I was in law school when my wife and children were injured in an accident.  I went to visit my professor who taught insurance law with some specific questions about the insurance claims process.  He explained that he taught the theory of insurance law and had very little knowledge on the day to day operations of processing an insurance claim successfully.  I was confused and frustrated with the inconsistent information I was getting.  I have since learned that information is power and access to information is a very comforting feeling.  Choosing the right injury attorney can give you the peace and confidence to focus on your family, work, and health knowing that the insurance claims are being handled properly.

How do you find the right attorney that can work with you?  First, visit with the potential attorney on the phone and in person. If the attorney won’t come to the phone before hiring him don’t believe for a moment it will be better after you hire the attorney. The attorney should be able to sufficiently explain what to expect from the process and you should feel comfortable enough to ask the attorney to answer any questions that remain.

What about the attorney you already know?  You may have had an attorney draft your will or know an attorney from church that is honest.  Honesty and a comfort level with an attorney are crucial but there are other factors that are also extremely important as well.  Significant experience dealing with the insurance company is also a must. Keeping current on the laws, new cases, and new tricks and traps from the insurance industry are necessary to safely bring a case to its best conclusion.  Attorney’s that spend most or much of their time in other areas of law, don’t have the same depth of experience as one who limits his or her practice to protecting the rights of the injured.

Ask what other areas of law the attorney practices and what approximate percentage of time he or she spends on each.  You can compare this to the lawyers yellow page ad and internet ads.  While most cases can, and do settle, your attorney should be willing to take your case to a jury trial and have done so successfully in the past so that the insurance company knows they will be held accountable if they do not present a fair offer.

Financing a personal injury action is unlike other areas of the law.  You should not have to pay an hourly attorney fee or pay as you go on your case.  The costs should be advanced by the attorney generally.  Initial consultations should be free in injury cases and the attorney fee should be contingent, meaning no fee to the lawyer if money is not recovered.

Because hiring an attorney is largely about trust and communication, it makes no sense to have a free consultation with a paralegal.  Some lawyers have no staff to assist them and some are overstaffed so you never get to talk to your attorney.  Some Idaho firms have the phone ring in another state and have much of the work done in another state.  When you set an appointment with the law office, find out who you will be meeting with, and who will actually be doing the work on your case.  You should be able to meet with the attorney handling your case so that you can make the determination if this person is someone that you can work with, and confirm that they are someone that is worthy of the great trust of handling your case.

Scott Lundgreen

In Idaho, with some exceptions, these liability waiver agreements have been found to be valid.  Whether that is good policy or not can be debated, but it is important to feel comfortable with the provider of these services, if you are going to give your rights away before the recreational activity even starts.

Choose your company wisely, because if you are seriously injured with a neck, back or brain injury as a result of a company’s negligence, and you have already given up your right to get damages, your ability to recover might be gone, even if you hire a good lawyer with “rock solid values and ideals.”

Have a safe summer.

Russ Johnson

Liability Coverage:  This is the coverage that takes of things if you make a mistake and hurt someone else.  These limits should be high enough that your assets are not at risk.  A student or someone who is just starting out, doesn’t need as much as someone who owns a home and some other property.  Often, doubling or quadrupling your coverage is not nearly as expensive as you would think.

Medical Payments Coverage:  This coverage pays for your medical bills if you are involved in an accident.  Typically, it is fairly small, 1000, 2000 and 5000 are common limits.  Some people have much higher coverages, but if you have health insurance, very high limits on this coverage are not necessary.  It is fairly expensive to raise the limits to high levels on this coverage.

Uninsured and Underinsured Coverage:  This coverage is very important.  It is very inexpensive.  Typically, you can’t have more uninsured/underinsured coverage than liability coverage, but there are a number of people who are either uninsured or underinsured, and this protects you if someone like that hits you.  With as expensive as medical care is, this coverage should probably be at least $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident, unless there is absolutely no way to afford it.

There are many other coverages, including “umbrella” policies that cover you for very high limits and liabilities.  If you underlying limits are fairly high, an “umbrella” doesn’t cost that much either.

The cost of not having enough coverage can be devastating.  Sometimes, the pie is very small that we are trying to carve up.  Take a look at your declarations page on your next renewal.  Feel free to give us a call if you have questions.  As always, this information is general, and may or may not apply to your situation.

