninsured drivers, it is important that you have as much coverage as you can afford.  Please remember, I regularly sue insurance companies, and I am saying this to help you, and not to increase the insurance company’s profit.

UIM insurance, or underinsured motorist insurance, protects your family if a driver causes more injuries than he or she has insurance to pay.  For example, if a truck driver has $50,000.00 worth of insurance, but causes injuries to your son in the amount of $60,000.00 and your daughter in the amount of $70,000.00, who is going to pay the difference between the amount of your son and daughter’s damages and the available insurance?  If you have UIM insurance, your UIM insurance pays this difference.  Because insurance is expensive, many people do not have adequate levels of insurance and when these people injure others, they do not have adequate insurance to pay for the injuries that they cause.

I know that insurance is expensive for you, just as it is expensive for me.  It is hard to pay for increased UM/UIM insurance, but there are strong reasons for doing it.

1. Generally, UM/UIM insurance is less expensive than other types of insurance;
2. There are more uninsured and underinsured drivers today because of economic circumstances; and
3. It is a catastrophe if you do not have adequate insurance.

I have already discussed the fact that uninsured and underinsured drivers are becoming more frequent in today’s economy so I will not repeat myself.  Many people believe that they have adequate UM/UIM coverage when they do not.  Let me describe that—In Minnesota, for example, if you have UM/UIM coverage in the amount of $50,000.00, and the person who injures you has $50,000.00 in liability coverage, then you have a total amount available to you of $100,000.00–$50,000.00 from the liability insurance company and $50,000.00 from the UM/UIM insurance company.  In North Dakota, Wisconsin, and in other states, they interpret coverage differently.  Those states are called “difference of limits” states.  In those states, if you have UM/UIM coverage in the amount of $50,000.00 and the person who injures you has limits of $50,000.00, you can recover only $50,000.00 because there is no “difference in limits” between $50,000.00 and $50,000.00.  People in these states believe that they are covered when they pay for UM/UIM coverage, but they are only covered if the person who injures them has a smaller insurance policy than they have—otherwise, they will not collect from the policy for which they are paying premiums.

Sadly, in my career I have helped many families whose injuries were not compensated because the driver involved had a small insurance policy.  The unpaid bills cause a catastrophe even after the injury takes place.  I want to stop this from happening if I can; therefore, please contact your insurance agent and ask him or her how much it would cost to increase your UM/UIM coverage.  I hope that you will take my advice and increase your protection for your family.

Just as in all aspects of life, there are good insurance companies and good adjusters and unethical insurance companies and adjusters.  Often, the insurance company involved will contact the family soon after a crash and sometimes the insurance company will make a settlement offer.

Should the family take this settlement offer?

1. Have they disclosed the limits of their insurance policy?  Do they have a $100,000.00 insurance policy but are only offering $15,000.00?
2. Does accepting this offer eliminate the possibility of future claims such as underinsured motorists insurance or UIM?
3. Are they applying pressure for the person to make an immediate or a quick decision?
4. Are they recommending that the person NOT consult with an attorney before making a decision?

If the insurance company is taking any of these actions, be very hesitant before settling the case.  Before EVER settling a case, consult with a serious injury or wrongful death lawyer.  I do not charge anything for consultations, and most lawyers do as well.  An experienced attorney will give you the important considerations when making this important decision.  Since I do not charge for this service, you have nothing to lose.

In an earlier article I talked about whether an injured person should hire a lawyer for his or her case.  There is an additional consideration that the family should make at this time when deciding if they should hire an attorney: are there liens in the case and can we negotiate those liens successfully or do we need professional help?

With the current economy, many people cannot afford health insurance.  If they are seriously injured through someone else’s negligence, their bills remain unpaid or a state or federal program pays the medical bills.  If these bills are unpaid, or if a governmental program pays these bills, then the providers or the government want to be reimbursed for their payments.  Even if the injured person has health insurance, the health insurer wants to be reimbursed for the amount that it has paid because of the negligence of another person.

What happens in cases in which the medical bills or liens are greater than the available insurance?

I have many years of experience in negotiating aggressively with medical providers and insurance companies.  One of the benefits in hiring an experienced serious injury or wrongful death lawyer is that your attorney can negotiate reductions in these bills, and that reduction increases the amount of money that you receive.

Your attorney’s ability to reduce the outstanding medical bills or liens is an important consideration when you decide whether to hire an attorney.

Please send me an email at: jdhaas@jdhaas.com

or call my toll-free number: 1 877 534-2271 if I can help you.

I recently read an article in which the author said “People should not sue because it was an accident.  The person didn’t intentionally kill this person”.

Some people have this opinion, and others believe that wrongful death cases are only about money.  I have settled or tried dozens of wrongful death cases; therefore, I know the reasons that families bring claims against the people responsible for the death of a family member.

First of all, oftentimes the people who kill other people are remorseful, but sometimes they are not remorseful.  If a person is killed in an accident through the actions of another person, should the person responsible be held accountable?  The first reason that families bring wrongful death cases, in my experience, is that they want to make the person responsible accountable for his or her actions.  If no one makes this person accountable for his or her actions, what is this person’s motivation to change?

Secondly, families want to improve safety in their communities or to ensure that the responsible person does not kill another human being.  By holding the person responsible for his or her actions, this person learns the results of his or her actions and understands the enormity of the families’ loss.  This helps the families in their grieving process, but it also helps the negligent person to understand the effects of their negligence.

Lastly, families use a claim to help in the healing process as it illustrates the life of the person killed and shows society the loss brought about by the actions of a careless person.

If your family or someone you know is in this situation, I would be happy to discuss this with you or with them.  Best wishes.

There are very large and successful personal injury law firms in every state and city.  The typical law firm has many experienced lawyers, some lawyers without much experience, and paralegals and secretaries.  These law firms must have a large volume of cases in order to make money.  They will try to settle many cases in order to pay their bills.  If a case does not settle, then they have attorneys and paralegals work on the cases at the earlier stages so that the law firm’s costs are kept low.  They must have many clients at any one time in order to pay the law firm’s bills.

In my law firm, I personally handle all the cases.  I do not send clients to less experienced lawyers or to paralegals.  I have access to experienced and capable paralegals when I need them; however, I do most, if not all, of the work myself.  I limit the number of clients that I have at any one time so that I can devote the necessary time to those clients, and so that I have a strong relationship with my clients.  Rather than have hundreds of cases, I only have a few clients at a time so that I can provide sterling customer service to my clients.

I treat my clients the way that I would want to be treated if someone in my family was seriously injured or killed.

If my approach appeals to you, please call me about a serious injury or Iowa wrongful death case or any wrongful death case.

My office is in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Minnesota area, but I am a licensed trial lawyer in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.  Why should a family hire me as opposed to a lawyer closer to them?

The first question is where will the attorney meet you?  I will come to you—wherever you are.  I do not expect you to come to my office—I come to you.  Most lawyers want you to come to their office.

The second question is how will we communicate as compared to a lawyer whose office is 20 miles away?  I return telephone calls within 30 minutes unless I am in court or helping another client.  When you call, I will discuss your case with you—I do not transfer your case to a different attorney or a law clerk or a paralegal.  I take pride in customer service; thus, I will communicate with you more than an attorney who is closer to you.

The third question is should I hire you or a large, local law firm?  Unfortunately, often in large personal injury law firms, once a client hires the firm, the experienced lawyers do not handle the case until the late stages of a case.  Rather, the law firm has lawyers without experience and paralegals handle the case so that the senior partners can work on bigger cases.  In my office, I handle your case from the beginning to the end.  I take pride in personal service, and I limit the number of cases that I take so that I can know my clients and work as hard as I can on their case.

Lastly, does a local lawyer have the experience to aggressively represent you in your case?  I have been a trial lawyer for more than 23 years, and I have tried 43 cases to juries all over the US.  I have the experience to go “toe to toe” with the experienced lawyers that the insurance companies will hire.

After a serious accident occurs, most cases follow a pattern:

1. For 3-12 months the insurance company gathers information about the medical bills, the work loss, and pertinent facts about the collision.  If the injured person’s medical condition is stable, for example, if the injured person has a broken arm and the arm has healed, during this time period settlement negotiations may occur.  If the injured person’s medical condition is not stable, or in other words, if we do not know if the person will need medical care or treatment in the future, then we cannot settle the case during this time period.
2. After the injured person’s medical condition can be assessed, then negotiations occur.  After 2-6 months of negotiation, typically, the insurance company makes a final offer.  The client either accepts or rejects the final offer.  If the final offer is accepted, then the case ends.
3. If the final offer is not accepted, then the only option is to sue the responsible party.  This is called “litigation”.  During litigation, often settlement negotiations still occur.  More than 95% of personal injury cases in litigation settle before trial.  The beginning phase of litigation is called “discovery”.  During discovery, the defendant learns about our case and we learn about the defendant’s case.
4. Usually, before trial, most jurisdictions require the parties to try to settle the case in ADR (alternative dispute resolution).  In ADR an independent party either makes a decision, or an independent party tries to reach an agreement between the sides. The first ADR method is called arbitration and the second is called mediation.
5. If ADR does not resolve the case, then the parties have a “pretrial” with the trial court judge.  Sometimes cases are settled at the pretrial.
6. If the case is not settled at the pretrial, then the trial is set and at trial, the jury decides responsibility for the accident and the damages.  Usually, a trial occurs 1-2 years after the lawsuit is filed, and this time depends upon the court’s backlog of cases.