Russ Johnson

I went to law school as a naive young man.  I had various ideas about where I wanted my legal career to go, but I was firm in my resolve that I would never be one of “those dirty injury lawyers.”  Fate and insurance fraud would change my opinion. During law school my wife caused an auto accident that thankfully caused only minor injuries but resulted in several large medical bills for us.  I asked my auto carrier (a large and well respected insurance company) if I had coverage for our medical expenses and they lied to me.  Twice.  After several months, much anxiety and frustration, and speaking to anyone I thought might know, I was told that PIP or med pay coverage would cover our medical expenses even though my wife caused the accident.  I searched my policy and found that I had been faithfully paying for $10,000 per occupant of that very coverage.  Finally, armed with knowledge, I confronted my insurance company again and they promptly paid our bills, (after some of the medical bills had been turned over to a collection agency).

While not tragic, this experience with insurance company fraud helped me realize that good honest people really need help and that you cannot rely on a company (even your own) to tell you what you need to know.  My resolve to avoid injury law was bending.  I graduated law school in the recession of the early 1990′s and could not pass up my first job offer even though the firm’s practice included helping those injured in auto accidents.  In a few years of this work I heard my clients frequently tell of being the victims of the same and other lies from insurance companies.  The transformation was complete and I was ready, willing, and now proud to be called a true blue injury lawyer.  As an injury lawyer, I love the fact that we can take a client from any economic or social background and put them in a fair fight to help a multi-billion dollar insurance company keep its promises with the citizens of Idaho.

I am bothered by articles like Mr. Dixon’s that focus only on Human on Corporation insurance fraud and ignore the Corporation (Insurance Company) on Human variety insurance fraud.  In his defense, Mr. Dixon relied in part on statistics and information provided by the Idaho Department of Insurance.  The Idaho Department of Insurance was established to regulate Insurance Companies and should be the state agency to protect Idahoans and help keep the insurance companies honest.  However, over the years I have seen or heard various Idaho Department of Insurance pubic service announcements warning of the cost and evil of human on corporate crime (commonly known as insurance fraud) but nothing on corporate on human crime.  I have wondered why our tax dollars are used to protect these mega insurance companies, mostly out of state corporations, while seemingly ignoring the protection of Idaho citizens.

Don’t get me wrong.  I hate human on corporation fraud probably much more than most people do.  That fraud, and mainly its reputation, ruins it for good honest people who make legitimate insurance claims.  Because of fraud and its reputation, the insurance claims department can justify a policy treating all claims as if they are fraudulent.  My work in helping people navigate the insurance claims process is significantly more difficult because of a very small minority that have tried to cheat the insurance companies. I personally know many honorable and honest people working in the insurance industry and am in no wise saying the whole industry is corrupt. I see the worst cases and don’t hear from people when their insurance claim goes well.  But if you don’t believe Corporate on human insurance fraud can and does occur in Boise Idaho you should read the story of Cindy Robertson.  The Idaho Supreme Court, the trial court judge and the Boise jury all had harsh words for a major insurance company who had a plan to save money using bogus medical reports to deny valid claims on Idaho citizens over and over and over again.

In addition to the Idaho Department of Insurance and the Better Business Bureau, each insurance company has experienced claims adjusters, lawyers, and, dedicated anti-fraud units to protect the corporate assets.  The insurance claims process is far from an honor system and thankfully most people dumb enough to cheat on an insurance claim get caught.  However, all too often, the only thing standing between corporate fraud from an insurance company on an Idaho citizen is one of those “dirty injury lawyers.”  Thankfully, there are many honest injury attorney’s who will give you a free consultation and give you the information you need to handle your own claim with confidence or will represent you and charge you a fee only if they recover money for you.  Yes, there was a local injury lawyer who was recently caught cheating, but he was discovered, and prosecuted and is not able to practice law right now.  I know most of the injury lawyers in Boise and believe they will be honest because it is the right way to live, not for fear of losing their ability to practice law.  When was the last time you heard of an insurance company losing its right to work, even temporarily?

My point is that insurance fraud should be examined from the full view and not only the side that has the ability and the resources to protect itself.

Scott Lundgreen

Welcome to Johnson & Lundgreen P.C. Blog

We are currently working on our blog but look forward to.

• JLLAW! Legal Advice

• What to do if your in an accident.
• How to handle insurance companies
• How to choice the right law firm
• How you should be treated
• What to expect
• How to get started

• JLLAW! Law in the news

• How do current cases possibly affect you.
• What have you heard?
• What to believe and not to believe

• JLLAW! Idaho

• How is Idaho court system
• Laws only found in Idaho
• Idaho law changes

All this and more coming soon….

Thank you!

-JLLAW Team.